Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A little over a week ago, I joined with my parliamentary colleagues and many concerned citizens at a rally outside the steps of the State Library of Victoria. We were expressing our deep concern about the international boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign targeting the state of Israel. Make no mistake: the BDS is a dangerous development that must be countered at every turn.

While the BDS seeks to damage cultural, economic and political ties with the Jewish state, its ultimate objective is to undermine Israel's legitimacy in the eyes of the world. This is what drives the campaign's proponents to disrupt an Israel Philharmonic Orchestra concert in London or to picket an Israeli owned hot chocolate cafe like Max Brenner in Melbourne. There are no limits to their tactics or their hatred.

Israel is a beacon of democracy in the troubled Middle East. Its security is under threat from a radicalised Egypt, an irredentist Turkey and an emboldened Iran. Israel needs the support of its enduring allies and friends like Australia more than ever. So it is time the Greens stood up against the BDS and the Labor Party stopped vacillating over the upcoming vote at the United Nations on the Palestinian unilateral declaration of independence. Israel will survive these trying times and, when it does, it will no doubt remember who was there when it counted.