Topics: Israel – Hamas ceasefire; Australia’s two-state solution position;
07:45AM AEDT
17 January 2025
Kylie Morris: Simon Birmingham is the Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister and joins us now. Good morning, Simon.
Simon Birmingham: Good morning, Kylie. It’s good to be with you.
Kylie Morris: Now, how do you reflect on how long it’s taken to get to this point and the toll that this war has taken?
Simon Birmingham: Kylie, as President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken have made clear Hamas, for too long have played a spoiler role in ceasefire negotiations. The deal that is on the table and that we hope will be honoured and see hostages that have been held for more than 15 months now begin to be released, this deal has indeed been in existence for quite some time. President Biden and his administration have been clear that the spoiler in those negotiations has been Hamas. And it is, of course, just another one of the many horrors and stains upon that terrorist organisation who led the attacks of October 7th and who have been responsible in so many ways for the loss of so many Palestinian lives as well as Israeli lives, because of the way in which they hide in amongst, behind and underneath Palestinian civilians.
Kylie Morris: Simon, you say that Hamas has played a spoiler role, and that certainly may have been true in the past. But what we’re seeing today is that there are internal tensions, it seems, within the Israeli cabinet which has led to this, this deal not being confirmed by cabinet. We understand that there’s every chance that one of the religious right-wing ministers may well resign. So, it’s not as though it’s been smooth sailing from the Netanyahu government either.
Simon Birmingham: Well, Kylie, it’s not just me saying Hamas has played the spoiler role. It’s the US president, Joe Biden. It’s his secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and they are remarks and statements that they have made as recently as the last 24 to 36 hours.
Kylie Morris: Yes, but today it is the Israeli cabinet that is unable to confirm the deal.
Simon Birmingham: Well, we don’t yet know that, Kylie. I’ve heard the reports. There is still time for the deal to be confirmed and for it to come into effect in the timeline that was negotiated. And I hear continued optimism from the US and others, far closer than you or I to those discussions, and we would hope to see the deal honoured in all aspects so that we can see that type of ceasefire achieved, the bloodshed end and the return of those hostages who the terrorist organisation Hamas has been holding for more than 15 months and continues to hold in secret locations in Gaza.
Kylie Morris: Simon, do you believe that the past 15 months has made Israel safer?
Simon Birmingham: Well, I think if you look at the changed environment that has occurred in relation to the weakening of Hezbollah, the weakening of Iran, again these are points that President Biden made yesterday as to what had changed the situation and brought Hamas to the table was, in fact, a weakening of Iran and Hezbollah and of Hamas and those other terrorist threats to Israel. But tragically, Iran continues to sponsor terrorism through Hezbollah, through Hamas, through the Houthi rebels. And that requires the world to stand as strongly as possible against those terrorists and to hold Iran to account for that.
Kylie Morris: The Coalition never called outright for a ceasefire throughout the conflict, saying it had to be conditional on the degradation of Hamas and Hezbollah, and criticised the Albanese government for calling for one, even after the US was doing the same. Should the Coalition have supported ceasefire calls earlier, given where we are now?
Simon Birmingham: Well, Kylie, what we were critical of were votes by the Albanese government for ceasefire motions that didn’t adequately reflect the need for proper security arrangements, for the full, unconditional release of hostages, for the actions to be taken that would see a ceasefire that could potentially be enduring, and see all of those hostages released. We never criticised the Biden administration’s efforts. We never criticised the way in which they, Egypt and Qatar sought to try to bring the parties together. We’ve always wanted to see the conflict end, the ceasefire achieved. But how that ceasefire is achieved and what it achieves really does matter. And on this occasion, we hope to see it hold, because we hope to see not just the initial batch of hostages released, but all hostages. It remains to Hamas’s enduring, of course, horror in their reputation, their actions that even now they are proposing only to release some of the hostages, not initially all of the hostages, as they should.
Kylie Morris: Would a Coalition government reverse the position at the UN that Australia took last year in relation to resolutions on the Palestinian territories future and on Israel’s occupation?
Simon Birmingham: Kylie, a Coalition government would be seeking to return Australia’s policy to what had previously been long standing bipartisan policy in relation to a two-state solution, that is, that it be a negotiated two-state solution, one that does achieve security guarantees between the parties, that has proper processes for resolving difficult issues, like agreed borders between the two-states, like rights of return for individuals within those states. To simply call for a rushed, premature recognition doesn’t resolve the difficult issues which do need to be resolved, and we would seek to return to that policy position, which, until this government had been a long-standing and bipartisan policy position.
Kylie Morris: Simon Birmingham, thanks for joining us on Radio National Breakfast today.
Simon Birmingham: Thank you, Kylie. My pleasure.
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