Key Points
- Deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley says Penny Wong's call for restraint in Israel and Gaza is "disgraceful".
- Ley once urged parliament to "think not of the [Palestinian] leadership, think of the people".
- Ley says Hamas' attack "demanded an uncompromising response" from Labor.
A senior Coalition figure once warned Gaza was "besieged, contained, and on the brink of starvation", Palestinians had been "airbrushed out of existence", and urged the international community to "think not of [Palestinian] leadership, think of the people".
Now, deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley describes calls for restraint during Israel's retaliation for as "disgraceful".
Ley was a co-chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Palestine, an informal cross-party group which aimed to raise the experiences of Palestinian people. She was the sole voice in parliament discussing Palestinian autonomy when the House of Representatives celebrated Israel's 60th anniversary in 2008.
At that time, Ley warned that Gaza, which had been under Hamas control since the year before, was "besieged, contained, and on the brink of starvation".
While Israel had a right to defend itself from rocket attacks, a "crushing economic embargo feeds fury and resentment both in Gaza and the West Bank", she said.
"Israel has many friends in this country and in this parliament. The Palestinians, by comparison, have few. Theirs is not a popular cause," she said.
"But it is one I support, in part out of knowledge that the victors of World War Two, including Australia, wrote a 'homeland' cheque to cover the sins of the Holocaust and centuries of antisemitism in Europe.
"But it was the Palestinians who had to cash it."
Wong calling for restraint is 'disgraceful', says Ley
Hamas is a Palestinian military and political group, which has gained power in the Gaza Strip since winning legislative elections there in 2006. Its stated aim is to establish a Palestinian state, while refusing to recognise Israel's right to exist.
Hamas, in its entirety, is designated as a terrorist organisation by countries including Australia, Canada, the UK and the US. New Zealand and Paraguay list only its military wing as a terrorist group. In 2018, the United Nations General Assembly voted against a resolution condemning Hamas in its entirety as a terrorist organisation.
The militant group , targeting Israeli civilians for murder and kidnappings. The assault left more than 1200 Israeli civilians dead, the worst terror attack in the nation's history.
Israel has responded by , cutting off water and electricity, prompting the United Nations to warn against "collective punishment" of more than 2 million civilians in Gaza.
The Gaza-based health ministry reported that Israeli strikes had killed over 1,500 people by Friday, while the UN said 423,000 Gazans - roughly a quarter of the population - had been displaced.
The Coalition has criticised Wong's response to the crisis. Source: AAP / Mick Tsikas
Human Rights Watch has claimed Israel has used white phosphorous in "crowded civilian areas" in Gaza, based on videos from 10th and 11th October, and interviews with people in Gaza. Israel denies these claims. White phosphorous is an agent used to create smoke, and can cause severe burns to skin as well as significant health effects.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong has repeatedly condemned Hamas' "abhorrent attack" and stressed Israel's right to defend itself, but called for the "protection of civilian lives and restraint which ensures, where possible, that occurs".
On Wednesday, Ley labelled Wong's call for restraint "disgraceful".
"What a disgraceful statement from Penny Wong a few nights ago, where she told a country facing their worst terror attack in history to respond with 'restraint'," she said in a statement.
Asked by SBS News how Wong's statement was inconsistent with the position she had outlined over 15 years in parliament, Ley said her comment this week "should not and cannot be taken as any negative expression against the Palestinian people".
"The acts of barbarity perpetrated by Hamas last week, and the terror group's ongoing use of more than 100 innocent Israelis, including babies and children, as human shields, has irrevocably changed the region," she said.
"Condemning this terrorist group and its terrorist activities, the worst the world has seen since 9/11, should not and cannot be taken as any negative expression against the Palestinian people.
"The scale and depravity of these war crimes demanded an uncompromising response from Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong, but sadly, Labor’s first instinct was to equivocate. This was unacceptable, offensive and morally wrong."
Anthony Albanese has repeatedly condemned Hamas' attack. Source: AAP / Richard Wainwright
"At every stage of their response so far, federal and state Labor have either come to the right course of action too late, or not at all," she said.
The comments were also a reference to the NSW state government, which allowed a pro-Palestinian protest to go ahead this week. The protests were marred by some present calling for violence against Jewish people.
Speaking to the ABC this week, Wong said Australia should always call for civilian lives to be protected "in any conflict".
"That is what I have advocated. Frankly, it's very similar to the things that [Coalition foreign affairs spokesperson] Simon Birmingham has said," she said.
"I would just ask you to think about: What's the alternative? What's the alternative to Australia urging restraint and the protection of human lives?"
Israel has bombarded Gaza for the last week, and has launched a ground invasion of the densely-populated strip.
Ley's 2008 speech was not an outlier
Wong has also said Hamas' attack had set back the Palestinian cause.
"One of the great tragedies, apart from the horrific nature of Hamas' activities ... is they have pushed further away the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people," she said on Friday.
In 2017, Ley stressed a non-violent path towards an independent Palestine and also acknowledged "armed struggle", including actions by the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, had done "very little" to help that cause.
"But think not of the [Palestinian] leadership, think of the people," she urged parliament.
Ley then quoted a former Israeli soldier, who said: "Israel's continued occupation of the West Bank eroded the country morally, democratically, and in the esteem of the international community."
"When sitting in the bustling cafes of Tel Aviv, it’s easy to forget that the Palestinians even exist ... As you look across the landscape from settlements high on the hills in occupied territory, you see no evidence whatsoever of the Palestinian Indigenous occupants," she said.
"The richness of Israel makes the misery of Palestinians all the more troubling."
Ley, pictured in 2020, has a long history of advocating for Palestinians from the backbench. Source: AAP / Mick Tsikas
"The people [of the West Bank] are exhausted, too, from the checkpoints, permits, lockdowns, home demolitions and the relentless expansion of settlements ... It is as if the Palestinians have been airbrushed out of existence," she said.
Ley did not answer directly when asked whether she stood by those statements today.
Ley says visit to Israel shifted her perspective
Last month, as deputy Opposition leader, Ley told the Australia Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) that a trip to Israel - including to Sderot, the scene of a Hamas massacre last weekend - gave her deeper insight into the "real and pressing" threat Israelis faced.
She recalled seeing the flag of Iran-backed Hezbollah flying "mere metres from the Israeli border", saying: "The conflict is no longer the main game for many Jews and Arabs. The far more pressing concern is the existential threat that Iran poses".
"Learning how in Sderot, communities are surrounded by makeshift bomb shelters because of what they face so frequently … this is the only way someone can properly appreciate the real and pressing threat that the people of Israel face every single day," she said.
In September, Ley criticised Labor's reversal of Scott Morrison's decision to move Australia's embassy to Jerusalem. Source: AAP / Mick Tsikas
late last year, Wong saying Morrison's decision was a "cynical" attempt to "play foreign policy in order to win votes" during the Wentworth by-election, which has a sizeable percentage of Jewish voters.
The decision angered the Israeli government, particularly given it coincided with a Jewish holiday, and Labor later admitted regret at the timing of the announcement.
"The way in which the Albanese Government communicated - or rather, didn’t communicate - its decision to both the State of Israel and Jewish communities in this country, was appalling," Ley told the AIJAC.
In August, Labor also to describe the West Bank and Gaza, language dropped under the former Coalition government in 2014.
