Sophie Mirabella (Indi, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the House:

(1)

notes that:

(a)

Palestinian terrorists infiltrated Israel’s sovereign border from the Gaza Strip on 25 June 2006, attacked an army post inside Israel’s sovereign territory and kidnapped Corporal Gilad Shalit into Gaza;

(b)

on 12 July 2006—in a similar aggressive cross-border attack from southern Lebanon—Hizbollah terrorists infiltrated sovereign Israeli territory and kidnapped Israeli Defence Force Reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev;

(c)

there is no territorial dispute between Israel and Lebanon, since Israel withdrew from her security zone in May 2000, under the supervision of the United Nations; and

(d)

these young soldiers were serving their active duty within Israel’s borders and now, for more than nine months, have been denied their basic human rights; and

(2)

urges the Government to exert pressure on the terrorist organisations, their supporters and financial backers in the Gaza Strip and southern Lebanon, so that the missing soldiers are returned unharmed to their families and the country of Israel.

I am honoured to move this motion regarding three captured Israeli soldiers. This motion is about the condemnation of the taking of hostages for political purposes and the request for immediate and unconditional release of the IDF soldiers. Debate on this motion has importantly coincided with the visit to Australia, and attendance in the gallery this afternoon, of Mr Shlomo Goldwasser, who is the father of one of the captured soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser. I am sure that all members of the House would join me in welcoming him to Australia and supporting him at this difficult time.

As confronting and difficult as it may be, it is important for us to highlight the distressing plight of Mr Goldwasser’s son Ehud, as well as his son’s fellow comrades Eldad Regev and Gilad Shalit, since their capture by Palestinian terrorists in July 2006. Shlomo Goldwasser and his family have spent the last year travelling to communities around the world raising awareness of the uncertain fate of his son and the other captives and highlighting the human toll that this has taken on the families and their communities. It would not be an easy task to continuously and so publicly relive the horror and emotional trauma of not knowing where your son is and whether he is well. I have had the pleasure of meeting with Mr Goldwasser today and I commend his and his family’s determination and persistence.

In this whole sorry episode, we know of some facts, facts that are contained in the motion I have submitted for debate. They are that on 25 June 2006 Palestinian terrorists crossed Israel’s clearly delineated sovereign border with the Gaza Strip, attacked an army post inside Israel’s sovereign territory and kidnapped Corporal Gilad Shalit into Gaza. On 12 July in a similar aggressive cross-border attack from southern Lebanon, Hezbollah terrorists proceeded to attack an Israeli army unit that was patrolling within sovereign Israeli territory along the Israeli side of the border, abducting IDF soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev and forcibly taking them back across the border into Lebanon.

There is no territorial dispute between Israel and Lebanon, as the United Nations Secretary-General and Security Council ratified Israel’s complete and total withdrawal from all Lebanese territory in May 2000. The act of the abduction of these Israeli soldiers constitutes an egregious violation of Israel’s national sovereignty. These young men—husbands, students, cherished members of a family, with their lives ahead of them—were merely serving their active duty within Israel’s borders and have now been denied their basic human rights. For 14 months, neither the Goldwasser family nor the Regev family have heard news of their son; no-one has received any sign of life. Sadly, their current whereabouts and status remain unknown.

As members of parliament in one of the longest serving democracies in the world, we have a responsibility and an absolute need to stand up collectively against terrorists. We need to exert pressure on the terrorist organisations involved in the abduction, on the government of Lebanon, on the Palestinian Authority and on terrorist supporters and backers in Australia, in Lebanon and in the Palestinian Authority to ensure that Gilad Shalit, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev are released unconditionally, immediately and without harm.

Today, under the cloud of terror and military abduction, we join with our Israeli friends in solidarity to offer our support during these dark times and to hope and pray that this devastating episode in the lives of these three young men and their families will soon be over and that the soldiers will be released unharmed to the arms of their loving families, who have endured so much. I commend the motion to the House.

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