Greens call for release of all Palestinian political prisoners
Greens leader Adam Bandt is refusing to say whether convicted terrorists should be among the thousands of political prisoners his party is calling on to be immediately released.
Greens leader Adam Bandt is refusing to say whether convicted terrorists held by the Israeli government should be among the thousands of political prisoners his party is calling on to be immediately released.
Just days after Mr Bandt came under fire from both Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton for his party’s involvement in “violent” pro-Palestinian protests targeting their MPs, he urged all hostages be released by Hamas and all “political prisoners” released by Israel.
“We want all hostages released, we want all political prisoners released,” he said in a statement on X.
When asked who was included in the cohort of political prisoners, Mr Bandt’s office pointed to figures provided by human rights groups calculating more than 9000 Palestinians were being held in Israel’s prisons.
Of these, human rights groups allege more than 3000 constitute “administrative detainees held without charge or trial”.
“The plight of Palestinian prisoners has been flagged by the UN, Amnesty International and other human rights groups, with thousands held in ‘administrative detention’ without charge or trial and their situation will be an important part of any just and lasting peace,” a Greens spokesman said.
However, Mr Bandt would not respond to questions about the other 6000 or so other prisoners, some of whom are convicted of “terrorist acts”, and whether he believed they should be released.
He said Labor needed to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “stop the invasion” of Gaza, following reports of the Israeli Defence Forces carrying out an operation in which four hostages were rescued and 200 Palestinians killed.
“How (can) the killing of 200+ Palestinians in last night’s attack … be justified,” he said in his statement.
“The Labor (government) here refuses to take action to pressure Netanyahu to stop the invasion.”
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the human suffering in Gaza was “unacceptable”.
“Australia has been part of the international push for a ceasefire, for humanitarian aid to reach Gazans in desperate need, and for hostages to be released. Australia’s participation in this conference is part of that international effort,” she said on Monday.
Australian frontbencher Anne Aly will on Tuesday travel to Jordan on behalf of the government to attend a UN conference on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
“One million Palestinians are facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity and around 1.7 million people have been displaced, many several times over. Humanitarian access remains grossly inadequate,” said Dr Aly, who was born in Egypt.
“Our participation in this conference will emphasise Australia’s ongoing support for diplomatic efforts to end the conflict and to address the humanitarian crisis.”
As Dr Aly travels to Jordan this week, pro-Palestinian action continues in major cities across Australia, with protesters smashing and tagging windows at the US consulate in Sydney over the weekend. NSW Premier Chris Minns warned there was a wave of “rising anti-Semitism” across the state and slammed the “reprehensible” damage to the North Sydney consulate on Miller St, which included nine hammer holes and two red inverted triangles being painted across the building.
The inverted triangles are used by Hamas in propaganda videos to identify the Israeli targets it seeks to destroy and were painted on the Prime Minister’s electorate office last week.
Mr Minns said the incident alienated the “overwhelming majority of Australians”.
“It is a criminal act and you’ll be charged by police,” Mr Minns said. “It’s not the kind of public debate the overwhelming majority of Australians want to have … no one wants to see violence or malicious damage.”
More Coverage
‘I don’t know how they’ll vote’: Burke defends move to grant 12,500 citizenships
The Home Affairs Minister denies citizenship ceremonies for more than 12,500 people are motivated by the upcoming election or targeting marginal seats, after Peter Dutton called it a cynical ploy and the Nationals accused him of 'industrial scale seat stacking'.
Struggle to reach homes target
The NSW government has announced the rollout of a second phase of its housing and planning reforms, spruiking its new ‘low and mid-rise’ policy it hopes will deliver more than 100,000 homes.