A resident-driven petition calling on the Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne not to attend a Zionist-supported summit, which purports to be against antisemitism, has attracted close to 800 signatures within a few days of being online.
The Gold Coast conference, from September 3-5, is being organised by the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM), based in Israel, which supports the Israeli state and campaigns for all levels of government to adopt the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism.
CAM is linked to far-right religious extremists as well as to former Israeli military personnel and members of peak pro-Israeli government organisations, such as the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.
Keynote speakers include Gillian Segal, the Labor-appointed Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, who is pushing for the monitoring and defunding of universities, media and arts organisations which breach the IHRA definition.
Other keynote speakers, such as former Olympian Nova Perris, deny Israel is committing genocide.
Pastor Sue Baynes, Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate’s “spiritual adviser” and part of the far-right Christian Zionist movement, is also speaking. Baynes was a former candidate for the conservative Family First Party which opposed same-sex marriage. She is an advocate for the US Seven Mountains Mandate, a conservative Christian evangelical organisation which opposes abortion, supports the “great replacement” conspiracy theory as well as white supremacy.
The progressive Jewish Council of Australia has described the summit as a “pro-Israel political junket” which will “push a one-sided political agenda” and silence “legitimate criticism of Israel by conflating it with antisemitism”. It pointed out that CAM is linked to the controversial Israel-United States “aid” corporation, the Gaza Humanitarian Fund, which is complicit in the starvation and murder of Palestinians trying to seek its aid.
“Residents are clearly very concerned that this summit is another way to push local councils to shut down any criticism of the Israeli government,” Pip Hinman, one of the residents who initiated the Open Letter, told Green Left. “So many from the inner west joined the March for Humanity over the Harbour Bridge, calling on Labor to sanction Israel. They want all levels of government to take pro-active action to help stop the genocide.”
Hinman said this summit, which aims to get councils to silence critics of the Benjamin Netanyahu government, comes at a time when “the world is pushing for Israel to be forced to end its starvation and killing of Gazans”.
“If our Mayor was serious about wanting to combat antisemitism, he would not be appearing at this summit,” Hinman said. “Rather, he would be urging the Inner West Council to adopt a boycott, divestment and sanctions policy on Israel.”
Nick Deane, a spokesperson for the Marrickville Peace Group, which has signed to the Open Letter said: “Criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza and in the West Bank, and Australia’s refusal to sanction Israel is not antisemitic. It is a position based on human rights and an adherence to international law, which expresses a common humanity in the face of Israel’s horrific genocide in Gaza.
“This conference is a threat to free speech and represents a coordinated attempt to silence critics of Israel at the local government level.”
The Greens Inner West councillors have condemned Bryne’s decision to speak at the conference and called on him to withdraw. They confirmed he had not consulted with council on his controversial speaking engagement.
Zan Maxwell, Labor City of Sydney councillor, was listed on the conference agenda, but has now been removed, following what is understood to have been an intervention by Independent Mayor Clover Moore. Moore was one of the first official figures to support the March for Humanity protest over the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the City of Sydney has taken its first steps in a BDS strategy.