SBS News in Easy English 11 August 2025
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The Age
13 minutes ago
- The Age
Macron backs Albanese on Palestinian statehood in face of sharp criticism from Israel
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said she had 'deep concern' over the military plan and put this view to Abbas in a phone call on Monday. Meloni believed the Israeli decisions 'appear to be leading to further military escalation' in the Gaza Strip, her office said, and she described this as 'unjustifiable and unacceptable'. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had 'deep concern' over Israel's military plan for Gaza. Credit: Bloomberg The Italian prime minister has argued against recognising Palestine at this point because of her concerns about the timing. 'I am very much in favour of the State of Palestine, but I am not in favour of recognising it prior to establishing it,' she told the Italian media last month. Her comments on the Israeli plan to take Gaza City signal the growing concerns in Europe about Netanyahu and his military strategy, amid warnings about starvation, civilian casualties and lack of medical care in the territory. Israel's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sharren Haskel, slammed Australia for planning to recognise a Palestinian state when Hamas was refusing to return the last 50 hostages it took in the October 7 attack. 'Fifty of our hostages remain in Hamas's dungeons of torture, being starved to death – being forced to dig their own graves,' she said, in a reference to a video of hostage Evyatar David released last week. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with family members of Israeli hostage Evyatar David at the opening ceremony of the Knesset Museum on Monday. Credit: AP 'Yet the Australian government has decided now is the right time to reward the monsters of October 7 with recognition of a Palestinian state.' The Times of Israel reported that Hamas senior leader Ghazi Hamad said last week that the moves to recognise a Palestinian state were the result of 'the fruits' of the October 7 attacks. 'Why are all the countries recognising a Palestinian state today? Before October 7, did any country dare recognise a Palestinian state?' Hamad said on Al Jazeera. Loading 'The fruits of October 7 are what caused the entire world to open its eyes to the Palestinian issue – and they are moving toward it with force. That is, that the Palestinian people are a people who deserve a country.' Albanese has declared that Hamas must have no place in a Palestinian state, a position also taken by European leaders, while also saying the Australian decision on Monday was predicated on assurances that Palestine would accept Israel's right to exist. Haskel cited the Hamas interview to accuse the Australian government of rewarding a terrorist organisation that committed the worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust. 'This decision by Australia won't change anything in Israel or Gaza, but let's be quite clear, this is all about domestic politics, not peace,' she said. Palestinian critics of the Australian decision, including several cited by this masthead, also argued the formal recognition of statehood would not change anything in the war in Gaza. Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what's making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.
Sydney Morning Herald
13 minutes ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Israel-Palestine war: Emmanuel Macron backs Anthony Albanese on Palestinian statehood
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said she had 'deep concern' over the military plan and put this view to Abbas in a phone call on Monday. Meloni believed the Israeli decisions 'appear to be leading to further military escalation' in the Gaza Strip, her office said, and she described this as 'unjustifiable and unacceptable'. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had 'deep concern' over Israel's military plan for Gaza. Credit: Bloomberg The Italian prime minister has argued against recognising Palestine at this point because of her concerns about the timing. 'I am very much in favour of the State of Palestine, but I am not in favour of recognising it prior to establishing it,' she told the Italian media last month. Her comments on the Israeli plan to take Gaza City signal the growing concerns in Europe about Netanyahu and his military strategy, amid warnings about starvation, civilian casualties and lack of medical care in the territory. Israel's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sharren Haskel, slammed Australia for planning to recognise a Palestinian state when Hamas was refusing to return the last 50 hostages it took in the October 7 attack. 'Fifty of our hostages remain in Hamas's dungeons of torture, being starved to death – being forced to dig their own graves,' she said, in a reference to a video of hostage Evyatar David released last week. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with family members of Israeli hostage Evyatar David at the opening ceremony of the Knesset Museum on Monday. Credit: AP 'Yet the Australian government has decided now is the right time to reward the monsters of October 7 with recognition of a Palestinian state.' The Times of Israel reported that Hamas senior leader Ghazi Hamad said last week that the moves to recognise a Palestinian state were the result of 'the fruits' of the October 7 attacks. 'Why are all the countries recognising a Palestinian state today? Before October 7, did any country dare recognise a Palestinian state?' Hamad said on Al Jazeera. Loading 'The fruits of October 7 are what caused the entire world to open its eyes to the Palestinian issue – and they are moving toward it with force. That is, that the Palestinian people are a people who deserve a country.' Albanese has declared that Hamas must have no place in a Palestinian state, a position also taken by European leaders, while also saying the Australian decision on Monday was predicated on assurances that Palestine would accept Israel's right to exist. Haskel cited the Hamas interview to accuse the Australian government of rewarding a terrorist organisation that committed the worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust. 'This decision by Australia won't change anything in Israel or Gaza, but let's be quite clear, this is all about domestic politics, not peace,' she said. Palestinian critics of the Australian decision, including several cited by this masthead, also argued the formal recognition of statehood would not change anything in the war in Gaza. Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what's making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.
