Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Industry and Science) Share this | Hansard source

Anyone with a surname like mine carries a legacy, genetic and historic. They come from a part of the world—it once had a name, Yugoslavia—where people of different faiths and ethnicities were as tight as brothers and sisters. They shared all the special religious and personal events and they sang songs together about a country that was outside of an anthem. It was truly a special bond. Then, in a matter of years, that bond disappeared and the most depraved acts occurred between people who had said that they loved each other like brothers and sisters.

I know the impact of hate and the way it tears apart societies; I've carried that since my 20s. There are a lot of people who have seen similar episodes in different parts of the world. It comes to the fore at moments like this and hate drives people to do the most barbaric of actions. That hate-propelling violence is something that we all must not only recoil from; we have to act against it.

Like many people the world over, we've been aghast at what we saw in Israel on 7 October. It was an absolute abomination. Hamas must be, and is rightly being, condemned. The way in which they targeted infants, women and the elderly was on the basis of their faith, and so many Jewish people lost their lives in a way that was completely and utterly unacceptable. We feel deeply for them and we grieve with Israelis the world over who are feeling this deeply. All the hostages must absolutely be released without condition.

I also acknowledge that any government that is confronted with these acts within its own borders will respond. They have to respond. They have to hold Hamas to account, and that will happen. Too many Israelis and Palestinians have, since 7 October, paid an utterly horrific price, and I'm deeply concerned about what will happen from here. I also think deeply about what will happen in Gaza, where two million people are crammed in. There'll be a lot of innocent Palestinians who will pay a price for the actions of Hamas.

I restate this: Hamas must absolutely be held to account. Innocent Palestinians should be protected. They should be given passage. They should be able to get out of harm's way. They should be preserved as well, in the sense of not being targeted.

I think about what we can do in regard to something that is so far away. A simple and powerful proposition is to always be conscious of the humanity of others. I recognise—I think any student of history recognises—that there have been moments in time where the violent refusal to recognise the humanity of others has written the worst chapters of humanity. Specifically, in those moments when I think of my friends in the Jewish community and the intergenerational trauma created by the Holocaust, I remember what has driven that.

I think of many shared meals, from Shabbat to iftar, and I think of the bonds that are being created through those moments. I know it's very hard. Those warm memories will be pressed to the deepest recesses of minds. They will be moved out by the memories that are being created or may be made in the coming weeks. But being conscious of humanity will be an important way in which we preserve what we value most in this country. It should be at the front line of our fight against antisemitism and Islamophobia. It has been at the heart of the work of people like the member for Cowan, who sits behind me. I thank her deeply for what she has done in taking up the fight against extremism and the way in which it tears communities apart.

On these points—and I'm very grateful to have been able to express a few remarks in this very important debate we are having—not all Israelis are Jewish and not all Palestinians are Muslim, but everyone is feeling a dread at the moment. Regardless of your faith or ethnicity, all Israelis and Palestinians are absolutely entitled to the right to a future, free from the weight of fear. They should be able to build better lives for themselves and do what everyone of us who are parents want: to build a better life for the ones that follow. They should be able to do it within the state of Israel, and they should be able to do it in a state of Palestine. I thank the House.

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