Yom Ha’atzmaut message from Peter Dutton
Australia’s leader of the Opposition, Peter Dutton’s Yom Ha’azmaut message.
Leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton
For Israelis, Jews and people of goodwill around the world, the cloud of October 7 hangs over this year’s commemoration of Yom Ha’atzmaut. The world must never forget what happened last year on that day of depravity. The monsters of Hamas acted with glee as they tormented their victims. They weaponised rape. They barbarically tortured and mutilated children, women and men. They brutally murdered 1,200 people in what was the greatest loss of Jewish life on a single day since the Holocaust. And they vowed to repeat their savagery many times over until Israel is annihilated. Hamas still holds people hostage and must release all of them immediately.
The 14th of May 2024 does not simply mark the 76th anniversary of Israel’s independence. In the wake of October 7, Yom Ha’atzmaut this year is imbued with multiple levels of profound meaning.
Today is a day to acknowledge the Jewish people’s continuous connection with the land of Israel to around 1300 BC. Today is a day to recall the story of the Jewish people – an odyssey which has seen them overcome subjugation, persecution, dispossession, exile and massacre in history. Today is a day to point out the age-old and enduring threat which Israelis and Jewish people around the world face from shape-shifting anti-Semitism. Today is a day to commend the remarkable Jewish character – a spirit of strength, solidarity and survival – which will see them prevail over present ordeals. Today is a day to affirm Israel’s right to exist and right to defend itself and its people from any existential threat.
Today is a day to celebrate the establishment of Israel and its achievement in becoming a thriving and prosperous democracy in the Middle East. Today is a day to recognise Israel’s desire to live in peace with its neighbours – as most recently exemplified in the Abraham Accords. Today is a day to appreciate that Hamas has set back the goal of a two-state solution; and that until Hamas is defeated, a two-state solution isn’t even conceivable. Today is a day to condemn those who want to destroy Israel and drive the Jewish people into the sea, namely Iran and its sponsored proxies – Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis. Today is a day to renew a resolve to call out moral equivalence and to challenge propaganda which is fueling a new generation of Israel haters and anti-Semites.
May commemorations of Israel’s Independence Day this year be a steadfast statement to defend civilisation and to defeat evil wherever it lurks. On behalf of the Coalition, I send my best wishes to Australia’s resilient 100,000 strong Jewish community on this important day.
This is an unusual message from an Australian leader to commemorate one of our important days in that it leaves rather boring platitudes behind, which we often receive as a matter of course. Singular in choice of words and trying hard to embrace the enormity Israel and the Jewish people face, indeed our history of that, while giving very specific support. Thank you, Peter Dutton.