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

I rise to speak briefly on a sad anniversary—sad for me personally, sad for many people in my electorate, sad above all for the wider Roth family and sad in a more general sense as an example of what some of the evil forces currently at large in the world are capable of. Five years ago yesterday, on 9 August 2001, a suicide bomber killed 15 people and injured 130 in a crowded pizza restaurant—the Sbarro pizza shop—in Jerusalem. Among those killed were a 15-year-old girl, Malka Chana Roth, whose parents, Arnold and Frimet, have been friends of mine for many years. Malki was an intelligent, idealistic and highly gifted young woman with a very bright future in front of her. She cared for her younger sister, who has a disability. She was much loved by her family and her many friends both in Australia and in Israel. I take this opportunity of again expressing my condolences to her family on their terrible loss, which I know they still feel very deeply. I also congratulate them on the positive attitude they have had in establishing the Malki Roth Foundation—Keren Malki—which assists children with disabilities with all kinds of equipment which they may not be able to otherwise afford.

Malki was the first Australian to be killed by a terrorist suicide bomber, but sadly she is far from the last. Only three weeks after her death, on September 11, terrorists struck again in New York and Washington, killing a number of Australians along with many others from many other nations amongst the 3,000 people killed in the twin towers. In October 2002 came the Bali bombing in which 88 Australians were killed. This was followed by the London underground bombings and the second Bali bombing in which more Australians died.

Today, again, the Middle East is embroiled in armed conflict, with civilians in both Israel and Lebanon losing their lives following the decision by the terrorist organisation Hezbollah to launch an attack on Israel on 12 July. Once again people in my electorate are filled with apprehension about the safety of family and friends in Israel, and I know many Lebanese Australian families have similar fears. The responsibility for the situation lies in the same place that responsibility for the death of Malki Roth, along with the responsibility for September 11, the Bali bombings and many other crimes—for all these deaths and all this fear and grief—lies: it lies with those countries that sponsor, fund and train terrorist organisations like Hezbollah, Hamas, Jemaah Islamiah and al-Qaeda. Until the vast majority of moderate Muslims, who I am still encouraged constitute the vast majority of Muslim people in the world, particularly in our near neighbour Indonesia, can debilitate those organisations, until those countries stop supporting those organisations, families like the Roths and many others in many countries will continue to suffer and the world will have no peace.

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