Labor senator Fatima Payman has become the party’s first member to cross the floor in decades after she voted with the Greens to recognise Palestinian statehood in a vote yesterday. The federal government moved quickly to quell expectations the WA senator would be expelled from Labor, despite the fact MPs have previously been thrown out […]
Read MoreLabor senator could remain in party despite defiance on Palestinian recognition
Labor senator Fatima Payman has crossed the floor to vote against her party on a motion related to Palestinian recognition. The Greens moved a motion calling for the Senate to recognise the State of Palestine. Labor and the Coalition both tried to amend that motion to add qualifications, but neither party supported the other’s attempts […]
Read MoreLabor senator Fatima Payman calls on government to ‘recognise Palestine’ in rebuke to Albanese
Party were ‘fierce champions of Palestine’ in opposition and they must ‘summon that spirit of old’, she writes for Al Jazeera The Labor senator Fatima Payman has called on her own government to “recognise Palestine” and undermined efforts by the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, to discredit protests against Israel’s military actions in Gaza. Payman, writing […]
Read MoreBattle plans for Lebanon offensive approved: Israeli generals
The Israeli military says it has approved battle plans for an offensive in Lebanon as Jerusalem warns Hezbollah would be destroyed in the event of a “total war”. As Hezbollah published a more than nine-minute video showing surveillance drone footage purportedly taken over northern Israel, The Israeli Defence Forces said: “The Commanding Officer of the […]
Read MoreLabor senator Payman breaks ranks again on Palestine
Labor senator Fatima Payman has called on the Albanese government to recognise a Palestinian state, arguing the move would help bring to an end the bloody, months-long conflict on the Gaza strip. In an opinion piece for Al Jazeera, Payman said the world had ‘‘witnessed the mass killing and displacement of Palestinians and the devastation […]
Read MoreIsrael mourns four dead hostages
Israel is mourning four captives reported dead in Gaza by the army, amid growing doubts and international pressure over a plan for a ceasefire and hostage release deal outlined by US President Joe Biden. In the besieged Palestinian territory, Israeli strikes continued into Tuesday, particularly in Bureij in central Gaza where local hospital sources reported […]
Read MoreAnthony Albanese locked out of Sydney electorate office by anti-war protests The Australian/ Dennis Shanahan and Rosie Lewis https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/anthony-albanese-says-greensbacked-propalestine-blockade-at-electorate-offices-undemocratic/news-story/cf0ddd7442e945108e530d1a45c2a17f
Anthony Albanese has been locked out of his Sydney electorate office this year because of pro-Palestinian protests, amid official security warnings that Islamist extremists are attending anti-Israel demonstrations on university campuses and outside parliamentarians’ offices. The Prime Minister’s Marrickville office has not been used since January because of fears for the safety of staff from […]
Read MoreIf Israel regards its conflict with Hamas as war, it is liable to abide by the international rules of war
The Israeli Defence Force, its spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said this week, is a “professional military committed to international law”. The killing of seven humanitarian workers by the IDF this week, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, was a “tragic case of our forces unintentionally hitting innocent people in the Gaza strip. This happens […]
Read MoreIsrael’s response on aid worker killings just not good enough, says Penny Wong
The Albanese government has condemned Israel’s initial probe into its killing of seven aid workers in Gaza, announcing the appointment of a special adviser to ensure the investigation meets Australia’s expectations. Foreign Minister Penny Wong said late on Friday that Australia wasn’t satisfied with the findings on the tragedy provided to Australia’s ambassador to Israel, […]
Read MoreIt is anti-Semitism that is soaring, not Islamophobia
The prevalence of moral equivalence in the debate over the Israel-Hamas war was evident on the ABC Radio National Breakfast program on Wednesday. Presenter Patricia Karvelas interviewed opposition Senate leader Simon Birmingham on a range of issues. Karvelas put this proposition to Birmingham: “Anti-Semitism is on the rise, Islamophobia is on the rise, in […]
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