The Labor MP Josh Burns has played down the significance of the Australian government-backed UN vote for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, saying during a visit to Israel that it “couldn’t be less relevant to the people here on the ground”.
Burns declined multiple opportunities to explicitly support the Australian government’s decision to join with 152 other countries at the UN general assembly in calling for a ceasefire along with the immediate release of hostages.
The backbench MP noted that the Australian government had also voted in favour of a failed US amendment to specifically name and condemn Hamas, adding that it was “ludicrous to not include Hamas in this picture”.
“As much as I think that the UN resolution really would have been strengthened by the United States amendment, what’s really important here is that there are meaningful steps towards the end of this violence,” Burns told ABC Radio National on Thursday.
“That can’t happen without Hamas releasing hostages and it won’t happen without Hamas being removed from power.
“The Israelis will not accept anything else, and as much as we might want to pray and wish for a return to the situation prior to October 7, the reality is is that those two key aspects are still in the way of a peaceful future.”
Pressed on whether the Australian government should have voted for the resolution once the US amendment failed, Burns replied: “Honestly, it couldn’t be less relevant to the people here on the ground.”
He said Israel was still experiencing profound “devastation and grief” from the 7 October attacks and about 200,000 Israelis – from both the south and the north of the country – had not returned to their homes because they did not believe it was safe.
“The devastation that we have witnessed in some of those border towns – unfortunately, I’ll never be able to forget it.”
More than 18,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel began its military operations in Gaza after the 7 October attacks, the Hamas-run ministry of health has reported. The UN estimates up to 85% of the 2.3 million people in Gaza have been internally displaced.
Burns said he did not want to diminish the civilian loss of life in Gaza, which he labelled as “devastating”.
He said he and fellow Australian MPs on this week’s trip had been “putting direct questions to our Israeli counterparts about protecting civilian lives” and were pressing for an increase in humanitarian access.
Burns, who is Jewish, acknowledged the concerns expressed by Labor minister Ed Husic, who is Muslim, about the scale of the devastation in Gaza.
“I know that Ed is is deeply concerned about his community, as am I deeply concerned about my own community,” Burns said.
“What is our humanity if we can’t recognise that there is suffering on both sides?”
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has played down any sense of division within the government.
“Josh [Burns] is right to point out that a sustainable ceasefire can’t be one-sided and can’t be unconditional, and that is my position too,” Wong said on Wednesday.
But the Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA) and the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) said the Australian government should have voted against the UN resolution after the failure of the US amendment naming Hamas.
The two organisations said they were “deeply concerned by the inconsistency in Australia’s decision to vote in favour of a UN General Assembly resolution calling for a ceasefire shortly after issuing a joint statement together with Canada and New Zealand that called for the removal and dismantling of Hamas”.
“The Australian Government cannot have it both ways,” the ZFA president, Jeremy Leibler, and the president of ECAJ, Daniel Aghion, said in a joint statement.
“Either it stands by its position in the joint statement that recognises that Hamas must be removed from power and return all the hostages or it supports a ceasefire which would allow Hamas to remain in power and deliver on its promise to repeat the attacks of 7 October at the earliest possible opportunity.”
But the group Jewish Australians for a Ceasefire welcomed the government’s vote at the UN. It said about 900 Australian Jews had now signed an open letter urging the government to call for a full ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages.
“There is nothing that can undo the suffering that Palestinians have endured as a result of Israel’s campaign of collective punishment,” a spokesperson for Jewish Australians for a Ceasefire said.
“But Australia must now join with other countries to ensure that Israel respects the UN vote. It is increasingly clear that the Australian Jewish community does not unanimously support the actions of the Israeli government.”
The Australian Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) welcomed the Albanese government’s shift in position as “testament to the hundreds of thousands of Australians who marched, rallied and chanted demanding an immediate ceasefire”.
But the president of APAN, Nasser Mashni, said the community was distressed that it had taken so long for the government to join international calls for a ceasefire.
“A ceasefire is the bare minimum the Australian government must be calling for – the government must now strengthen its position further,” he said.
