Muslim Website ‘Rates’ MPs on Their Support for Palestine

Members of the Sydney Muslim community hold Taraweeh Prayer for Palestine at Martin Place on March 22, 2024 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)

A website claiming to be funded by Australian Muslims is rating Labor and Liberal politicians based on their support for Palestine.

Muslim Votes Matter, which claims to be 100 percent independent and unaffiliated with any political party or politician, is rating politicians in electorates where they believe the Muslim vote has an influence.

The website so far has 32 seats in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, the Australian Capital Territory and South Australia.

The majority of the seats on the list so far are Labor parliamentarians, but there are a few Liberal MP’s and an independent. No Greens seats appear on the focus electorates list.

Labor Ministers’ Chris Bowen, Ed Husic, Tony Burke, Jim Chalmers, Michelle Rowland, Andrew Giles, Linda Burney, Matt Keough, Brendan O'Connor, Anne Aly and Mark Dreyfus are among the MPs “rated.”

For example, the website states, “Chris Bowen has not mentioned Gaza in Parliament since October 2023.

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“In Parliament, Chris Bowen has not called for an immediate and sustained ceasefire. In Parliament, Chris Bowen did not call for the immediate restoration of Australia’s funding to the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA).

“In Parliament, Chris Bowen has acknowledged the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, including the need to recognise a sovereign and independent state of Palestine.”

Mr. Bowen is just one of many of the MP’s who have been “rated” on these measures, with the words “has” or “has not.”

The site also looks into whether the parliamentarians have allowed delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza strip and called for an arms embargo and “immediate halt” on defence goods exported to Israel.

Liberal Shadow Minister David Coleman and former Minister Alex Hawke also appear on the list, along with independent Dai Le.

Mr. Coleman and Mr. Hawke are marked as “has not” in red bold letters on every measure the website considers.

Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing at least 1,200 people and capturing more than 200 hostages. At least 130 hostages are either in the hands of Hamas or dead. Meanwhile, 33,000 Palestinians are said to have died since that date.

The website does not measure any parliamentarian on calling out anti-Semitism or attacks against the Jewish community.

The Muslim Votes Matter website states it is shaping Australia’s future via informed voting and collective influence.

“The Muslim community is the largest, and among the fastest growing, minority groups in Australia,” the website states.

“Our collective voting bloc is the most valuable, yet underutilised, asset we have." 

“We are in a strategically powerful position to elevate those who bring our issues to the forefront. We are in an equally powerful position to oppose those who take us for granted and ignore us." 

The Muslim Votes Matter sites claims it is 100 percent funded by individual Australian Muslims with no political affiliation.

“Our commitment is to work impartially, solely dedicated to serving the best interests of the Muslim community in Australia,” the website states.

The site states the Muslim community has the potential deciding vote in more than 20 seats, noting no federal government has been elected by more than 15 seats in the past 25 years.

The website includes a “Take Action on Gaza” website with links to three external websites, run by the Greens, Australia Palestine Advocacy Network and Boycott Divestment Sanctions Australia.

However, it states it is not affiliated with any of these organisations. The group claims “Australian Muslims have had enough.”

“We will no longer be ignored or taken for granted. We will no longer tolerate bias and veiled racism. Our political future is in our hands. It’s time to exercise the Muslim vote,” the site says.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry Speaks Out

Meanwhile, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry has expressed (pdf) its opposition to the unilateral recognition of Palestine state.

This follows Foreign Minister Penny Wong pushing for recognition of a Palestinian state alongside Israel during a speech at the Australian National University on April 9.

Ms. Wong said the international community is now “considering the question of Palestinian statehood” as a way of building momentum towards a two-state solution.

“We need to build the pathway out of the endless cycle of violence. We need to build the pathway to a peace that is enduring, and just,” Ms. Wong said.

“Because the simple truth is that a secure and prosperous future for both Israelis and Palestinians will only come with a two-state solution. Recognition of each other’s right to exist. A Palestinian state alongside the State of Israel.”

Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Daniel Aghion said the foreign minister’s speech is not the way to treat a friend and ally of Australia. He added, “Israel is not the obstacle to peace.”

“Israel has unilaterally withdrawn from territory and advanced proposals for two-state solutions since 1937,” Mr. Aghion said.

“The state of war exists because of the Iranian-backed jihadists that rule the Palestinians in Gaza and the ineptitude, corruption and generational glorification of violence in the West Bank.”

He said the reason the current Israeli government is less than enthusiastic about a two-state solution is because they have “never believed the Palestinians are serious about living in peace and coexistence.”

“October 7 proved they were right,” Mr. Aghion said.

Meanwhile, Opposition leader Peter Dutton has labelled the rise in anti-Semitism in Australia a “failure of political leadership.

“The problem is that anti-Semitism has found many footholds in our country,” Mr. Dutton said at the Tom Hughes Oration in Sydney.