Anthony Albanese has criticised calls for further actions against Israel as “slogans” as he faces intensifying pressure from his own MPs, Labor members and the Greens to reconsider his position on the war and humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
It comes as the Zionist Federation of Australia, a national Jewish organisation, revealed it is “deeply troubled” by the scenes in Gaza and has urged Israel to ensure sufficient aid flows to Palestinian civilians “without delay”.
Ed Husic, Albanese’s former science minister and now a backbench Labor MP, has also urged Australia to immediately join the UK and France in preparing to recognise Palestinian statehood, describing it as a tide of “moral momentum”.
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On Wednesday, Australia joined 14 other countries to describe the recognition of Palestine as “an essential step towards the two-state solution”, linking progress on statehood to the upcoming United Nations general assembly meeting in September.
The prime minister will hold more talks with his UK counterpart, Keir Starmer, in coming days, but stopped short of matching Starmer’s promise to recognise the state of Palestine in September unless Israel abides by a ceasefire and commits to a two-state solution.
“What I’ve said is that it’s not the timeline, that’s not what we’re looking at. What we’re looking at is the circumstances where recognition will advance the objective of the creation of two states,” Albanese said at Parliament House.
“I’ve said for a long time, my entire political life, I’ve said I support two states … that’s my objective. Not making a statement, not giving a political point, but achieving peace.”
Husic, an increasingly outspoken member of the Labor caucus, said recognising statehood would deprive terror group Hamas of its power over Gaza and ultimately speed up the peace process and the flow of urgently needed humanitarian aid.
“Hamas is built largely on grievance,” Husic said in the hours after Starmer’s announcement on Wednesday.
“That grievance gets removed with the establishment of a state of Palestine, nurtured with the cooperation and support of the international community, progressed through the development of democratic institutions.”
The opposition finance spokesperson, James Paterson, said the opposition still maintained Palestinian recognition should only occur at the end of a peace process, adding it would otherwise be “extremely counterproductive”.
“Premature recognition of a Palestinian state before Hamas has been dismantled, before the Palestinian Authority recognises Israel’s right to exist, before they give up their aims of using terrorism to abolish the Israeli state, I think, would be extremely counterproductive,” he told ABC radio.
Albanese this week accused Israel of a breach of international law in blocking aid into Gaza, saying “you can’t hold innocent people responsible” for the actions of Hamas, and warning that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is “losing support” internationally.
But he dismissed calls for further sanctions against the Netanyahu government as “slogans” compared with the federal government’s action so far.
In May, Australia joined with the UK, Canada, New Zealand and Norway in placing financial sanctions and travel bans on two Israeli government ministers for “inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank”.
“What we are about is meaningful action, not slogans,” Albanese said in Canberra on Wednesday.
“We have, I think, taken appropriate action and it’s been, as I say, sanctioning ministers in a democratic government. If you can point to a comparison where that’s occurred, I’d be happy to hear it.”
The Zionist Federation of Australia said it is the “collective moral obligation” of Israel and the United Nations to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza in a statement contrasting with reported denials of starvation by the Israeli embassy in Australia.
The group’s president, Jeremy Leibler, said “our humanity also compels us to recognise the pain and suffering of innocent Palestinian civilians in Gaza. We are deeply troubled by the reports of hunger in parts of Gaza.”
The comments followed the sanctioning of Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi last week in the Senate after she held up a protest sign against Israel during the governor general’s address.
The Greens moved a motion on Wednesday afternoon, supported by Labor, describing Israel’s blockade as illegal and at risk of causing “mass death from starvation”.
Senator David Shoebridge said Albanese’s criticisms that alternative approaches were just “slogans” was “deeply insulting”, adding sanctions against the Israeli government were necessary actions.
“As the prime minister himself acknowledged today, empty slogans without action will not feed starving children in Gaza,” Shoebridge said.
Support from within Labor’s rank-and-file for sanctions and Palestinian statehood continues to grow. The Victorian Labor state conference will debate a motion from rank-and-file members on the weekend urging further sanctions on Israel and the recognition of the state of Palestine.
Similarly-worded motions circulated by the Labor Friends of Palestine have also passed in more than 80 local Labor branches in recent weeks.
On Tuesday, the opposition leader, Sussan Ley, avoided criticising Israel. Asked directly if people in Gaza are facing starvation, Ley repeatedly said only that it was a “complex situation”.
