The Greens have staged an extraordinary walkout of Senate question time in protest of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese‘s “heartless” response to Israel’s four-week long bombardment of Gaza.
Senator Mehreen Faruqi wore a keffiyeh as she stood in Parliament and condemned Albanese’s refusal to act on the conflict.
“The Coalition is morally bankrupt when it comes to Palestine and Labor has shown itself to be heartless, gutless, powerless,” she accused in an impassioned speech.
“You are watching the massacre of thousands of Palestinians by Israel and you are not condemning Israel. You refuse to call for an immediate ceasefire.
“We are not going to sit here and watch you pat yourself on the back for doing nothing. Weasel words are not going to stop war crimes. Today, we bring the people’s protest into parliament. Free, free Palestine.”
Faruqi raised her fist during the chant and then left the chamber, followed by her colleagues. One minister raised a Palestinian flag as he walked out.
Greens NSW Senator David Shoebridge shared a video of the extraordinary moment to X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Proud to walk out of the Senate chamber today in solidarity with Palestine,” he wrote, followed by the hashtag #ceasefirenow.
The Greens’ walkout comes as tens of thousands of Australians across the country protest the attacks on Gaza and Israel’s occupation of Palestine.
Despite the surmounting pressure, Albanese has maintained that Israel has “the right to defend itself”. However, he has since agreed that civilian lives should be protected, calling for a humanitarian “pause” of the attacks instead.
The “pause” has been slammed by Palestinian activists who say it is not enough to only delay the fighting. Instead, they want it stopped altogether by way of a ceasefire.
You can read more about what an Israel-Palestine ceasefire would look like in our explainer article here.
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