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ANGE:

From Schwartz Media, I’m Ange McCormack. This is 7am.

Israel’s government has agreed to a four-day ceasefire with Hamas in exchange for the release of 50 hostages held in Gaza, but promises to push ahead with military operations after the pause ends.

The agreement falls short of the total ceasefire that protesters have been calling for.

In Australia, the government has found itself delicately balancing its support for Israel with its concerns over the civilian death toll from the war.

So, is the Government striking the right balance or is it equivocating?

Today, chief political correspondent for The Saturday Paper Karen Middleton, on the protests, the parliament and the challenges facing Foreign Minister Penny Wong.

It’s Thursday, November 23.

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Audio excerpt – BBC News Reporter:

“It’s by far the UK’s biggest demonstration since the start of the Israeli’s bombardment of Gaza.”

Audio excerpt – CNN News Reporter:

“Organisers of this rally called for people to flood Brooklyn for Gaza and that’s exactly what they did, gathering on…”

Audio excerpt – News Reporter:

“For the Republic against Anti semitism tens of thousands of people set off from Paris’ Place des Invalides to protest against a rise of anti semitic acts in the country.”

Audio excerpt – BBC News Reporter:

“Hundreds of thousands of people, many travelling from other parts of the UK demanding an end to the killing.”

ANGE:

Karen, we’re seeing huge protests about the war in the Middle East every weekend, across Australia and in cities all over the world. How significant is this moment?

KAREN:

Well, I think these are the biggest protests Ange, that we've seen since the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

I do think it's a slightly different atmosphere around these protests, and that is because there are so many Australians who are deeply personally invested in this issue that the events that are going on in the Middle East on all sides of the conflict.

Outside Parliament House last week, we had a group of pro-Palestinian protesters on one day, a group of pro-Israeli protesters the next day highlighting the missing hostages who were taken when Hamas attacked Israel on the 7th of October.

There are mass protests in favour of a ceasefire and concern for the plight of civilians in this conflict. And those numbers are enormous and the protests are happening weekend after weekend.

So people are very engaged and they're making their voices and their concerns heard.

Audio excerpt – Protesters:

“Free Free Palestine!”

KAREN:

A lot of the pro-Palestinian protesters are calling for a ceasefire and are getting extremely upset at what they're seeing on the television.

In the Jewish community people report that they feel unsafe. They feel that the level of aggression and anxiety and upset around this conflict is such that it is making them afraid to go out.

So there's just a heightened level of anxiety in Australia at the moment.

ANGE:

Yes Karen, there is a lot of talk about how high tension and anxiety is in the community at the moment and some people are experiencing it firsthand. How are we seeing that unfold?

KAREN:

Well, aside from the large, more peaceful protests that we've seen, we are seeing increasing levels of aggression and agitation in the public demonstrations of people's anxiety at what is now a full blown conflict in the Middle East.

The director general of ASIO, the domestic spy agency warned people to be careful about the way that they expressed their views and passions in this conflict because language can incite violence and while ASIO had not seen an indication of any planned political violence as a result of what's happening in the middle east it could happen quickly. So he was pleading with people in public life in particular to take extreme care with the way they are engaging.

I spoke to a range of parliamentarians last week who are extremely concerned about the impact of this whole issue on community relations. The sense that both the jewish and the muslim communities report rising levels of violent aggressive language and prejudice and that this has to somehow be abated.

So this is getting now extremely confrontational. Members of parliament report their offices being vandalised and graffitied. Some MPs have had fake bodies put outside in protest at what's happening in Gaza at the moment. I think there was concern that this became a very direct potential point of conflict, people are very conscious about what they say, how they say it, where they go.

In Parliament last week, Liberal MP Julian Leeser from New South Wales, who is Jewish, wore his kippah in the Parliament for the first time ever and he said that he did that deliberately to say to that to Jewish Australians that they should be proud to be Jewish and that he wanted to represent their faith at a time when they were fearful and when many people were reluctant to wear symbols of their faith in public because of concern about what that might provoke.

