Jewish Labor MP Josh Burns condemns UN vote on Palestine
Israeli forces are striking Gaza after the UN vote supporting future Palestinian membership, while Labor MP Josh Burns and the Coalition have blasted the Albanese government’s vote in favour.
One of Labor’s most prominent Jewish MPs, Josh Burns, has blasted the Albanese government’s vote in favour of future Palestinian UN membership, as has the Coalition, and said it will further isolate Jewish Australians facing anti-Semitism in the wake of the war in Gaza.
The UN General Assembly voted by 143 to nine, with 25 countries abstaining, to make Palestine eventually the 194th full member of the UN, a largely symbolic move almost certain to be blocked in the Security Council where the US, which voted against the resolution, wields a veto.
Israeli forces struck Gaza again on Saturday after renewed US criticism over its conduct of the war, the UN vote on Palestinian membersip and a UN warning of “epic” disaster if an outright invasion of crowded Rafah city occurs.
The Israeli Defence Forces tonight estimated about 300,000 Palestinians have evacuated from southern Gaza’s Rafah to a designated “humanitarian zone” in the al-Mawasi and Khan Younis areas, since an evacuation order on Monday, amid an ongoing operation against Hamas in Rafah.
A US State Department report on Friday local time said Israel likely violated norms on international law in its use of weapons from the United States – its main military supplier – but it did not find enough evidence to block shipments.
In Australia, Mr Burns said on Instagram that while the UN motion had been watered down to not give Palestine state recognition, his government had gone too far by voting yes while terror group Hamas are still in a position of power in Gaza.
Mr Burns – who recently visited the site of the October 7 massacres in Israel – said Australia should have abstained instead of voting yes.
“Hamas are still holding 130 hostages, and remains the governing authority in Gaza,” he said.
“The reaction from the Jewish people will rightly question the timing of this vote.
“Antisemitism is on the rise in Australia and the decision (to vote yes at the UN) will make Jewish Australians feel more isolated as they remain gravely concerned for the hostages in Gaza.”
Mr Burns referenced Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s own words in which she said Australia would only progress to support Palestinian statehood if Hamas played no role in governing it and there was a functioning Palestinian Authority that was no threat to Israel.
“In my opinion, these condition have not been met yet,” Mr Burns said.
“An abstention would have signalled we’re open to further recognition but that we acknowledge the short term hurdles that need to be overcome in order to achieve lasting peace.
Israel strikes Gaza after UN vote on Palestine
Israeli strikes hit Gaza on Saturday despite renewed US criticism over its conduct of the war and a UN warning of “epic” disaster if an outright invasion of crowded Rafah city occurs.
AFP journalists reported the strikes in various sectors of the coastal territory on Saturday, where the UN says aid is blocked after Israeli troops defied international opposition and entered eastern Rafah this week, effectively shutting two crossings.
A long-awaited US State Department report on Friday said Israel likely violated norms on international law in its use of weapons from the United States – its main military supplier – but it did not find enough evidence to block shipments.
The Biden administration had already paused delivery of 3500 bombs as Israel appeared ready to attack Rafah.
Israel’s military operations around Rafah had already had a severe impact on Gaza civilians, UN agencies said.
The latest Israeli evacuation order, which some residents told AFP they had received via text and audio messages to their phones on Saturday, comes days after Israeli tanks and troops entered Rafah, the Palestinian territory’s southernmost city, and seized a key crossing on the Egyptian border.
Residents and displaced Gazans were told to leave parts of Rafah’s Shabura refugee camp, administrative area, Jenina and Khirbet al-Adas neighbourhoods, and head to the coastal “humanitarian area” in Al-Mawasi.
Aid groups and UN officials have warned that the area was already overcrowded and not ready to receive an influx of people.
Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee posted the order in Arabic on social media platform X, saying these areas had “witnessed Hamas terrorist activities in recent days and weeks”.
