Why eliminating Hamas offers best chance at peace in Mid-East

Israeli soldiers working on tanks in southern Israel amid continuing battles between Israel and the militant group Hamas.

Foreign Minister Senator Penny Wong often says we have to deal with the world “as it is, not as we would wish it to be”. For the most part, she is correct. Quite obviously, Australia cannot solely engage with countries that meet the high expectations of human rights, labour rights, environmental standards or the many other attributes we seek to hold ourselves to.

However, when it comes to the parts of the world where we would wish things to be different, there are two distinctly different sides to the coin. There are things we can live with, and things we cannot. To paraphrase the serenity prayer, governments require the wisdom – and strength – to know the difference.

Hamas is something the civilised world cannot live with. No nation could live with a neighbouring government that so explicitly sponsored the raping, maiming, murdering and kidnapping of innocent civilians, just as Hamas did on October 7.

The cowardice of Hamas in targeting Israeli civilians in Israel is compounded as it hides behind Palestinian civilians in Gaza, ruthlessly exposing them to death as human shields. Hamas tactics also complicate Israel’s war effort, resulting in errors such as the shooting of three hostages by the Israel Defence Forces on Friday night, which followed the ambush and killing by Hamas of nine IDF personnel in Gaza 48 hours earlier.

Spending last week in Israel, listening to survivors, relatives of victims, responders, academics and representatives of both the Israeli government and Palestinian Authority, has only reinforced to me that Israel’s defence of itself in the face of such evil is no less than Australians would expect of our own government if we found ourselves in such circumstances.

Yet the Albanese government last week inexplicably voted at the United Nations for an unconditional ceasefire, in a motion that failed to even mention Hamas, let alone condemn its atrocities. Such a ceasefire would enable Hamas time to regroup, rearm and repeat the most appalling atrocities against Jews, Israel and humankind. The exact repetition of the barbarism the Hamas leadership has publicly committed to inflicting again and again.

While amendments to the resolution may have been supported by Australia to add the condemnation of Hamas and recognise the atrocities of October 7, they were not only inadequate but also defeated. By not remaining resolute and insisting on the removal of Hamas, the Albanese government demonstrated a lack a strength. Labor’s weakness stood in stark contrast with our AUKUS allies.

Simon Birmingham in southern Israel.

It is easy to say Hamas should be removed. But it is hard to achieve. It takes strength to support this objective through to the end. Labor under Albanese and Wong has shown it lacks this strength and, in doing so, has exposed Australia and Australians to risk.

But it requires real moral clarity to stand up and back a continuance of a war where Hamas puts innocent Palestinians on the frontline as human shields.

Wanting to see a ceasefire is understandable. Every loss of innocent life is a tragedy, be they Israeli, Palestinian or otherwise. In Gaza the tragedy is brought home by traditional and social media more frequently and explicitly than any other war.

We must maintain expectations of Israel to act with regard to international law, including making humanitarian assistance available. These are messages I and my parliamentary colleagues conveyed while in Jerusalem. But in defending the need for Israel to finish the job in removing Hamas, we also have a duty to explain to those concerned by the loss of life that this is a war unlike any other.

Following Israel’s complete withdrawal from Gaza and Hamas’s election in 2007, Hamas has spent 16 years preparing to wage urban warfare of enduring scale, complexity and intensity. Its tunnel network is claimed to be bigger than the New York subway system and run up to six stories deep. That Hamas is hiding in and under hospitals, schools, UN agencies and other urban infrastructure is well documented.

The army of fighters Hamas has established is estimated at 25,000. But contrary to the rules of war, it does not distinguish themselves from the civilian population; its terrorist fighters hide amongst the people it claims to act for and then ambushes or attacks Israeli soldiers. Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad continues to fire missiles, some of which misfire and add to the toll of innocent Palestinians.

The United Nations General Assembly voted on a non-binding resolution demanding “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza.

Hamas makes the task for Israel of defeating it without inflicting civilian casualties as difficult as possible. It not only uses Palestinians as human shields but does so to prey on the compassion of countries such as Australia. By voting for this UN motion we have fallen right into Hamas’s playbook. But a ceasefire that fails to require Hamas to surrender and disarm, along with releasing the 132 hostages it has now held for more than two months, will doom history to repeat itself, just as Hamas wishes.

It is these very circumstances that demand strong leadership – not a joint statement as a smokescreen or diversion from a weak and inadequate UN vote.

Many may view the war between Hamas and Israel as a remote conflict, just as some view Russia’s war against Ukraine as far away and not relevant to their lives or to Australia. The truth is different, with both wars having implications for Australia and degrees of interconnectivity.

Terrorism knows no boundaries. ASIO is explicit in the threat religiously and ideologically motivated extremism can pose to the safety of Australians. Hamas and its bedfellows, including Iran, would like nothing more than for the attacks waged against Israel on October 7 to inspire attacks against other liberal democracies, including Australia. If Hamas survives the war it started with Israel, extremists will be further emboldened to attack countries with values like Australia’s. If Hamas survives, Iran and other autocracies will be happy to see the mayhem spread. The prospect of Hamas surviving with a military, terrorist and governance capability in Gaza can only be enhanced by the type of one-sided ceasefire the Albanese government has now voted for.

Penny Wong

Already Australia is called upon to act in defence of our interests as a trading nation threatened by the Iranian backed Houthi rebels firing rockets from their base in Yemen against international shipping in the Red Sea. Hamas’s actions have spurred increased activity by Hezbollah. The common link is Iran, who is also backing Russia in its war with Ukraine.

There are some things worth fighting for. Since October 7 young people have returned to Israel in droves to take up their military duties. The willingness to self-sacrifice in defence of their freedoms has been humbling to see and discuss with them, their families and leaders. As a fellow liberal democracy, we owe them our unambiguous support in defence of the freedoms we all value. That support is even more important when it becomes harder to give.

Senator Wong is also fond of saying how Israel conducts its self-defence matters. The Coalition believes how Australia conducts itself in the face of terrorist attacks and attacks on the international rules-based order also matters. In making yet another unilateral shift in Australia’s position, the Labor government has failed to stand up for Australia’s national interest.

Hamas is a threat that Australia cannot live with.

Simon Birmingham is shadow minister for foreign affairs.