Milton Dick (Speaker) | Link to this | Hansard source

I have received a letter from the honourable member for Berowra proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely:

The second anniversary of the October 7 terrorist attacks and the resultant increase in antisemitism in Australia.

I call upon those honourable members who approve of the proposed discussion to rise in their places.

More than the number of members required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) | Link to this | Hansard source

Today is a day of memory, a day of disappointment, a day of defiance and a day of hope. Three years ago, exactly a year before the attacks of October 7, I was in southern Israel with the Leader of the Opposition. We went to see how the Abraham Accords were transforming Israel's relationship with its Arab neighbours. We heard how they were creating not just peace but friendships and opportunities for both sides. A deal with Saudi Arabia was on everyone's lips. First Egypt, then Jordan and now the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco were making peace. The more Arab nations Israel made peace with, the greater the chance for peace between Israelis and Palestinians became.

Not everyone supported peace. We visited Ramallah and met with the Palestinian prime minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh, who denounced the deals and promised that the Palestinians would not be forgotten. We visited on election day. We went to Kibbutz Nahal Oz. We went to Sderot. We met volunteers from the wide range of Israeli political parties contesting the elections. Israel's elections are peacefully but hotly contested. We met people who live close to the border, working for peace. We climbed abandoned watchtowers and looked out towards Gaza. The distance between those two places is so small. It's the distance from Castle Hill to Parramatta. In Israel three years ago it was a time of hope. It appeared that Middle East peace was in reach.

Australia has long stood alongside the Israeli request for peace because Israel is a nation like our own. Both are Western liberal democracies which believe in the rule of law to protect the rights of women and religious minorities. Israel is one of the few places in the Middle East where Christians, Jews and Muslims can worship freely. Israel is the only place in the Middle East where LGBTI people live freely and openly and are celebrated. Its multi-ethnic parliament, defence force and even supreme court are comprised of Jews, Arabs, Bedouins and Druze. Their security partnership with Australia has been highly important. Its intelligence has helped stop terrorist attacks in our country and saved lives. It's why it's been so upsetting to watch the Albanese government abandon bipartisan support for Israel, even before October 7.

However, one year on from that visit from the Leader of the Opposition and me, everything changed. Those horrific images of October 7 have been seared in our minds. We saw the shocking scenes of Hamas terrorists invading Israel, gunning down young people at the Nova music festival, shooting at the same people we visited a year earlier. We saw pictures of Naama Levy, wearing blood stained jeans, being forcibly dragged into a truck by terrorists; the dismemberment of bodies; women being raped and having their breasts cut off; parents having to watch their children being tortured, raped and murdered before they themselves were murdered. Babies and Holocaust survivors were captured, caged and killed.

Hamas committed unparalleled acts of depravity on that day. Not only did they commit them but they broadcast these crimes in real time so the world could see their atrocities. It was the sadistic murder of 1,200 people, the largest number of Jews killed in a single day since the Holocaust. We even saw one of the terrorists calling his mother to celebrate the number of Jews he had killed. Australia born grandmother and librarian Galit Carbone, whose brother is here in the gallery at this moment, was murdered. When the Foreign minister went to Israel, she refused to meet with her family and she refused to go south to see the places where these dreadful attacks took place. Following this attack, Hamas took the corpses back into Gaza where they were spat on by ordinary Gazans.

Hamas orchestrated the events of October 7 because they have one objective: to remove Israel and Jews from the face of the earth. Hamas is a death cult which uses its own people as human shields. Hamas aren't just terrorists; they are the government of Gaza. They run its health ministry. The infiltrated the UN agency UNRWA, whose employees took part in the October 7 attacks and whose headquarters were used as a Hamas communications base. Hamas has spent billions of dollars of foreign aid not developing its economy and giving its people a future. Instead, they stockpiled munitions under schools and hospitals. They created a network of terror tunnels which still hold 48 hostages in appalling and inhumane conditions. This is exactly why Australia listed Hamas as a terrorist organisation long before October 7.

I come back to the remaining 48 hostages who Hamas are holding captive. They are not just statistics; they're innocent people whose lives have been destroyed. Their families have been living a nightmare for two years, not knowing if their loved one is dead or alive. Those being held by Hamas range in age from 19 to 85. We must never forget their stories.

One of the remaining hostages is Maxim Herkin, 37. Maxim was born in the Donbass region of Ukraine. He has a daughter living in Russia, a partner and an 11-year-old brother, Peter. Although not a fan of parties, Max agreed to attend the Nova festival with two of his friends. Both of those friends were tragically killed on October 7, their bodies later found burnt inside a vehicle. Max was abducted from the Nova music festival. On the day of the attacks Maxim attempted to reassure his mother via text. 'Everything's okay,' he wrote early in the morning on that terrible Saturday. 'I'm coming home, slowly but surely.' Later, as the horror unfolded, he wrote simply to his mother, 'I love you.'

