Jewish Australians hopeful of imminent hostage release
A ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel in Gaza securing the return of hostages is reportedly close to being sealed, prompting hope in Australia.
A rally against anti-Semitism at Parliament House in Canberra, Monday, October 7, 2024. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)
Jewish Australians are hopeful a ceasefire deal in Gaza will secure the release of hostages and guarantee Israel’s safety.
Israel and Hamas are reportedly on the precipice of signing an agreement after marathon talks in Qatar.
About 100 hostages – including the bodies of dozens predicted dead – would be returned by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian detainees in Israel.
“We hope and pray for imminent news of the release of hostages,” Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said.
He also hoped for “a comprehensive agreement that results in all captives coming home and concrete security arrangements that prevent Hamas from ruling any territory ever again”.
“Israeli soldiers have made enormous sacrifices in a just and necessary war and we hope that their service to a forever grateful nation and Jewish world can now end.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong were also optimistic about a ceasefire after US President Joe Biden said one was close.
“We’ve been calling for some time for hostages to be released,” Mr Albanese told reporters in Tasmania on Wednesday.
“We want Hamas to have no role in the future of that region and we want a ceasefire in the interests of both Israelis and those in the occupied Palestinian territories.
“So we are hopeful of a ceasefire that would be a good thing, I think that is what overwhelmingly Australians want to see and indeed, the international community wants to see as well.”
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said he would support a ceasefire but hostages needed to be released “and we need to make sure that a terrorist organisation is not being rewarded”.
“They are the only democracy in the Middle East and they deserve our support and we should be providing whatever support we can to Israel and certainly to people of Jewish heritage in our country,” he told reporters in Victoria.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been working on a resolution for months and president-elect Donald Trump had been clear about his expectation for an agreement, Senator Wong said.
“All of us are hopeful that we can see the ceasefire that we have been advocating for and so many around the world have sought for so long,” she told ABC radio.
Hamas took about 250 hostages and killed 1200 people when it attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, according to Israeli tallies.
A week-long ceasefire in November 2023 resulted in the release of about half of the hostages in exchange for Palestinian detainees.
Mr Trump has said there would be “hell to pay” if a deal to release hostages wasn’t sorted by the time he took office on January 20.
However, the deal doesn’t have the support of all Israeli ministers, with Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir threatening to quit, saying the agreement would be a capitulation to Hamas and threaten other Israeli citizens.
Labor frontbencher Ed Husic said there were promising signs of a ceasefire, which should allow an increase in aid to Gaza.
“There are a lot of members of the international community as well as, clearly, Palestinians and Israelis that want to see an end to this conflict,” Mr Husic said.
“We need to see the hostages released, we need civilians protected and we also need to see aid urgently go into Gaza where it is needed desperately.”
By: Dominic Giannini/AAP
