All eyes are on first-term Senator Fatima Payman after she disgraced herself and accused world leaders of “gaslighting” the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Ms Payman, whose family fled Afghanistan when she was eight, asked the Prime Minister what is the “magic number… of international rights laws that Israel must violate before we can say enough is enough”.
“They are enlightening the world community about the rights of self-defense,” he said, going on to describe the ongoing conflict in Gaza as a “genocide.”
“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
He appeared in the Senate on Thursday wearing a pro-Palestinian badge, but was nowhere to be found when the Coalition and Labor joined together to formally condemn the phrase he used a day earlier.
Coalition senator Simon Birmingham tabled a motion that “calls on all senators to engage in debate and comment respectfully, and to refrain from making inflammatory and divisive comments, both inside and outside the chamber at all times.”
This was in direct reference to the phrase “from the river to the sea” that Ms. Payman used on Wednesday.
He appeared in the Senate on Thursday wearing a pro-Palestinian badge.
“We ask the prime minister to take appropriate measures and ensure that members of his government, members of his party, do not act in a manner or repeat phrases that incite, fuel or are used by those who incite or fuel anti-Semitism,” he said. .
Foreign Minister Penny Wong agreed that the phrase “is not consistent” with the two-state solution, which is what the party officially supports.
“We want a two-state solution,” he said. “And it is that solution that is needed for peace and security for both Palestinians and Israelis.”
Labor supported the motion with the Coalition. Payman did not turn up for the vote and the Greens, along with Lidia Thorpe, voted against the motion.
Payman was present in the chamber on Thursday and promised on social media, after his controversial statement, to continue speaking out in favor of Palestine.
“I wear this Aboriginal and Palestinian flag pin as a sign of my solidarity with the indigenous peoples of the land,” she said in an Instagram post.
‘Please keep raising your voice. I promise to keep uploading mine.
‘I won’t let you down.’
All eyes are on first-term Senator Fatima Payman after she disgraced herself and accused world leaders of “gaslighting” the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Payman joined the Labor Party because she felt aligned with traditional working-class values, having seen her parents taken advantage of while raising her in Australia.
“I witnessed the struggles my parents went through to put food on the table, pay for our education and provide us with a roof over our heads,” he previously told the Senate.
‘From discrimination and abuse to job insecurity and low wages, my father endured those hardships without complaint or seeking redress.
“Like many hard-working Australians, this came naturally to my parents, who just wanted the best future for their four children.”
The crisis in the Middle East has exposed fractures within the Labor Party on the issue.
Israel launched a ground invasion of Gaza after the Palestinian paramilitary group Hamas – designated by Australia as a terrorist organization – killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostages on October 7.
Israel’s retaliation in Gaza has killed more than 35,000 people and injured 77,000 more, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Payman, whose family fled Afghanistan when she was eight, asked the Prime Minister what is the “magic number… of international rights laws that Israel must violate before we can say enough is enough.”
Israel has emphatically rejected the use of the term genocide, saying its war was against Hamas militants in Gaza, not civilians, and that precautions were being taken to reduce casualties.
But Ms Payman clearly described the conflict as genocide on Wednesday, saying: “Instead of advocating for justice, I see our leaders making performative gestures defending the oppressor’s right to oppress.”
He went on to say that they are “setting the global community on fire over self-defense rights.”
“My conscience has been troubled for too long and I must call this out for what it is,” he said. ‘This is genocide and we must stop pretending otherwise.
‘Lack of clarity, moral confusion, indecision are eating away at the heart of this nation. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
Addressing Mr Albanese directly, he said: “I ask our prime minister and our parliamentary colleagues, how many international human rights laws must Israel violate before we can say enough is enough?” Which is the magic number?
‘How many mass graves must be discovered before we say enough is enough? How many images of bloody limbs of murdered children should we see?
His message caused a sensation in Canberra on Wednesday afternoon, prompting a swift rebuke from both the Prime Minister and the Opposition.
