Some Questions for Adam Bandt

Has yet another Australian Greens politician been picked off by the Israel lobby?

"The Australasian Union of Jewish Students (AUJS) Political Training Seminar (PTS) also provided food for thought when 24 Australian federal parliamentarians and Jewish communal leaders addressed 45 Jewish students. The annual PTS at Parliament House in Canberra earlier this month saw the students discussing a range of topical issues. In an AUJS PTS first, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott joined the seminar, along with a variety of other central figures, including Nationals leader Warren Truss and Australian Greens deputy leader Adam Bandt, who all contributed to the seminar's multidimensional approach. AUJS national chairperson Daniel Nash said that the 15th annual PTS was by far the best. 'In terms of Jewish youth engagement with politics and Israel advocacy, I think the PTS continues to be one of the Jewish community's most stellar programs for fostering interest in those matters, and in terms of access to contrasting views and collecting brilliant minds from our own community." (Top-level training for tomorrow's leaders, The Australian Jewish News, 31/8/12)

1) Why did you agree to appear at a clearly Zionist function such as this in full knowledge of a) Zionism's ongoing record of dispossession and colonization in Palestine, and b) the Israel lobby's involvement in attacking your own party over the NSW Greens' principled support of BDS?

2) What did you say to these students who are being groomed as Zionists and future Israel lobbyists/pro-Israel politicians?

3) Did you field questions on BDS and Lee Rhiannon? If so, what were your answers?

See my 21/4/12 post Some Questions for Christine Milne.