Jacqui Lambie warns of ‘false hope’ as PM mulls recognising Palestine

Recognising Palestine while Hamas controls much of Gaza is a recipe for “false hope”, independent senator Jacqui Lambie has warned as Anthony Albanese mulls over taking the step. The Prime Minister is “actively considering” recognising Palestine as a state, with a decision to come this week, a diplomatic source familiar with discussions has told NewsWire. France, the UK and Canada have all announced plans to conditionally recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly next month. The news of Australia’s consideration comes just hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that recognition would only “bring war” – a concern that Senator Lambie shared. “Not sure what they’re hoping to accomplish out of this whole mission because the bottom line is, while you still have terrorists in your backward, nothing will change,” she told Sky News. “There’s no goodwill coming from a terrorist group, so while you’re taking your eye off that situation, all you’re doing is that terrorist group is rebuilding.” The Prime Minister’s Office did not refute that Mr Albanese was considering recognition and pointed to his comments in New Zealand at the weekend. “I’ve said it’s a matter of when, not if,” he told reporters on Saturday, alongside Kiwi counterpart Christopher Luxon. “I think overwhelmingly Australians want to see two things. “One is they want to see a ceasefire. They want to see the killing stop, they want to see hostages released, they want to see peace in the region. “The second thing they want is they don’t want conflict brought to Australia either.” He said that “for a long period of time there’s been a bipartisan position in Australia of support for two states”. “And that of course was the vision that was envisaged when in 1947 the United Nations made the decision that they did,” Mr Albanese said, referring to the creation of Israel. “It wasn’t the creation of one state, and so we’ll continue to play a role.” ‘Shameful’ Overnight, Mr Netnayahu blasted Australian government protests against the war in Gaza, calling them “shameful” and saying they “buy into” Hamas propaganda. The Israeli leader held a press conference in English to set the record straight, as he sees it, after Western allies, including Australia, condemned his plan to occupy all of Gaza. An Australian journalist asked Mr Netanyahu if his Western counterparts, who consistently support the Israel’s right to defend itself, “are now struggling to stomach what they’re seeing you and your military doing in Gaza”. “First of all, those who say that Israel has a right to defend itself are also saying, ‘but don’t exercise that right,’ when we do what any country would do, faced with this genocidal terrorist organisation that has performed the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust,” Mr Netanyahu responded. The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’ October 7 attacks on Israel in 2023. Militants killed more than 1200 in the shock assault, slaughtering entire families. Much of the violence was celebrated by perpetrators and sympathisers online. Israel’s furious response has decimated Hamas, but also killed tens of thousands of civilians in the process. Most of the innocents killed are women, children and the elderly. Mr Netanyahu insisted his country is “actually applying force judiciously”, adding that critics in Canberra “know it”. “They know what they would do if right next to Melbourne, or right next to Sydney, you had this horrific attack,” he said. “I think you would do at least what we’re doing, probbably … not as efficiently and as precisely as we’re doing it. “We’ve lost quite a few soldiers in that effort.” Mr Netanyahu went on to address the global momentum for recognition of a Palestinian state. He said the “Jewish public is … against the Palestinian state for the simple reason that they know it won’t bring peace”, pointing to a recent vote in the country’s parliament that overwhelmingly rejected the idea. “It’ll bring war,” Mr Netanyahu said, directly countering rhetoric put forward by the Albanese government. “To have European countries and Australia march into that … rabbit hole just like that, fall right into it and buy, this canard is disappointing, and I think it’s actually shameful. “But it’s not going to … change our position. “Again, we will not commit national suicide to get to get a good op-ed for two minutes. We won’t do that.” Assistant Foreign Affairs Minister Matt Thistlethwaite disputed Mr Netanyahu’s read of Australia’s concerns. Speaking to Sky News, he noted that “tens of thousands of Israelis marched in the streets and protested on the weekend against their government”. “They’re saying enough is enough, that the starvation, the continued holding of hostages by Hamas, has to stop,” Mr Thistlewaite said. “And the only way to work towards that is to work towards a ceasefire that involves the release of those hostages and takes this opportunity to permanently try to resolve this issue.”

Jacqui Lambie warns of ‘false hope’ as PM mulls recognising Palestine

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