Election 2025: Adam Bandt says Hamas’ fate in Palestinian hands, despite executions

The Greens leader’s latest comment saw him accused of ‘exploiting’ rather than supporting Palestinians.

Greens leader Adam Bandt at Hyde Park in Perth on Tuesday. Picture: Colin Murty

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Greens leader Adam Bandt says it will be up to Palestinians to determine what role Hamas holds in their future beyond the current conflict, despite the terrorist organisation’s brutal executions of Palestinian protesters in recent days.

Asked in Perth on Tuesday about Hamas’s future role in Gaza, following the organisation’s crackdown on the thousands of Gazans who protested against the group last week which left at least six people dead, Mr Bandt said it would be a matter for Palestinians.

“We’ve said very clearly, what Australia has to do is support Palestinians and Israelis to have their rights of self-determination under international law respected.

“Clearly, the people of the region will express their preferences about who’s involved in the future and what happens going forward,” he said.

“Our role should be to ensure that the killing stops and to then ensure that there is a just and lasting peace … and that includes for both Israelis, as well as for Palestinians. And that’s got to be on terms that work for them.”

Mr Bandt on Monday did not mention Hamas by name when he criticised Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israeli government in response to questions about Hamas’s recent killings, but on Tuesday said any killing of civilians by either Hamas or the Israeli military should be investigated.

“We’ve condemned the killings, whether it has been by Hamas, whether it has been by the Israeli military again that we’ve seen again in recent days. Killing civilians is unacceptable. The Greens want the killings to stop, and we have said this consistently, including since October 7, our position has been crystal clear,” he said.

Mr Bandt has come under fire for his views on Hamas. Picture: Colin Murty

“If we want a just and lasting peace in the region, then the occupation of Palestine has to end, and Australia could play a role in that. But what we have seen consistently is war crimes being committed, including by the extremist Netanyahu government, and Australia taking no action.

“We need to move beyond words to action, because otherwise these killings are going to continue and they’ve got to stop.”

In contrast, Foreign Minister Penny Wong on Monday described Hamas’s actions as “reprehensible” and said Hamas could have no role in the future governance of Gaza.

Israeli media reported that at least six Gazans who protested against Hamas last week had been executed. One of those – Odai al-Rubai, 22 – was reportedly dragged by a rope around his neck and was beaten with clubs and metal rods before being dumped, dying, on his family’s doorstep.

Another protester, Hussam al-Majdalawi, was shot in the legs and left in a public square.

Mr Bandt said any killing of civilians in Gaza was completely unacceptable. “We want the killing to stop. We want the killing of civilians to stop. And for that to happen, there needs to be a ceasefire now and then a just and lasting peace that’s based on people’s rights to self-determination, which has to, in turn, be based on the end of the occupation,” he said.

The Greens leader’s latest comments were slammed by Alex Ryvchin, the co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, who said Mr Bandt had failed to express unqualified empathy and solidarity “with those crying out for freedom”.

“The Greens have exploited freedoms of speech and protest in this country supposedly in the service of a free Palestine yet they have no interest in actual Palestinians just butchered by Hamas for demanding that freedom,” he said.

“Bandt’s incomprehensible response on a simple issue of Palestinian human rights shows that he is not a supporter of Palestinians at all. He is an exploiter of them. They only interest him as a gimmick through which he can express his hatred for Israel.”

Mr Bandt was in Western Australia for an event with the party’s candidate for the seat of Perth, currently held by Labor’s Patrick Gorman. The seat, which shapes up as the Greens’ best chance of a lower-house seat in WA, is also home to WA’s biggest Jewish community.

Greens candidate for Perth Sophie Greer said she and her team had been talking to members of the electorate’s Jewish and Palestinian communities as part of their doorknocking efforts.

Greens candidate for Perth Sophie Greer on Tuesday. Picture: Colin Murty

“The Greens’ goal is for everybody to be able to live in peace. Particularly here in Perth, we’ve had a lot of conversations on what it means to have cohesion in our community, and what it means for everybody here in Perth to feel included, and our door is always … to have those conversations.”