Commonwealth Bank’s spin doctor’s claim: ‘Hamas has been demonised’

A public relations executive with a leading Australian bank has claimed the terrorist group Hamas has been demonised and suggested it may be necessary to impose a two-state solution by force.

Demonstrators wave Palestinian flags and hold signs as they attend a rally in support of the Palestinian people in Madrid.

A public relations executive with a leading Australian bank has claimed the terrorist group Hamas has been demonised and suggested it may be necessary to impose a two-state Israel-Palestine solution by force.

Melbourne-based Alex Evans, a member of Commonwealth Bank’s corporate affairs team, wrote a letter in a private capacity to the editor of The Australian saying it was “clear that ongoing support of the status quo is not an option”.

“While the world condemns Hamas and rallies around Israel, it is imperative now for the global community to consider not only its own responsibility in what has occurred – as the latest instalment of a tragedy running for the past 75 years – but in supporting a workable, long-term solution,” he wrote.

Last night CBA said the views expressed by Mr Evans were strictly his own personal opinions and had “ absolutely no connection to the Commonwealth Bank.”

The letter landed just days after as many as 40 babies and young children were horrifically slaughtered, many of them beheaded, in a Hamas terrorist massacre unleashed on the kibbutz of Kfar Aza.

Alex Evans.

Mr Evans said UN member states “must demand that the organisation reflects on its failure to uphold the terms of its charter and works tirelessly to construct a solution that is acceptable to the majority of Palestinians.”

“This will demand fresh thinking with no options off the table and the eventual settlement must be rigorously implemented – by force if necessary.

“Illuminating public buildings with Israeli flags and demonising Hamas only confirms in the minds of Palestinians that they have been abandoned by the global community.” The attack on Israel by Hamas more than a week ago has sparked sharp differences of opinion across Australia, with rallies in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and an outpouring of empathy for Israeli victims.

In the letter, Mr Evans said the UN had failed to police Israel’s expansionary tendency and its duty of care to Palestine, beyond its financial support of a refugee population that swells each year. “It has denied Palestine’s recognition as a sovereign nation pending acceptance of the partition forced on it,” he wrote.

“Support for Israel’s right to defend itself means nothing, apart from prolonging this conflict. The Gaza Strip should have been called out as an affront to civilisation decades ago. How can Palestinians be expected to accept this life as an alternative for the houses, farms and lives they’ve been forced to give up?”

Mr Evans said Israel was created in 1948 by the UN to provide a homeland for the traumatised remnants of Europe’s Jewish population.

He said while the Arab population had missed opportunities to accept a more preferential territorial division, Israel had also aggressively expanded its borders.