Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I second the motion. The date of 7 October 2023 will go down in history as being one of the darkest days of this century, a day when 1,200 innocent Israelis were killed when more than 3,000 Hamas terrorists invaded Israel in 30 locations in what could be described as nothing other than a military style operation. They crashed through fences, they dug under fences, they flew over fences and they stormed kibbutzim, towns and villages on the borders. As I said, 1,200 Israelis, men, women and children—not just Jews, but Israelis—were killed in those attacks, and more than 250 hostages were taken on that day.

In my capacity as the deputy chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, I was shown that 42-minute video of body cams of Hamas terrorists. In those 42 minutes, we watched the slaughter of over 100 innocent Israelis. Those body cams were kept on the Hamas terrorists because they wanted all of us—they wanted you and me—to watch it. They wanted to strike fear in the heart of every person in the Western world. The attack that occurred in Israel was not just an attack on Israel; it was an attack on the world, and when countries and political parties stay silent they are complicit in that behaviour. A couple of days after I watched that video, I travelled to Israel and went to the kibbutzim. I went to towns like Sderot and saw the after-effects. I walked into the homes where people had been slaughtered, where hand grenades had been lobbed through windows and where buildings had been blown up with rocket-propelled grenades. Be in no doubt: there is no moral equivalency between Israel's right to defend itself and what Hamas did on 7 October.

For the Greens to try to move a motion today which would effectively reward Hamas for its atrocities is a stain on that party. It is a stain on their members who are members in this House and the other house. The member for Berowra put it so well when he spoke eloquently this morning: if anybody is thinking of voting Greens at the next federal, state or local government elections, I want you to think you about this day, about 7 October, and remember that it is Israel's right to defend itself. Think about what we would do as a nation if another country did that to us. The Australian people would be looking for the Australian government to defend Australian people—and that is what Israel is doing for its people. Men and women of Australia, when you are thinking about where to put your ballots or your preferences, remember the Australian Greens. I also want to call out the Australian Labor Party, because if the Labor Party thinks that they should be able to take their preferences at the next election, they should be having a very long, hard look in the mirror.

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