Sky News AU
13 minutes ago
- Sky News AU
Anthony Albanese, Penny Wong 'caving' into Hamas' demands with Palestinian recognition, Sky News' Sharri Markson declares
I never could have imagined that the devastating massacre of 1,200 innocent children and families on October 7 would, less than two years later, reward those that perpetrated it with symbolic statehood. But this is our new reality, with the Albanese government declaring it would vote to recognise a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September. Make no mistake - this is the Albanese government caving into the demands of bloodthirsty terrorists, who call recognition the "fruits" of October 7. The Albanese government has sunk lower than we could have envisioned, by choosing to recognise a Palestinian state before the 50 remaining hostages are home, and while terrorists are calling the shots in Gaza. This is Labor abandoning their own previous conditions for recognition. How can the Labor ministers turn away from the devastating plight of hostages, Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski, who are literally starving to death in war crimes taking place right before our very eyes? In a despicable display of moral depravity, the Albanese government no longer demands their release as a pre-condition of recognition. Albanese's move cements the government as an ally to a terrorist-controlled hotspot whose very reason for being is to kill Jews and destroy Israel. It cements the government's position as an enemy of the democratic state of Israel - where Jews and Muslim Arabs live together, and govern side by side in parliament. Albanese's press conference was both absurd and removed from reality. It was fanciful. He claimed recognition would bring about peace and would even disarm Hamas. But Albanese failed to outline precisely how Hamas would be disarmed, especially since he's also demanding Israel stop hunting down the terrorists. Shockingly, not one of the journalists present asked him this basic question. How does he propose Hamas will be disarmed and removed from power? No one asked that. Now, Albanese and Penny Wong claimed there were conditions on recognition. Not pre-conditions, of course, but future conditions. Commitments. This is a truly twisted negotiating tactic. While those commitments did not include the return of the hostages, they did include the Palestinian Authority promising to hold elections, pledging to stop funding terrorism and recognising Israel's right to exist. But if these commitments are not met - and it's highly unlikely they will be - then Penny Wong did not say that Australia would walk away from Palestinian recognition. She was asked this directly twice. Even if the conditions are not met, Wong did not say that recognition would be revoked. It means that these aren't really conditions if recognition isn't dependent on them. This is effectively unconditional recognition. One of the supposed commitments extracted from the Palestinian Authority is to hold elections for the first time since 2005. Yet, if elections were held in the West Bank, the likelihood is that the Palestinians would elect Hamas. This is one of the reasons elections haven't been held in 20 years, because there'd be Hamas rule in the West Bank as well as Gaza. Even if the Palestinian Authority remained in control, this is also deeply problematic. It's a deeply antisemitic regime, where children are indoctrinated from birth to hate Israel. Antisemitism and the destruction of a Jewish state is reinforced by the education system and even on state television. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has had a longstanding policy of giving funding to wounded terrorists and providing a lifelong salary to the families of those killed in the act of terrorism. Albanese claims Abbas has pledged to end this policy. Well, the Prime Minister believes in the tooth fairy if he believes this, because even after pledging to end the so-called "pay for slay" policy, Abbas said he would never abandon the "martyrs." 'If we have only a single penny left, it will go to the prisoners and the martyrs," Abbas is quoted as saying. "I will not allow [anyone] – and neither will you – to remove any commitment, interest, or penny that is given to them. They must receive everything they did in the past, and they are more honourable than all of us.' 