Dear Senator Wong, recognising a terrorist state is wrong

Michael de Percy I 11 April 2024 I The Spectator Australia

Senator Wong’s recent call to recognise Palestine, which is controlled by the proscribed terrorist organisation Hamas, was supported by Senator Clare O’Neil in a tweet recently.

Clare O'Neil MP on X: WATCH HERE

Instead, some Labor politicians continue to actively support a proscribed terrorist organisation. There is no other way to view these calls to recognise Hamas-controlled Palestine as a nation-state.

The Foreign Minister keeps harping on about community expectations. The Australian community expects our government to stand against terrorists, not to affirm and recognise their aims. Ms Wong seems to have misplaced her priorities between domestic politics and foreign policy aims with our allies. This is a dangerous position for a Foreign Minister to be in.

Recently, Robert Gregory, CEO of the Australian Jewish Association, said:

‘It is morally corrupt to react to the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust by rewarding the murderers who carried out the atrocity.

‘We are extremely concerned that Labor is endangering the lives of Jewish people in Israel, Australia, and across the world. Islamic terrorists and other extremists around the world will rejoice and be further emboldened that terrorism brings rewards.

‘This is an ugly betrayal of the Jewish community.’

Australian servicemen and women who served (and died) at the frontiers of democracy may well be appalled at our government’s stance on Hamas-controlled Palestine. To win the second world war, Australians fought and died in conflicts that included hundreds of thousands of deaths using morally questionable means such as the firebombing of Dresden and Hamburg and the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

War is hell.

Aid workers in a war zone are courageous but it is an extremely risky role. Civilian casualties in war are a horrible consequence of its conduct. But there is no way that Israel deliberately targeted aid workers.

This war began when Hamas conducted a deliberate military operation against civilians. An Australian aid worker tragically died in a war accident. They sadly join the thousands of people have died in this war, beginning with thousands of unsuspecting Israeli citizens on October 7.

But when we hear news from the ‘Palestinian authorities’, we need to be clear that this means ‘Hamas authorities’.

It will be interesting to see what former ADF chief, Mark Binskin, appointed as the Albanese government’s special advisor on the Israeli Defence Force’s (IDF) conduct, will find, how much it will cost, and how much it will further deteriorate our relationship with our liberal democratic ally currently conducting a military operation against an enemy that may still hold civilian hostages.

Israel may rightly block such a hostile move motivated by Australian domestic politics to placate Labor’s socialist left. The move is sure to?threaten Australia’s bilateral relations ?with our ally, Israel.

Indeed, Dr Mike Kelly, a former Army colonel, Labor minister and co-convenor of the Labor Friends of Israel, was quoted in?The ? Australian ?recently, stating:

‘Our position is to urge that there be preconditions to recognition and would add that we believe Australia should act in concert with the US and like-minded countries to ensure the diplomatic leverage of recognition is not wasted.

‘We would oppose unilateral recognition without preconditions being agreed to and met.’

Woke politics is officially out of control. Wokism is a political ideology that I argue is the manifestation of modern communism. It is being driven by the socialist left of the Australian Labor Party. So it is healthy to hear from the sensible part of Labor that honours Australia’s national security interests.

What does this mean for our national security laws? If the average citizen engaged with Hamas, they would be in breach of our national security laws.

I am not a lawyer, but I am a citizen and one of four generations of my family who served in the Australian Army. So as someone who at least gave a part of my life in service to my country, however inadequate, I am alarmed that the rules that apply to citizens do not seem to apply to Ms Wong.

If I were to recognise Hamas as a nation-state, that would be illegal. How could it be legal for Ms Wong to do the same?

Make no mistake, war is hell. That over-used statement is no platitude. Civilians are the most undeserving victims of war. Aid workers are brave but there are risks to doing such honourable work. People die in wars.

Still, Hamas started this war. To suggest otherwise is to support terrorists. The Australian government needs to get its act together and support our ally. Otherwise, our national security laws are being usurped by the very government that promulgated these very laws.

From the perspective of an Australian citizen, Ms Wong’s actions are despicable. John Curtin or Ben Chifley would never have treated Australian citizens and our allies this way.

Just as in 1955, it is again time the Labor Party looked inwards. I recommend they look to their national security heroes instead of the modern communist sympathisers who are hell-bent on destroying our liberal democracy.

Curtin and Chifley would never have thrown our liberal democratic allies under a terrorist bus. Senator Wong must resign.

Author: Michael de Percy