More than 100,000 people have fled Rafah since Israel’s military on Monday issued an evacuation order affecting the city’s east, the United Nations said.
Many have returned to the city of Khan Younis, where intense fighting raged earlier this year, or are crowded into shelters along the coast in the central town of Deir al-Balah.
Displaced civilian Malek al-Zaza said he had found “no food” and “no water” in central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp.
“No one is asking about us, no one is looking for us ... we only have God looking out for us,” he said.
The Rafah crossing is the only one normally used for deliveries of fuel, and the United Nations said the resulting exhaustion of stocks inside Gaza had effectively halted aid agency operations.
Israel said it had delivered 200,000 litres of fuel to Gaza on Friday through Kerem Shalom – the amount the United Nations says is needed every day to keep aid trucks moving and hospital generators working.
The Israeli army said four soldiers were killed on Friday when an “explosive device” went off near a school in Gaza City, in the territory’s north.
The deaths took to 271 the number of Israeli troops killed in the Gaza campaign since the start of its ground offensive on October 27.
Israeli and Hamas negotiating teams left Cairo on Thursday after what Egypt called a “two-day round” of indirect negotiations on the terms of a Gaza truce.
Hamas said Israel’s rejection of a truce plan submitted by mediators at the talks had sent the negotiations back to “square one”.
UN vote ‘sends wrong message to Hamas’: Spender
Independent MP Allegra Spender has concurred with Labor MP Josh Burns’ stance in Australia’s handling of the UN resolution vote.
“We all want to see a lasting peace in the Middle East and I continue to support a two state solution with self determination for both Israeli and Palestinian people,“ the Teals MP, who represents the eastern Sydney seat of Wentworth, said in a statement.
“But there is a long way to go to achieve this and significant hurdles to overcome.
“Australia’s focus should be on securing the release of all hostages, making sure aid reaches civilians who desperately need it, and finding a path to peace in the current conflict.
“I do not feel that Australia’s vote at the UN has progressed this cause,” Ms Spender said.
“I am deeply concerned that this sends the wrong message to Hamas, who are committed to the destruction of Israel.”
‘Stabbed in the heart’
Anti-Defamation Commission chair Dvir Abramovich said he felt “stabbed in the heart” by Australia’s United Nations vote and backed Labor MP Josh Burns’ stance.
“I wholeheartedly agree with Josh Burns that during a national crisis of skyrocketing anti-Semitism that is spiralling out of control across our nation, when we as Jews are facing a hurricane of vicious hate, this shameful decision will only heighten the sense of abandonment that the Jewish community feels and embolden those home-grown anti-Israel radicals who have turned our university campuses into war zones and are harassing and threatening young Jewish people on a daily basis,” Dr Abramovich said in a statement to The Australian.
“This vote, which undermines the peace process and the chances for a deal for the 132 hostages held by Hamas and which gives a prize to terrorists is an insult to the victims of the October 7 atrocities and to their families and will long be remembered.
“It could not have come at a worst time and sends the wrong message about this government’s commitment to a negotiated final status settlement for a two-state solution.”
Dr Abramovich’s cousin, police inspector Chen Amir, was killed in a Hamas terrorist attack in Tel Aviv in August 2023.
His family in Kibbutz Reim,were forced to hide in a safe room as terrorists stalked and killed their neighbours.
US slams Israel’s use of American weapons in Gaza
The United States has issued a criticism of Israel’s use of American weapons in the Gaza war, after Israeli forces intensified operations around the southern city of Rafah, where more than a million displaced people are sheltering.
Israel’s main international ally said in a report released on Friday local time that it was “reasonable to assess” that Israel has used weapons in ways inconsistent with international humanitarian law during the seven-month war.
But the long-awaited State Department report said it could not reach “conclusive findings” and stopped short of blocking weapons shipments.
The State Department finally submitted its report two days after President Joe Biden publicly threatened to withhold certain bombs and artillery shells if Israel went ahead with an assault on the packed city of Rafah.