There are the 28-year-old twins Ziv and Gali Berman from Kfar Aza. They are inseparable brothers who love travel and soccer. They are fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv and Liverpool FC and have played on the village football team, the Kfar Aza Foxes. On October 7, Ziv was in his room and Gali was visiting a friend two houses away. Ten days later the family received a message from the IDF that the brothers had likely been kidnapped. Their parents and their eldest brother, Liran, survived the terror attacks and are waiting for their return.

I want to speak about Evyatar David, who is just 24. Evyatar has an older brother and a sister. He plays guitar and, like so many 24-year-olds around the world, he loves to party. He was at the Nova music festival when he was trying to escape and was taken hostage with his best friend. Many people know Evyatar as the man who appeared in the Hamas video two months ago, looking like an emaciated figure out of Bergen-Belsen, being forced to dig his own grave in a terror tunnel. These are just four of the 48 people who have been held in captivity for 731 days. They must be brought home.

But, as disturbing as the October 7 attacks have been, they've led to a dreadful rise in antisemitism here in Australia. Australia has always been the exception to the rule about antisemitism. There have been Jews in this country since the First Fleet. Jewish Australians are responsible for building so many of Australia's institutions, from our Constitution to our football clubs and the retail, housing and entertainment industries. There are Jewish Australian Olympians, philanthropists, Anzacs, parliamentarians and even bushrangers. Australia has been one of the few nations on Earth that has never discriminated against Jews; however, for the past two years, Australians have seen things we never thought we would see in this country.

The very day after October 7, there was a gathering in Western Sydney where a sheik described October 7 as 'a day we have been waiting for, a day of elation'. That same spirit spilled onto our streets. We saw protests at the opera house. We saw restaurants invaded. We saw cars firebombed. We saw multiple graffiti and arson attacks on synagogues. We saw shops burnt. The families of hostages visiting from overseas had paint thrown on them. Even today in Melbourne, there was a sign reading 'Glory to Hamas'. People do it because they know they can get away with it, because they know there are no consequences. That's what Australia has become.

Two years later, not enough has been done to curb these antisemitic excesses. The pro-Hamas rallies continue. This week, again protesters are trying to hijack the Sydney Opera House. Tonight, demonstrations are planned in Bankstown led by the same sheik who described October 7 as 'a day of glory'. Our university campuses continue to be unsafe for Jewish students. Artists continue to be pressured and punished for refusing to bend to the mob. Unfortunately, we have seen a federal government that has failed to act with urgency.

All of these failures directly lie at the feet of the Prime Minister, who has refused to stand firm and stamp out antisemitism across Australia, in stark contrast to Labor leaders like Chris Minns. Under the leadership of this prime minister, this government has spent two years being reactive to issues impacting the Jewish community. It took months to legislate the hate symbols ban first proposed by the coalition. They failed to coordinate law enforcement and intelligence agencies across the federation when the crisis first reared its head. They failed to curb violent protest on our streets. They allowed Jew haters to run amok on campuses and refused a judicial inquiry. The Prime Minister had to be dragged kicking and screaming to convene National Cabinet, which delivered neither tougher penalties nor stronger laws. For two and a half years, we have called for them to list the IRGC, which has been responsible for terrorist attacks on our streets.

The former Attorney-General failed during his tenure to root out antisemitism at the Human Rights Commission. The Foreign minister's conduct abroad has left thousands of Jewish Australians appalled, breaking decades of bipartisan foreign policy. Labor took months to appoint the special envoy on antisemitism and then ignored her advice on crucial matters. The special envoy delivered a comprehensive report months ago. The government has had this report, yet there has been no response, no plan, no decisive action to keep law-abiding Australians of every background safe.

Of course, there is hope. The hope is the peace plan that has been pursued by the United States. It's a peace plan that this government has had no input into because this government chose to disrespect our longstanding bipartisan position in relation to Israel and alienated Washington. This government chose the path of unilateral recognition of the Palestinian state. This has been praised by Palestinian actors, and I say to the Prime Minister: with the new political capital you have with the Palestinian actors, it is important to pressure them to pressure Hamas. (Time expired)

Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

On 7 October 2023, in a day of horror, Hamas terrorists carried out coordinated, barbaric attacks on the people of southern Israel. The grief and the horror of that day live on in families, in communities and in people I know. I have felt that grief and horror since that day. Hundreds of festival-goers were murdered at the Nova festival near Re'im. In nearby communities, including Kfar Aza, Be'eri, Nir Oz, Nahal Oz, Holit, Zikim, Kerem Shalom and Sufa, people, families, were brutally attacked and butchered in their homes. More than 1,200 men, women and children were slaughtered; more than 250 people were taken hostage. These were deliberate attacks on civilians. These were atrocities against civilians. This was the greatest loss of Jewish life in a single event since the Holocaust. That day left more than physical devastation. It imposed a grief that will not pass quickly and a trauma that will cross generations.

