Teal duo in ‘moral fog’ over savage Israel attack, say Jewish leaders
Kylea Tink and Sophie Scamps have joined forces with the Greens to accuse Israel of war crimes, a move blasted as ‘reprehensible’ by Jewish leaders.
Two Sydney teal MPs have joined forces with the Greens to accuse Israel of war crimes just nine days after Hamas terrorists murdered more than 1400 Israelis, in a move condemned as “reprehensible” by prominent Jewish leaders.
Sydney MPs Kylea Tink and Sophie Scamps, and Tasmania’s Andrew Wilkie, backed an attempt by Greens leader Adam Bandt to amend the bipartisan motion, seeking to erase a statement declaring Australia “stands with Israel and recognises its inherent right to defend itself”.
In its place, the Greens sought to condemn “war crimes perpetrated by the state of Israel, including the bombing of Palestinian civilians”, and call for an immediate ceasefire.
As Israeli troops prepare for a ground invasion of Gaza, Sydney Rabbi Nochum Schapiro blasted the minor party and its independent backers, saying those who sought to weaken Israel’s response to the massacre of its people were akin to “Nazi enablers”.
The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies condemned the MPs’ position as “completely indefensible and morally reprehensible”, while the Executive Council of Australian Jewry accused them of a “moral fog” that insulted the Jewish people.
Introducing the motion to parliament on the first sitting day since Hamas’s attack on October 7, Anthony Albanese said Australia must consider the attack on the Jewish state with “complete moral clarity”.
“Hamas terrorists committed mass murder on a horrific scale,” the Prime Minister told parliament. “This was no act of war against the army of an enemy. It was the slaughter of innocent people. It was an act of terror. Calculated, pitiless brutality.”
Mr Albanese backed Israel’s right to defend itself against the terrorist organisation, while urging it to protect civilians in the Palestinian enclave. The Australian understands the government’s leadership group pushed back against some Left-faction MPs who wanted to toughen the motion’s rhetoric against Israel on humanitarian grounds.
“Australia cannot stay silent and, indeed, back that invasion,” Mr Bandt said, citing UN condemnation of Israel’s decision to prevent food, water and fuel from reaching the Palestinian territory.
“We join with everyone in this parliament in mourning the 1300 Israelis who have lost their lives, but on today’s count there are also between 2300 and 2600 Palestinians who have lost their lives, many of whom are children,” he said. “And we mourn them as well. This is now moving beyond self-defence into an invasion, and it is up to Australia as a peace-loving country to join the push to stop it.”
Ms Tink, the member for North Sydney, said the Hamas attack on Israel was “unspeakably abhorrent”, but Israel’s decision to turn off water to the enclave was a war crime and must stop. “The answer to the horrific terrorism of Hamas against innocent Israeli civilians cannot be horrific war crimes against innocent Palestinian civilians,” Ms Tink said.
Dr Scamps, the member for Mackellar on Sydney’s northern beaches, said she condemned Hamas’ attack on Israel, but backed the amendment because innocent lives were being lost in Gaza. “My heart goes out to all the innocent people who are caught up in this horrendous and tragic situation instigated by Hamas,” she said.
Mr Wilkie said the Greens’ amendment was “substantially correct”, and “brought more balance to the Australian parliament’s response to the conflict”.
The Greens’ amendment was voted down 107 to seven. The original motion subsequently passed by an overwhelming 134 votes to four, opposed only by the four Greens MPs: Mr Bandt, Max Chandler-Mather, Stephen Bates and Elizabeth Watson-Brown.
Rabbi Schapiro, whose Chabad North Shore includes members from Ms Tink’s and Ms Scamps’ electorates, said the “moral equivalencies” advocated by the Greens and their supporters were aimed at “weakening Israel’s hand”.
“What happened is similar to Nazism, similar to 9-11. The atrocities committed by Hamas are exactly the same as those committed by the Nazis during World War II,” he said. “For anyone to weaken Israel’s hand when all it’s trying to do is protect its people from barbaric massacres is akin to me as Nazi enablers.”
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip said: “Whilst the Jewish community expects such behaviour from the Greens … Ms Scamps and Ms Tink have turned their back on the Jewish communities in their electorates at their time of need.”
He said by voting with the Greens, they had aligned themselves with the most extreme members of the parliament.
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry’s co-CEO Alex Ryvchin said the Greens were “so hardwired in their loathing of Israel and distrust of the Australian Jewish community that they could not even extend symbolic solidarity with our community”. He said the independents who backed the resolution sought to undermine Israel’s mission to save the 165 hostages taken by Hamas.
Speaking on the motion in parliament, Peter Dutton attacked “apologists” for Hamas who did not condemn anti-Semitic slurs chanted by protesters at pro-Palestinian rallies last week. “Their silence is, frankly, contemptible,” the Opposition Leader said.
He said slurs, including “Gas the Jews, f..k the Jews and f..k Israel”, were “repugnant”, prompting an interjection by Labor backbencher Alicia Payne, who urged him not to repeat the anti-Semitic comments. “I won’t stop saying (it) because it should be condemned,” Mr Dutton said.
He said the Coalition backed Israel’s right “to do what is necessary” to protect its people and thwart its “existential threats”.
Labor frontbencher Tony Burke condemned hate speech by constituents in his western Sydney seat of Watson during last week’s protests. “Statements of hate speech, some of which were given in my part of Sydney, some which were given elsewhere, are all unacceptable and are all to be condemned,” he said.
Independent senator Lidia Thorpe wore a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf in the chamber and accused Israel of oppressing the Palestinian people.
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