The bumbling and unimpressive Carr made a serious mistake in choosing the Mosque,the most revered of places, in which to make his announcement,as this can only give the strong impression of friendship with and favoring one side only.In other words-bias!
This type of comment must be made in a neutral venue.
Several conclusions can be made from this;
He personally sides with the Palestinians .
Labor is so desperate for votes that anything goes
He made a stupid blunder consistent with his poor performance within his portfolio.
Probably all apply.

As a senior cabinet member,he must be aware that he has a duty of at least seeming impartiality and his actions demand a serious reprimand from Rudd.

Labour has history when it comes to jettisoning any 'moral' stand it espouses at any given time for any given reason.
Pandering to the 'rent seekers', as identified by the leftoid chattering classes, is standard fare for this crowd when punting for votes.
The fact that Carr disregards international law in a 'thought bubble' policy statement is not the least bit surprising. Seeking to implement the 'Malasian' solution for asylum seekers, disregarding international convention/agreements and even Australian law is nothing to this crowd.
I await a response to the 4 questions asked.

Carr is to be congratulated for standing up for the Palestinians.

So few Australian politicians do because most are mindless apologists for the State of Israel, one of the most heinous rogue nations the world has ever seen (aside from America)!

Singer's attack on Carr should be treated with scorn and contempt. Singer hates anyone who sides with the Palestinians and will go to any length to pull them down or discredit them.

Singer's values are entirely misplaced. He champions the bad guys and tramples all over the Palestinian people: men, women, and children, that Israel constantly mistreats and brutalizes and humiliates and kills.

It is time the world united and freed the Palestinians, give the Jews in Israel a real taste of their own medicine.

Sharp criticism from ECAJ, ZFA, AIJAC and Julie Bishop indeed. Oh dear, we should be surprised and shocked and perhaps scared. What would you expect from these organisations? Incidentally did Jewish Voice for Peace have any comment?

As for Julie Bishop – she was the one who accused her own country of falsifying foreign passports in her spirited defence of Israel when they were accused of falsifying Australian passports in aid of extra judicial killings.

Jews may have the right to live in the West Bank by some interpretations of the law, but that does not mean taking over the land completely from its rightful owners i.e. those who have lived there for 1000 years.

This issue is not about Labour buying votes before an election, it is about social justice and about anti-racism and anti-apartheid and anti-bullying by a well armed force against an indigenous defenceless people.

You’re pulling a long bow David to suggest that Bob Carr’s remarks have upset many voters. I am aware of huge numbers who were pleased by his support of the Palestinians against their struggle to retain their homes. Your assertion that Jews have any biblical, historic or legal right to Palestine is an even longer bow. Read the learned works of Jewish academics.

#To David G

My article questions whether the Labor Party had in fact adopted its policy on Jewish settlement in the West Bank prior to that policy being announced on the steps of the Lakemba mosque by Senator Carr.

Additionally Senator Carr has fitted Mr Rudd as personally endorsing that policy - and I am not aware of Rudd ever having said that Jewish settlements in the West Bank are illegal in international law and must cease.

Carr certainly has said this on a number of prior occasions - but that is an entirely different matter to stating it is the policy of the Australian Government and the Prime Minister.

Carr's words are clear and unequivocal:

"That is the position, of Kevin Rudd, the position of the Federal Labor Government, and we don't make apologies for it."

Rudd so far has remained silent on whether he and the Labor Party adopted a policy that Jews have no legal right to live in the West Bank - and when that policy was adopted.

Why?

Clear up the confusion that Carr's Lakemba Mosque Declaration created and let Rudd tell us when he personally and the Labor Party adopted this anti-Jewish policy.

That should be reasonably easy to do.

A copy of the policy should be easily capable of being produced and the date when it was adopted made public

To Stan1

You erroneously state:
"Jews may have the right to live in the West Bank by some interpretations of the law, but that does not mean taking over the land completely from its rightful owners i.e. those who have lived there for 1000 years."

You are obviously unaware that the West Bank is divided into three zones - Areas A,B and C

Areas A and B make up roughly 38 percent of the West Bank and contain 96% of the Arab population of the West Bank - whose daily lives are entirely controlled by the PLO since the Palestinian Authority was wound up in January 2013.

The PLO has total security control in Area A and shares security control with Israel in Area B.

Approximately 62 percent of the area of the West Bank is in Area C, where Israel retains total civil and security control.

Only about 4%-5% of the total Arab population of the West Bank live in Area C.

The majority of Jewish settlements are in Area C and some in area B. There are none in area A.

What do you mean by the term "rightful owners"?

The West Bank is no man's land - under the sovereignty of no-one - and has had that status since Great Britain relinquished its role as Mandatory in 1948.

The West Bank Arabs chose to reunify the West Bank with Transjordan in 1950 and name the new entity "Jordan" - a situation that existed until the West Bank was lost to Israel in the 1967 Six Day War. Only two countries recognized such unification.

Jews lived in the West Bank too - from biblical times until they were expelled in 1948 - only to return again in 1967.

The West Bank is part of the area in which the Jewish National Home was legally sanctioned to be reconstituted pursuant to article 6 of the Mandate for Palestine and article 80 of the United Nations Charter. That is still the position in 2013.

One line throw aways designed to deceive and mislead are to be deplored.