Federal government minister Ed Husic says it took “a lot of guts” for his colleague Fatima Payman to express concern over the Israel-Gaza war, but did not say whether he agreed with her assessment that it was committing genocide.
"What I do back is Fatima's right to express her concern and the concern of others in the community that we are overlooking the fact so many people have been affected by what's happening in Gaza," he told Sky News.
Senator Payman called on her colleagues, including the prime minister, to "stand for what is right". She added that her conscience had been "uneasy for far too long". 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".Mr Husic vowed that he would not stop talking about the killing of Palestinians, throughout the more than seven-month conflict.
Government frontbencher Bill Shorten suggested he would step down from a foreign affairs committee if he held the same view as his Labor colleague on Israel's actions in Gaza. Introduced by Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Birmingham, the motion included the claim that the chant "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" opposes Israel's right to exist, "and is frequently used by those who seek to intimidate Jewish Australians via acts of anti-Semitism," Mr Birmingham said.The motion was introduced in direct response to Senator Payman's use of the phrase, however, she was absent from the vote.
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