The Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) condemns the Coalition’s renewed efforts to vilify Palestinians, entrench apartheid, and legitimise Israel’s illegal occupation.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s announcement that a Coalition government would reassess the security clearances of Palestinians fleeing genocide, and introduce so-called “antisemitism” questions in Australia’s citizenship test is an appalling pursuit of yet more racist, authoritarian policies by the Coalition.
Targeting Palestinian refugees for “security vetting” without evidence is racial profiling. Palestinians fleeing a genocide should be offered sanctuary, not suspicion.
Australia’s own security agency, ASIO, confirmed no links between Palestinian refugees and domestic threats. Dutton’s rhetoric not only ignores this but actively stokes fear and racism in the community.
Furthermore, the Coalition’s proposed citizenship test changes, under the guise of addressing antisemitism, risk weaponising anti-racism to silence legitimate criticism of Israeli state violence.
Real opposition to racism does not mean loyalty to a violent apartheid regime – it means standing against all forms of injustice and discrimination, including Israel’s brutal oppression of Palestinians.
APAN is also concerned by Coalition messaging that its “position remain(s) that West Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.”
This position flies in the face of global consensus and undermines international law and Palestinian self-determination.
It also endorses Israel’s illegal annexation and erasure of Palestinian identity, and rewards a state committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Dutton’s comments must be seen for what they are: deliberate and dangerous attempts to exploit humanitarian tragedy for political gain and scapegoat a dispossessed people, while greenlighting genocide and apartheid.
All people across this continent – across political lines – must reject this hate-filled agenda.
Australia must be on the side of human rights and international law – not occupation, apartheid, and genocide.
Comments attributed to APAN President Nasser Mashni:
“The Coalition’s policies are about scapegoating Palestinians, pandering to the most extreme elements of Israel’s apartheid regime and making Australia further complicit in genocide and colonial violence.
“Dutton and the Coalition are driven by racist ideology. They’re turning fleeing genocide survivors into political pawns – it is cynical, and dangerous.
“The Coalition’s position that recognises West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is not just symbolic – it’s a greenlight for further annexation of Palestinian land, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
“All of these policies are about legitimising a brutal colonial system – one built on decades of state terrorism and the violent dispossession and oppression of Palestinians. It cannot be tolerated, excused or sanitised.
“Every person of good conscience must reject this dangerous brand of extremist politics.”