For Israeli survivors, for the families of those murdered and for those still waiting for loved ones to return, the legacy of 7 October is enduring. Its violence and cruelty left a mark not only on individuals but on a people. I spoke at Caulfield Park in Melbourne days after the 7 October 2023 attack, on behalf of the Prime Minister and the Australian government, in front of 6,000 people from the Melbourne Jewish community. I stood with the Premier of Victoria and with representatives from the federal and state Liberal oppositions. I stood with Jewish community leaders and with a resident of Kibbutz Kfar Aza, who was visiting Melbourne when her kibbutz was attacked. All of us were united in our condemnation of the barbarity of the Hamas attacks.

In January this year I was in Israel when a ceasefire was agreed. After 15 months of war and after what began with those horrific atrocities, there was finally a glimmer of hope. What I saw and heard in that week in Israel will stay with me. At Kibbutz Be'eri, where more than 130 people were murdered, I met with Danny Majzner, who is in our parliament today—he was here during question time. Danny walked me through a community that will never be the same. Danny survived that day; his sister, Galit Carbone—an Australian grandmother—did not. She was murdered in her home. Danny generously shared his family's story with me. To walk those streets and to see homes that were once full of life torn apart is to understand the weight of what was lost on October 7.

At the site of the Nova music festival, Shalev Biton guided me through the place where 340 people were murdered. Shalev had just returned from working in Australia before attending the festival. He escaped by running for kilometres and was saved by the selfless actions of a nearby farm manager. His story is one of horror and also of survival. These experiences—standing where such brutality occurred, hearing directly from those who lived through it—reinforced what I not just already knew but felt. These were not acts of war; they were terrorist atrocities and they must never be forgotten.

It is shocking that in Australia, after the barbarity of October 7, we have seen a rise in antisemitism, including antisemitic violence and public abuse. This has challenged our shared commitment to safety, mutual respect and the rule of law. Regardless of circumstance, Australia is defined by the expectation that all people should be able to live free from fear. I'm always saddened when events overseas leave any Australians feeling less secure and asking serious questions about their place in this country. Some have used these events to drive political division and have exploited international events to incite anger and division in Australia. That path does not lead to peace and does not reflect who we should be. We must ensure that our response to international conflicts strengthens rather than undermines our community. No-one in Australia should feel unsafe because of their background or beliefs, and political disagreements, however vigorous, must never compromise the principles that underpin democratic values or public safety. It's through the discipline of law, of restraint and of equal regard that democracy is defended and national unity is maintained.

There have been moments over the past year, brief and fragile, when ceasefires were reached. In those moments there was relief and even joy, not only in Israel and Gaza but across the region and beyond. Those ceasefires offered a glimpse of what might be possible, something that ends the killing and allows diplomacy, humanitarian aid and recovery to take its place. But let there be no doubt; the attacks carried out by Hamas on 7 October 2023 were acts of terrorism—deliberate, calculated, extremist and inhumane.

What I've witnessed on our streets in Australia over the last two years has been distressing. The hate, the vitriol and the antisemitism that have festered are utterly unacceptable. Every Australian has the right to protest, but no-one has the right to protest wherever they please at the expense of the safety and freedom of others. We must restore the balance between freedom of expression and freedom of movement, ensuring that the right to protest never becomes the right to intimidate and inflame tensions in our community. The very few limits placed on protest activity have paradoxically placed limits on the Jewish community's ability to move and live freely. Families have been afraid to walk in their own neighbourhoods. Jewish schools have cancelled excursions and counselled their students not to wear identifying uniforms. Synagogues and schools have required armed security and police protection. In 2025 in Australia, no religious institution should need such a protection. All Australians, including our Jewish citizens, must be able to live publicly, proudly and safely in the country they call home. The Jewish community in Australia deserves our full and unequivocal support. Jews in Australia should not have to doubt whether their fellow Australians stand with them against hate.

I believe there remains, at heart, strong support for the Jewish community within this parliament, across government and across Australia. But belief alone is not enough. We must act. We must ensure our laws, our public spaces and our public discourse reflect the values of safety, decency and inclusion for all. This parliament can and does reaffirm that Australia stands against hate and stands for unity. We must confront antisemitism wherever it appears—in schools, on campuses, in workplaces and in our political institutions. And it's not just a task for government or for members of parliament. The responsibility to challenge hate belongs to every one of us. Silence is not neutrality; it is complicity.

The events of 7 October 2023 were horrific in their intent and brutality, but the events of October 7 are also a test. They are a test of our humanity, our principles and our courage to speak truth when it's most difficult to do so. Let us honour the victims of that day not only through remembrance but through resolve. Let us ensure that hate finds no home in Australia, not in our streets, not in our institutions and not in our hearts. May the values that define us as Australians—freedom, safety and respect for all—guide not just our words but our actions too. The Jewish community has every right to expect that the crimes committed by Hamas will be condemned clearly, unequivocally and without justification of any kind. I hope for peace, but it will not come easily. It rarely does. Peace is not simply declared; it's built through law, through diplomacy and through the discipline and resolve to continue even when progress is slow or opposed.

