Federal Labor frontbencher Ed Husic has described Israel’s military action in Gaza as “very disproportionate”, declaring that children “are not Hamas” and should not bear such a heavy impact from the war.
Husic, the industry minister, said on Tuesday that Australians should be free to express concerns about the loss of innocent life in Gaza without being “professionally blacklisted”.
Husic, who has previously said he believed innocent Palestinians were being collectively punished, called on Israel to find a “much more strategic and precise way to hold Hamas to account”.
He warned that Israel risked harming its long-term security interests.
The federal opposition leader, Peter Dutton, immediately criticised Husic on Tuesday, arguing the minister’s comments were “ill-considered” and “offensive” and did not “show any sensitivity to the Jewish community here in Australia”.
Israel has denied claims of collective punishment and stated it aims to destroy Hamas as a military and political force so its security is not threatened. Israel is also seeking to secure the release of hostages who were kidnapped during the 7 October attack.
Husic, one of the first Muslim ministers in the Australian parliament, said the Hamas attack was “truly horrific” and the group’s targeting of civilians was “rightly condemned” but he said his previous fear that “innocent Palestinians would pay truly too heavy a price” in Israel’s response was “exactly what we’ve seen”.
Husic said the UN had stated that women and children accounted for nearly 70% of deaths in Gaza. “It has been very disproportionate and I think is something that frankly is not helping Israel longer term,” he told ABC Radio National.
Husic said he was “not a judge” and not able to make a “conclusive legal response” about whether Israel was complying with international humanitarian law, adding that he “would not be surprised if courts will be called to make a response to the very question that you have put”.
“One of the hardest things to learn about was parents writing the names of their children on the soles of their feet because they figured that the next morning, that they may not be there, and they need to be identified,” Husic said on Tuesday.
“If you put yourself in a place of a parent having to make that choice and recognising effectively that they have surrendered their ability to protect their child, that’s pretty tough, and I think a lot of parents can relate to that and they don’t have to be Palestinian to do so.”
Israel has said issuing evacuation warnings was proof it was seeking to minimise civilian impacts and Hamas used civilians as “human shields”.
But Husic said: “Those kids are not Hamas and they should not have had to have borne the brunt of that military action.”
Husic said people “should be able to express their concern and stand with humanity and say that they are very concerned about what they’re seeing in Gaza” without facing “professional retribution”.
“We had journalists sign up to a letter that said we need to make sure that the way we’re reporting the conflict is accurate, and they’ve been taken off writing stories in relation to the conflict by their editorial boards,” Husic said.
“Doctors who joined in a petition that in particular focused on the humanitarian impact in Gaza, I’ve got reports now, are being professionally investigated for their participation in that … and you saw what happened with the Sydney Theatre Company (STC) too, where three of the actors involved in the performance of The Seagull had basically triggered a furore, as it was being described, by wearing Palestinian scarves.
Nine newspapers said in November that staff who had signed the media industry letter – which included a list of “steps to improve coverage” – would be “unable to participate in any reporting or production related to the war”. The three STC actors have continued to perform in The Seagull.
Australia’s health regulator Ahpra said it was “not investigating any practitioners for signing petitions relating to humanitarian impacts on Gaza”.
But a spokesperson for Ahpra and the National Boards confirmed that they had “received notifications about practitioners covering a range of political views expressed on social media”.
Husic, who is subject to cabinet solidarity obligations, was careful not to criticise the Australian government’s response to the conflict and said the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, had repeatedly emphasised the need to respect international humanitarian law.
Husic also called for “concrete steps to a ceasefire that sees all the hostages released and sees Israel stop that action that has affected and has led to the loss of life of innocent Palestinians”.
But Dutton told reporters in Melbourne: “I think his comments today go too far.”
The opposition leader said Husic was “flying off again this morning with comments that are offensive to the Jewish community here in Australia”.
“Ed Husic always waits for Anthony Albanese to go on holidays and he makes these comments which are ill-considered.”
Hamas on Monday issued fresh demands for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails to be released and threatened the lives of the hostages it holds if they were not.
UN agencies have stepped up warnings of increasingly dire conditions in Gaza with about 1.8 million people – or about 80% of the population – now estimated to be internally displaced.
