MPs say ‘no place in parliament’ for candidate who celebrated October 7 attacks

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has called for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to refuse to direct preferences to any election candidate who celebrated the October 7 attacks after a doctor running against Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke was exposed for sharing social media posts glorifying the Hamas-led massacre.

As teal MPs declared there was no place in parliament for someone such as western Sydney GP Ziad Basyouny, who is running for the western Sydney seat of Watson, Burke said that he condemned the October 7 attacks and anyone who celebrated the killing of an estimated 1200 people in Israel.

A Facebook page in Dr Ziad Basyouny’s name shared the message about October 7.Credit: Peter Rae

This masthead revealed on Thursday that Basyouny shared a Facebook post five days after October 7 that portrayed the attacks as a dream come true and appeared to glorify Hamas’ use of paragliders to breach the Israel-Gaza border and launch its massacre.

Basyouny broke his silence on the matter on Thursday afternoon to say that his sharing of the post should not be seen as an endorsement of violence against innocent people.

“As a doctor, as a Muslim, as a human, killing civilians is never right,” he said.

Basyouny, whose candidacy was officially endorsed just days ago by the newly formed The Muslim Vote organisation, declined to comment further.

In a subsequent post on social media, Basyouny said: “I support the inherent right of Palestinians to defend their land, but I do not support the attacks on civilians … Palestinian resistance pre-dates Hamas, their struggle has been ongoing for decades and I support the freedom of the Palestinians.”

Dutton told reporters that Albanese “needs to stand up and say he will not accept or give preferences to this independent candidate who has sought to support the glorification of the slaughter of 1200 people and the October 7 attacks”.

Describing Basyouny’s posts as “a very serious matter”, Dutton told 2GB radio that “people of that character don’t deserve to be in the Australian parliament”.

A Facebook post shared by Ziad Basyouny in the days after the October 7 attacks.

After initially declining to comment on Basyouny’s posts, Burke said: “I’ve repeatedly condemned the atrocities of October 7 and anyone celebrating them.

“I find it bewildering that anyone is checking to find out if I still hold that position – of course I do.”

The Muslim Vote, created to support independent MPs running on a pro-Palestine platform, officially endorsed Basyouny’s candidacy in an Instagram post over the weekend.

The group did not respond to queries about Basyouny’s post and whether he retained the organisation’s support.

A separate group, Muslim Votes Matter, declined to comment when asked whether it was willing to endorse any candidates who had backed Hamas or celebrated the October 7 attacks.

A spokesperson said the group would not endorse any candidates until after the federal election is called.

Labor sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, argued that Dutton’s argument was moot because an independent MP would rely on preferences from the Coalition, not Labor, to unseat an incumbent such as Burke.

Independent MP Allegra Spender, whose eastern suburbs electorate of Wentworth includes a large Jewish community, responded to the revelations by saying: “There should be no place in our parliament for someone who celebrates the murder of civilians.”

Fellow independent MP Monique Ryan, the member for Kooyong, said: “Hamas is a terrorist organisation. We can’t have people in the Australian parliament who support terrorist organisations.”

Peak bodies the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, the Australian Muslim Advocacy Network and the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network did not respond to requests for comment about Basyouny’s posts.

Colin Rubenstein, executive director of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, described Basyouny’s Facebook post as “appalling” and called on him to apologise.

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