Is Dutton Receiving Pro Bono Legal Advice from Zionists Over a Racial Complaint?

Liberal leader Peter Dutton updated his listing of interests in the Register of Members’ Interests for the 47th Parliament on 23 December. And the potential next prime minister added three gifts to his interests that comprised of a Chinese tea set, a bottle of Whipper Snapper Distillery Upshot Whiskey and “ongoing legal assistance from Arnold Bloch Leibler re legal matters”.

Unsurprisingly, it’s the listing of free ongoing legal advice from the well-known Melbourne law firm that’s raised eyebrows for a number of reasons, which include that Dutton, the leader of the federal opposition, hasn’t disclosed the matter he’s obtaining advice in relation to and Mark Leibler, whose family name the firm bears, is one of the nation’s most prominent Zionists.

Zionism is a 19th century European political doctrine that advocates for the establishment of a Jewish state on the land of the Palestinian people. This ideology led to the founding of Israel in 1948, and it’s too behind the high-tech genocide that the state has been perpetrating upon the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip for 15 months now.

Not all Jewish people are Zionists, and not all Zionist are Jews. In the US, there are more white Christians evangelists supporting Zionism than Jewish people that do.

The widespread speculation is that Dutton is receiving the pro bono legal advice from Leibler’s outfit in regard to a complaint lodged with the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) against the Liberal leader by local law firm Birchgrove Legal on behalf of Jewish academic Professor Peter Slezak and Australian Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) president Nasser Mashni.

The claim against him, asserts that Dutton has blatantly been discriminating against Palestinians whilst commenting on the Israeli perpetrated genocide in Gaza in breach of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth), along with raising questions as to whether the potential future PM’s behaviour has too violated the provisions of the 1948 Genocide Convention, as well as the 2002 Rome Statute.

Favours for friends

Spokespeople for Dutton and Arnold Bloch Leibler senior partner Mark Leibler separately told the Herald, which broke the story on 27 December, that they would not be discussing the undisclosed legal matter.

However, noted barrister Geoffrey Watson SC told the Nine paper that at least a general description of the legal matter was warranted for the public, and this would hardly compromise whatever that legal matter might be. And the Centre for Public Integrity director added that large legal firms, like Arnold Bloch Leibler, ought to disclose as well, as they often receive large government contracts.

In terms of conflicts of interests, that the firm run by Australian lawyer Mark Leibler, who’s an ardent supporter of Israel, is providing legal advice to the possible next PM for free, does hint at Dutton, in any future position he might have in parliament, owing one to the firm and potentially acting in a manner that favours the position of Israel, especially as he already has a tendency to bat in this way.

Leibler is a respected tax lawyer, and many of the nation’s richest people are his clients. Since the late 1990s, Leibler has been recognised as the most powerful Jewish leader in the country, as well as for having a knack at shutting down criticism of the Zionist state. And the nation’s “most powerful lobbyist” is well acquainted with local politicians and those in Israel.

Leibler is the national chair of the Australian Jewish Affairs Council. This organisation was formed out of two earlier pro-Zionist and pro-Israel organisations. And it has strong ties with the Zionist Federation of Australia and the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, which are also supportive of the Israeli state, despite the genocide that it’s been perpetrating for the last 15 months.

Dehumanising selected constituents

In a 25 November statement, Birchgrove Legal explains that the legal action that accuses Dutton “of discrimination and inciting racial hatred through his remarks and social media commentary on Gaza and Palestinians” has been filed with the AHRC. And the law firm outlines that the action represents the Jewish, Palestinian and Muslim communities of Australia.

The Sydney law firm claims that Dutton, in making statements that that vilify Palestinians, has breached the terms of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, as well as the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

The complaint lists twenty-two instances that comprise the discriminatory behaviour, and these include Dutton stating that in granting 3,000 Gazans tourist visas to escape the genocide, the government had jeopardised national security and was turning the nation into a zone for terrorists.

Dutton also stands charged with propagating false claims and then doing nothing to correct them, with examples being the false assertions about beheaded babies being found after the Hamas October 7 attack, as well as claims that protesters chanted “Gas the Jews” before the Sydney Opera House in early October 2023, when the footage revealing this was later found to be doctored.

Further Dutton has encouraged the deportation of Palestinians, he has disparaged the idea of Muslim candidates running for federal parliament and he’s repeatedly denied that the atrocities that Israel has been perpetrating in the Gaza Strip have actually occurred.

However, the leader of the Liberals has made his political career out of making such divisive statements about people who don’t have white skin like he does, and this tendency of his shines through in his policymaking decisions.

The difference now being that Slezak and Mashni have filed legal action against him.

Ultraconservative types

After having shown Israel unbridled support for most of the Gaza genocide, the Albanese government did stray from this path when it supported a UN resolution earlier this month, calling on Israel to withdraw from the occupied Palestinian territory, of which Tel Aviv has maintained since 1967. And it also called for self-determination and the establishment of a Palestinian state.

This change in direction by Labor was enough to send local Zionists into a panic attack, however. And in response, Dutton claimed that the government had “completely abandoned the Jewish community” and “the state of Israel”, and he added that there’s “a lot of anger, understandably in the community… with the way in which the government has sold out the Jewish community”.

So, while the cosying up between Dutton and Leibler, and the Liberals and the local Zionist institutions, is nothing new, in the present context such an alliance could have further implications, especially as the rogue state of Israel is now fighting a regional war on multiple fronts, whilst Dutton could well be our next prime minister.

Professor Slezak said in late November that Dutton’s divisive comments regarding Palestinians risked fuelling division between different sections of the Australian constituency, and the provision of the pro bono legal work and any reciprocal gesture it may spur at some future point, does tend to raise the question of bias in governing the nation.

“Mr Dutton is using the same ‘security threat’ language against Palestinians that was once used to demonise Jewish people before the Holocaust and worse,” Slezak added in his November statement. “Like many Jewish Australians, I grieve the atrocities Israel is committing against Palestinians, and we will not be intimidated into silence.”

“Statements that dehumanise any group of people, including Palestinians, must be challenged,” the philosophy professor further made clear.

“All parties responsible must be held accountable for statements that dehumanise certain groups and fuel division, including Palestinians, whose suffering deserves recognition.”