Israel war: Sydney resident Michal reveals pain after family held hostage by Hamas and slams MP Kylea Tink

A Sydney resident, whose family were taken hostage by Hamas, has slammed her teal independent MP Kylea Tink for trying to accuse Israel of war crimes.

Israeli woman Michal living in Sydney with her family, has written and slammed her MP Kylea Tink for refusing to support a motion to support Israel. Michel's nephew, her nephew's wife and in-laws, and his kids, were taken hostage by Hamas last week. She has slammed the response by Ms Tink in a heartfelt but powerful letter. Picture: John Feder/The Australian.

“They’re coming in…” was the last in a series of terrified text messages Yarden Bibas sent before Hamas terrorists broke into his home in southern Israel and ­kidnapped him and his wife and children.

Mr Bibas’s Australian aunt, Michal, wants her local member, teal independent Kylea Tink, to see those texts and understand what her family is going through, after the MP’s attempt this week to accuse Israel of war crimes.

“I have loved ones being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza as I write,” Michal told Ms Tink in an open letter on Wednesday.

“I am appalled that my ‘representative’ resisted the Australian parliament’s unequivocal condemnation of Hamas’s massacre of more than 1000 civilians in Israel.”

Horrifying images have been broadcast of gunmen taking Mr Bibas, his wife Shiri and their two young children, four-year-old Ariel and 9-month-old Kfir, from their home in the Nir Oz kibbutz. Michal, whose last name has been withheld, told The Australian she had heard nothing of her nephew and his family’s whereabouts or wellbeing, and slammed her local member for supporting an amendment to accuse Israel of war crimes.

“I was in disbelief,” the northern Sydney resident said after Ms Tink’s attempt – along with fellow teal Sophie Scamps and the Greens in federal parliament – to accuse Israel of war crimes, just nine days after Hamas terrorists murdered more than 1400 Israelis on October 7.

On Monday, Ms Tink, Ms Scamps and Tasmania’s Andrew Wilkie backed an ­attempt by Greens leader Adam Bandt to amend a bipartisan motion, seeking to erase a statement declaring Australia “stands with Israel and recognises its inherent right to ­defend itself”.

Michal with a picture of her family taken hostage in Israel. Picture: John Feder

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.

Michal said she was “appalled” by the attempt to “water down the motion”.

“You’re asking Israel to stop trying to protect itself,” Michal said. “They’re not sending popcorn to Israel, they’re sending missiles every single day.

“I really wanted her to imagine herself, to put herself in my sister’s shoes – to just try to imagine it and tell me that she wouldn’t do the same.”

The Bilbas family kidnapped by Hamas in Israel: Yarden Bibas, his wife Shiri, and their two kids Ariel, right, and Kfir, left.

The text message from Mr Bibas to his sister Ofri was the last the family heard from him.

“We just want them back as soon as possible … it’s heartbreaking, unbelievable – there is no justification for this brutality,” Michal said.

Mr Bibas’s parents-in-law, Yossi and Margit were also kidnapped, meaning three generations of the family are now being held hostage in Gaza.

An image showing Shiri and her two kids Ariel and Kfir being kidnapped.

“Hamas’s supporters in Sydney celebrate this evil and have called for Jews to be gassed. Jewish Australians, including those who live in your electorate, feel fearful for their safety,” Michal wrote in her letter to Ms Tink.

“Imagine yourself, with your son, daughter-in-law, grand­children who are just babies, your son’s best friend, his wife and twin girls, your daughter-in-law’s ­elderly parents with a mum who has Parkinson’s disease, brutally taken from their homes,” the letter reads.

“Your son is marched to Gaza, bloodied and terrified, separated from his family. Your daughter-in-law, holding tightly to her babies and trying to protect them from the evil that surrounds them.”

Michal's nephew Yarden, centre, being kidnapped.

Michal and her family were able to piece together footage of their family through social media soon after the October 7 attacks.

In both footage and still imagery, Shiri and her two children are seen being taken away by Hamas terrorists.

“We saw these frightening photos of Shiri and the kids, but at least we knew (then) they were alive,” Michal said.

“I saw the ginger hair, I broke down, I couldn’t believe it.”

Mr Bibas is seen being led away to Gaza by Hamas assailants, in photos discovered by the family three days later, on October 10 – his birthday.

Michal says the only information they received was from pictures of their kidnapping. Picture: John Feder

“You can see the fear and desperation in his eyes,” Michal said in tears.

“The only thing we know is from these photos – we don’t know anything else.”

Michal’s letter to Ms Tink comes amid a cooling, but still heightened, environment for Australia’s Jewish community.

Ms Tink told The Australian she “unequivocally condemned the Hamas attacks on Israel and called for the immediate and ­unconditional release of all ­hostages”, and voted on Monday for the government’s motion.

“I have had detailed conversations with the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president and many members of my community and have a fuller appreciation of the situation,” she said.

“I will be seeking to contact the constituent directly to have a ­detailed conversation.”

It comes as Melbourne-based Rabbi Daniel Rabin accused Ms Tink and Ms Scamps of having a “blurred moral compass” after they joined forces with the Greens to accuse Israel of committing war crimes.

“It is very disappointing and disheartening that certain members of parliament would not be prepared to support the welcomed bipartisan motion condemning Hamas,” he said.

Michal said that for the first time since she moved to Australia 25 years ago, she felt unsafe for being Jewish, particularly after the scenes at the Sydney Opera House on October 9 where anti-Semitic chants were shouted and Israeli flags burnt.

Yarden being kidnapped, in stills found by his family.

“Never in my wildest nightmares (did I think I’d feel unsafe to be Jewish in Sydney),” Michal said.

“People say ‘there are anti-Semites everywhere’ and I’d say I don’t feel that in Sydney.

“But never in my life have I previously felt unsafe or looked at differently because I am Jewish.”

This masthead revealed on Tuesday how slurs of “gas the Jews” were still being investigated by NSW Police and were likely to breach the Crimes Act and be prosecutable, if those that chanted it were identified.

“I was afraid, I couldn’t believe this was happening in Australia,” Michal said when she saw the footage. “It broke me, people cele­brating evil and people dying – I cried a lot.

Kylea Tink has said she will contact and reach out Michal. Picture: Martin Ollman

“It broke my heart that I felt unsafe in Australia. I love Australia, the multiculturalism, all these different people around us – it doesn’t make sense.”

Michal said she would not stop waiting, or searching, for any piece of information on her nephew and family, as well as calling on Australian elected representatives to “understand better” both Israel and its people.

“It’s hard to sleep, we don’t eat really well, we’re just trying to hang onto any bit of information we can find (about their family) on the internet,” she said.

“Maybe one (piece of footage) will show them alive, or that they’re alive in Gaza.

“We don’t know anything – all we know is from those videos.”