A meaningless gesture that rewards terror
Maybe they have forgotten the specific nature of Hamas, revealed in all its horror on October 7.
Calls for the newly elected Albanese Labor government to move to recognise a Palestinian state at the upcoming UN Conference in June are sadly misguided.
The war that was initiated by Hamas in an unparalleled frenzy of savagery, rape and sexual mutilation continues to be prosecuted by them. They are perpetuating the war crime of hostage taking, contrary to calls by the International Court of Justice to immediately and unconditionally release them.
Many of the 250 hostages taken by Hamas on October 7 were sexually assaulted, tortured and brutally executed. Those released have been ruthlessly exploited in macabre propaganda ceremonies. The war of aggression Hamas has waged in partnership with Iran and its galaxy of proxies from seven directions, pursued the stated goal of the total destruction of the State of Israel. Initiating such wars of aggression is also a war crime.
Anyone who claims to be a friend of the Palestinian people must have regard to statements such as this from the Global Imams Council:
“We hold Hamas directly responsible for the deaths and suffering of all innocent lives lost since October 7, as their actions have not only brought death and destruction upon the region but have also led to immense suffering for the Palestinian people. Hamas’s reckless and inhumane tactics, using civilians as shields and exploiting their plight, have only escalated the cycle of violence and undermined the cause of justice and peace.”
Maybe they have forgotten the specific nature of Hamas, revealed in all its horror on October 7. As the special representative of the UN Secretary-General on sexual violence in conflict, Pramila Patten noted after viewing 5000 photographic images and some 50 hours of footage of the attacks, “What I witnessed in Israel were scenes of unspeakable violence perpetrated with shocking brutality … It was a catalogue of the most extreme and inhumane forms of killing, torture and other horrors … including sexual violence.”
Or perhaps take on board the comments by Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, who has recently referred to Hamas as “sons of dogs”, demanding they release hostages, cede control of Gaza to the PA, give up weapons and renounce violence.
They should also listen to the Assembly of Southern Gaza Clans, who have called for an uprising against Hamas, accusing it of gambling with Palestinian lives for “its own narrow, self-serving interests”. They should indicate whether they support the statement by the Palestinian Authority Prime Minister, Mohammad Mustafa, when he stated, “The Palestinian Authority must be the sole governing power in Gaza after the war.”
It is Hamas that has brought on the suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza. Their tyranny has repeatedly been demonstrated through the looting of aid relief and the regular summary executions and torture of all who speak out against them. The very existence of Hamas, as a declared terrorist organisation in Australia and many other countries, remaining in control of Gaza, is the main impediment to the creation of a Palestinian state with uniform governance, and has been for the last 18 years.
The next phase of operations by the IDF seeks not only to maintain pressure on Hamas to release the remaining hostages, but to create safe spaces for the effective delivery of relief and the freedom for opponents of Hamas to speak openly and form new administrative arrangements without fear of reprisal.
For those who approach this situation honestly it is impossible to deny that UNRWA is an organisation that has been a fully fledged belligerent in this war, and a perennial enabler of extremist ideology and terrorism through its heinous education materials, practical assistance through its facilities and the many staff who actively participated in violence.
The EU has repeatedly reported on the unacceptable content of Palestinian education materials. The European Parliament in a statement, adopted on April 11, 2024, condemned “the problematic and hateful contents encouraging violence, spreading antisemitism and inciting hatred in Palestinian school textbooks, drafted by [European] Union-funded civil servants as well as in supplementary educational materials developed by UNRWA staff and taught in its schools”.
It further recognised that those teaching materials, subsidised with European taxpayer money in the case of PA textbooks, had a role in radicalising Gazans prior to the October 7 onslaught. They reaffirmed “in the context of the despicable terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas on 7 October 2023, that education to hatred [has] direct and dramatic consequences on the security of Israelis as well as on the perspectives of a better future for young Palestinians”.
It should, therefore, come as no surprise that the European Parliament has voted decisively to freeze financial aid to the PA until incitement to hatred and antisemitism, this precursor material to savagery, is removed from all its school textbooks.
It is time to move to a new aid and reconstruction approach, and instead of throwing up our hands and claiming there is no other option on the ground, the international community should step forward and create one. It should put forward concrete security proposals to replace Hamas and set forth clear goals and performance indicators for a path to statehood and peace. This will lay the foundation for the Palestinian state we would like to see, as opposed to an entity that mirrors the bleak landscape across the Middle East and North Africa, where a liberal democracy is nowhere to be found other than Israel.
Any step to recognise a Palestinian state in the absence of these things will be a meaningless gesture that will be seen as rewarding terror. Until then, it is well to remind ourselves that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Mike Kelly is a former ADF soldier, Labor government minister and the co-convenor of Labor Friends of Israel.
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