0
0
On October 7, 2023, the Palestinian political organisation Hamas, alongside other militant groups, launched an attack on Israel. This attack was preceded by decades of colonial violence and oppression that the Palestinian people had suffered at the hands of Israel. There were an estimated 1,195 casualties, with 815 of them being civilians, including 36 children.
On October 8, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese expressed his support for Israel on X (formerly Twitter).
‘Australia stands with our friend Israel in this time. We condemn the indiscriminate and abhorrent attacks by Hamas on Israel, its cities and civilians. We recognise Israel’s right to defend itself.’
Foreign Minister Penny Wong also showed support, by saying, ‘We stand with Israel, and we always will’ to the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce.
Since then, at least 57,418 Palestinians, including 17,400 children, have been murdered by Israel. Over 200 Palestinian journalists were killed, and on March 2nd, Israel blocked all humanitarian aid into Gaza, cutting off essential food, medicine and fuel. During the “ceasefire” from January 19th to March 17th, 2025, Israel killed at least 170 people.
Both Wong and Albanese hail from the Labor party’s left, with the prime minister co-founding the parliamentary group “Friends of Palestine” in 1998 and spoke at several pro-Palestinian protests. But it appears when you become a high-profile politician, your morals get thrown out the window.
In 2024, Senator Fatima Payman was suspended for supporting a parliamentary motion to recognise Palestinian statehood. She later quit Labor, saying,
‘Witnessing our government’s indifference to the greatest injustice of our times makes me question the direction the party is taking.’
I urge Labor Party members to ask the same question, to ask themselves if they’re comfortable in a party that is disturbingly nonchalant about genocide.
You’re probably asking, ‘Why haven’t you mentioned the LNP? They’re just as bad, if not worse than Labor!’ And you’re right, but that is well documented, and Labor is the party currently running the country. It’s more important to know their stances.
It would be unfair not to mention the good that the ALP has done for Palestine. Labor did condemn Israeli leadership by sanctioning the Israeli National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (despite initially being against this idea) and placed travel bans on seven individuals and a youth group involved in settler violence in the West Bank. They did call for a ceasefire and voted alongside 152 countries for this at the United Nations, likely after internal pressure mainly from Albanese’s home Labor branch. Australia also voted at the UN to demand ‘Israel bring to an end its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible,’ and for ‘permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources.’ Labor also reinstated funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) after pausing it based on unverified claims from Israel that UNRWA staff were involved in the October 7 attacks.
Individuals within the ALP have been pressuring their party to do more, most notably Ed Husic, who served as Minister for Industry and Science in the first Albanese ministry. Husic called for the ALP to do more in supporting Palestine and provide more immediate and radical action. He was scrapped from the second Albanese ministry due to over-representation of the NSW branch, but Husic claims it was for being outspoken about Gaza.
The call for ALP to do more is a sentiment shared by both individual activists and advocacy groups, including Amnesty International Australia, which says,
‘While we welcome recent steps taken by the re-elected Labor government – like condemning Israeli leadership and calling for aid access – they are not enough. Israel continues to block humanitarian aid, and starvation is still being used as a weapon of war. Australia’s continued support and assistance to Israel is shielding Israel from accountability or effective international scrutiny regarding its collective punishment of Palestinians. Diplomatic backing and impunity enable human rights abuses and war crimes, and further fuel the genocide in Gaza.’
Continuing to support a two-state solution makes it harder for Palestinians to be free. The only way for Palestine to be free from its oppressors, the ones who bomb, massacre, and starve its people, is by fully dismantling Israel. A two-state solution gives Israel the power to continue oppressing Palestinians well into the future and tells victims of genocide that they must live in peace and harmony with the perpetrators. A two-state solution is trusting those who, since 1948, have shown they cannot be trusted.
Sources:
Aljazeera, Israel-Gaza war in maps and charts: Live tracker
Aljazeera, Israel-Gaza war death toll: Live tracker
Anadolu Ajansi, Australia’s Labor Party faces backlash over Palestine policy as lawmaker quits, 2024.
Crikey, Protester to prime minister: A timeline of Albanese’s public stance on Palestine, 2024
Josh Butler, Anthony Albanese’s Labor branch calls for Gaza ceasefire and condemns Israeli ‘retribution’, The Guardian (November 14, 2023).
Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator the Hon Penny Wong, Australia calls on parties to agree ceasefire (June 4, 2024).
Australian Parliament House, Hansard – Senate 16/09/2024 Parliament of Australia
Amensty International Australia, End Israel’s Genocide in Gaza- Demand Real Action from the Albanese Government
Daniel Hurst, Australian reinstates funding to UNRWA to provide aid in Gaza, The Guardian (March 15, 2024).
Isabel Roe, Labor MP Ed Husic criticises Albanese government over response to Israel blocking aid in Gaza, ABC (May 24, 2025).
Jason Whittaker, Mark Dreyfus cabinet dumping ‘gratuitous’, says Ed Husic in new swipe at Labor, ABC (May 12, 2025).
Jake Evans, Wong says Israel has right to self-defence, but urges restraint as Iran pounded, ABC (June 15, 2025).
Written by El Bancroft
Author
Views: 21