Mehreen Faruqi Holds Senate Protest, Questions Albanese on Sanctioning Israel

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Greens deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi held up a sign calling for sanctions against Israel and questioned the prime minister during an address marking the return of parliament.

It comes after Australia condemned the “inhumane killing” of Palestinians in Gaza while calling for Israel to end its war in a joint statement, which a Labor frontbencher called it the strongest statement the government has made in the near two-year offensive.

As part of a largely ceremonial return on Tuesday, Governor-General Sam Mostyn delivered an address to both houses in the Senate chamber, declaring the 48th parliament open.

More than a dozen pro-Palestinian demonstrators were detained after protesting inside the foyer of parliament during Mostyn’s speech, before being removed from the building.

Hundreds of protesters called for sanctions on Israel on the lawns of parliament, with one woman arrested, federal police say.

Traffic around Parliament House was also disrupted by the protests.

During her address, Faruqi was pictured holding a sign that read: “Gaza is starving. Words won’t feed them. Sanction Israel.”

As Prime Minister Anthony Albanese left the Senate, the Greens senator called out: “Prime minister, Gaza is starving, will you sanction Israel?”

Later speaking on the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing program, Science and Industry Minister Tim Ayres said he thought Faruqi’s actions were “disrespectful to the parliament”.

“Parliamentary institutions, the ceremonies and the way that today has unfolded actually is important for the dignity of the institution,” he said.

“I think she has diminished herself,” Ayres went on to say.

“The institution is pretty robust but we’ve all got a responsibility to think about the way we participate in the institution and in public debate and in civic debate to lift the country up to get more people engaged.

“I don’t think that’s served that purpose very well and I don’t think it assisted the cause of Palestinians in Gaza one little bit.”

Australia calls for Gaza war’s end

A joint statement signed by Foreign Minister Penny Wong and more than 20 of her global counterparts — including from the United Kingdom, France, and Canada— calls for an immediate end to Israel’s violence in the strip and condemns the denial of humanitarian assistance to starving Palestinians. The United States was not a signatory.

Israel’s foreign ministry rejected the statement, saying it is: “disconnected from reality and sends the wrong message to Hamas” — the Palestinian political and militant group that governs Gaza.

The joint statement came as pro-Palestinian supporters rallied in Canberra on Tuesday for the first sitting day of parliament since the May federal election.

The countries condemned what they called the “drip feeding of aid” to Palestinians in Gaza and said it was “horrifying” that more than 800 civilians had been killed while seeking aid, which they labelled “inhumane”.

The majority of those killed were in the vicinity of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) sites, which the US and Israel backed to take over aid distribution in Gaza from a network led by the United Nations.

“The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity,” the countries’ foreign ministers said in a joint statement.

“The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths.”

They said: “The war in Gaza must end now.”

In its statement criticising the statement, Israel’s foreign ministry said: “The statement fails to focus the pressure on Hamas and fails to recognise Hamas’s role and responsibility for the situation.”

Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar later said he spoke with his British counterpart David Lammy on Monday regarding regional issues, including Gaza. He blamed Hamas “for the suffering of the population and the continuation of the war”.

The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, called the statement “disgusting” and said blaming Israel was “irrational” because Hamas rejects every proposal to end the war.

Last week, following a call with Pope Leo, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office released a statement saying he had told the pontiff that Israel’s efforts to secure a hostage release deal and 60-day ceasefire, “have so far not been reciprocated by Hamas”.

It came as Hamas’ armed wing spokesperson Abu Ubaida said the group favoured reaching an interim truce in the Gaza war, but if that could not be made in negotiations, it could revert to insisting on a full package deal to end the conflict.

Hamas has repeatedly offered to release all the hostages held in Gaza and conclude a permanent ceasefire agreement, and Israel has refused, Ubaida said.

Hamas says any agreement must lead to ending the war, while Netanyahu says the war will only end once Hamas is disarmed and its leaders expelled from Gaza.

‘So much of this is indefensible’

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke was asked on ABC News Breakfast on Tuesday whether this was the strongest statement Australia had issued since the conflict escalated on 7 October 2023.

“It would be,” Burke said.

“There’s been a series of very strong statements that we’ve made. What we’ve been making sure of is that whenever we make a statement of this nature that we’re bringing as many other countries along with us at the same time.”

Burke said the hostages captured by Hamas on October 7 must be released, but the “slaughter” in Gaza “has to end”.

“We’ve seen too many images of children being killed, of horrific slaughter, of churches being bombed,” Burke said. “The images that we’ve seen have been pretty clear that so much of this is indefensible and, as that statement referred to, aid being drip-fed in.”

Opposition leader Sussan Ley did not say whether or not she supported the joint letter. While Ley wanted “to see aid reach those who deserve it”, she said the most “important thing” was rescuing the remaining hostages.

People walking along a dirt road. Trucks carrying groups of people.

Save The Children estimates between 50,000 and 80,000 Palestinian people are sheltering in Deir al-Balah. Source: Getty / Dawoud Abo Alkas

While some of the hostages have been released, others have died and about 50 are believed to still be in captivity — although Israel believes about half of those are dead.

Opposition frontbencher Jonathon Duniam said Israel had a “right to self defence” and said Australia signing the joint statement was not the right approach.

“There is more to this issue than this letter portrays and I think it is a sad turn of events for our government to have joined with other countries in signing this letter,” he told Sky News.

Much of Gaza has been reduced to a wasteland during more than 21 months of the conflict that escalated when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on 7 October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 59,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, with the latest deaths reported on Monday as Israel began a new incursion in central Gaza.

— With reporting by the Australian Associated Press and Reuters news agencies