Defending Australia: Hamas terror ‘a test for the West’, Dave Sharma says

The ‘same principles’ followed by Western nations in response to the Russia-Ukraine war must be ­applied to the Israel-Hamas conflict, Liberal senator Dave Sharma says.

Liberal senator Dave Sharma. Picture: Martin Ollman

The “same principles” followed by Western nations in response to the Russia-Ukraine war must be ­applied to the Israel-Hamas conflict,Liberal senator Dave Sharma says, warning Australia can never be seen to “reward aggression”.

The NSW senator, who served as Australia’s ambassador to Israel until 2017, said actions such as bolstering Palestinian rights at the UN general assembly encouraged Hamas to continue its terrorism.

“Hamas, whether you like it or not, has moved the ball further down the field for Palestinian statehood in the last seven months than had happened in the previous 10 years,” he told the Defending Australia Summit in Canberra on Tuesday.

“Israel is in the dock in the International Criminal Court and International Court Justice, you’ve got European states unilaterally recognising the state of Palestine. What that does is say to Hamas: ‘Your pathway yields ­results’.”

In a video address to the summit, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the world was “grappling with the need to build a pathway out of the endless cycle of violence in the Middle East”.

“A secure and prosperous ­future for both Israelis and Palestinians will only come with a two-state solution,” she said.

When pressed on his comments that the Israel-Hamas conflict was comparable to the Russia-Ukraine war, Senator Sharma said the same principles were being tested. “Hamas committed a clear act of aggression against Israel on the 7th of October,” he said.

“Russia committed an act of ­aggression against Ukraine, commencing in February 2020. And the system that’s being tested in both of these is are we going to allow those crimes of aggression to stand? Are we going to reward the aggressors through inaction in the case of Russia-Ukraine or in a kind of morally confused fog in the case of Israel-Hamas?”

Ukrainian ambassador to Australia Vasyl Myroshnychenko, who spoke on the same panel as Senator Sharma, said the Russia-Ukraine conflict had repercussions around the world, with the threat of a nuclear attack still looming large in the minds of ­Europeans.

Ukraine Ambassador Vasyl Myroshnychenko at the Defending Australia Conference in Canberra. Picture: Martin Ollman

“There is a high risk of a ­(nuclear) accident which could ­really make parts of Europe unliveable and (Russia) uses it as leverage,” he said. “If Russia can get away with what they have in Ukraine, they will be more ­emboldened to assert themselves.”

Mr Myroshnychenko said countries urgently needed to ­invest more in defence as countries such as Russia and China posed an increasing global threat.

A former Chinese spy, identified only as Eric for his own safety, also urged Australia to stand ready to join with the US should conflict with Beijing begin.

“China feels Australia is a country without sovereignty,” he told the summit. “All they need to do is coerce Australia and Australia will stay neutral until China wins (against US) and then Australia will obey. If Australia stands by and does not help US it would be the start of Australia’s nightmare.”

Senator Wong said Chinese military operations in the Taiwan Strait were of particular concern. “We have seen large-scale Chinese military operations in the Taiwan Strait becoming a routine event. The risk of an accident, and potential escalation, is growing,” she said. “Advancing our interests requires engagement. Engagement is not concession. So Australia is working to build momentum for dialogue and preventive architecture to reduce the risks of escalation, miscalculation and catastrophic conflict.”

Senator Wong said defending Australia had become more challenging than ever and “longstanding rules are being bent, twisted or broken”.