Vote ‘yes’ on Palestine, Labor MPs tell Anthony Albanese

The pressure from Labor MPs comes as Greens leader Adam Bandt demands Anthony Albanese expel Israel’s ambassador to Australia.

Labor MP Maria Vamvakinou helped deliver a Change.org petition advocating for a ceasefire in Gaza at Parliament House. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Labor MPs have urged Anthony Albanese to “wholeheartedly” back a United Nations motion to give Palestine full membership of the global body, amid warnings from Jewish Australians that support for the vote would set back peace efforts.

The pressure on the Prime Minister from some of his caucus members comes as the Greens demand he expel Israel’s ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon, to “send a clear message that the killing must stop” in Gaza. Greens leader Adam Bandt said it was time for Labor to “move beyond words and take ­action”, with the party also pushing for an end to military trade with ­Israel, sanctions on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet and support for Palestine in the UN vote.

As the government works with international counterparts to determine its position on the motion, Mr Albanese on Thursday said “we support a two-state solution and support rhetorical positions that are consistent with that”.

Queensland Labor MP Graham Perrett said Australia should “wholeheartedly support the UN motion”. “The current arrangements aren’t working for Israel or the Palestinian people,” he said. “And we should work with other like-minded countries to achieve a peaceful resolution of the current war and support negotiations that achieve a peaceful future.”

While most Labor MPs refused to comment, Maria Vamvakinou – who was the one government MP to attend a pro-Palestine protest outside Parliament House last year – supported giving Palestine voting rights and upgrading its permanent ­observer status.

“Australia should join in supporting Palestine’s full membership in the UN,” she said. “The legitimate rights and aspirations of the Palestinian people need to be supported and carried by the inter­national community, in which Australia has a key role to play.”

Mr Bandt said Australia had a responsibility to make Israel comply with international law. “Australia must send the signal that having zero regard for civilian lives and international law has consequences,” he said. “The Prime Minister must expel the Israeli ­ambassador while their government breaks international law and ignores the international community.”

An abstention by Australia in the Friday night (AEST) vote looms as the most likely possibility but a “yes” vote remains an option after the government signalled its support for Palestinian statehood as a path to peace in Gaza.

The vote’s outcome will be seen as a de facto vote for Palestinian statehood, but will be largely symbolic because of the US Security ­Council veto.

An early draft of the text called for Palestine to be considered as “a peace-loving state” under the UN Charter, with “the rights and privileges necessary to ensure its full and effective participation in the sessions and work of the General ­Assembly … on equal footing with member states”.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said the Greens had “no interest in peace and constructive steps towards a two-state solution”.

The UN vote was an opportunity to distinguish between those interested in genuine peace “and those more focused on token gestures doomed to set back that noble cause”, he said.

“(The Greens) are more interested in their anti-imperialist, anti-Western fantasies and of claiming the role of righteous dissidents. In reality, for the past seven months, their every action on this issue has caused more harm, more division, incited more hatred and frequently spilt into open racism, references to Jewish tentacles and all,” he said.

“If they wanted to play a constructive role in salvaging our peace and stability here in Australia, they would tell the terror supporters making a nuisance on our streets and campuses to stand down and go home. Instead they stoke tensions for their own gratification and political interests.”

Mr Albanese said the government had communicated its opposition to Israel against a ground invasion in Rafah in the previous 24 hours and was concerned about Palestinians living there.

“They were told to move from the northern part of Gaza, they were told to move south. You then have a very crowded population, and you also have a crowded population that is not clear where they are supposed to go, given the ­destruction that’s occurred to housing in other parts of Gaza,” the Prime Minister said.

“It’s been a longstanding position of the Australian government to support a two-state solution. The right of Israel to exist within secure borders, the right of Israelis to go about their lives in safety and security with prosperity, but also the fundamental right of Palestinians to have safety, security and prosperity as well.”