Former Australian MP and Deputy Minister for Innovation Wyatt Roy, in an interview with SBS last week, reported being caught in a firefight between the Islamic State and Kurdish Peshmerga forces, The incident took place in Domez, Iraq, near the town of Sinjar, which is west of Mosul. Roy filmed the incident and released the clip to Arutz Sheva.
The act sparked harsh criticism from high ranking Australian officials including Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull who said, “It was foolish of him to ignore the government’s advice,” and Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop who said that Roy was being “irresponsible.”
Shadow foreign spokeswoman Penny Wong also stated that "war zones are not places for people to act out their boyhood fantasies."
In an interview with ABC The Honorable Wyatt Roy explained why he chose to visit Iraq saying he was “the first conservative politician to call for at least doubling the refugee intake focusing on persecuted minorities.”
Roy stated that it was important for him to go see visit the region explaining that “the evil Daesh forces committed horrible atrocities as president Obama called it really genocide against the Yazidi people.”
Additionally, Roy wrote an Op-ed about his time in Iraq and released it to The Australian, in which he speaks about the importance of western involvement in the region.
“While facing enormous economic and political challenges, Iraqi Kurdistan offers one of the few rays of hope in a deeply sectarian Middle East. In this land of ancient religions, the government’s commitment to pluralism is undeniable – they even want see the historic Jewish population return,” Roy writes.
“I think that we should support their aspiration for an independent nation," Roy said in his interview with ABC, "and we should support them when it comes to developing that civil society.”
“I’m not alone in saying things like this,” Roy continued, “the Israeli Prime Minister has said almost the exact same things.”