Israel must allow aid for Gazans
Ed Husic has blasted Israel over aid to starving Gazans, as Peter Dutton took aim at the decision to restore UNRWA funding.
Industry Minister Ed Husic has accused Israel of failing to ensure aid is able to flow into Gaza a week after the Australian government announced it would resume funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency.
Mr Husic, who has been a critic of the “disproportionate” action by Israel since it was attacked by Hamas on October 7, said the lack of assistance for those starving in Gaza was “unconscionable”.
He argued that Australia needed to do more to try to alleviate the suffering.
“I’ve previously argued I think that we can help people out in dire need. I make that case as an individual MP and minister,” he told the ABC. “Where we can help out, I absolutely think that we should. I think that it is a humanitarian catastrophe that we should pitch in and try to alleviate.”
Mr Husic said the aid being offered by countries around the world was not reaching those who needed it. “I think that the big thing that also at this point needs to be addressed is the flow of aid in. Humanitarian aid is simply not going in enough to meet the huge need that is there,” he said.
“Israel has a responsibility to free up those pathways to allow that aid to go through. I do not believe that they have done that to date, despite the international community saying this will make a difference to people’s lives.”
Peter Dutton said on Thursday it was “just an unbelievable decision” that the Albanese government had announced that UNRWA would resume receiving $6m a year in funding from Australia after a temporary pause was announced in January.
The resumption of funding by Australia was announced despite two reviews into UNRWA having not been completed. These include the probes by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services and a separate review headed by former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna to assess the neutrality of UNRWA and its efforts to ensure neutrality.
The Australian revealed on Thursday that, one day before the government announced the reinstatement of funding for UNRWA, it was briefed on the latest Israeli intelligence findings suggesting the number of UNRWA employees who took part in the October 7 massacre had grown from 12 to 15.
Speaking on 2GB radio, Mr Dutton said the government had “decided to give money to an organisation with definite links to a listed terrorist organisation here in our country. Hamas is a listed terrorist organisation, and somehow the government can justify giving money to this organisation that’s completely discredited.”
“The United States and the United Kingdom are not putting money into this agency, and somehow we’ve decided as a country that we’ll put taxpayers’ money, during a cost-of-living crisis, into the hands of people who are affiliated with these terrorist activities. It beggars belief.”
Mr Husic said he had been lobbying for the pathways for aid into Gaza to be cleared, and the absence of action to do so was “just wrong”.
“It’s inconceivable that the answer is there to be able to provide that flow of aid, and it’s not being done. It’s just wrong. It’s unconscionable,” he said.
He said he understood the distress felt by Palestinians who had visas cancelled while in the air, but that rigorous checks needed to be made on everyone.
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