Community leaders, Opposition, Israel condemn joint Gaza statement

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has defended a joint statement co-signed by Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong calling for an immediate end to the Gaza war as Australia’s “strongest statement” since the conflict began, amid strong criticism form community leaders, the Federal Opposition and Israeli Foreign Ministry.

The joint statement, signed by foreign ministers from 28 countries including Australia, declared “the war in Gaza must end now” and condemned Israel’s aid delivery model in the Strip.

“The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths. The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity,” the statement read.

The signatories condemned “the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food” and said it was “horrifying that over 800 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid”.

It also condemned Hamas’s continued detention of hostages taken on October 7, 2023, calling for their “immediate and unconditional release” and describing a negotiated ceasefire as offering “the best hope of bringing them home”.

The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) rejected the joint statement.

“This badly misguided statement offers nothing constructive to help resolve the ongoing conflict in Gaza in a way that will provide security and normalcy for both Palestinians and Israelis and in fact is likely to have the opposite effect,” AIJAC executive director Colin Rubenstein said.

“It absurdly accepts Hamas propaganda claims about the situation in Gaza and the aid efforts there, often amplified by UN agencies, as proven facts. Moreover, calling for an ‘immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire’ and a return to the old UN-dominated aid system, which Hamas exploited routinely in order to maintain itself in power and keep the war going, can only benefit Hamas.

“It is particularly telling that Hamas has applauded the statement, while not only Israel, but the US mediators urgently trying to reach a genuinely sustainable ceasefire, have been highly critical of it.”

Rubenstein also pointed out the statement’s contradictory stance in calling for both “an immediate, permanent and unconditional ceasefire” and a “negotiated ceasefire” to bring home the hostages.

“Why should Hamas agree to the US-sponsored agreement now when numerous nations are demanding Israel simply end all pressure on the terror group unconditionally?,” he asked.

“It is also noteworthy that this statement contradicts in practice our Foreign Minister’s and Prime Minister’s repeated declarations that Hamas must have no future role in Gaza. The implications of the demands in the statement are that Hamas will continue to rule Gaza, preparing for the future rounds of conflict it openly says it will seek.”

Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler said Hamas bore sole responsibility for prolonging the conflict, arguing the war “could have ended on the eighth of October, 2023, if Hamas laid down its arms, and returned all of the hostages”.

“Hamas is intent on prolonging the war, and are refusing to sign a ceasefire deal Israel has agreed to,” Leibler said.

He argued the Australian Government’s approach was counterproductive, saying “a permanent ceasefire without the return of the remaining hostages and the surrender of Hamas” would not achieve the goal of removing Hamas from governing Gaza.

“The Australian Government, and international community, must come together to put maximum pressure on Hamas to surrender, and to ensure aid deliveries are not misused to embolden Hamas’ grip on Gaza,” he said.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Daniel Aghion said world leaders should be calling for the immediate and unconditional surrender of Hamas.

“No one wants this war to end more than Israel but that can only happen with the release of the 50 hostages and assurances that Hamas will not retain effective control over Gaza,” he said.

“The solution is the permanent removal of the terrorist force that started this war and their release of all hostages. Anything less would guarantee a return to war and further suffering in the near future. All sides need a ceasefire but we also need to ensure this is the last Israel-Hamas war.”

Leader of the Opposition in the Senate and Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs Michaelia Cash said it was “disappointing that once again the Albanese Government is supporting a statement attacking Israel”.

“First and foremost any moral outrage about the situation in Gaza should be directed at Hamas. Hamas could end the suffering of the people of Gaza by freeing the remaining Israeli hostages and laying down their weapons,” Cash said on social media platform X.

She acknowledged the importance of aid flowing into Gaza but said “the right system must be in place so that it can be distributed without Hamas intervening in the process”.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry rejected the joint statement as “disconnected from reality” and said it “sends the wrong message to Hamas”.

“All statements and all claims should be directed at the only party responsible for the lack of a deal for the release of hostages and a ceasefire: Hamas, which started this war and is prolonging it,” the ministry said on X.

Asked on ABC News Breakfast on Tuesday morning if this was Australia’s strongest statement since the conflict began, Burke replied, “It would be.

“There’s been a series of very strong statements that we’ve made,” Burke said, while defending the timing of the statement, saying it addressed recent developments in aid delivery and increasing civilian casualties.

“Some of what this statement refers to is referring to recent events as well, with the shifts that have happened in how aid’s being managed into the area. And also, the increasing sight of people being killed on their way simply to get food and water,” he said.

The minister emphasised the importance of multilateral action, saying Australia alone was “not a loud voice or a decisive voice on the other side of the world” but that collective statements from “so many other significant powers” carried more weight.

“We’ve seen too many images of children being killed, of horrific slaughter, of churches being bombed. The images that we’ve seen have been pretty clear that so much of this is indefensible,” Burke said.

While acknowledging hostages held by Hamas “still need to be released”, Burke maintained “the war needs to end”.

The joint statement also strongly opposed Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank, describing the E1 settlement plan as potentially dividing “a Palestinian state in two” and representing “a flagrant breach of international law”.

When pressed about Israel’s immediate rejection of the statement and what further action might follow, Burke said he would “let the statement speak for itself” and declined to elaborate on potential next steps.

“It’s a powerful statement. It’s got countries, powerful countries from all around the world saying the same thing. The slaughter has to end,” he said.

The joint statement was signed by foreign ministers from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK, along with the EU Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management.