Sophie Mirabella (Indi, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to 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.

Ian Causley (Page, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

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

I second the motion.

Robert McClelland (Barton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The opposition strongly supports this motion. Today both sides of Australian politics are joining to voice their support for the release of three young Israelis who have spent over a year as hostages. The core of the issue is the human tragedy that this hostage taking has caused. We also recognise here today Ehud’s father, Shlomo Goldwasser, as representing the three pairs of parents who are anxiously awaiting news of their sons and hoping for their return. To him I would like to convey the deepest sympathies and concern of the Australian people. We also send our best wishes for the health of his son and the other two boys, as well as our hopes for their speedy release.

All three detainees were abducted on Israeli territory. The abductions violated international law; the laws of war prohibit the taking of hostages. International law requires conflicting parties to release detainees as soon as the reason for their detention ceases. It has never been lawful to take hostages, and any reason based on that motive is invalid. Those who took the hostages are also in violation of Security Council Resolution 1701, which calls for the unconditional release of the abducted Israeli soldiers. It is now incumbent on the international community to take such steps as are necessary to enforce that resolution.

All three soldiers were reportedly injured during their capture, but their captors have unreasonably refused access by the Red Crescent and the Red Cross to determine their health, offer them humanitarian assistance and enable them to communicate with their families. These rights and obligations are enshrined in the laws of war, which have an ancient tradition. They have been the creed of warriors throughout centuries. To demean those laws and principles demeans the captors, who fail to recognise basic human decency. These people are not warriors; they are condemned by their own actions as common criminals.

Tragically, both of the kidnappings occurred when there was optimism in the Middle East. Israeli Prime Minister Sharon had taken the decision to withdraw from all settlements in the Gaza Strip, and his new Kadima Party had also begun to reduce the number of settlements in the West Bank. The actions of the kidnappers have damaged progress towards peace. They have not acted in furtherance of their own people’s rights; they have damaged them. A return of the hostages would be a vital confidence-building step for the impending international peace conference, which includes Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

The bottom line is that failure to release the hostages against international pressure raises questions of third-party intervention, but the captors should have the courage to turn their back on those third-party instructions. They should act in the interests of their own people. If they fail to do so against world pressure, the world is entitled to ask what benefits have been promised to them for failing to do so.

It is my sincere hope that this resolution, along with the many other voices of support from around the world, will convince the captors that they must release their captives in order to rejoin the international community. A failure to do so will reinforce the conclusion that they are not responsible representatives of their people, that they are not acting as warriors pursuing a noble goal, that they are merely common criminals who have engaged in illegal conduct and they are, by their own actions, defined as a criminal group—indeed, terrorists—intent on operating outside the universally accepted standards of humanity. These standards have been developed not in the last decades but over centuries as principles of basic human decency that have been offered by warriors and combatants throughout the ages. On behalf of the Australian Labor Party I call for the immediate release of all three hostages to end the pain of their families and to begin healing the many wounds of this very troubled region.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Mackellar, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to 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.

Michael Danby (Melbourne Ports, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I commend the honourable member for Indi for introducing this motion. As the honourable member for Barton, the shadow foreign minister, has made clear, the motion has the opposition’s support. For many months—ever since the three hostages were kidnapped in Israel in an unprovoked military abduction—this issue has been in the forefront of the minds of many people in my electorate and in the Australian Jewish community around Australia. I commend in particular two people from the Australian Jewish community, Dr Danny Lam and Philip Chester, who have organised the visit to Australia of Mr Shlomo Goldwasser, the father of Master Sergeant Ehud Goldwasser. I think having Shlomo here has helped the House to focus on this issue of the abductions.

I might say that it is not only this House that has examined this issue. As Mr Goldwasser explained to us just before this debate, similar resolutions have been passed in the Russian upper house, in the House of Commons and in the French, Italian and US senates. Moreover, as the member for Barton so clearly pointed out, United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 demands—it is international law—that these three soldiers abducted from areas inside their own territory be released.

Like people in those international assemblies and our visitors here today, I am angry that these three young Israeli servicemen were abducted from inside Israeli territory and, like them, I am distressed that these three men have been held ever since by the terrorists of Hamas and Hezbollah. Hamas and Hezbollah are terrorist organisations. I am frustrated that efforts to secure their release by Israeli and international negotiators, government and non-government, have been unsuccessful.

