The air strikes followed from the rockets, but were not justified by the rockets, just as the rockets followed from the bullets in the al-Aqsa Mosque, and were not justified by that violence. The air strikes are wrong. The rockets are wrong. The displacement and oppression of Palestinians is wrong. The illegal settlement of their land is wrong. The existential threats to Israel are wrong.
Full speech
Mr JOSH WILSON (Fremantle) (16:30): The violence in the Israeli and the Palestinian territories that occurred over the past fortnight was awful and barbaric. It’s a mercy there is now a ceasefire in place. Those who have suffered, and still suffer, whether from rockets in Israel or from air strikes in Gaza, are inevitably civilians, and many of them are children. More than 60 children in Gaza were killed. The air strikes followed from the rockets, but were not justified by the rockets, just as the rockets followed from the bullets in the al-Aqsa Mosque, and were not justified by that violence. The air strikes are wrong. The rockets are wrong. The displacement and oppression of Palestinians is wrong. The illegal settlement of their land is wrong. The existential threats to Israel are wrong.
What is clear is that, without genuine progress towards a just and stable two-state solution, this cycle of oppression and violence will continue, civilians will bear the brunt and children will die. To break from that pattern requires something that will always be dismissed as naive, even though it’s the only solution—namely, a radical politics of forgiveness, coexistence and nonviolence. With a ceasefire in place, Australia should provide as much humanitarian support as we can. Australia should always be in the game of urging the Palestinian leadership, and especially the government of Israel—because it’s the most influential actor in this conflict—to make special efforts to decrease tension, end the occupation and live together, side by side, in peace.