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May 16, 2024
The prime minister says comments by government senator Fatima Payman are not appropriate after she broke Labor ranks to accuse Israel of genocide.
The Labor senator repeated the chant "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free", a phrase that has been criticised by Anthony Albanese, while calling on her party to sanction and cease trade with Israel. Mr Albanese said he didn't know the senator was going to make the statement.
"My conscience has been uneasy for far too long, and I must call this out for what it is," Senator Payman told SBS News.
"This is a genocide, and we need to stop pretending otherwise."
The Labor backbencher posed questions to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and her other colleagues, yesterday and asked them to "stand for what is right".
"I ask our prime minister and our fellow parliamentarians: how many international rights laws must Israel break for us to say enough? How many lives does it take to call this a genocide?" Senator Payman asked.
"I see our leaders performatively gesture defending the oppressors' right to oppress while gaslighting the global community about [Israel's] rights of self-defence."
Israel has repeatedly denied claims of genocide, which is defined under international law as killing or harming members of a national, ethnical, racial or religious group with "intent to destroy, in whole or in part".
The prime minister said he had not spoken to Senator Payman since she had taken the stance, noting that their last conversation was "very, very pleasant".
"She's a young senator from Western Australia. But, we speak for the government's policy and the government's policy has been very clear from our opposition, unequivocal to the terrorist activity of Hamas on October 7, our call for the release of hostages, our call for humanitarian ceasefire, our call for humanitarian aid to be delivered to the people of Gaza, our opposition to any ground offensive in Rafah," Mr Albanese said.
The senator joined her parliamentary colleagues in calls for a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza conflict in November last year.
He said the senator repeating the "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" chant wasn't appropriate.
"What's appropriate is a two-state solution, a two-state solution where both Israelis and Palestinians have the right to live in security in peace and in prosperity.
"It is not in the interests of either Israelis or Palestinians to advocate they just be one state that is a forerunner of enormous conflict and grief."
Last week, Mr Albanese doubled down on comments that the chant "from the river to the sea" was incompatible with a two-state solution.
"The reason why 'from the river to the sea' is not appropriate, and it's been used from time to time over the years to describe either Palestine or Israel as one state, [is that] we support a two-state solution," he said.
Health Minister Mark Butler also criticised his colleague Senator Payman's comments.
"The phrase that she used is not a phrase that would ever escape my lips," he said.
"It's fundamentally inconsistent with the long-standing position of the Labor Party and Australia for a two-state solution to the ongoing conflict in Israel and Palestine.
"This phrase is fundamentally inconsistent with the ongoing existence of the only Jewish state on the planet."
Shadow Minister for Home Affairs, James Patterson said the phrase was a "violent statement" that had no place in the country.
"She's made extraordinary and extreme demands of her own prime minister, who she called out by name, including that Australia should end all trade with the state of Israel, a friend and ally," he said.
The chant is frequently used at pro-Palestinian rallies.
Senator Payman's comments were made on the anniversary of the Nakba, marking the mass displacement of Palestinians during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, and amid escalating tensions on university campuses where students have held encampments in protest of the war.
She added that "indecisiveness" was undermining Australia's multicultural values and social cohesion.
"We cannot be disconnected from the people of Australia, the young of this nation are telling us and we are silencing them. The future of this nation is speaking, and we are silencing them instead of advocating for justice," Senator Payman said.
