Witnessing terror aftermath
Burns was one of four Rambam fellows, three of them federal MPs, who spoke at an AIJAC boardroom lunch last Friday about their recent Rambam Israel visits.
A sense of unity was one of the most salient impressions Macnamara MP Josh Burns gained from a visit to Israel organised by the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) Rambam Israel Fellowship program.
Burns was one of four Rambam fellows, three of them federal MPs, who spoke at an AIJAC boardroom lunch last Friday about their recent Rambam Israel visits. The Labor MP travelled to Israel in December last year, along with party colleague and Higgins MP Michelle Ananda-Rajah and Liberal MP for Flinders Zoe McKenzie. Gemma Tognini, a columnist for The Weekend Australian, visited last June.
The MPs visited Kibbutz Kfar Aza, bordering Gaza, where some 70 Hamas terrorists infiltrated on October 7, massacred residents and left the village in ruins.
Burns said he was struck by the scale of the Hamas atrocities and horrified by CCTV of the attacks. But, as with his parliamentary colleagues, he was impressed by the warmth with which all Israelis welcomed the group, and their gratitude for their visit. He said no country, including Australia, would tolerate the depravity of Hamas’s terror.
Ananda-Rajah said nothing could have prepared her for what she saw. She emphasised that only an actual visit to Israel can give someone a fuller understanding of what occurred on October 7 and its consequences.
The broader picture, she said, was that Iran has virtually declared war on Israel through its proxies, and the Palestinians had become the victims of Hamas, one of these proxies. She emphasised that no country would tolerate a genocidal regime on its doorstep.
McKenzie said her first visit to Israel widened her understanding, while her second trip, in December, was an exploration of grief, in Israel and subsequently in Australia. She spoke of two diametrically opposite experiences resulting from her trip. A social-media photograph of her in Israel with Burns was greeted with hostility online, but after she gave a TV interview about her experiences in Israel, she received many supportive letters from the Jewish community.
Tognini said she was struck by how little the funding UNRWA receives seemed to be improving conditions for Palestinians in a refugee camp her group visited.
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