The Prime Minister reminded us at the start of question time that the world must never forget the atrocities that were inflicted by Hamas. He called on us to think of those still held hostage and to join with our partners around the world in calling for the hostages to be returned immediately and with dignity. The Prime Minister is right. We must not forget. We remember those hostages who did not survive, and we continue to call for those still held to come home. The future must be grounded in security for Israel and dignity for Palestinians, and we continue to hope for a just and lasting peace. (Time expired)

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) | Link to this | Hansard source

Today we commemorate the most appalling atrocities that occurred in Israel two years ago today, where we saw the massacre of some 1,200 innocent Israelis. Women, children and men were slaughtered, women were raped, and some 250 people were taken hostage. I had the opportunity, along with the member for Macnamara and others, to visit Israel just two short months after the event, and what I saw will stay with me forever. Before we went to Israel, the Israeli ambassador briefed a number of members of the PJCIS and gave us the opportunity to see a 43-minute video—or a compilation, at least—of the bodycam footage of those Hamas terrorists slaughtering 1,200 Israelis. That also will stay with me for the rest of my life.

When we visited southern Israel, we went to a town called Sderot, which is called the air-raid-shelter capital of the world because it has an air-raid shelter every 100 metres in public spaces. Every single home has an air-raid shelter because of the tens of thousands of rockets and missiles that have been fired from Gaza into the town of Sderot. Occupants of Sderot have around 30 seconds or so to get into an air-raid shelter once the siren goes. That's their life and that's the life that they have led for many years.

Some of the images that have stayed with me from that trip, visiting with the member for Macnamara and the member for Flinders, are from walking through Kibbutz Kfar Aza and seeing the absolute destruction of homes. Walls were pockmarked with gunshots from RPGs and small-arms fire. Homes had been burnt to the ground. The footage in that video, seeing white HiLux 4x4 utes pulling up, taking the hostages and driving back into Gaza to the absolute jubilation of the residents in Gaza that Jews had been captured—that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

It is a good thing that we commemorate this today, and we hope—and I hope and pray—that peace is near. Too many people have died. Too many people have suffered on both sides since 7 October, and I hope and pray that this peace plan comes to fruition and that it holds. Nobody wants to see innocent life being taken, nobody wants to see people suffer, and I'm sure that everybody in this place would share those views. So today we recognise the loss, pain and grief of the people of Israel and we say, 'Am Yisrael Chai.' (Time expired)

Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

The sands were shifting in the Middle East in the lead-up to October 7. There had already been normalisations of relationships between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan, and there was talk of the Israeli government and the Saudi Arabian authorities coming together and forming diplomatic relationships. It's now about 7.30 in the morning in Israel; on October 7, an hour previously, at 6.30, all of that was attacked. The idea that somehow there could be a stabilisation of the Israeli people and the Israeli place in the Middle East was attacked directly, in the most brutal and awful way.

But the test of October 7 is reflecting not just on what happened but also on what needs to be confronted and fought back against. On October 7, the people who were killed were the people who sought peace—people living in the southern parts of Israel, in the kibbutzim like the one I visited, Kfar Aza, which was filled with people with simple homes and communal living, people who sought to live alongside the Palestinian people in harmony and peace, working the land and creating wealth and products from this oasis in the desert. The young kids who were dancing and listening to music underneath the desert sky were seeking only to enjoy their friends and their time away from national service. They were the people who were killed on October 7—the people who wanted peace, the left-wing people inside Israel. That was the tragedy of it all. But the reason behind it was that an organisation filled with terror and seeking to dehumanise another group of people sought to tear it apart in the most brutal and awful way. That is exactly why we must hold the humanity in ourselves and see the humanity in one another on this day more than any other.

I think one of the hardest things for the Jewish people around the world is that the grief that they experienced as a result of October 7 was never really allowed to manifest and be openly expressed without people seeking to minimise it or not giving the space for it to be presented and made public in the way in which it should be allowed to be. To have people trying to delegitimise the experiences of the Jewish people really hurt. It also absolutely must be said on this day—and I say so as a proud Jewish person—that the experiences of the Palestinian people have been devastating and that they too must have the space and the respect to grieve openly and to mourn the cost and the lives that have been lost as a result of this terrible conflict, because that is what October 7 was. It was a time in which people sought to take away each other's humanity. But that is not who we are, and that is not the future that we seek to build. When you look at the Australian whose life was taken, Galit Carbone, a grandmother and a person who lived freely and with peace and love—that is the person who we seek to remember today, but it is also the sort of intent that we want to build and take from this moment.

Right now, across the world, Jewish communities are hurting, but so are Palestinians. On October 7, we must take this opportunity to say that, on the holy days of the Jewish calendar, it is not enough to just say that we want to somehow use this moment to make a political point against some action of the Israeli government. No, in this moment we need to allow people to grieve, to remember the lives that were lost and to say that on this day, on October 7, the future that we seek to build is one where we try to recognise the humanity in one another.

