The Albanese Government's decision to join 27 other nations in condemning Israel's war against Hamas is a disgraceful betrayal of moral clarity and national integrity, Family First said today.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke's assertion that Israel's actions are "indefensible" plays straight into the hands of Islamic terrorists who started the war by murdering, raping and kidnapping innocent Israeli civilians on October 7. Hamas keeps the war alive by holding hostages and continuing to use its own innocent civilians as human shields.
"There would be no war, no starvation, no rubble, no civilian deaths if Hamas laid down its weapons and released the hostages," Family First National Director Lyle Shelton said. "Instead, Labor has chosen to vilify the only democracy in the Middle East and lend legitimacy to the terrorist regime responsible for this horror."
"That the Australian Government's foreign policy is now aligned with the demands of an Islamic death cult should be a source of deep national shame. Hamas is an Islamic terrorist organisation — yet Labor is siding with it over Israel, the victims, and the cause of civilisation itself. This sends a chilling message to the world about where Australia now stands," Shelton said.
New revelations reported in The Wall Street Journal confirm what Israel and others have long warned: Hamas is obstructing aid delivery in Gaza so it can control the distribution, enrich itself and feed its fighters. According to Arab mediators, Hamas is demanding exclusive control over all humanitarian aid through agencies it dominates — a move designed to extend its power, not relieve suffering.
Israel has rightly resisted returning aid control to the UN's Relief and Works Agency, after evidence emerged that some UNRWA staff participated in the October 7 massacre. Hamas has systematically looted, taxed and re-sold aid intended for the people of Gaza, turning humanitarian relief into a war profiteering operation.
"If Hamas weren't pilfering aid and using it to fund its Islamic terrorist rapist murderers and hostage takers, no one would be starving or being killed at aid distribution points," Shelton said. "Without Islamic terrorism, Gaza could be rebuilt and Jews and Palestinians could live in peace. The blame for every civilian death lies squarely with Hamas.
"It would be good is Prime Minister Albanese, Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Tony Burke understood this."
The United States ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, rightly called the 28-nation statement, including Australia's, "disgusting" — a shocking indictment of those who pressure Israel while Hamas rejects every ceasefire offer and continues to use civilians as human shields.
Family First stands with Israel's right to defend itself and calls on the Albanese Government to reverse its appeasement of terrorism. Australia should not reward evil. Hamas must be defeated, and the hostages freed.
