Greens' new MP in storm on Israel

Mr Parker, who narrowly won the Sydney seat of Balmain from Labor's Verity Firth, yesterday did not deny claims he made sweeping remarks about Jews in an interview with online publication NewMatilda last week.

But Mr Howes, the national secretary of the Australian Workers Union, yesterday reaffirmed to The Australian that Mr Parker had denied making the comments when the union leader confronted him about the original NewMatilda article.

Mr Howes had aimed to blast Mr Parker in an opinion piece published in the Sunday Telegraph over language he deemed "abhorrent".

In the NewMatilda article, journalist Antony Loewenstein had quoted Mr Parker as saying the boycott, divestment and sanctions policy (BDS) against Israel supported by NSW Greens had made many Jewish people unreasonable, and even "progressive Jews" had failed to have a moderate response. "These Jews provide cover for extreme actions if they occur," Mr Parker was reported saying in NewMatilda.

"If there's a sniff of you being critical of Israel, such Jews will attack you and cut you loose."

When Mr Howes called to check with Mr Parker about whether the quotes were accurate before publishing his column, Mr Parker told him they were not and he had been misquoted.

"He told me he never said it," Mr Howes wrote in his Sunday Telegraph column.

When informed yesterday that Mr Parker had subsequently not denied making the statement, Mr Howes told The Australian: "Look, Jamie could be lying to me. I don't know; I hope not".

Yesterday, Loewenstein published an article in NewMatilda saying he stood by the accuracy of the quotes of Mr Parker.

"I stand by my original story 110 per cent," he told The Australian.

Loewenstein added in his retort in NewMatilda that he had taken accurate notes of the interview and checked the quotes with the Greens MP before publishing.

"In the case of Parker, I read back his quotes to confirm what he said," Loewenstein wrote.

"He was happy for me to publish them."

Mr Parker refused repeated requests from The Australian to discuss the matter, but Greens spokeswoman Susie Gemmell forwarded a statement he had provided to NewMatilda.

In the statement, Mr Parker does not specifically deny the accuracy of the quotes as attributed to him by Loewenstein.

But he says: "Certain quotes are attributed to me which do not reflect the language that I have always used in relation to the conflict in the Middle East."

The controversy surrounding Mr Parker is the second to engulf a NSW Green in weeks.

The Greens candidate for the Sydney seat of Marrickville, Fiona Byrne, narrowly lost to incumbent Labor MP Carmel Tebbutt after The Australian revealed she had twice made misleading statements about her support for the BDS campaign, and her plans to address a pro-Palestinian rally under the banner of fighting "Israeli apartheid".