Muslim Vote and Fatima Payman promise to keep heat on Anthony Albanese over Middle East at election
Muslim independents, Labor activists and pro-Palestine protesters will work to block Anthony Albanese’s attempts to take the Middle East off the election agenda post-ceasefire.
Muslim independents, Labor activists and pro-Palestine protesters will work to block Anthony Albanese’s attempts to take the Middle East off the election agenda post-ceasefire, as they demand Labor spend federal money on Gaza’s reconstruction and support attempts to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Prime Minister on Thursday ruled out formally recognising a Palestinian state before the next election, signalling he will back such a move only if terror group Hamas played no future role in a new nation. He also flagged the need for Palestinian “reform”, observing there hasn’t been an “election in Gaza or West Bank for almost two decades”.
But a pair of pro-Palestine independent candidates eyeing Labor ministers’ seats in western Sydney and rogue ex-ALP senator Fatima Payman said on Thursday they would not stop campaigning against the Albanese government until Israel’s democratic government was “held accountable” for alleged war crimes.
With pro-Palestine protests set to dominate major cities on the weekend, despite an end to the fighting in Gaza, the Coalition and Jewish groups are calling for an end to the weekly demonstrations, which they argue have contributed to a rise in intolerance, social division and anti-Semitism.
Mr Albanese on Thursday said, no matter the outcome of the six-week staged ceasefire process, there could be no future Palestinian state with Hamas at the heart of it. “Hamas is the enemy of the Palestinian people, not just the enemy of the state of Israel,” Mr Albanese said.
His comments come as independent candidates, backed by the Muslim Votes political movement, prepare to challenge Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke and Education Minister Jason Clare in their western Sydney seats of Watson and Blaxland at the upcoming election.
Watson candidate Ziad Basyouny said Australia should enact sanctions against Israel, and Blaxland independent candidate Ahmed Ouf said Israel must be held accountable for the “tens of thousands of lives lost, homes destroyed and the atrocities inflicted on innocent families”.
Senator Payman, who quit the ALP to form her own party, called Australia’s Voice, also urged the Albanese government to place sanctions on Israel, divest from “Israeli companies implicated in the occupation”, and support an end to the occupation of Palestinian territories.
“The Australian Labor government’s failure to take decisive action makes it complicit in enabling the ongoing genocide,” she said.
“The Australian Labor government must recognise the state of Palestine as per the Australian Labor Party platform and the will of rank-and-file Labor Party members.”
Labor Friends of Palestine spokesman Peter Moss said the Albanese government must follow the ALP constitution and fast-track formal recognition of a Palestinian state regardless of the internal governance of Gaza and the West Bank.
“Australia and the international community should apply comprehensive sanctions under international law, in line with the (International Court of Justice) July 2024 ruling, until Israel ends its illegal occupation,” Mr Moss said.
Demonstrations, sometimes attracting thousands pro-Palestine supporters, have dominated the nation’s capital cities each weekend since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, prompting Peter Dutton to criticise the Labor leader for his failure to halt the protests.
The Opposition Leader on Thursday accused Labor of giving “hope to a terrorist organisation” that Australia will deliver a “political win” to Hamas as a result of the October 7 attack by recognising a Palestinian state.
“The fact that the Prime Minister wasn’t able to stand up and to stare down those people who have been involved in these dreadful protests is a very poor reflection on his weak leadership,” Mr Dutton said.
Liberal senator Dave Sharma, a former ambassador to Israel, said Hamas could not be allowed to play a role in a Palestinian state, and criticised Labor for allowing anti-Semitism to be “supercharged” by being too “permissive towards protests and lawlessness that have crossed the line”.
“It is well beyond time for state governments to reconsider their approval for what are regular weekly pro-Palestinian protests,” Senator Sharma said.
“These protests disrupt business, divert police resources, and their management comes at significant expense to the taxpayer.
“They also frequently degenerate into anti-Semitism, and their hostile and vitriolic slogans frequently make large swathes of our community feel unsafe.”
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin condemned the continued protests after the ceasefire, declaring there was no reason for the “processions of hate”, which drain public funds, to continue.
“It confirms what everyone knew, which is that these protests were never about stopping the war, or even concern for Palestinian civilian casualties,” he said.
Mr Ryvchin’s fellow ECAJ co-convener, Peter Wertheim, said the Palestinians needed to “start acting like a state” before having their nationhood recognised by Australia, by bringing about an end to “violence, corruption, incompetence and cronyism (and) no more indoctrinating Palestinian children at school or in public with hatred for Jews”.
“Any Palestinian state that would emerge without a comprehensive peace with Israel would necessarily become a base for conducting further terrorism and war against it, which would produce more bloodshed and suffering,” Mr Wertheim said. “No responsible person could support such an option.”
Islamic Council of Victoria spokesman Adel Salman said protests would continue even after the ceasefire, declaring activists would continue “turning up until there is justice for Palestinians and an end to the occupation”.
“The intention is for these protests to continue until there is justice for Palestinians. It would be shameful for the world community to look away and think the Palestinian issue has now been resolved,” Mr Salman said.
Socialist activist Josh Lees, who has galvanised pro-Palestinian protests through Sydney’s CBD, said he would continue to march to demand a “end to the illegal occupation of Palestinian territories”.
“We will continue to demand that the Australian government should end its support for Israel and its military ties with this state,” he said.
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