I also want to say that the comments by the leader of a political organisation in this country, saying that, as a result of the actions of the Israeli government, there was somehow a legitimate target and a legitimate reason to attack Jewish people going to synagogue, are exactly the wrong approach to be taking and exactly the wrong lesson to be taking from October 7. Where we are today right now is a moment where we can choose peace and outline a pathway towards peace, for the Palestinian people to finally be able to go home and for the Israeli people to be reunited with their loved ones who are being held hostage, and that is what we seek to do—not to legitimise violence but to see the humanity in one another and imagine a future where the violence and terrorism that happened on October 7 never happen again.

Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Small Business) | Link to this | Hansard source

On the morning of 7 October 2023, young men and women danced at sunrise at the Nova dance festival and farmers awoke at the kibbutzim in southern Israel. But the peace was broken by Hamas terrorists who abused the trust of those they had deliberately built that trust with to launch attacks, horrific attacks, that are now counted as the biggest loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust. Women, men, children and babies were murdered. Women were raped, mutilated and paraded. Two years on, 48 hostages remain in Gaza. Among them is a 19-year-old woman; others are as old as 85. It's quite simple: bring them home. October 7 should never have happened. It certainly should have been the end, but it was the beginning. On 8 October, we had protests on the steps of the Sydney Opera House celebrating the attacks. Shortly after that we had intimidation in Princes Park outside Central Shule in the Goldstein electorate.

Left unchecked, the crisis of antisemitism has spread across Australia and is lived by Jewish Australians—from abuse and graffiti to firebombings. There's no place for antisemitism in Australia, nor should international conflicts become the basis for targeting our fellow citizens. Since then, we have had an aggressive and, we need to acknowledge, at times successful global propaganda effort to delegitimise Israel defending its national security and defending the interests of its citizens from the terrorist organisation Hamas.

Many Australians of good intention, of course, are looking at the situation overseas and are disgusted at the rise of antisemitism at home, struggling to understand these events and the impact they've had. To those Australians, I recommend reading the book Ruptured: Jewish Women in Australia Reflect on Life Post-October 7, edited by Lee Kofman and Tamar Paluch. I recommend it because so many people are trying to make sense of these events and understand the impact that they've had on Australians. It brings home how our fellow Australians have felt in the months and years since October 7. In her chapter 'In case I ever get kidnapped', Tamar Paluch wrote:

I have never felt my identities as a mother and a Jew activated as powerfully and urgently as in these times. The world in which I was once fluent and comfortable feels alien and untrustworthy.

Jemima Montag wrote in 'Nana's bracelet':

… I had made an active decision to conceal my Jewish identity to protect my safety and mental health …

Other contributors, like Noa Gomberg, wrote:

Frankly, I'm still not sure why or how the queer community grew so vulnerable to Hamas propaganda—considering they routinely slaughter us in Gaza—or how it has become popular to accessorise keffiyehs with pride pins.

There is this deep sense of betrayal. In addressing some of the issues of re-traumatisation, particularly from the Holocaust, Dani Valent wrote in her chapter 'Open hiding':

I used to feel the same as my brother: we did not suffer intergenerational trauma. But I have realised it was waiting in my blood. My cells seized with it and they have not eased. The rhetoric around the Hamas attacks and the Israeli response has been like screams in my face …

In her chapter 'North of the river', Siana Einfeld wrote explicitly about the betrayal she has experienced. She wrote:

On December 18 2023—

shortly after the attacks—

Darebin City Council, which has never once passed a motion about any other foreign conflict, pushed through a motion solely condemning Israel for the war it did not start.

… The motion did not once mention the killing spree of October 7. It did not acknowledge the plight of the hostages nor the mass sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas against Israeli girls and women.

In her chapter 'The crack and the light', Melinda Jones wrote:

It was particularly painful to see how the feminist movement, including many of my friends, responded to October 7. They took two inconsistent positions, one involving justification of what happened and the other denial.

… Men were the violators; women were the victims of horrific sexual violence. It was not so long ago that rape in war was recognised as a war crime, as the world is reminded annually on the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict. But, according to some of my feminist ex-friends, 'rape is resistance'. Somehow the women who were abused, deserved it.

In her chapter 'The woman in the arena', Simonne Whine wrote of how it has inspired her. She wrote:

One thing I have realised is that the true arena isn't a place you enter deliberately, for glory. The arena chooses you.

… I will continue to fight, not just for myself, but for my children, for my people, for our future in Australia. Because history has shown us, time and time again, the cost of silence.

Rabbi Jacqueline Ninio in 'And still we dance' said:

It takes great courage to believe that there will be a better tomorrow, that we will dance again in freedom.

(Time expired)

Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Immigration) | Link to this | Hansard source

This is an anniversary we wish we didn't have to commemorate. The deplorable actions of Hamas on 7 October 2023 saw 1,200 innocent Israeli lives lost and hundreds of people taken hostage. Today we commemorate and pay tribute to those innocent victims of the actions of Hamas, and we offer support to their families on what is, no doubt, a very difficult anniversary. This was the time when modern Israel lost its freedom and its innocence.

