Nasser Mashni says not all of Hamas should be designated a terrorist organisation

A Palestinian community leader says a prison escapee who plotted suicide bombings in Israel is a hero and claims not all of Hamas should be designated a terrorist organisation.

The leading Palestinian spokesman in Australia has praised as a hero a terrorist who plotted suicide bombings in Israel and complained not all of Hamas should be designated a terrorist organisation.

He has also “liked” on social media a number of statements justifying the October Hamas terrorist attacks which saw 1400 Israelis killed.

Nasser Mashni is the President of the Australian Palestinian Advocacy Network, who met earlier this month with Foreign Minister Penny Wong where he was given her “deepest condolences” after the explosion at the Gaza City Hospital which killed an unknown number of Palestinian civilians.

The Palestinian community leader, who has appeared frequently in the media since Hamas attack on Israel last month has also met in recent days with the Victorian Labor MP Ged Kearney who posted a picture of them together thanking him “for sharing your stories with me”.

Australian Palestinian Advocacy Network president Nasser Mashni.

The Labor MPs decision to meet with Mr Mashni comes despite his praise for the members of Islamic Jihad which has been proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the successive Australian Governments since 2004.

In a January 2022 tweet Mr Mashni described six men who had escaped from an Israeli prison as “Palestinian hero’s”.

Among the six escapees was Zakaria Al-Zoubeidi, a leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, who according to Israeli reports was responsible for planning a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv during the Second Intifada between 2000 and 2005.

He has also admitted being behind a 2002 attack on a polling station which killed six Israelis.

Another of the escapees praised by Mr Mashni was Eham Kamamji, who as a member of the Islamic Jihad was responsible for the kidnapping and murder of an Israeli teenager shot in the head at point-blank range.

The six escapees included four other Islamic Jihad operatives accused of carrying out attacks on Israeli civilians and in one case the murder of Israeli policeman and the attempted murder of his wife.

A month later in February 2022, Mr Mashni retweeted a statement by APAN objecting to the designation of Hamas – in its entirety – as a terrorist organisation commencing “Why the Australian Government is wrong to designate all of Hamas a terrorist organisation.

In the days after Hamas attacked Israel, Mr Mashni liked a number of posts on X – formerly Twitter – which rejected the claim attacks were unprovoked including one which described them as “a logical response” to the Palestinian predicament.

An examination of Mr Mashni’s social media presence also shows he does not support a “two state solution” to the Israel-Palestine conflict but regards Israel as an illegitimate example of “settler colonialism”.

Speaking at a Melbourne rally in May 2021 Mr Mashni said told his audience “Our fight is with Zionism. It’s with imperialism. It’s with settler colonialism. It is not with Judaism”.

In 2022 he tweeted “Is there anything more futile than arguing semantics with a “liberal” Zionist. Do u believe Israel has a right to exist? I’m thinking of stubbing my big toe, at least that pain fades away. A reminder Zionists. It’s apartheid! We’re all going home! You’re anti-Palestinian”.

Mr Mashni has expressed similar sentiments on numerous occasions, such as his April 2022 statement: ”lets be clear Zionism is a settler colonialist ideology that has always asserted, advocated and killed in order for Jewish supremacy on a land of multiple cultures and religions, resulting in Apartheid.”