There are also prominent muslim members of the governement - Ed Husic from New South Wales and Anne Ali from Western Australia. Both of them spoke out strongly without authorisation, I might add, about the humanitarian dimensions of this conflict and the need to consider and protect innocent Palestinians.

Tony Burke, a senior member and who was close to the Prime Minister from New South Wales. He has an electorate that has a lot of Muslim constituents. He also spoke out about the need to emphasise the humanitarian dimension in relation to the attacks on Gaza.

So there's a real sense and there was in the sitting week of last week that this is really on a knife edge even here in Australia.

ANGE:

And obviously, the public discourse around this is very precarious. You know, every public comment runs the risk of further inflaming tensions or inciting violence even. And our political leaders must be aware of that. How much pressure do you think they're under to get their response to this right?

KAREN:

Well, I think the government in particular is under enormous pressure. Government always have to be careful with their language when they're dealing with a conflict like this. That is a moving conflict. But this one has particular depth and resilience and history that makes it even more sensitive and volatile.

The government is trying to express solidarity with Israel over its atrocious, appalling terrorist attack that occurred on the 7th of October. But equally to emphasise that Israel's response to that attack, while justified in a military sense, they argue, because of what occurred, must adhere to the principles of international law.

Now those attempts at walking the middle ground are injecting themselves into a community where because so many people are so deeply engaged, they are only hearing the parts that they connect with.

So it's more and more difficult for governments that are trying to speak to two opposing communities effectively or two communities that are struggling to find middle ground without each side of them hearing too much in favour of the other and not enough in favour of themselves.

And I think that's where the Government is really been struggling to find that middle ground to be engaging diplomatically. So talking about the international dimensions of the conflict in a fair and factual way while also speaking to the Australian community and trying to hold a fracturing community together.

With the heightened community sentiment the need for careful diplomacy is making this a real powder-keg.

ANGE:

Coming up after the break… Karen Middleton asks Foreign Minister Penny Wong how she is navigating the government’s response to the war.

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ANGE:

Karen, the war in the Middle East has sparked tensions among communities here in Australia, but it's also become a key political issue for the Government. You know how they're talking about it and how they're responding to it is highly scrutinised. You spoke with Foreign Minister Penny Wong about this. How does she grapple with these tensions?

KAREN:

She told me, Ange how conscious she was of the levels of connection in the community. Today's events in the Middle East, and she's described it as being refracted into the Australian community and she said that's happening in a very profound way and for a whole lot of communities in Australia.

And Penny Wong said it's visceral. She's very conscious of that as she tries to frame the government's responses. The government also makes the point that it doesn't have direct influence on the events in the Middle East. While it has close ties to countries that do have more influence. The positions, in the words of Australia, are not necessarily going to change the course of the conflict. Nevertheless, Australia and other countries always consider their positions diplomatically and the way that they might be perceived, and I think that's what's happening here.

Penny Wong is obviously not happy with the position that Peter Dutton, the Opposition Leader, and the Coalition have taken and that the pressure they are seeking to apply at a political level in the Government.

Audio excerpt – Peter Dutton:

“Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister yesterday claimed that Israel, in carrying out its defensive war against terror group Hamas, is breaching international law and should undertake a ceasefire. Is this the government's position?”

Audio excerpt – Speaker:

“Call to the Prime Minister.”

Audio excerpt – Anthony Albanese:

“Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And the transcript of yesterday's interview shows that she did not say that. What the Foreign Minister spoke about was perfectly consistent…”

KAREN:

Now, that's a point of great debate, and that is at the heart of all the calls for a ceasefire. The word ceasefire itself is contentious because the question then arises, well, what does that mean? Is one side stopping the attacking? or is it both sides?

A week or so ago Penny Wong said that the government favoured steps towards a ceasefire. Now she spelt that out as involving firstly the release of the Israeli hostages that Hamas is holding and then the end of firing on either side with a view to negotiating a more permanent resolution.

