AIJAC executive director Colin Rubenstein saidQ&A did not want a mainstream pro-Israel Jewish voice on a five-person panel.
“Liberal MP Dave Sharma,a former Australian diplomat of Indian heritage who served in Papua New Guinea,the United States and Israel,was somehow expected by the ABC to present the Israeli viewpoint,” Mr Rubenstein said.
“While Mr Sharma responded admirably to the stacked panel,he did not do so as a representative of a pro-Israel viewpoint but as a Member of Parliament,opposed on the program by another MP,Ed Husic.”
The ABC has its own complaints system,which is referred to the audience and consumer affairs team. Complainants who are dissatisfied with the outcome can refer the complaint to ACMA.
Q&A’s episode,Trauma and Truth-Telling,ran on May 27 and featured Palestinian advocate Randa Abdel-Fattah,Jennifer Robinson,a lawyer who has represented the Palestinians at the International Criminal Court,former ambassador to Israel Dave Sharma,Labor MP Ed Husic and singer Mitch Tambo.
ABC ran the episode following a cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas after 11 days of violence. Hamas fired hundreds of rockets into Israel following tensions in occupied East Jerusalem,before Israeli forces bombarded the Gaza Strip with air strikes,flattening buildings and killing hundreds.
The office of the High Commission of Human Rights said that up until May 27,more than 250 Palestinians,including 66 children,were killed and thousands were injured. Authorities put the death toll in Israel at 12 in the same period,with hundreds of people treated for injuries in rocket attacks.