Our awareness of this tragic situation has been heightened by the visit of Shlomo Goldwasser. Ehud Goldwasser was abducted by Hezbollah terrorists on 12 July 2006. Mr Goldwasser is here with us today in Parliament House, and I know that he has had a sympathetic hearing from members on all sides. I want to pay tribute to him for his fortitude over the past 14 months, and to all other family members of the three abducted soldiers—the other soldiers being Corporal Gilad Shalit and Sergeant Eldad Regev. I know that you have had a sympathetic hearing from the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the shadow foreign minister; we have just had a meeting of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade; and you are going to meet the Leader of the Opposition. Mr Goldwasser, this is surely an indication, along with this debate, that the Australian parliament supports you and supports the freedom of your son. I hope that the people who are holding the soldiers understand the contempt that they are raising in Australia by their actions in keeping your son and the two other men.

The abduction of the three men did not occur by accident. It was a coordinated attack on Israel by Hamas, operating from Gaza, and Hezbollah, operating from southern Lebanon. These are both territories which Israel had evacuated. There were no Israeli forces in either Lebanon or Gaza at the time of the abductions, which is why the terrorists crossed into Israeli territory to seize these three soldiers. What unites Hamas, a Syrian-backed Sunni organisation, with Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Shiah organisation, is their determination to destroy the state of Israel.

There are mainstream Palestinian organisations which are, at least in rhetoric or in principle, prepared to come to a peace agreement. But unfortunately Hezbollah and Hamas are not. The aim of the abductions was to provoke Israel into military action and to set back the peace process. Sadly for the people of the region, Hamas and Hezbollah—and their controllers in Syria and Iran—succeeded in this objective. As Mr Goldwasser pointed out, Israel went to the extent of going to war to free his son; similarly, they have been trying to release by military means Gilad Shalit in Gaza—unfortunately, to date, to no effect.

These three young men will be released only through international pressure on those holding them: the leaderships of Hamas and Hezbollah and the Syrian and Iranian regimes which sponsor, arm, fund and train those organisations. This is not something that Israel can do itself. The pressure must come from the international community, and this motion is part of that pressure. I know that Mr Goldwasser and all the families concerned are grateful for statements of support of this kind. I commend this motion to the House. These abductions are a breach of the Geneva convention and the world will judge the credibility of the Prime Minister of Lebanon, Mr Sinora, and Sheikh Nasrallah on this issue. (Time expired)

Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In this day and age, it is so frequently the case that we find that time marches on. It is also too frequently the case that when matters are overtaken by more recent matters, people turn their attention elsewhere. That is the reason why the motion before the House, which has the bipartisan support of the chamber, is so fundamentally important. It builds on a global commitment to make sure that this parliament and other parliaments around the world, together with the United Nations through UN resolution 1701, maintain a focus on the absolute necessity of recognising that terrorists must never be permitted any oxygen or any chance to continue the kinds of atrocious activities that they undertake.

I congratulate the members for Indi and Mackellar for the motion that is before the House today. I know that the member for Melbourne Ports is, as of right, a very good friend of the state of Israel, and likewise the member for Barton. As Chair of the Australia-Israel Friendship Group, I stand in wholehearted support of this motion. The sad reality is that groups of individuals like Hamas and Hezbollah, who often portray themselves as in some way men of peace or people attempting to obtain some kind of justice, smack that very notion down when they engage in this most egregious activity. The two instances among many that we are talking about today are, of course, the abduction of Corporal Gilad Shalit from Gaza by Hamas on 25 June 2006 and the abduction of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev in southern Lebanon, but in the Israeli state, on 12 July 2006 by Hezbollah.

