Local Jewish group slams Hamas for body switch
'We urge the Albanese Government to condemn Hamas' vile tactics in the strongest terms'
The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) said on Friday afternoon it is “sickened and outraged by the shocking fraud Hamas has committed” by trying to pass off a different corpse as the body of Shiri Bibas.
“We urge the Albanese Government to condemn Hamas’ vile tactics in the strongest terms,” AIJAC executive director Colin Rubenstein said, “And give Israel Australia’s full support to respond in any way necessary to ensure that both all remaining hostages, alive or deceased, are returned – including Shiri Bibas – and Hamas is removed from power in Gaza, as our Government has repeatedly said must happen.”
Rubenstein said Hamas’s “latest evil and masochistic act” is a major violation of the ceasefire agreement “and takes the group to a new low, even for the terrorist organisation that committed the October 7 atrocities”.
“Shiri Bibas must be returned to her long-suffering family without delay,” Rubenstein said.
“Furthermore, the ghoulish stage show that Hamas conducted with the coffins before turning them over to the Red Cross was disgusting and disrespectful to the dead – a violation of international law, under which any handover of the remains of deceased must comply with the prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
“Meanwhile, nobody should be surprised that an autopsy on Ariel and Kfir Bibas showed the children were murdered by the terrorists, exposing the Hamas lie that they were killed by Israeli bombs.”
Liberal Senator Dave Sharma called the coffin handover ceremony “both sickening and grotesque”.
“[It’s] a clear example of Hamas’s cruelty and depravity, and why they must not play any future role in the governance of Gaza,” he said.
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