Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi has repeatedly refused to call for Hamas to disband during a testy interview, while she also rejected condemnation of pro-Palestine protests as “a bit rich.”
The Greens have come under intense scrutiny for encouraging divisive protests, drawing rebukes from both major parties and accusations they were exploiting the war in Gaza for political gain.
Undeterred, the minor party introduced a motion in the Senate earlier this month which would have recognised a Palestinian state and renewed calls for the Albanese government to impose sanctions on Israel.
That motion was ultimately defeated, despite former Labor Senator Fatima Payman crossing the floor to offer support, but speaking to the ABC on Sunday, Senator Faruqi attacked the government for not siding with her party.
“We put up a very simple motion to recognise the statehood of Palestine. Then Labor started to amend that motion, and from where we sat, they were putting in caveats, they were delaying,” she claimed.
“I am really sick and tired of being gas-lighted in that Parliament by the Labor Party in kind of questioning the motivations of the Greens.
“We have been staunch supporters of injustice everywhere, and we have been strong supporters of justice for Palestine – not just over the last nine months, but over many years. That’s the motivation.”
Labor has repeatedly maintained it supports recognition of Palestine as part of an enduring two-state solution and introduced an amendment to that affect after the Greens put forward their motion.
While Senator Faruqi insisted there was “no question” a two-state solution was warranted, she argued that progress toward that outcome was impossible while Israel continued its fight against Hamas.
“I was flabbergasted that Labor wants to talk about peace while doing absolutely nothing to stop Israel from their slaughter of Palestinians,” she said.
However, when pushed on how any peace in Gaza could be enduring given the presence of Hamas, which opposes the existence of an Israeli state, the Senator claimed the presence of the militant group was irrelevant.
“Hamas has nothing to do with recognising Palestinian statehood,” she said.
“I can’t keep repeating it again and again. It has nothing to do with Palestinian statehood and Palestinian self determination.”
Those claims sparked a tense exchange, in which Senator Faruqi failed on three separate occasions to say Hamas should be dismantled in order to lessen the risk of future conflicts.
After first repeating her original claim the militant group was unrelated to the question of Palestinian statehood, the Senator then suggested any involvement Hamas may have should be a matter for Palestinians and not western governments before attempting to shift focus back to Australia’s stance.
“Questioning the Labor government hard on why they aren’t stopping the slaughter, why they aren’t putting sanctions on Israel? That’s the question to ask – not a hypothetical theoretical scenario,” she said.
Pushed again to answer, Senator Faruqi conceded Hamas was a “terrorist organisation,” and there was “absolutely no change that we are demanding in that,” but refused to shift from her previous position.
“Hamas is an organisation that exists in the region that we are talking about here,” she said.
“Who will dismantle it? It is up to the people in Palestine and that region to make sure that people can live in peace, but I will say this again – at the moment, only some people in that region have the rights that every human deserves.
“It’s not up to me to say who should be gone or not.”
Seperately, Senator Faruqi also hit back at condemnation from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and others of the pro-Palestine protestors who climbed to the roof of Parliament House last week.
The Greens Senator backed protestors “peaceful” actions, rejecting suggestions support for the incident could encourage further breaches of security in the nation’s capital.
“We’re not encouraging any protests that are violent and I think that it was a bit rich of the Prime Minister to say that unfurling a banner from the top of the Parliament House was somehow not a peaceful protest. It was a peaceful protest,” she said.
“People have been very angry now for months and months. Their Government, their Prime Minister, people who they voted for, who they thought would represent them, have not represented them. Have not even listened to them. Have not even spoken to them.
“If the Prime Minister is interested in people not protesting, then he should sit down with his community. His own community in Grayndler.”