Labor votes with Coalition condemning ‘from the river to the sea’ chant

The Senate has condemned the use of the phrase ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ a day after the slogan was used by first-term Labor senator Fatima Payman.

Western Australia Senator Fatima Payman has created controversy by repeating a pro-Palestinian chant in parliament. Picture: AAP

The Senate has condemned the use of the phrase “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” a day after the slogan was used by first-term Labor senator Fatima Payman, amid a push from Victoria’s Left faction to pass anti-Israel motions at state conference on the weekend.

Anthony Albanese said it was “not appropriate” for Senator Payman to use the phrase in parliament on Wednesday, which signifies support the elimination of Israel.

However, Mr Albanese did not succumb to pressure from the opposition on Thursday to “show strong and not weak leadership” and kick Senator Payman off the joint parliamentary committee on foreign affairs.

A motion in the Senate, put forward by opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham, noted the chant was being used to “intimidate Jewish Australians” and backed by Labor.

Senator Payman abstained during the vote and it was opposed by the Greens and independent senator Lidia Thorpe.

The debate in Canberra raged as senior Victorian Labor figures were locked in 11th hour negotiations over the wording of motions that will be voted on at the branch’s conference on the weekend.

Draft motions from Victoria’s Socialist Left faction demanding the Albanese government support the “inalienable right of self-determination for the Palestinian people”, immediately recognise the Palestinian state and call for the end to Israel’s “perpetual military occupation and human rights violations” were circulated to delegates on Thursday.

The four motions, drafted by pro-Palestinian supporters within the Socialist Left faction, made only a passing mention of the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack that killed an estimated 1200 Israelis, which was slammed by one pro-Israel Labor figure as being “vile and embarrassing”.

The Australian understands senior Labor figures are attempting to distil the four motions into one and for it to be “watered down” to reference the desire for a two-state solution and make the recognition of Palestine “less immediate”.

Labor sources said there was a 50/50 chance a landing point could be reached, particularly given Mr Albanese and Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong are among senior Left faction figures pushing for a “sensible position” on Israel-Palestine. If an agreement is not reached between the Left and the Right factions, the four motions would pass unaltered into the platform thanks to the Left having the majority in Victoria.

On Wednesday, Senator Payman – a Western Australian senator born to refugee parents in Afghanistan – declared Israel was committing “genocide” and asked Mr Albanese and other parliamentarians “how many international rights laws must Israel break for us to say enough?”

“I see our leaders performatively gesture defending the oppressors’ right to oppress while gaslighting the global community about (Israel’s) rights of self-defence,” she said on Wednesday.

“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

Senator Payman with Anthony Albanese.

Senator Payman doubled down on her comments overnight, saying in a social media post that she promised to keep speaking up on the matter.

She did not return requests for further comment from The Australian.

In a veiled swipe at Senator Payman, Senator Birmingham used his motion in parliament on Thursday to criticise “members of the government” for using anti-Semitic language.

“The phrases that I’ve highlighted today are ones that have not just been uttered in protests, not just uttered in rallies … but indeed ‘from the river to the sea’ has been accepted and even said by members of the government,” he said.

Senator Wong defended her government’s record on condemning antisemitism and said she did not support the phrase “from the river to the sea”.

Mr Albanese criticised Senator Payman’s comments but had not spoken to her personally to convey his disapproval.

“What’s appropriate is a two state solution. A two state solution where both Israelis and Palestinians have the right to live in security, in peace and in prosperity,” he told ABC.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek echoed Mr Albanese and said the slogan was “not the term that the government would use”.

“I’m not going to start telling my colleagues what to say. What she’s saying, however, is not Labor Party policy,” she told Sky News.

While Australian Palestine Advocacy Network president Nasser Mashni gave a “special shout out” to Senator Payman for her decision to break ranks with the rest of Labor, Jewish groups erupted over the senator’s “baseless accusations” against Israel.

“Senator Fatima Payman’s … repetition of the chant ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ – which clearly calls for the destruction of Israel – represents an embarrassment to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and is a stain upon the Labor Party,” Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein said.