SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) — An Australian judge described a boycott of Israel as "disgraceful" in dismissing charges against the son of Holocaust survivors.
John Nemesh pleaded guilty Thursday to charges that he breached electoral law by failing to sign campaign materials attacking the Greens party for its support of a boycott against Israel. But the judge, who described support for the boycott as "fairly disgraceful," dismissed the charges.
Nemesh had plastered posters attacking the Greens around the Sydney suburb of Marickville in March, during the election campaign for the New South Wales parliament. The posters attacked Greens candidate Fiona Byrne for her support of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions effort against Israel. Byrne lost her seat in the election.
Outside court, Nemesh charged the Greens with “hypocrisy, bullying and even racial profiling.”
In the New South Wales parliament Thursday, Luke Foley, the leader of the opposition in the upper house, said, "The Greens party’s pursuit of Dr. Nemesh is further evidence of their obsessive hatred of the Jewish state of Israel."
