Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sharren Haskel responded on Monday to Australia’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state, saying it rewards Hamas.
"50 of our hostages remain in Hamas’s dungeons of torture, being starved to death - being forced to dig their own graves, yet the Australian government has decided now is the right time to reward the monsters of October 7 with recognition of a Palestinian state," Haskel stated.
She quoted Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas terrorist, who said that recognition of a Palestinian state by Western leaders is “the fruits” of the October 7 massacre, and added: "So the Albanese government has just rewarded a proscribed terror organisation with further ‘fruits’ from the worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust."
The Deputy Minister noted that "US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has made clear that President Macron’s recognition of a Palestinian state destroyed any prospect of successful ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas."
She concluded that Australia's decision "won’t change anything in Israel or Gaza, but let’s be quite clear, this is all about domestic politics, not peace."