The report does not affect that decision, with the White House reiterating on Friday that it was concerned about Israeli military action around the southern Gaza city, where some 1.4 million Palestinians have taken shelter.
Mr Biden, facing a furor over the war from within his Democratic Party months before elections, had in February issued a memorandum known as NSM-20 that asked countries that receive US military aid to make “credible and reliable” assurances they are complying with human rights laws.
Israel – which launched a war against Hamas after the militants staged the deadliest ever attack on the country on October 7 – made assurances to the United States and “identified a number of processes for ensuring compliance that are embedded at all levels of their military decision-making,” said the public version of the report, which was submitted to congress.
“The nature of the conflict in Gaza makes it difficult to assess or reach conclusive findings on individual incidents,” it said.
“Nevertheless, given Israel’s significant reliance on US-made defence articles, it is reasonable to assess that defence articles covered under NSM-20 have been used by Israeli security forces since October 7 in instances inconsistent with its IHL obligations or with established best practices for mitigating civilian harm,” it said, referring to international humanitarian law.
The report also said that while the Israel Defence Forces have “the knowledge, experience and tools” to minimize harm, “the results on the ground, including high levels of civilian casualties, raise substantial questions as to whether the IDF is using them effectively in all cases’’.
But despite some “serious concerns’’, the report said that all countries receiving US military aid had made assurances credible and reliable enough “to allow the provision of defence articles covered under NSM-20 to continue’’.
A US official described the report as a snapshot and said the State Department would keep monitoring the use of weapons.
The US has warned that the reputational damage Israel will suffer if it storms a city where an estimated 1.4 million civilians are sheltering will far outweigh any possible military gain.
The Israeli leader has said repeatedly that Israel cannot defeat Hamas and eliminate any possibility of the militant group repeating its bloody October 7 attack without sending ground troops into Rafah in search of remaining Hamas fighters.
Earlier this week, Israeli ground troops seized eastern areas of the city, including the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza, but they have yet to enter its main built-up area.
AFP journalists witnessed strikes in several parts of Gaza early on Saturday, after reporting artillery strikes on Rafah a day earlier.
The war began with Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 34,943 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
Membership ‘not a matter of if, but when’
Industry and Science Minister Ed Husic backed Australia’s United Nations vote and said Palestine becoming an official member of the UN was a “matter of if, not when”.
“Last night, this important step was taken,” Mr Husic wrote online.
“Australia along with a vast majority of the UN General Assembly backed a resolution to grant rights and privileges to Palestine.
“The resolution urged the UN Security Council to “favourably reconsider” its request for Palestine to become the 194th member of the international body.
“Not a matter of “if” but “when”.”
Australia has long advocated for a two-state solution to deliver lasting peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians.
— Senator Penny Wong (@SenatorWong) May 11, 2024
At the UNGA, 143 countries including Australia voted for a resolution to grant the Palestinian mission a modest extension of participation rights. pic.twitter.com/Gu2j4KI0r6
Vote ‘not about recognising Palestine’: Wong
Earlier, Senator Wong said Australia voted “yes” to greater recognition of Palestine as part of broader support for a two-state solution.
The Foreign Minister said the resolution was only the “extension of some modest additional rights” for Palestine to participate in UN forums.
“I want to be extremely clear again that this vote is not about whether Australia recognises Palestine,” Senator Wong said.
“We will do that when we think the time is right.
“What I do say is that Australia no longer believes recognition can only come at the end of the peace process – it could occur as part of the peace process.”
She said the vote did not give Palestine voting rights at the General Assembly, nor did it give Palestine membership of the UN.
“What it did do, consistent with the two-state solution, was to express the General Assembly’s aspiration for Palestinian membership of the United Nations, noting that this must be recommended by the United Nations Security Council, consistent with the UN Charter.
“This resolution enables expanded Palestinian participation in the United Nations, and in doing this, the international community is setting out its expectations that parties resume negotiations for tangible progress.”
