Scott Morrison accuses UN of antisemitism and applying double standards against Israel
Former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison has accused the United Nations of antisemitism and applying double standards against Israel “not expected of any other democratic nation”.
At a Sydney rally against antisemitism, Morrison went through a list of what he considered to be covered by the term.
“Denying the Jewish people their right of self-determination by claiming the existence of a state of Israel is a racist endeavour – that’s antisemitism,” he told the crowd of a few thousand people at the Never Again Is Now event on Sunday.
“Applying double standards by requiring of … Israel a behaviour not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation – that is antisemitism.
“And we have seen that in the United Nations.”
Antisemitism also included “accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations” and “holding Jews collectively responsible for the actions of the state of Israel”, Morrison said.
He said he was standing in solidarity with Jewish people “to remove the cloak of sentiment, self-declared respectability, and asserted moral superiority and reveal the dark heart of antisemitism that continues to linger below the surface, both here in Australia and elsewhere”.
The Coalition’s foreign affairs spokesperson, Simon Birmingham, said on Monday the opposition continued to support Israel’s “aims” in Gaza, while adding “significant care needs to be undertaken [in] any military actions that do occur within that region”.
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Asked about Morrison’s comments, Birmingham raised questions over the aid agency UNRWA. The Albanese government paused $6m in additional funding to the UN agency after Israel raised claims UNRWA staff had been involved in the 7 October attacks. The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has since admitted Australia did not have “all the facts” on Israel’s allegations.
“I think, sadly, tragically, we have seen, of course, in the instance of UNRWA the identification of individuals who were involved in the October 7 attacks, [and] more who appear to have supported those attacks,” Birmingham said.
He said there was a “longer history of questions being asked about the way in which that organisation, that UN body, has operated in its teaching practices … which appears to have led to extremist views and really antisemitic views within that as well,” he said.
“The UN is subject to the votes and wishes … of its member states, and sadly, all too often we do see often, autocracies, dictatorships and other countries with little values in common with Australia, who take very anti-Israel and antisemitic positions.
“We need to be ever-vigilant in seeking to push back against that in our society, in Australia where we’ve seen the rise in antisemitism all too much and in the international institution against those countries who would seek to advance those views.”
Dr Max Kaiser, an executive and historian with the newly formed Jewish Council of Australia, said fighting against anti-semitism was part of the larger fight against racism and bigotry.
“It does not assist the fight against racism to treat antisemitism as different from other forms of racism and to conflate antisemitism with support for Palestinian human rights,” he said.
“The Israel lobby continues to conflate Jews and Israel, including by engaging in lobbying for Israel on behalf of the whole Jewish community. These groups do not represent the opinions of all Jews, many of whom deplore Israel’s human rights abuses.”
Morrison last year told worshippers in Perth “don’t trust in the United Nations” and has accused the UN of pursuing “negative globalism” while prime minister.
During a visit to Israel in November with former UK prime minister Boris Johnston, he argued against the world getting “sucked into a ceasefire”.
In an interim judgment handed down last month, the UN’s international court of justice ordered Israel to ensure its forces did not commit acts of genocide. At least 30,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed since 7 October when Israel launched an offensive against the Gaza Strip in response to a Hamas attack.
Morrison, who has resigned from parliament to take up roles with American security firms, also told the Sydney rally – which had been organised by a Christian pastor in support of the Jewish community – that he believed the phrase “from the river to the sea” to be antisemitic.
Islamophobic and antisemitic incidents have risen substantially in Australia since 7 October, with the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, continuing to plead for social cohesion.
Rallies calling for a ceasefire in Gaza have been held each week in major Australian capital cities since October, in what is thought to be Australia’s longest-running consecutive protest marches.