ADJOURNMENT
Mr HUSIC (Chifley) (16:39): Let me tell the House about 14-year-old Aws al-Naasan. This 14-year-old was shot in the head by a West Bank settler outside his school in April, his last moments filmed on a phone. What about the Palestinian amputee struck on the back with an iron rod as he bent down to pick up one of his crutches.
A 16-year-old settler was responsible for this—again, these actions were captured on video. I think of 17-year-old Anh Mohammad Mu'amar and her family, their home attacked by settlers in March. Two sons were killed and the other was permanently injured from a bullet in the leg.
These types of attacks are happening daily. Roughly 6,000 Palestinians have been completely or partially displaced by settler violence since January 2023, along with 32,000 Palestinians who were forcibly removed from their homes in the West Bank refugee camps last year. The scale of this type of behaviour prompted Major General Eyal Ben-Reuven, who has spent his life fighting for Israel and who recently visited the occupied West Bank, to remark: This, what the settlers are doing here, is the real threat to Israel.
This is more concerning to me than Iran, Gaza or Lebanon. Former Israeli minister of health and retired brigadier general Ephraim Sneh said: This is ethnic cleansing, to put it simply. Retired air force general Asaf Agmon declared: Once a society behaves this way, that society is doomed.
One of our most significant allies believes that what's happening in the West Bank is wrong. The UK Labour government, led by new prime minister Andy Burnham, decided enough was enough. They took action and targeted illegal settlements and settlement expansion through banning imports.
Oddly, even before the UK formally announced their moves, our own government declared that we wouldn't embrace the same measures. I'd be misleading the House if I were to say I wasn't disappointed. To justify this decision, it was pointed out: We have concerns about the implementation of a blanket ban and unintended consequences for Australian businesses, for Palestinians and for Israelis … By way of contrast, it's worth noting that Australia has imposed 1,800 sanctions and strict tariffs on Russia over their illegal invasion of Ukraine, which has seen the total value of Australia's imports from Russia drop by about 99 per cent.
It would sound quite odd for us to say that we wouldn't impose sanctions on Russia because of the impact on Australian businesses, Ukrainians or Russians. We took action knowing it would have an impact precisely because we wanted it to. Additionally, we've pointed out regularly that, as an individual nation, we couldn't possibly act on our own regarding what's happening in the West Bank or Gaza.
Yet many Australians would then question why we wouldn't act when we had a chance to do so in concert with many other like-minded nations. Let me come back to the issue of impacts. Let's look at it another way.
It was former prime minister Bob Hawke who dedicated so much of himself, in a principled and unyielding way, to end apartheid in South Africa and, as Prime Minister, pushed on the world stage for comprehensive financial sanctions against that nation—measures so tough that former foreign minister Gareth Evans said that they 'were profoundly practically important in their economic and ultimately endgame political impact'.
Imagine telling Bob Hawke not to impose bans or measures on South Africa because it would affect Australian businesses or the very South Africans resisting apartheid. Bob Hawke championed a cause that forms an important part of Labor history. Likewise, Prime Minister Albanese has led a government that, justifiably, can be proud of a part of the history that it's written.
Principally, it's the first ever government to recognise the State of Palestine. But, having stated the ambition, we must act to protect it because settler terrorism is tearing to shreds our ambition to see a State of Palestine, and we cannot sticky tape that back together with yet another statement. It's why I urge, regularly, before and after our ALP National Conference, of the need for concrete action, because the Netanyahu government will simply write out a flurry of statements.
We should recognise the expectations of so many Australians who want to see action taken to see the end of suffering for innocent Palestinians. I'll end on this point. Nearly a dozen other nations agreed to join the UK in its stand this week.
The only government to enthusiastically support our government's decision not to support the UK and other nations to take a stand on settler terrorism in the West Bank was the Netanyahu government.