We, the Zionist Fed­er­a­tion of Australia (ZFA) and the Executive Council of Aus­trali­an Jewry (ECAJ), are highly concerned by the comments made by Foreign Minister Penny Wong on ABC Insiders this morning.

The Foreign Minister stated that “we all want to take the next steps towards a ceasefire,” while noting that no ceasefire could be “one-sided.”

But unless and until Hamas is removed from power, a ceasefire will inev­it­ably further endanger Israel.

Hamas leaders have publicly stated that Hamas will continue to repeat its 7 October massacres until Israel is even­tu­ally anni­hil­ated. Hamas being in power in Gaza is an intol­er­able threat to Israel, as world leaders – including in Australia – recog­nised in the wake of 7 October.

Any ceasefire that does not involve the return of the hostages and the removal of Hamas from power will only entrench Hamas and embolden Israel’s other genocidal enemies, like Hezbollah. It will guarantee more war and human suffering for all.

In addition, we refer to the Minister’s assertion that the hospitals and medical facil­it­ies that Hamas burrows itself into are protected under inter­na­tion­al law and her call for Israel to “cease the attacking of hospitals.”

We remind the Gov­ern­ment that Article 19 of the Geneva Con­ven­tion expli­citly states that hospitals lose their pro­tec­tion if they are used for military purposes. It is incon­tro­vert­ible that Hamas uses Shifa and other hospitals for military purposes. There is no evidence that Israel is not observing the laws of armed conflict.

The libel that any Israeli attack on Gazan hospitals from which Hamas operates would amount to war crimes only serve to demonise the state of Israel and its sup­port­ers. These libels are central to Hamas’ object­ives as a terrorist organ­isa­tion, and are rever­ber­at­ing across the world in a new wave of antisemitism.

The Gov­ern­ment of Australia should not be lending any cred­ib­il­ity to this false and harmful narrative. Instead, it should unequi­voc­ally state that Hamas is morally and legal respons­ible for the suffering of civilians in Gaza as a result of starting this war and its dozens of war crimes that pur­pose­fully endanger Palestini­an civilians for tactical and pro­pa­ganda advantage.