Thursday, 12 September 2024

Middle East conflict

Renee HEATH (Eastern Victoria) (10:14): As we approach the anniversary of the atrocities committed on 7 October at the Nova music festival in Israel, I want to highlight a remark from a member of the Greens:

These were young people, primarily in their twenties. They didn’t expect to die, they wanted to have fun at a festival … and tragically they lost their lives.

I could not agree more. Unfortunately, these remarks were not in defence of the innocent people murdered, raped and tortured on 7 October. The Greens could not even stand and offer a minute’s silence for those victims. They related to the Greens’ support of pill testing at music festivals in Australia. Given the level of sympathy expressed in this statement, I ask how the Greens cannot have the same level of compassion and concern for what happened to young festivalgoers on 7 October last year at the hands of Hamas and their supporters. How can you be so dismissive of the death of over 360 innocent young lives at the hands of terrorists but so passionate about protecting a fraction of that number who tragically died because of decisions that they made themselves. It is time for the Greens to leave behind their left-wing politics, leave behind their student politics – their Israel bashing – and leave behind their incitement, like what we saw yesterday, and join the rest of this house in condemning the actions of Hamas last year.