Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Hansard source

On the morning of October 7 2023, Hamas terrorists launched an attack on Israel. They did not focus on the Israeli army's installations though; they attacked, raped, murdered and kidnapped innocent people, not to mention what happened to the children. This included Jewish refugees who fled the war in Ukraine and Jews who had escaped other countries to come to Israel after the Second World War.

Hamas did not discriminate. They brutally attacked those young people at a music festival—Thai, Nepalese, migrant workers, and Christian and Muslim Arabs—who, as writer Lee Yaron put it 'had the gall to live among Jews as fellow citizens'. On 9 October, pro-Palestinian protesters marched to the Opera House steps in Sydney. The Opera House was lit up in white and blue, as was Parliament House. At this stage, Israel had not responded to Hamas's declaration of war. The crowd, these un-Australians—I refer to them as gutter trash—waved antisemitic banners and flags and chanted 'eff the Jews' and 'eff Israel'. As the Premier of New South Wales said the next day: 'To have some people celebrate atrocious indiscriminate killing and kidnapping from Israel is appalling.'

Jew haters wasted no time. They called into question the truth of what happened. They questioned the rapes, the murders, the torture and the taking of hostages, of whom 97 remain in tunnels under Gaza to this day. In Australia, Jewish schools advised mums and dads not to put their kids in school uniform. Jewish parents told their children not to admit they were Jewish. Swastikas were painted on Jewish businesses and on the streets of Jewish communities. Six hundred Jewish Australians had their private details leaked and put on the internet. Jewish university students reported they felt unsafe on their own campuses, as more and more of them had to walk past pro-Palestinian rallies chanting hateful antisemitic slogans and calling for the death of all Jews. In this country? And we saw the hard left and the Greens use the events of October 7 to justify their anti-Israel views, shifting the blame for the massacre from the victims to the perpetrators. Instead of listening to calls from our security services to avoid divisive language, some in this place and the other, mainly the Greens, did everything they could to whip up division and hate.

I have been increasingly horrified by the antisemitism in this country and, like the Australian Human Rights Commission, I ask myself: how could this possibly be happening on our own home soil? It was such and is such shameful behaviour that it makes me feel ashamed of my own country and it makes me angry and, at the same time, it makes me terribly sad. Attacking the Jewish community, painting hateful symbols on our war memorials, attacking electorate offices is not going to bring the terrible suffering of Israelis and Palestinians to an end. I ask that all Australians call out the hate speech, antisemitism and Islamophobia wherever and whenever they see it.

Finally, I would like to wish all Jewish Australians a happy new year. At this time, we must remember the victims and hostages and the amazing resilience that the Jewish community has in the face of unimaginable adversity. I will be lighting a Yahrzeit candle on 7 October, and I encourage all Australians to show their love, support and appreciation of the Jewish community.