I’ve seen the evil done by Hamas. Israel has every right to defeat them

I’ve seen some shocking things in my life as a former police officer and as a Home Affairs Minister. But this Hamas footage shakes you to the core, Peter Dutton writes.

Almost ten months have passed since Hamas’ barbaric terrorist attack on Israel.

This week, I travelled to Israel to get a better understanding of what happened on October 7 last year – a day of depravity, that was the biggest attack against Jewish people since six million people were murdered in the Holocaust.

I spoke with survivors and former hostages. One woman told me of her harrowing account of being held in Hamas’ tunnels, her countless sleepless nights, and the cruelty of her captors.

I met with families who lost those dearest to them, or whose loved ones are still being held hostage. There was a father who spoke so proudly of his son who remains in captivity.

Kibbutz Nir Oz resident Hadas Kalderon whose children were taken hostage, and mother and niece killed breaks down in tears while looking through the burnt out home of her late mother Rina Sutzkever.

There was a son who dreams of being reunited with his father. There was a man who prays he will see his brother and nephew again. As you read these words, Hamas still holds more than 100 hostages.

I visited a kibbutz and the site of the Nova music festival where innocent people were butchered.

I was also shown 47 minutes of horrific, heartbreaking and uncensored footage – taken from body cams, dashcams, mobile phones and CCTV – of the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7. I’ve seen some shocking things in my life as a former police officer on the beat and as a Home Affairs Minister who handled terrorism and child exploitation cases. But this footage shakes you to the core.

If the anti-Israel protesters who march in the streets of democracies around the world and serve as Hamas’ useful cheer squads watched even just a few minutes of this footage, I believe many would down their hate-filled placards in horror.

A visitor mourns at a memorial for people who were taken hostage or killed in the Hamas attack on the Supernova music festival on October 7, at the site of the festival near Kibbutz Reim in southern Israel on May 13, 2024. Picture: AFP

On October 7, the monsters of Hamas acted with glee as they tormented their victims. They weaponised rape. They tortured and mutilated children, women and men. They slaughtered 1,200 people in what was the greatest loss of Jewish life on a single day since the Holocaust. And Hamas vowed to repeat their savagery many times over until Israel is annihilated.

The world must never forget what happened.

I also travelled to Israel because, beyond my words of support for Israelis since October 7, I wanted to show that I stand with Israel, that the Coalition stands with Israel, and that Australia stands with its ally. I was able to do that in meetings with Israel’s President Isaac Herzog; the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his key advisers; Foreign Minister Israel Katz; and other government officials.

Two days before I arrived, a rocket attack – allegedly fired by Hezbollah from Lebanon on the Golan Heights – hit a soccer field and killed 12 children and teenagers.

About a week before that, Yemen’s Houthis conducted a drone attack on Tel Aviv which killed one and injured others.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton in Israel meeting with the Israeli foreign minister and other officials. Picture: X/@PeterDuttonMP

In April, the Iranian regime launched hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel, most of which were thankfully intercepted.

Yet even today – after the barbarism of October 7, after these events, and as Hamas refuses to release the remaining hostages – there are leaders in the West and in Australia telling Israel to show restraint and to not look back in anger. They demand standards of Israel which they would never expect of other countries – indeed their own – if faced with similar circumstances.

Israel has every right to defend its territory and its people. Israel has every right to defeat Hamas in Gaza so the terrorists can no longer harm Israelis or the Palestinian people. Israel has every right to respond militarily to the existential threats it faces.

The Iranian regime and its sponsored proxies – Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis – all want to destroy Israel and to drive the Jewish people into the sea.

But they never will.

During my visit, I saw the Israeli spirit of strength, solidarity and survival. That same spirit has seen the Jewish people overcome persecution, dispossession, exile and massacre throughout history. And that same spirit will see the Jewish people today – in Israel, in Australia, and around the world – prevail over present ordeals.

This is an important time for leaders in democracies around the world to act with moral courage. To speak up with moral clarity to disarm the anti-Semitic propaganda peddled by the enemies of Israel. And to distinguish the lawful from the lawless, civilisation from barbarism, and good from evil.

My trip to Israel has not only reinforced the importance of standing with our ally in its darkest hours. It has also reinforced the duty that democratic citizens have in turning the tide of anti-Semitism – wherever we find it and whatever form it takes.

Peter Dutton is Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia