‘Betray': Ley not ‘fair dinkum' on Gaza
Ed Husic was among the 90,000 people who marched through Sydney's CBD and across the Harbour Bridge on Sunday.
The son of Bosnian Muslim immigrants, the former minister has been outspoken on the plight of innocent Palestinians in Gaza since losing his cabinet seat in factional infighting earlier this year.
Asked about the Opposition Leader's refusal to acknowledge starvation in Gaza, Mr Husic said on Monday any 'pro-family' conservatives who did not recognise the dire situation 'betray' the values they claimed to hold. Labor MP Ed Husic (centre) is leading calls in Canberra for Palestinian statehood. Tom Parrish Credit: News Corp Australia
'I think conservatives who argue that they are pro family and cannot find a way to reflect on the suffering that has been wrought on innocent Palestinian families really betray whether or not they're fair dinkum on the cause,' he told the ABC.
He said he thought 'everyone gets' the horrors Hamas inflicted on Israel in its October 7 attacks in 2023 and those responsible 'need to be held to account'.
Mr Husic also said that Israelis taken hostage 'should be released and the people who had mistreated them fundamentally should be held to account as well'.
'But 60,000 innocent Palestinians, half of which have been women and children, that have been killed through the Netanyahu government's actions – they did not deserve that,' he said.
'They deserve to be able to carry on with their lives and do the type of things that they want to do in their lives, like we do in our families.
'So I think the Coalition would do themselves better credit if they recognised the impact on innocent families.' Some 90,000 people gathered in Sydney's CBD to protest the war in Gaza. NewsWire / Damian Shaw Credit: News Corp Australia
Health officials in Gaza said overnight six more people died from starvation, bringing the total toll to 175.
While supplies have started trickling into the war-ravaged Palestian territory in slightly higher amounts, humanitarian groups have said it is nowhere near enough to prevent further deaths from a lack of food.
The mild relief has been helped in part by countries air-dropping aid.
But the Israeli government continues to keep a chokehold on the aid flow via land crossings.
The Albanese government on Sunday announced a $20m support package for Gaza.
The funds will go to humanitarian agencies best placed to co-ordinate aid delivery, including the UN's World Food Program and The International Committee of the Red Cross.
More to come.
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