Dave Sharma (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Faruqi, I listened to you in silence. I hope you can extend me the same courtesy. Undoubtedly, it's been a tragedy for all those involved—the Palestinian people of Gaza, the Israeli people and the people of the region. But what I find troubling about this motion and many others like it is that it only ever attributes moral agency to one party in this conflict, and that is Israel. There are multiple parties to this conflict. The conflict was started by the terrorist organisation Hamas unleashing one of the most brutal and barbaric terrorist acts of the modern era on the civilian population in Israel and taking many of the civilians hostage. Where is the motion calling on Hamas to release the hostages that would help bring this conflict to an end? Where is the motion calling on Hamas to relinquish its role as the political and military authority in Gaza that would help bring this conflict to an end? That's something that the Palestinian Authority, the Fatah leadership, did just last week. Where is a motion condemning a number of the regional actors who are involved in sustaining this conflict, whether it's the Houthis in Yemen or it's Iran and its support of the armed terrorist proxy groups that are found in abundance in the region?

We've got to where we are today because Hamas refused multiple offers and approaches to extend phase 1 of the ceasefire. Phase 1 of the ceasefire, which expired on 1 March, was meant to provide for the release of hostages and the cessation of hostilities. Hamas was offered, by the US mediator Steve Witkoff and by Qatari and Egyptian authorities and intermediaries, the option to extend that ceasefire so that the fighting would continue to cease, so that the people of Gaza could continue to return to their homes and so that Israel could get its hostages back. Hamas still holds some 60 hostages, of which we have hopes that, perhaps, 25 are alive. But Hamas refused these attempts. It didn't want to continue with the ceasefire. It wanted to resume hostilities and resume conflict.

As long as Hamas remains in control of Gaza, as long as Hamas does not accept that it can no longer play a future role in Gaza and as long as Hamas does not accept that the continued detention of hostages is an ongoing war crime, I don't see much alternative for the nation of Israel other than to seek to recover its hostages. That is undoubtedly a terrible tragedy for the Palestinian people, the Gazan population and their region. But any sovereign state would expect its government to do its utmost to recover its hostages. They've tried it through negotiations. Hostages have been released through negotiations. Hamas is refusing to release any more hostages. So, until such time as Hamas can be brought to its senses—and motions like this that make no mention of the role of Hamas, Hamas's moral agency and Hamas's instigation of the conflict, frankly, do not help—