Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

At 6.29 am on 7 October 2023, the music stopped at the Nova festival in Re'im. Twelve months ago yesterday, those festival-goers, young people dancing, enjoying a weekend out and living the life that so many young Australians do at similar festivals, stopped and entered a world of horror. They, along with close to 1,200 innocent children, women, elderly and families, were targeted and brutally murdered in Israel by the terrorist organisation Hamas. They were brutally, deliberately targeted, maimed, raped, tortured and murdered. This was a deliberate attack intended to strike at innocent people—not at military targets and not at terrorist infrastructure but simply at those living their lives. In fact, the irony of many of the deaths, including that of Australian Galit Carbone, is that those most likely to have died in the regions that were attacked, particularly the kibbutzes that were attacked, were those who had most worked to try to achieve peace and to give greater support to those who ultimately took their lives and destroyed their families.

We come now 12 months on from those times. We have in that period learnt ever more of the absolute horror. One of the challenges of the good fortune of being an Australian is that we cannot always fully comprehend. We do not always totally understand the horrors that happen elsewhere. Our good fortune as Australians and to get to live in this country is that, for the overwhelming majority of us, we are isolated from, insulated from and protected from the horrors that exist elsewhere. But, indeed, few people, if any, around the world truly comprehend and understand the scale of horror, the barbaric nature of the attacks of October 7 and how they unfolded. They were so deliberately barbaric and so rich in torture and inhumane acts that it's hard for any decent-meaning person, even those who have encountered the greatest of suffering, to fully understand what occurred. That is why, together with the sheer statistics—the reality that on that day we saw more Jewish people killed than on any other single day since the Holocaust—it has resonated so significantly and so deeply for Israel, for Jewish people around the world and for all who pause and reflect on the scale of loss and the depravity of the way in which that loss occurred.

There have been many moments in the last 24 hours, or the last 36 hours even, here in Australia and around the world of reflection on the anniversary. Some, of course, occurred in this city, and a number of us attended those, and other colleagues attended such commemorations in other places. For those of us who left the Israeli embassy last night following a moving tribute—and I join Senator Wong in acknowledging the words of Senator O'Neill and Senator Sharma, who both spoke at that tribute on behalf of the parliamentary friends of Israel—we left with a book called Testimonies Without Boundaries. Edited by Alon Penzel, it brings together some of those testimonies from October 7. It was quoted on the night, and, indeed, it is challenging to look, read and absorb some of the content within this book.

One is the testimony of Natan Kenig, a ZAKA volunteer—ZAKA being a disaster response volunteer organisation. Natan said: 'We arrived at the kibbutz, once again, on Wednesday morning. This day is engraved in my memory and will remain with me forever. Several days had already passed since the attack, and there was already a smell at this point. The terrible sights, combined with other senses, made the experience even more difficult.

The most horrific situation I encountered was when we entered one of the destroyed houses in the kibbutz after receiving a call about an extremely pungent smell from the place. We entered the house by climbing over the ruins because they were completely destroyed. Suddenly, we saw a mattress and a girl tied to it. We tried to separate her from the mattress, but we couldn't and didn't understand why. When we looked closer, we noticed that metal wires were running inside her body. We were sure these were threads from the mattress that had entered her body. Therefore we began to clear the rubble that was around the mattress.

What we saw under the rubble was unbelievable. Suddenly, we realised the girl was actually tied to a man, apparently her partner, on the other side of the mattress. Both were completely naked. They inserted metal wires into their bodies, through their stomachs, and tied them together on both sides of the mattress. Whole metal wires were inserted through the stomach, from both sides and to the both of them, so they would be tied together on both sides of the mattress. It was horrifying—that coldness. You can't contain it.'

It is hard to comprehend or understand how or why anyone would behave in such a barbaric way. Acts of war are always tragic. Acts of warfare always result in terrible suffering and loss of human life. But these were not acts of war; these were acts of terror to the full meaning and intent of that word 'terror'.

Late last year, I led a parliamentary delegation to Israel. Indeed, I visited the Kfar Aza kibbutz amongst other sites close to Gaza. At that site, some 64 peace-loving, family-loving civilians were killed alongside 22 soldiers. It was a site of a battle that went on beyond the initial attacks on 7 October. Nineteen hostages were taken. We are reminded that around 250 innocent hostages were taken and that around 100 remain held hostage—some likely dead, others still living, held in circumstances against their will. The terror for them and their families is enduring.

The hostages that have been found were held in Gaza, hidden in tunnel networks or amidst civilian infrastructure. That is a reminder that the suffering is not just of those Israelis from 7 October, and of their families who have suffered ever since, but, of course, also of those who Hamas has chosen to hide behind and amongst—Palestinian people in Gaza who continue to bear the pain and suffering of the fact that the terrorists use and abuse their base within Gaza and expose those people to the ultimate suffering too.

This conflict could have ended at any point during the last 12 months had Hamas been willing to release its hostages, surrender its terrorist infrastructure and allow proper peacekeeping to be undertaken, but instead when ceasefire efforts have been made and come close Hamas has rejected them. Hamas continues to hold the hostages. It continues to set terms in relation to the release of the hostages rather than putting the wellbeing of those people, and indeed that of the Palestinians, ahead of their own terrorist interests and instincts.

