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Senator Jacqui Lambie has labelled the latest diplomatic rift between Australia and Israel “a distraction from what they don’t want to talk about” — the humanitarian situation she’s described as aid not getting into Gaza.
“Schoolboy crap is all they’re doing,” Lambie told SBS News.
“They’re embarrassing themselves, and they’re embarrassing their countries. Now, get out there and find some solutions, cause a lot less war will be a lot more kids that are fed, that much I know.”
“Although he likely has an admirable history as a public official, I believe his legacy is now permanently marred by the lack of strength he demonstrated when confronted by these brutal Hamas terrorists,” Netanyahu mentioned to Australia’s Sky News in a sneak peek of an interview scheduled to broadcast on Thursday.
In response to Netanyahu’s criticism, Albanese said he treats “leaders of other countries with respect” and engages “with them in a diplomatic way”.
“I don’t take these things personally. I engage with people diplomatically. He has had similar things to say about other leaders,” he told reporters in Adelaide on Wednesday.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke came to Albanese’s defence saying “strength is not measured by how many people you can blow up”.
‘A hell of a lot of difference’
Lambie has also criticised the recognition plan, for different reasons.
“In the meantime, they’re talking about two-state solutions, which I find embarrassing,” she said.
“It is just a distraction so you don’t have to talk about the starving kids that are sitting there because the aid can’t get through.”
Regional tensions escalated on 7 October 2023 when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli authorities. Israel’s response has since killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, Gaza’s health ministry says.
In recent weeks, aid groups as well as foreign governments including Australia have raised concerns about the risk of starvation in Gaza, with the enclave’s health ministry saying 266 people, including 122 children, have died from starvation.
Israel cut off all supplies to the territory in March, then reopened them in May, allowing in far fewer trucks than before the blockade, which the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network described as “a drop in the ocean” of what would be needed to feed Gaza’s population.
“Nothing more upsets me [than] a generation of kids that were starved for no reason when something could have been done, and they carry that hatred around their hearts for so long,” Lambie said.
“Where do you think that puts that generation in 10 or 15 years’ time?
“Showing a little bit of common sense and a little bit of kindness can make a hell of a lot of difference.”
‘Please get those Blue Helmets in there’
The UN has reported that getting humanitarian aid to Gaza can be a “deadly pursuit”.
According to the latest UN figures, 1,857 Palestinians have been killed while seeking food since the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation started its operations on 27 May — changing the method aid is distributed in Gaza.
“It’s not like there’s not plenty of aid sitting there at the beginning, [and] it’s not getting through along that strip. And that’s a real problem right now,” Lambie said.
“We have a heap of starving kids, and we are just ignoring them. And this is not on, this is not how a Western country should work.”
Lambie is demanding a new aid distribution method in Gaza, which includes the UN sending peacekeepers to the warzone.
“Please get those Blue Helmets in there. You can give them all the powers that you want to protect those convoys,” she said.
“I don’t care what powers you give them, but make sure those convoys are protected and that a hundred per cent of that food aid is getting through.”
Blue Helmets is a nickname used for the UN’s peacekeepers, which are military personnel, police officers, and civilian staff deployed to maintain international peace and security.
Lambie said she has maintained her request to the government in two letters and will “be continuing the pressure”.
“I’m not backing away from this because I’m sick of the cowardliness out there of the Western world.
“It is ridiculous. Not one person, one country has had the courage to take that to the UN as a resolution.”
In a statement to SBS News on Monday, a spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the Australian government had been consistent in its calls for Israel to allow aid to flow to Gaza rapidly, unimpeded and at scale.
Lambie also added that if Netanyahu supported a similar idea, criticism towards him would have “stopped”.
“Who’s gonna be the biggest boy to start with? That’s the only question left unanswered here,” she said.
“Who’s going to follow me and ask for those Blue Helmets and actually get those kids fed.
“That is what we need to be doing on that Gaza Strip, and right now we are failing miserably in delivering that.”
