Maria Kovacic (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Like many Australians I watched the news in horror on 7 October as Hamas terrorists proceeded to torture, rape, kidnap and murder innocent civilians. In the many months since that event, there are still a hundred people being held hostage by Hamas and a death toll of over 1,200 people, proving to be the deadliest period for Jewish lives since the Holocaust.

In the weeks and now months that have followed, we have seen disturbing displays of antisemitism across the world. It was no less than 48 hours after the attack that we saw large crowds of people celebrating unspeakable violence, and scenes of crowds chanting offensive statements on the steps of the Sydney Opera House. What continues to deeply concern me are the many justifications for the attacks on innocent Israelis and Australia's Jewish community. While there is no doubt that our Jewish community has ties to the Jewish state, it is wrong to bring them into a conflict that is beyond their borders and beyond their control.

It should also be noted that there are innocent Palestinians caught up in this conflict who equally deserve protection and safety, and they too are very different to Hamas, who deserve our condemnation. We mustn't forget that innocent women, children and the elderly are being deliberately and strategically placed in danger by Hamas.

If your movement requires fear, chaos, disruption and intimidation to get its message across, then your movement does not have a place in a liberal democracy like Australia. If your movement inspires people to vandalise Catholic schools with hate speech, like we saw at Campion College in Parramatta, or it normalises antisemitism, then it's not about Israel; it's about Jews. If your movement sacrifices its own people for political gain, then it is not about freedom but about power at any cost.

This conflict has allowed the mask to slip for antisemites, who have capitalised on human suffering to attack Jewish communities across the globe. This antisemitism is so toxic it has skewed the way we see our fellow human beings. I was sickened by the accounts of vicious and targeted sexual assaults and rapes carried out against Israeli women and girls. An account from a combat paramedic, recently reported by CNN, described what he witnessed, and I warn the chamber that this recount is graphic:

'Her pants are pulled down toward her knees and there's a bullet wound on the back side of her neck near her head,' he recounted. 'There's a puddle of blood around her head and there's remains of semen on the lower part of her back.'

It appears we now live in a world where we are able to believe all women unless of course those women happen to be Jewish.

The Australian government made the right decision by suspending funding to UNRWA after strong evidence was presented linking that organisation with Hamas operatives. Funding should not be reinstated until it is proven that none of the money can land in the hands of Hamas. We expect commercial businesses and financial institutions to do their due diligence in ensuring they do not fund sanctioned countries, terrorism or modern slavery, and rightly so. The absolute least we should expect of government and UN agencies is that they do the same.

We face a challenging set of circumstances here, where an overseas conflict that is beyond the control of anyone in this chamber, let alone the control of Australians who exist outside it, has put the safety of Australians at risk—especially so in a multicultural Australia, where we choose to live side by side in harmony. Here, we respect the freedoms of all Australians. That includes the safety of Jews and Palestinians.

It is the majority view of this parliament that Israel has the right to defend itself against these attacks. I would also say it is the majority view of all Australians that our Jewish brothers and sisters have the right to safety, security and peace within the borders of our nation and that we don't allow them to be the target of violence or hatred.