“It didn’t indicate the United Nations or Australia recognise a Palestinian state.
“I want to say this is a clear rejection of the goals and methods of Hamas.
“A two-state solution, both Israel and Palestine, is the opposite of what Hamas wants.
“Hamas does not want peace and it does not want long-term security for the state of Israel.
“The rejection of Hamas is among the reasons why Australia voted for this resolution.”
Addressing Australia’s Jewish community, Senator Wong said she understood there was distress and isolation.
“You are valued members of our community. You have a right to be safe, you have a right to feel safe and anti-Semitism has no place anywhere.
“This resolution that we have supported is about long-term peace and security for both Israelis and Palestinians. I truly believe that the only path to securing peace and security for Israel is with the establishment of two states.”
She said the next step was to see an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” negotiated.
Australia’s ambassador to the United Nations James Larsen said Canberra had been “frustrated” by a “lack of progress” and wanted to signal “unwavering support for the two-state solution of Israel and Palestine living side-by-side in peace and security within recognised borders”.
“There is a role for the international community to build momentum, set expectations that parties resume negotiations for tangible progress and to support efforts for a political process. Australia no longer accepts that recognition can only come at the end of the peace process”.
“Australia has long believed a two-state solution offers the only hope for breaking the endless cycle of violence and achieving lasting peace,” he added.
The US voted against the measure along with Israel, Hungary, Argentina, Czechia, Micronesia, Nauru, Papua New Guines and Palau. Canada and the UK abstained.
The US had already vetoed a similar measure to grant Palestine, which since 2012 has been recognised as an ‘observer state’ by the UN, statehood on 18th April.
US deputy ambassador Robert Wood said the US backed a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine but the time wasn’t right. “It remains the US view that unilateral measures at the UN and on the ground will not advance this goal,” he said.
“Our vote does not reflect opposition to Palestinian statehood. We’ve been very clear that we support it and seek to advance it meaningfully. Instead, it is an acknowledgment that statehood will come only from a process that involves direct negotiations between the parties,” he added.
The vote came against a backdrop of a growing rift between the US and Israel over Jerusalem’s attack on Rafah in southern Gaza, which the Biden administration has argued risked killing too many civilians, threatening to block future weapons shipments to Israel.
President Joe Biden delivered a rare rebuke to Israel in an interview on CNN earlier this week, declaring a full-scale invasion of Rafah would cross a US ‘red line’ that would jeopardise the transfer of certain artillery shells and bombs to Israel.
This is the most hostile policy act of an Australian Government to the State
— Scott Morrison (@ScoMo30) May 10, 2024
of Israel in our history. Such recognition must only occur where there is agreement and when Palestine can be a functional state. It is currently governed by terrorists. It has been taken at a time when… pic.twitter.com/MtLvXNJiAJ
Morrison slams ‘hostile policy act’
Former prime minister Scott Morrison dubbed the nation’s controversial UN vote as “the most hostile policy act of an Australian Government to the State of Israel in our history”.
“Such recognition must only occur where there is agreement and when Palestine can be a functional state,” Mr Morrison wrote on X.
“It is currently governed by terrorists.
“It has been taken at a time when Jewish Australians confront a disgraceful wave of anti-Semitism and Israel is fighting in self defence for its very existence, against Hamas – a recognised terrorist organisation in Australia – that attacked its people on October 7 and seeks to destroy Israel and its people.
“This is what the terrorists wanted. This is why Hamas attacked Israel.
“Terribly saddened and disappointed.”
He followed the statement with hashtags of #October7 and #NeverAgain.
Australia’s vote ‘advancing terrorists’ wishes’
Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham said Australia’s vote at the United Nations General Assembly was only “advancing the wishes of terrorists”.
“Labor’s support for the resolution sends a shameful message that violence and terrorism get results ahead of negotiation and diplomacy,” Senator Birmingham said.