I'm proud to represent the Kingsford Smith community, which has a very strong and growing Jewish population. I know that many of them had relatives who were killed on October 7 or were taken hostage. To the local Jewish community: I want you to know that today we are thinking of you and we offer you and your families our support, and we thank you for your courage. Again, we condemn the actions of Hamas and, again, we call for the immediate release of the hostages that are still being held.

Over the past two years we've seen some shocking acts of antisemitism across Australia in the wake of October 7. Some of them occurred in my electorate. There was the deplorable firebombing of a kindergarten next door to a synagogue. That childcare centre remains closed to this day. The Mount Sinai school next door had shocking antisemitic language spray-painted in large letters on brick walls. People have been harassed and vilified walking down the street. And even today we've unfortunately seen some shocking and insensitive graffiti. This is completely unacceptable. Every Australian has the right to feel safe in their home, in their workplace and in their community. I once again strongly condemn these antisemitic attacks that have occurred.

In our area we acted promptly, in partnership with our local Jewish community, to protect them through the establishment of a local operation shelter group. I brought together elected representatives, the local area commander for the local police force, the local crime commander, representatives of the shuls, the rabbis and the presidents, and our local Jewish schools. We have worked together to keep the community safe. Thankfully, we've seen a reduction in those antisemitic attacks, but we will not stop until it is completely eliminated.

October 7 opened an horrific chapter in world history. The world now has an opportunity to close that chapter. Australians want an end to this decades-long conflict. They want to see the hostages released; they want to see an immediate ceasefire; they want Hamas disarmed and out of Gaza; and they want free and unimpeded aid for Palestinians who are suffering. They want to see a democratically elected government in Gaza, and they want to see two states living in peace side by side.

When the Prime Minister spoke at the United Nations General Assembly last week, he mentioned that Australia was the first nation to support, in 1947, the establishment of the State of Israel. That's something that, as a nation, we are very proud of. But the Prime Minister also pointed out that support was on two conditions: on the condition that there is an independent state of Israel and on the condition that there is a state of Palestine. That means two states living side by side in peace. That means two states with citizens of both living peacefully in a recognised country, where their children can learn and thrive, where their parents can work and provide, where democratic governments can provide services and keep the populations of those countries safe and where those citizens finally can live in their homelands in peace. We have an opportunity, as a world, to work together on achieving this; let's not fail to grasp this opportunity. Let's make sure that we bring a lasting peace to the Middle East, with two states, two groups of citizens, living in peace, and that we never have to commemorate another October 7 attack in this place or anywhere else in the world ever again.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

At the outset, I want to commend the members for Berowra, Isaacs and Macnamara for their contributions. It would not have been particularly easy for them to stand and speak on this very important matter of public importance. 7 October 2023 was a day of shame, infamy and savagery. It is a day we must never forget.

I wonder what Eddie Jaku would think about what happened on that day and about what has happened in his adopted country since that day. He, of course, wrote The Happiest Man on Earth, an autobiography of his life. In the frontispiece of that 2020 publication, which was reprinted six times that year, is written:

Eddie Jaku has always considered himself a German first, a Jew second. He was proud of his country. But all of that changed in November 1938, when he was beaten, arrested and taken to a concentration camp.

It was a concentration camp run by the Nazis. They were no better and no worse than Hamas—despicable people, absolutely abhorrent people. I recommend everybody read this book. It was given to me by Josh Frydenberg, a great friend of mine; we communicate every day. In this book, there are 15 chapters. The book runs to 195 pages. Each chapter has a little verse just under the number. Particularly I want to note four of those. Chapter 8 says:

If you lose your morals, you lose yourself.

That's what Eddie wrote. Chapter 10 says:

Where there is life, there is hope.

Chapter 11 says:

There are always miracles in the world, even when it seems dark.

And chapter 13 says:

We are all part of a larger society, and our work is our contribution to a free and safe life for all.

Of course, that's all he ever hoped for. That's what he was given by his adopted country, Australia. He lived a long life—101 years. We thank him for what he brought to this country.

What we've seen in this country in the last two years has been beyond belief. It's been un-Australian. I see the member for Isaacs nodding. He, like me and like all of us, agrees it's just appalling. I was appalled at the decision by New South Wales Supreme Court Justice Belinda Rigg to allow a protest on the Sydney Harbour Bridge on 3 August, a protest which was not about bringing peace and a safer world for all. It was antisemitic. Let's call it what it was. The people who engaged in the sorts of things that day, carried the sorts of signs and chanted the sorts of slogans should take a good, long, hard look at themselves. The same people are now wanting to have another protest in front of the opera house. We already had the opera house used—I would say abused—in the past two years, very soon after the October 7 attacks.

