Back in April 2022, “Teal” independent Zoe Daniel – running for the Liberal stronghold of Goldstein in Victoria, which has a large Jewish population – faced a major hurdle: her own antisemitic comments had surfaced, as well as those of her campaign staff.
This followed her rejecting a plea by the Jewish Community Council of Victoria to disassociate from an open letter she signed in 2021, calling for the right of journalists “to publicly and openly express personal solidarity with the Palestinian cause”.
But she reassured the Jewish community of her support and promised also to always be a strong supporter of Israel as a Jewish state existing within safe and secure borders.
INDEPENDENT candidate for Goldstein Zoe Daniel has pledged support for the Jewish community after controversial remarks by her and her campaign staff surfaced.
The Australian last week reported Jobst Schmalenbach, her campaign’s operations manager in Goldstein, attacked a Jewish organisation for criticising anti-Israel comments by former Labor MP Melissa Parke. Schmalenbach had stated, “The Jewish right-wing lobby group should simply shut up.”
In 2021, after Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s specific observation that antisemitism and Holocaust denial were rising in Australia, Schmalenbach appeared to question his assertion, retorting that “any racism is on the rise in Australia!”
Daniel’s campaign manager Sue Barrett, who is married to Schmalenbach, used social media in 2020 to trivialise Adolf Hitler, posting that “Hitler altered reality with drugs & [PM Scott] Morrison uses religion”.
Daniel herself, when she was an ABC journalist, wrote in 2017 that then US president Donald Trump declared Jerusalem Israel’s capital as a way of “satisfying his wealthy Jewish donors”.
The revelations appeared after Daniel rejected a plea by the Jewish Community Council of Victoria to disassociate from an open letter she signed last year calling for the right of journalists “to publicly and openly express personal solidarity with the Palestinian cause”.
After meeting on Monday with Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC) chair Dvir Abramovich, Daniel told The AJN she sees Israel as “the practical realisation of that crucial statement, ‘Never Again.’ It is for this reason that I will always be a strong supporter of Israel as a Jewish state existing within safe and secure borders”.
She added, “Mischaracterisations of Jewish people, including myths such as their enjoying outsize wealth or power, must be identified immediately as the starting point for much worse.”
And on political jibes invoking the Shoah, she reflected, “When the Holocaust is misused and weaponised to score points in an argument, we devalue this horrific event and cause great pain to Holocaust survivors and their descendants.”
Daniel also noted her support for the current 18C protections in the Racial Discrimination Act – which her opponent, Goldstein Liberal MP Tim Wilson, is critical of – noting she witnessed the consequences of hate speech when covering the 2018 massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue in the US.
Stating Daniel “addressed each of the serious concerns that I raised with her”, Abramovich said her “regrets were sincere and heartfelt”.
Daniel’s reassurances seemed to work – she went on to win Goldstein.
Now I am sure her Jewish voters are having “buyer’s remorse” as her true colors come to the fore again.
After the Hamas atrocities of October 7th, Daniels came out with the below statement that did condemn Hamas and acknowledge Israel’s right to self-defense. It seemed quite reasonable, although the “both sides” element was a little off-putting given what had just occurred.
But this is nothing compared to what has followed.
Daniel has now reverted more to her old self, showing public support for Canterbury Bankstown Council’s offensive decision to raise the palestinian Arab flag, while the Jewish community continues to mourn our murdered, worry about our kidnapped, and feel increasingly isolated by the show of support for Hamas and its atrocities:
This is a position that I support. And I know that many in the large Jewish community that I represent would support it too. Everyone is frightened. Everyone is grieving. That pain and fear crosses boundaries beyond Hamas. That must be acknowledged. https://t.co/VVgj91Ts9K
— Zoe Daniel MP (she/her) (@zdaniel) October 27, 2023
What makes supporting the raising of this flag following the Hamas atrocities even more offensive is the claim that she knows that “many” the large Jewish community she represents “would support it too.” This is gaslighting, as Emily Gian of the Zionist Federation of Australia correctly pointed out after Daniel tweeted this (and prevented people from replying directly):
In fact, Goldstein residents started this petition on October 19th, calling on her to present this motion to Parliament:
“We unequivocally condemn Hamas for its terrorist actions against Israel. Israel has the right to defend itself and its citizens. We strongly condemn Hamas for its war crimes, including using Gaza residents as a human shield, launching rockets from civilian buildings, deliberately targeting Israeli civilians and blocking evacuation of innocent Palestinians. For these reasons, we will hold Hamas responsible for any civilian casualties in Gaza. The hostages should be released immediately as a pre-condition for any humanitarian aid to be delivered to Gaza”.
I should also point out that Zoe Daniel funder was Simon Holmes à Court, another vehemently anti-Israel figure:
One unusual feature of the upcoming Federal election is the large number of candidates, all standing as independents, receiving funding from Simon Holmes a Court’s Climate 200. Mostly challenging sitting coalition members, they include several “Voices of” or “teal” candidates. And several Climate 200 candidates have past activities or links that may well concern Jewish voters.
This is perhaps unsurprising, given Holmes a Court himself has three times repeated Yassmin Abdel-Magied’s controversial ANZAC Day 2017 tweet, “lest we forget (manus, nauru, syria, palestine),” and, also on Twitter, objected to Scott Morrison recognising west Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Holmes a Court was also regularly in the gallery during Michael Staindl’s legal challenge against Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s eligibility to serve in Parliament on the basis of alleged dual citizenship, dismissed in 2020. The case was seen by many as unsavoury – taking advantage of Frydenberg’s mother’s family fleeing Hungary at a time of anti-Jewish violence following World War Two, leaving her stateless – but Holmes a Court explained he was giving Staindl “moral support”.
Janet Holmes a Court, Simon’s mother, has a history of anti-Israel activism, including being one of 23 signatories to a 2011 Australia Palestine Advocacy Network letter urging Australia to vote at the UN for a Palestinian state, and signing a 2017 letter opposing the visit of then Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to Australia.
Holmes a Court also once compared former Australian PM John Howard (a huge friend of the Jews and Israel) to Nazi doctor Josef Mengele.
It seems to me that Zoe Daniel hoodwinked Jewish voters in Goldstein and now that she is the MP, is revealing her true self.
And she needs to go.