Now, that attracted controversy the Coalition suggested she was again calling for Israel to stop without calling for Hamas to stop. And she emphasised she wasn't doing that. But it just shows you that there have been these changes in language, but Penny Wong insists no change in the policy position the Government has taken.

ANGE:

Right, but that isn’t the only criticism Penny Wong has faced, is it? She’s also been pressed on why the government isn’t calling for a total ceasefire. What has she said in response to that?

KAREN:

So Penny Wong is also facing strong criticism from the left flank from the other side of politics, particularly in the Senate, from the Greens being accused of not doing enough to defend the Palestinian civilian population and to demand or put pressure on other countries that the fighting cease.

Audio excerpt – Mehreen Faruqi:

“The Labor government is seeing a child being killed every ten minutes but won’t call for a ceasefire… happy to talk weasel words, but weasel words are not going to stop war crimes.”

KAREN:

And there have been some pretty heated clashes in the Senate between Senator Wong and Mehreen Faruqi from the Greens and others making that point.

Audio excerpt – Mehreen Faruqi:

“I think shaking our heads in here like the Minister is doing and not actually taking the action that you have the power to take, is not going to move us to any steps towards a ceasefire. And we don’t need steps towards a ceasefire… as you take those steps people are being murdered every single day.”

KAREN:

And in response, you know, a very frustrated and exasperated, I think Penny Wong was pleading that this not be pushed into two separate camps.

Audio excerpt – Penny Wong:

“This is not a binary debate. This is a deeply difficult, tragic, complex debate.”

KAREN:

Arguing that social cohesion is crucial and that the parliamentary debates should be mindful of that.

Audio excerpt – Penny Wong:

“Well that was quite an inflammatory contribution, it was a hurtful contribution to suggest that the only person in this chamber who cares about the loss of life is Senator Faruqi. That is not the case.”

KAREN:

So within the government and the broader parliament, it's an extremely difficult issue to manage, both to service the electorates and trying to hold the community together and do what they believe is faithfully representing the issue at a national level.

ANGE:

Hmm. And finally, Karen, these weekly protests that we talked about before will likely go on what will be expected of the government in these coming weeks in their response to the war, both in, you know, how it responds to the conflict itself, but also how it responds to these tensions at home.

KAREN:

Well, the government is continuing to look at this at a number of levels. It's looking at its diplomatic role. It's looking beyond the horizon to the Middle East region and to where it might be able to exert influence in defence of the minimisation of civilian casualties, the release of hostages and some progress towards something that resolves this violence at this point. And then there's the question of what happens beyond that. And there are a lot of people trying to work out where the next stage is and how countries like Australia might contribute to that.

And then they have to look at the situation at home. The first job of every government is to make people safe in their own country and they also have to feel safe. It's a challenge for every government and I think this government is mindful of how it does that.

The Parliament will be sitting again next week and so the political pressure will be on again. There are petitions being handed forward from the public demanding a ceasefire and the Government has to traverse those pressures and find a public position that addresses the issues in a way the community expects. And for as long as the violence continues in the Middle East and the guns do not fall silent. Those pressures will continue and the government has to find a way through.

ANGE:

Karen, thanks so much for your time today.

KAREN:

Thanks Ange.

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ANGE:

Also in the news today -

23 pro-Palestinian protesters have been charged by New South Wales police for refusing to move on during a protest on Tuesday evening in Port Botany.

The activists were calling for a boycott of ZIM, an Israeli-owned shipping company. Greens Senator David Shoebridge said he has “deep concerns” about New South Wales police’s response to the protest, which included a riot squad and mounted police.

And

Former Liberal Staffer Bruce Lehrmann has settled his defamation claim against the ABC for broadcasting a speech last year by Brittany Higgins.

Bruce Lehrmann is now pursuing defamation action against Channel 10 and Lisa Wilkinson for airing an interview with Brittany Higgins about her alleged rape in Parliament House, which Bruce Lehrmann has always denied.

I’m Ange McCormack, this is 7am. We’ll be back again tomorrow.

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