The Zionist Federation of Australia welcomes the report by the Intelligence and Security Committee, which recommends that the Government proscribe all of Hamas, and calls on the Minister for Home Affairs to do so.
ZFA President Jeremy Leibler said, “That Hamas meets the definition of a terrorist organisation is obvious to anyone who examines Hamas’s actions, statements and intentions. I thank the Committee for its willingness to engage on this issue. The bipartisan nature of the Committee’s report shows that Parliament is united on the need to proscribe the entire organisation. This is a welcome development.”
In his remarks to the Committee at its public hearing, ZFA Director of Public Affairs Bren Carlill said,
“As she did with Hezbollah, the Minister—on the advice of the public service—has maintained that there is a distinction between the armed part of Hamas and those parts of Hamas that do not bear arms. But this distinction is a fiction. The history, actions and statements of the Hamas leadership prove this… Even if one is determined to maintain this fictional distinction, the political wing of Hamas meets the definition of terrorist organisation, in and of itself.”
The ZFA welcomes the fact that the Committee has agreed with Dr Carlill. The ZFA calls on the Minister to proscribe all of Hamas.
The Committee’s report is here
The ZFA’s submission to the Committee’s review is here
Dr Carlill’s opening remarks to the public hearing can be viewed here