Albanese has criticized the use of the phrase “from the river to the sea,” which many Jewish groups say is a call for the expulsion of their people from Israel.
His message caused a sensation in Canberra on Wednesday afternoon, prompting a swift rebuke from both the Prime Minister and the Opposition.
But he noted that Sen. Payman “is an adult (and) people take responsibility for the statements he makes.”
“I have certainly discussed the issue with Fatima, as I have discussed it with everyone in our Caucus.”
Last week, Labor sided with Palestine during a UN vote on whether it should become a member of the United Nations.
The move was criticized by the Coalition for “rewarding” Hamas.
Albanese said not a single Caucus member “raised issues with the vote Australia cast”, following public criticism from Jewish Labor MP Josh Burns.
Burns said Australia should have abstained from the vote.
Albanese said Labour’s position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is clear.
“Our position has been to oppose the terrorist atrocity that occurred by Hamas on October 7.” he said.
‘To ask for the release of the hostages. Express concern about the killing of any innocent life, whether Israeli or Palestinian. Support the humanitarian ceasefire. To support humanitarian aid arriving in Gaza.
“To support a two-state solution, which is the long-term position that must be achieved, Israelis and Palestinians have the right to live in peace, security and prosperity.”
Albanese said Australia continued to urge both sides to seek a two-state solution in which Israel and Palestine could coexist peacefully side by side, and argued that any sanctions or divestment would be little more than symbolic.
“The idea that here in Australia we can determine what is happening in the Middle East is simply not correct,” he said.
“What we can do is make our voice heard for humanitarian concerns and stand up for the fact that all lives, all innocent lives, matter whether they are Israeli or Palestinian.”
Fatima Payman talks about her trip to Australia in her Maidan speech
Abdul Wakil Payman arrived in Australia by boat in 1999 after his family fled to Pakistan, and worked for four years until his family could join him.
Payman, 28, said in his inaugural address that his father faced “discrimination and abuse, job insecurity and low wages,” but his sacrifice allowed him to live a happy childhood.
“I had my first experience of being made to feel like the ‘other’ in a university course when a young man ridiculed my hijab,” she said.
‘You see, I never felt different growing up. Perth felt like home from the first moment, because home is where the heart is and my heart was with my family.
“I didn’t feel different or strange, I felt like any other Australian kid who grew up in the northern suburbs of Perth, took public transport to university and hoped to become a productive member of society.
“But comments like ‘Go back to where you came from’ or inferences about extremism forced me to feel like I didn’t belong.”
Senator Payman as a teenager with her father Abdul, mother and three younger brothers.
Senator Payman as a fifth-year student at the Australian Islamic College in Perth shortly after arriving in Australia aged eight.
Payman said this was the catalyst that led her to become involved in politics, joining youth leadership groups, police advisory groups and Muslim student associations.
“I started volunteering in hopes of being part of a change. If I was seen as someone who spread good in society, maybe then I would be accepted as an equal member of this nation,” she said.
“As the daughter of a refugee who came to this land with dreams of a better and safer future, I had the audacity to challenge the system and see… how much change I could initiate.”
Payman also shared new details of her father’s harrowing 11-day journey on a rickety boat to Australia to give his family a new life.
‘Anxiety and waves of doubt flooded my mother’s thoughts as she waited and waited for any news that my father had arrived safely in Australia. Four months later we finally got the good news,” she said.
The family had fled Afghanistan to Pakistan when the Taliban took power, because Senator Payman’s grandfather was a member of parliament under the old regime.
After time in immigration detention, Payman worked grueling hours as a kitchen helper, taxi driver, and security guard to save enough money to sponsor his family.
The future senator arrived as an eight-year-old girl with her mother and three younger brothers in 2003.
She was the principal of the Australian Islamic College in Perth and went to university to become a doctor.
Payman never lived to see her become a senator, and died of leukemia in 2018 at the age of 47. But her death prompted her daughter to run for higher office.