I welcome Shlomo Goldwasser, who is in the public gallery today. I hope that he takes comfort from the fact that we in this parliament and so many others around the world, together with the United Nations, will not turn our backs on these kinds of activities but will continue to apply the diplomatic pressure that is such a necessity. At a time when there are so many events taking place, let us never lose sight of the fact that Israel remains the only truly functioning democracy in the Middle East. Let us not lose sight of the fact that, as free peoples, Israelis have the right to defend themselves. And let us not lose sight of the fact that the crimes that are undertaken by Hamas and Hezbollah are absolutely among the most rank types of crimes that can take place. Others have gone through the scenarios that took place with respect to these abductions, but I turn my mind back to when I was in Israel in 2004 together with the member for Indi. We travelled to the northern border of Israel and stood a matter of metres from the Lebanon-Israel border—literally metres from the concrete barrier and the high fortifications. There we stood and looked not at a nation state army that was patrolling the border in southern Lebanon but at a terrorist organisation that commanded those posts.

As we looked across no-man’s land, a space of perhaps 50 to 100 metres, we saw members of a terrorist organisation that manned that outpost—members of a terrorist organisation that, in this instance, crossed across into Israel and abducted both Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev. They took them forcibly from Israeli sovereign territory back into south Lebanon and now continue to refuse access by the Red Cross to ensure that those soldiers are safe. That kind of terrorism can never be countenanced. Those kinds of activities must never be forgotten. I say to Shlomo Goldwasser, who is in the gallery, that he should take comfort from the fact that we will stand in solidarity with him until such time as we know that these men have been returned safely to their nation-state and until such a time as Israel can live in peace and not be under sustained attack from terrorist organisations like Hamas and Hezbollah.

Bernie Ripoll (Oxley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Firstly, I want to recognise all the speakers who have contributed to this very important motion moved by the member for Indi. I thank the member for Indi for moving this motion. I also thank the member for Mackellar, who seconded the motion, the member for Moncrieff, who just spoke, and, from the Labor side, the member for Barton—who is the shadow minister for foreign affairs—and the member for Melbourne Ports. We all come in here in unison, as this parliament is in unison, to pass this motion and to recognise that more needs to be done and that there is a need for a global voice and global action, particularly in this case with the three hostages that have been taken. I offer my deepest, heartfelt sympathy to Ehud’s father, Shlomo Goldwasser, who is here representing the three pairs of parents—who I know would be anxious and always awaiting news and hoping for the return of their sons. I convey to them my deepest sympathies and those of my party and the parliament itself.

The motion notes that Palestinian terrorists did infiltrate Israel’s sovereign border—and we have heard from many other speakers of the details of how that took place on the Gaza Strip on 25 June last year—and attacked an army post inside Israel’s sovereign territory. The three soldiers who were kidnapped were Corporal Gilad Shalit, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev. These soldiers did not deserve what happened to them, nor was it something that was warranted under any act. In fact, it is contrary to a United Nations motion and contrary to many conventions. In particular, it is contrary to and in violation of international law and the laws of war, which prohibit the taking of hostages and also require parties to release detainees as soon as the reason for the detention ceases. It has never been lawful to take hostages for any reason. The taking of those hostages is also in violation of Security Council resolution No. 1701, which calls for the unconditional release of the abducted Israeli soldiers. There is an opportunity here for the international community to speak up, as our parliament is doing and as a number of other parliaments around the world have done. The United Nations and the parliaments of France, Russia and Britain have also come forward.

What is particularly sad about this incursion and the taking of these hostages is that this happened at a time when there was truly some optimism about peace, when there was truly some chance of moving forward with recognition of the right of Israel as a state, movement towards a peaceful settlement and recognition of people in that area in the Middle East. There is no doubt in my mind—or in the minds of many others—that it was an act of terrorism and aggression that these hostages were taken and that it was an act that was meant to derail any decent processes towards peace or moving forward in that region. That deeply concerns me because, on so many occasions in the past, we have seen many efforts made by Israel to find solutions and to try to find peace for the Middle East, but terrorist organisations such as Hamas and Hezbollah refuse to accept that a solution can be found.

I cannot imagine what the families or the people who live in the Middle East or in Israel would be feeling or how distressing this must be for them—not knowing but always holding on to hope. We all pray with you for the very swift release of these soldiers. I say on behalf of my party that we condemn the actions by Hezbollah and Hamas and we pray for the swift release of all three of the soldiers—Ehud Goldwasser, Eldad Regev and Corporal Gilad Shalit. This parliament will continue to support any efforts made by Israel to find peace and we fully support this motion put forward by the member for Indi.

Alex Somlyay (Fairfax, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.