'I would like to reiterate that we are proud of the sacrifices of the martyrs, the prisoners, and the wounded." Yet, Albanese is willing to believe this practice will end despite the fact the Palestinian Authority has long-funded and celebrated terror. In his press conference, Albanese also pointed to the UN declaration of 1947 that recognised both an Israeli and Palestinian state. But, in his delusion, he ignored the events that unfolded after this UN resolution. Israel was immediately attacked in what became known as the War of Independence. Five Arab nations attacked Israel and, against the odds, the tiny Jewish state won and survived. Much of the land assigned to the Palestinians by the UN was subsequently seized by Jordan, Egypt or incorporated into Israel. Ever since then, the Palestinians have repeatedly rejected a two state solution. This includes Bill Clinton's negotiations with Yasser Arafat at Camp David in 2000. And Ehud Olmert's offer to Mahmoud Abbas in 2008. Yes, the same Mahmoud Abbas who Albanese is now negotiating with. Even in 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza - allowing it to self-govern. This only led to the bloodshed of October 7. Tens of billions of dollars in international aid was exploited and misused for terrorism. Albanese needs to study his history. He won't do this because he decided which side he was on a long time ago - and it's certainly not Israel. Albanese has now fulfilled his life-long fantasy to recognise a state of "Palestine" - a fantasy that began when he was a pro-Palestinian protester shouting into a megaphone outside the US embassy in Sydney. There were American and Israeli flags burned in that protest. He's still that rabid activist now, only dressed in an expensive suit as Prime Minister Albanese was also the co-founder of the Labor Friends of Palestine group. He misled Australians when he claimed he'd moved from the left of Labor to the centre and adopted Australian values. His true colours have been exposed for all to see. Albanese has taken Australian foreign policy into a dark and dangerous place. Consider this. Albanese will meet with the corrupt antisemitic Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas before he's even met with the President of the United States. President Trump was elected nine months ago. Nine months. Not one meeting during that time. There is something seriously wrong in the state of Denmark when the Australian Prime Minister aligns himself with dictators like Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas - a long funder of terrorism - and Chinese president Xi Jinping, but not with the US. Albanese has abandoned our conventional Australian values that in the past saw us as an ally to America and Israel. The move to recognise a Palestinian state is also a major slap in the face to Jewish Australians who have been betrayed and abandoned by this pathetic government. The position of the Albanese government will only energise the worst elements in our society. It will have a devastating impact in that it vindicates the aggressive protesters and makes life even less safe for the Jewish community in Australia. But Albanese has his head in the sand. He claimed during his press conference that Australia currently boasts a harmonious community. He said Australians "want a harmonious community which is what we have.' This is a statement of grotesque denial. He viewed the Sydney Harbour Bridge rally as one of peace and humanity, instead of the reality: that it was a gross defiling of our national icon with terrorist flags and Nazi symbols. Life for Jewish Australians is physically and emotionally unsafe under this morally corrupt Albanese government. This is a serious situation for us in Australia - there's no sugar-coating it. We are living through dark and racist times. Today Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Albanese's recognition of a Palestinian state as shameful - his comments coming several hours before the Prime Minister's press conference. He's 100 per cent right. This is not momentum towards peace - as Penny Wong claims - it's meaningless virtue signalling around the middle east. It's meaningless because, thankfully, the US will likely veto this move at the UN. Brilliant American Secretary of State Marco Rubio was right when he said the move to recognise a Palestinian state only disrupted the peace process and ceasefire negotiations. Ironic that a move to supposedly end the war has, in fact, prolonged it. In reality, the Albanese government's position only enables terrorism. Instead of putting pressure on Hamas to release the hostages and commit to a ceasefire, they're putting pressure on Israel to walk away and leave the terrorists in place. Hamas will see no reason to stop their campaign of terror, because look at what their murdering spree of 1,200 babies, little children, young women, mothers, and fathers has achieved for them - an historic reward by delusional western governments at the UN. Their barbaric slaughter, of the likes of the Bibas babies, has been a diplomatic success. Shame on Albanese and shame on Penny Wong.