Throughout the last year I, like so many colleagues and I'm sure people across this place, have met with, stood with, hugged and consoled Jewish Australians. When speaking to the first motion passed here nearly 12 months ago, we spoke about the pain of Jewish Australians. It was already evident from the escalation in antisemitism. That had been clear all too tragically on the steps of the Sydney Opera House just shortly after the horrors of October 7 had become evident. Tragically, in the time that has ensued, those Jewish Australians have increasingly made clear, not only in their private conversations with many of us but increasingly very publicly too, how let down they feel by the Albanese government.

From the earliest days of this conflict, when the Albanese government was unable to even mention antisemitism without creating a false equivalence around the circumstances to Islamophobia, we've not seen Jewish Australians undertake rallies outside mosques or target other Australians in the way that, tragically, Jewish Australians have had their faith and their wellbeing deliberately targeted. Similarly, they feel pained and aggrieved that the ever-shifting Australian position on a two-state solution, which had enjoyed decades-long bipartisanship, is now under the Albanese government no longer to be a negotiated two-state solution, where the hard but necessary questions around matters such as negotiated borders, security guarantees and rights of return should be settled, but instead subject to some arbitrary timeline or ill-defined process.

These concerns of these Australians and others are real, and it is why, sadly, whilst we went to great lengths 12 months ago to find bipartisanship in the motion that was put through this chamber, we have not been in a position to do so on this occasion. I move the amendments to the government motion as circulated in the chamber in my name:

That the Senate—

(a) reiterates its unequivocal condemnation of Hamas' terror attacks on Israel which took place on 7 October 2023, in which more than 1,200 innocent Israelis were killed—the largest loss of Jewish life on any single day since the Holocaust—and the vow made by the perpetrators to repeat these attacks indefinitely;

(b) recognises that hundreds more innocent people were subjected to brutality and violence on that day;

(c) calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all remaining hostages;

(d) condemns the murder of hostages and the inhumane conditions and violence, including sexual violence, that hostages have experienced;

(e) mourns with all impacted by these heinous acts;

(f) reiterates that it stands with Israel and affirms its inherent right to defend itself and protect its citizens;

(g) condemns antisemitism in all its forms and stands with Jewish Australians who have felt the cold shadows of antisemitism reaching into the present day;

(h) reiterates Australia's consistent position isto call for the protection of civilian lives and adherence to international law;

(i) mourns the death and humanitarian suffering of all innocent Palestinian and Lebanese civilians placed in harm's way by the terrorists who hide behind and among them;

(j) supports ongoing international efforts to provide humanitarian assistance in Gaza and Lebanon;

(k) calls for Iran to cease its direct and indirect attacks on Israel, including through terrorist organisations the Houthis, Hezbollah and Hamas, all of whom are committed to the destruction of Israel;

(l) supports international efforts to negotiate and securelasting peace and security for Israeli, Palestinian, Lebanese and all people in the region;

(m) affirms its support for a negotiatedtwo-state solution, a futurePalestinian State alongside Israel, so that Israelis and Palestinians can live securely within internationally recognised borders;

(n) recognises the conflict is deeply distressing for many in the Australian community;

(o) condemns all acts of hatred, division or violence, affirming that they have no place in Australia;

(p) condemns the actions of those seeking to celebrate and promote the barbaric actions of terrorist organisations; and

(q) reaffirms:

(i) that symbols of terror and discord are abhorrent and unacceptablein Australia and undermine our nation's peace and security,

(ii) that undermining social cohesion and unity by stoking fear and division risks Australia's domestic security, and

(iii) the responsibility of each Australian, and visitor to Australia,to safeguard the harmony and unity that define our diverse society, especially in times of adversity.

These amendments do important things. Perhaps most importantly of all they reiterate that this Senate stands with Israel and affirms its inherent right to defend itself and protect its citizens. You have to ask: why does this need to be an amendment to a government motion? Because that is what we said 12 months ago. Twelve months ago this Senate said that it stood with Israel and affirmed Israel's inherent right to defend itself. Yet now the government refuses to incorporate those words in this motion.

There are other changes that we have made and propose to this motion, seeking to ensure that it actually does reflect the seriousness of the situation that continues to be faced. Twelve months ago I spoke about the threat of Iran. I said:

Let us not be asking, in five or 10 years time, what more could've been done to prevent Iran unleashing whatever atrocity its regime might commit, including the threat of a nuclear one.

Sadly, 12 months later, there is more not less to be concerned about, as we have seen Iran's tentacles of terror spread not just from Hamas but also with strikes against Israel by Hezbollah, the Houthi rebels striking not only against Israel but against broader Western interests and Iran themselves entering the fray with their direct military strikes—unprecedented strikes indeed.

I urge the Senate to support the amendments that we have circulated. I urge the government to reconsider and to give bipartisanship to a position that would be consistent with Australia's longstanding values, the values that have flowed through Hawke, Howard, Keating, Rudd and Gillard—consistent values—where we have stood as friends of Israel, stood for decency and stood, above all else, against the horrors of terrorism that we reflect upon today.