October 12, 2024
An ACT Greens candidate has been forced to issue a clarifying statement after a social media post in which he appeared to suggest Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah should be removed from Australia's list of proscribed terrorist organisations.
James Cruz, Greens candidate for the seat of Kurrajong, came under fire after he said on X that "more and more" people were arguing that Hezbollah should be taken off the terror list, prompting Coalition calls for the Greens to address their "growing extremism crisis".
Mr Cruz was replying to Guardian podcaster Nour Haydar, who suggested Jewish groups had led the charge for Hezbollah to be listed as a terrorist group.
Mr Cruz replied: "Remove Hezbollah from the list of terrorist organisations? You're hearing it more and more."
Amid a backlash over the post, he issued a statement saying he had only remarked that "other people have queried the listing".
"Hezbollah is a listed terrorist organisation and the Greens are not arguing to change that," Mr Cruz said. "I back that position of the Australian Greens." Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said it was "utterly extraordinary" that an endorsed Greens candidate believed the remarks were appropriate, calling on the left-wing party to dump Mr Cruz from its ticket.
"Hezbollah are proscribed in Australia and around the world for very good reason they are terrorists," he said. "Over a fourdecade reign of terror they've killed tens of thousands of innocent civilians in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and even Argentina, where they blew up a Jewish community centre in 1995, killing 84 people.
"The Greens must address their growing extremism crisis and it should start with disendorsing James Cruz."
During a recent wave of demonstrations marking one year since Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel, the Australian Federal Police targeted protesters displaying the Hezbollah flag, which is a prohibited symbol due to concerns it could ignite violence.
The furore over Mr Cruz's post came just a week out from the October 19 ACT election, which will see Chief Minister Andrew Barr pitch for another term after 23 years of Labor government.
ACT Greens leader Shane Rattenbury said the comments raised a "sensitive and complicated issue", but declined to comment further.
Greens sources told The Weekend Australian Mr Cruz's X account was recently hacked and deleted by a third party.
Conservative group Advance accused the Greens of "standing with Hezbollah and Hamas at protests", rather than acting as a "party of environmentalists".
"Not only do they stand with Hezbollah and Hamas at protests, they float changes to how those barbaric organisations are treated by our national security apparatuses," spokeswoman Sandra Bourke "The Greens aren't who they used to be, and more and more Australians are seeing it as the Greens show their true colours."
The stoush followed federal Greens deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi's refusal to declare Hamas should be dismantled.
Mr Cruz's comments surfaced the day after revelations came to light that ACT Greens candidate Harini Rangarajan had reportedly written a blog post comparing 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden to Jesus Christ.
"I've gone on to idolise several other martyrs Bhagat Singh, Husayn ibn Ali, Guru Tegh Bahadur, Che Guevara, Jesus Christ, Balachandran Prabhakaran, Joan of Arc, Osama bin Laden, etc," her post reportedly said.
In his pitch to voters Mr Cruz said he was drawn to run for the Greens because of the party's commitment to end homelessness and its recognition of housing as a fundamental human right. "Growing up in poverty and living in public housing showed me the urgent need for a society that addresses inequality and the growing housing crisis," he said.
