Australia condemns cycle of vengeance in Middle East

[Pelican Press 0]

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Australia condemns cycle of vengeance in Middle East

Foreign Minister Penny Wong is worried about the escalation of ********* in Lebanon, as Hezbollah confirms its leader was ******* by an ******** strike.

Hassan Nasrallah was ******* in the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Friday, sharpening fears the conflict could widen into a regional war.

******* Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was defiant in his address to the ******* Nations, rejecting calls for a ceasefire.

Senator Wong reiterated her call for Australians to flee Lebanon as soon as they can and said she was concerned about escalating *********.

Asked if she supported *******’s use of pagers to conduct deadly attacks, the foreign minister pointed to the cycle of ********* taking place.

“The continued retribution … will not bring peace and it will not bring security, which is why Australia and others, including the ******* States and the ******* Kingdom, have called for a ceasefire in Lebanon and diplomacy to try and resolve this,” she told Sky News on Sunday.

“Because we have seen so many people, so many people ****.”

Opposition frontbencher Bridget McKenzie said the ************** was a step that “had to be done to show force” to prevent further escalation.

“What Penny Wong’s calling for on the floor of the UN is absolutely playing domestic politics with a very, very serious situation,” she told ABC’s Insiders.

“She’s trashing our decades long bipartisan approach to a negotiated two-state solution in the Middle East.”

Asked if she backed an immediate ceasefire, Senator McKenzie said Hezbollah needed to get out from the northern border of *******.

****** – designated by Australia as a ********** group – attacked ******* on October 7, ******** 1200 people and taking more than 200 hostages, according to ******** authorities.

The ******* sparked an ******** offensive in the Gaza Strip that has ******* almost 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials.

The conflict recently spilled over into Lebanon with the ******** army responding after the ********** group Hezbollah fired hundreds of missiles over the border.

************ groups are calling on Australians to stand in solidarity with Gazans on a national day of action on Sunday, ahead of commemorations for the first anniversary of the outbreak of the Middle East conflict.

Demonstrators are preparing to gather at the State Library in Melbourne and Sydney Town Hall, and in smaller cities and towns.

******* communities will hold a series of events to observe the anniversary of the October 7 ****** ******* which Zionist Federation of Australia chief executive Alon Cassuto said carried an immense weight of grief and despair.

“As a community, we will come together to mourn the greatest loss of ******* life in a single day since the Holocaust, and, as we have done every single day since October 7, call for the remaining 101 hostages to be freed from ****** captivity,” he said.

Senator Wong used a speech at the ******* Nations at the weekend to call for a clear timeline for ************ recognition, saying peace in the Middle East was the only way to break the cycle of *********.

Australia Palestine Advocacy Network president Nasser Mashni said Australia had dragged its feet in responding decisively to the conflict.

“People of good conscience across this continent will come together to demand the *********** government act with integrity and immediacy to help put an end to *******’s brutality,” he said of Sunday’s rallies.

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