“This resolution, supported by Australia due to the change in position taken by the Albanese government, creates the wrong incentives and risks further harming prospects for long term peace.
“It is evident now that the Prime Minister has misled Australians for weeks by saying he hasn’t changed Australia’s position.
“Clearly the speech Minister Wong made last month was Labor limbering up to change Australia’s foreign policy position and to further widen the gulf between Australia and important allies.”
He said the government had “proven that they lack the courage to stand against pressure” and their vote was “also out of step with key partners”.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong had not earlier revealed how Australia would vote. “I understand in this debate that people have such strong views on both sides, that any action or words by government is construed as either being at one end or the other of this debate,” she said.
Dramatic scenes amid UN vote
The vote occurred Friday morning (Saturday AEST) local time in New York and the debate is expected to be taken up again on Monday, given the lengthy list of speakers.
In dramatic scenes a furious Israeli ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan put a copy of the UN charter into a paper shredder while holding up a photograph of Hamas’s leader Yahya Sinwar with the word ‘president’.
“You are shredding the UN charter with your own hands … That’s what you’re doing, shredding the UN charter. Shame on you,” he told the chamber, adding the UN would be letting a “terror state … into its ranks” that would be led by the “Hitler of our times”.
He accused UN member nations of not mentioning Hamas’ October 7th attack in southern Israel, which killed 1,200 people, and seeking “to reward modern-day Nazis with rights and privileges.”
The ambassador said if an election were held today, Hamas would win, warning members were “about to grant privileges and rights to the future terror state of Hamas.”
Under the UN Charter, prospective members of the United Nations must be “peace-loving” and the Security Council must recommend their admission to the General Assembly for final approval. Palestine became a U.N. non-member observer state in 2012.
The vote reflected the wide global support for full membership of Palestine in the UN as many countries have expressed outrage at the escalating death toll in Gaza, which Palestinian authorities put at over 34,00, and fears of a major Israeli offensive in Rafah, a southern city where about 1.3 million Palestinians have sought refuge
The renewed push for full Palestinian membership in the UN comes as the war in Gaza has put the more than 75-year-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict at centre stage.
Before the vote, Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian UN Ambassador, told the assembly in an emotional speech that “no words can capture what such loss and trauma signifies for Palestinians, their families, communities and for our national as a whole.”
Motion ‘counterproductive to peace’
On Friday, Jewish groups labelled the motion “counter-productive to peace”.
“It rewards Hamas violence and removes any incentive for the Palestinian Authority to implement the vital reforms required to prevent Palestine, once it emerges, from being a corrupt terrorist state,” Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler said.
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry wrote in a letter to Foreign Minister Penny Wong this week that “voting to admit Palestine as a full member when no functioning state exists is inconsistent with the past practice of Australian governments concerning the criteria for recognition”.
Senator Wong is understood to have had a phone call on Monday night with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa to discuss Palestinian statehood.
“Countries are still negotiating … there is a lot of discussion,” Senator Wong said on Friday.
“We will look at what the actual meaning (of) the resolution is,” she added.
“We are focused on the situation on the ground, we want a humanitarian ceasefire, we want the release of hostages, we want to increase humanitarian aid.”
The UN action comes as Israel launched fresh strikes in the Gaza Strip on Friday after negotiators who had been pursuing a long-stalled truce deal left talks in Cairo without having secured a deal.
Artillery salvos hit Rafah on the territory’s southern border with Egypt, while airstrikes and fighting was reported in Gaza City further north.
Israeli and Hamas negotiating teams left Cairo overnight on Thursday after what the Egyptian hosts described as a “two-day round” of indirect negotiations on the terms of a Gaza truce, according to Egyptian intelligence-linked Al-Qahera News.
Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip and whose unprecedented October 7 attacks on Israel sparked the war, said its delegation had left for Qatar, home to the Palestinian militant group’s political leadership. It said after submitting its ceasefire plan on Monday, the “ball was now completely in the hands” of Israel.
With AP
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