Of course, these Hamas lovers want to use iconic symbols to show the world that this is what Australia thinks. Well, this is not what Australia thinks. I know that most Australians are appalled at what happened on October 7 and are appalled at the attacks on Jewish synagogues and on Jews themselves since that terrible, terrible day. Yet sometimes, when you read the media, particularly social media, you would think the opposite was the case. Well, it is not.

It's not just confined to capital cities. Even in my own home town of Wagga Wagga there have been appalling things done in the name of being pro-Hamas, in the name of, apparently, being pro-Palestine. But it's not pro-Palestine, because what they ask for—a free state for Palestine—has been granted by the Australian government. I don't believe it should have been. I believe our government should have and could have done more, but this is the world in which we live. It is not just confined to capital cities, and I think it is a terrible, terrible state of affairs. I mourn for the Jewish people. I stand with Israel today and every day.

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

What happened on October 7 two years ago in Israel was a horror and atrocity, and its effects have caused ongoing trauma to Jewish communities and other communities all around the world. The taking of the hostages, their ongoing, drawn-out murders and their depictions as starving remnants of humans in the media, is absolutely shocking and a sign of the terror and the horror that is ongoing around the world, and we must never, ever forget that. Not only were these people young people killed in front of their relatives—babies and young people with talent, with all their lives ahead of them, murdered by the terror of Hamas—but the terror has been ongoing. We must never forget that, and we must make sure that we deal with the ongoing trauma that it has caused in Jewish communities all around the world, particularly in Australia.

Antisemitism has existed in Australia for a long period of time, since Jewish communities first started in Australia, since the time of the First Fleet. We know that many of the First Fleet convicts who were Jewish wrote their religion, which they were required to do, not as Jewish but rather as Christian, because they wanted to avoid the so-called stigma that that was associated with. We've seen antisemitism occur in Australia in the 19th century and in the beginnings of the 20th century, and a number of politicians on all sides promoted antisemitism as a way of gaining votes. We saw that in the post-World War II time of refugees coming to Australia. Antisemitism has existed since the settlement of Australia from the First Fleet. We saw it in my younger life with the firebombing of a number of synagogues in Australia in the early 1990s. That led to the permanent closure of the Bankstown synagogue, which I briefly attended as a young adult.

Antisemitism has existed for a long period of time, but, since the October 7 atrocities, we've seen it really flourish, probably culminating in the firebombing of the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne, which led to its virtual destruction. I don't believe there's a person in this parliament that believes antisemitism is a good thing. We must make sure that we do everything we can to eradicate it, and I believe the government, in its very bipartisan way, has tried to do what it can to make sure antisemitism doesn't exist in our communities.

We also can't ignore what has happened in Palestine, the tragedy of thousands of deaths that have occurred following the October 7 atrocity, and our Palestinian communities are going through much trauma as well. In my electorate, we have Palestinian nurses and doctors, who I've spoken to about this, who are really traumatised by what has happened. So October 7 was a seminal point, and we must never forget what happened, but we must deal with all the communities that have been affected in a way that acknowledges their trauma and supports them.

There is much more to be done. We cannot just stand here and believe that what we have done is enough. There is more to be done, and there will be ongoing trauma from the atrocities that have occurred that will affect generations to come, I'm sure. Young children have seen their kindergartens graffitied and the targets of attempted firebombings. It has an effect, an ongoing effect. It's a tragedy that our community, which prides itself on allowing people to practise their religions and to live the way they want without harming other people, is being traumatised by this ongoing antisemitism, which we must attempt to control.

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank all the contributors thus far. I've never been to Israel. I've been asked a few times, but I've never gone. I always feel that I'm participating in a debate which I really don't know much about or which I don't know that I want to be a part of. But, certainly, 7 October has made me think again. This was a bestial, ferine, sadistic thing—the apotheosis of evil—inflicted upon innocent people.

I heard the previous speaker say that antisemitism has been around for a while. It certainly has. It probably dates back to the Book of Esther and the fifth scroll. It was obvious with the Persians at that stage, who decided they wanted to get rid of the Jews, and with the Romans, 70 years after the birth of Christ, with the taking of Jerusalem. Their goal was just to wipe out and disperse the Jewish people. In Medieval Europe, they were blamed for the Black Death. They were blamed for poisoning the wells. They were precluded from being in professions by the use of guilds. They were precluded from ownership and from public office.

Under Urban II, during the Crusades, on the liberation of Jerusalem, they decided that they were actually going to wipe out the Jewish people on the way through. There were the pogroms and the lunacy that was the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, written by the Russian secret service. Even Luther had a fair go, trying to have a crack at the Jews. And, of course, there was the Holocaust, which is the absolute apotheosis of evil, right up there with 7 October—the same thing. The only difference is the numbers.

