Wednesday, 21 February 2024

Middle East conflict

Aiv PUGLIELLI (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (17:58): (724) My adjournment matter is for the Premier, and the action that I seek this evening is for the Labor government to finally end its partnership with the Israeli defence ministry and Israeli weapons companies in light of the recent bombing and planned invasion of Rafah. In the safety of my home, I do not pretend to understand the suffering of the Palestinian people, but it will haunt me for the rest of my life.

‘I am so scared. Please come.’ These are some of the final words from a six-year-old girl Hind Rajab, trapped in a car with her dead loved ones, pleading for someone to come and help her. And when paramedics from the Red Crescent Society tried to help, pleading with Israel to let them help her, they were killed too. Hind and the paramedics’ bodies were not able to be retrieved for 12 whole days. We do not know the suffering that this six-year-old child was forced to endure before she was murdered by Israeli forces. All I know is that no child should have to suffer like this.

I am sure by now that you have seen the photo of Sidra Hassouna, a 12-year-old girl seeking shelter in the only place Palestinian people had to go to, a place where this 12-year-old was told she would be safe, where she was murdered by Israeli bombs. More than 1 million displaced Palestinians are seeking refuge in Rafah, yet Israel continues to bomb even the place the civilians were told to go to for safety. There is nowhere else for people to flee. There is nowhere safe for Palestinians whilst Israel is allowed to kill indiscriminately and a ground invasion looms. As a result, 12-year-old Sidra lost her life in one of the most horrific ways humanly possible. I cannot describe the details seen in that final photograph of Sidra to you, because it is something that no person, no child, should ever have to experience in this world. Expressions of concern will never be enough. It is incomprehensible to me that there are people in this place who sit here in safety and celebrate partnerships with Israeli weapons companies and the defence ministry that has killed thousands of children just like Hind, just like Sidra. These lives are worth so, so much more than jobs for Victorians.