Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Mackellar, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

In rising to second this motion, I note that in this instance the actions of Hezbollah and Hamas—where two young soldiers were kidnapped by Hezbollah and one young soldier kidnapped by Hamas—are in violation of international law and fly in the face of UN Security Council Resolution 1701. Israel is a functioning democracy in the Middle East—one that we in this country admire because it has the courage to stand and remain free. Present with us today is the father of Ehud Goldwasser, who was kidnapped by Hezbollah. We welcome you to this country, Mr Shlomo Goldwasser, to witness this bipartisan motion where both sides of the chamber join in the condemnation of the action taken against the three young soldiers, your son included. They remain captives and their fates are entirely unknown.

Set out in the motion are the technical details of how and when those kidnappings occurred. What is not set out is the suffering of the families. So much time has passed, yet no attempt has been made to ensure that the United Nations resolution is complied with. In that troubled part of the world, terrorism is so rampant. There is so much discussion and dispute about actions that have been taken, but this motion brings together all people on all sides of arguments that revolve around the Middle East. These kidnappings are in clear breach of international law. The head of Hezbollah, Sheik Nasrallah, admitted that it was his intention to take hostages, so here was a clear intention of a breach of international law.

In this parliament we will always stand up for those people who speak out and seek help to right blatant wrongs, and this is one of those instances. The families of those men whose fates are still unknown continue to fight to have the UN resolution complied with. We in this House today stand with them, side by side, and say, ‘Let them be released.’ The private anguish of a father and the families of young men who have been taken in this way—in a way which brings dishonour to Hezbollah and Hamas—needs to be pointed out and recognised because, so often, those organisations try to say that they act in a charitable manner and that they seek to win the hearts and minds of people from whom they try to hide their terrorist faces. Should they wish to live up to the charitable ideals that they sometimes espouse, they could go some way towards giving legitimacy to some of those claims by releasing those young men now. And that is what we in this place would ask to happen.

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