What you have to understand, and what I understand, is that, obviously, the Jewish people have to protect themselves. They have a very, very good reason to protect themselves. The important thing is that they were invaded. They didn't start this fight. They were invaded by a terrorist organisation, which, unfortunately, in 2006, won the elections in Gaza. It's a terrorist organisation with the imprimatur of a section of geography of the world. And, that being the case, Israel has to do what Israel has got to do. If it happened to Australia, we would not rest in this chamber until it was absolutely and utterly dealt with, 100 per cent.

Think about it in history. The Americans didn't stop at the corner of Germany and say, 'We're just going to leave sections of the SS alone,' nor did the Russians. The Americans, at the end of the Second World War, didn't stop at the edge of Japan and say, 'We'll just leave them alone from this point forward.' They have to bring it to a conclusion by the defeat of the enemy. That is what is happening here, and what Hamas has to do is surrender. That's what they've got to do—surrender and hand back the hostages. That's what happens in a war. Jeannette Rankin said:

There can be no compromise with war. It cannot be reformed or controlled; cannot be disciplined into decency or codified into common sense, for war is the slaughter of human beings, temporarily regarded as enemies, on as large a scale as possible.

That's Jeanette Rankin; that's not me.

We all want this war to stop, because the epitome of evil is war. The only way it can stop is for the people who started it to surrender. When that happens, we have the capacity to bring this absolute carnage to a conclusion. Around 7 October is a discussion of how people can get their minds around what they did to children and to women—just the bestial nature of it. The fact is that right now there are still human beings who have been jammed down holes in the ground to starve to death. That's happening right now. So we absolutely must put our shoulder to the wheel and recognise exactly how this started.

Allegra Spender (Wentworth, Independent) | Link to this | Hansard source

The barbaric atrocities of 7 October 2023 are seared in our minds: around 1,200 dead, 251 hostages taken—48 of those still in Gaza—women raped, children murdered and lives destroyed. It was the most devastating attack on Jewish life since the Holocaust. Hamas's barbaric attack was not just an attack on Israel; the impact has reverberated around the world for the last two years. When I look back today, I cannot think of a single group of people around the world whose lives are better off due to that barbaric attack, except those who are enemies of peace, enemies of social cohesion and enemies of the values that our country holds most dear and must protect.

Today we remember the attack and we commemorate the lives of all of those who were lost on that day and those people whose lives are daily affected. We think of the families, in particular, who are left behind, like the family of Galit Carbone, a Sydney born grandmother. We think of the family of people like Eli Sharabi, a hostage who was finally freed to find that so many of his family did not survive that day and who came to the parliament recently to share his story. We think of the Bibas family, whose beautiful children and mother were murdered on that day, and people like Remo, Mazal and Millet, who came to Australia and told of their terrifying experiences at the Nova music festival—the friends that they helped and the friends that they lost on that day. Today is the day to recognise and commemorate the lives that were destroyed on that day. Many of those were Israeli and many of those were Palestinian. Lives have been destroyed across the world because of a war that followed Hamas's actions that day. We can acknowledge all the pain across humanity that started with those atrocities that day. We are all the children of humanity, and all of our children are innocent.

Jewish Australians in particular have been affected by that day because of their personal connections to Israel and the friends and families in Israel who were directly affected—those who were lost and those who were devastated by losses. But of enormous pain, I think, for the Jewish community, particularly the community I represent, has been the devastating rise of antisemitism here in Australia. There have been Jews in Australia since the First Fleet, and the Jewish community has made an outstanding contribution to this country in all fields, from the military to law, the arts and community, and in so many different ways. But I have spoken to so many Jewish people, whose families have been here for generations, who are now not sure if they are welcome here or if their children or their grandchildren are safe here, and that is a terrible thing to be contemplating in this country.

I spoke to a 15-year-old who was walking down the street wearing a blazer from a Jewish school when a car slowed down to do a 'heil Hitler' at him and swear, 'Effing Jews.' A friend of mine asked another person just to move his car and was told, 'Eff the South African Jews'—again, just because he asked someone in a South African accent. A rabbi said he was holding the hand of his eight-year-old daughter and waiting at the lights when, again, a car slowed down to swear at them as Jews. This eight-year-old girl—what responsibility does she bear for anything? Absolutely none. She is welcome in this country, as are all Jewish Australians and all people of all faiths in this country. The armed guards in front of the schools in my electorate are an affront to our Australian humanity. The food that has been thrown and the firebombs on the street—the street that I actually grew up on—don't belong here in Australia. No attacks on any religion belong here in Australia, and the Jewish community has been absolutely devastated in the last two years in particular.

The question really is: now what? Where do we go from here? I think the first thing that I pray for, and I know so many do, is peace because of the devastation of the war overseas. We know that there are negotiations afoot between Israel and Hamas. I pray that those are successful, that we find peace, that the ceasefire happens, that the hostages are released, that aid is reached and that we rebuild a Palestinian state and the Israeli state. But it is also up to us to protect what we have in this country here. We are the most successful multicultural country in the world, and it is up to every single one of us every day to protect that, to make sure this is a safe and welcoming place for all faiths and all cultures. (Time expired)

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

The discussion has now concluded.