AUSPalestine — representing “Australian workers united for peace and justice for Palestine” — has just been launched with a new website.  As we write these words, some key things are missing from the site — such as the organization’s founding statement.

(The founding statement’s web page is there, and says “under construction” but adds this “will be an Australian statement of support for peace and justice for all Palestinians”.)

There are some clues as to what the organization will support, such as tearing down the separation barrier Israel has erected to keep out terrorists, a “just solution” to the problem of the Palestinian refugees, etc.

There is not a single word, or even a clue, regarding whether AUSPalestine supports a one- or two-state solution.

Israel is never mentioned as a country that might have rights (such as secure and recognized borders) or that has in any way suffered (from decades of terrorist attacks, repeated attempts by Arab armies to invade and overrun it, etc).

It is only mentioned as an oppressor doing inexplicably nasty things to the Palestinians.

At the very best, this seems like a naive attempt to “do something” about the genuine suffering of the Palestinians, but there is also reason to be concerned that what we are seeing is an attempt to import the pro-Hamas model of “Palestinian solidarity” that has been so successful in the U.K. and Ireland in recent years.