This blog is now closed.
Paterson: ceasefire in Gaza would ‘just allow Hamas to regroup’
Turning to the Israel-Hamas war, Liberal senator James Paterson is asked for his view on calls for a ceasefire.
[It would] just allow Hamas to regroup, it would allow them to continue to hold more than 200 hostages, and it would allow them to again prepare for another attack on Israel.
And the truth is that neither the people of Gaza, the Palestinian people, nor the people of Israel, will be safe as long as Hamas is in power in Gaza. And so their removal is a legitimate military objective which Israel is proceeding with. Having said that, it is of course important for Israel and the IDF to do what they can to minimise civilian casualties.
I think it’s important that the prime minister raises the full range of issues in the bilateral relationship with Xi Jinping, including the foreign interference and espionage in our democracy but also the ongoing detention of an Australian citizen Dr Yang Hengjun, the ongoing unjustified sanctions against the Australian economy and many other challenges.
I think they (China) certainly do pose national security challenges to Australia in terms of foreign interference and espionage, in terms of cyber attacks in terms of intellectual property theft, but also in terms of malign conduct that they’re engaging in the South China Sea …
In my view, it would be absurd to admit as a member of one of the highest standard agreements in the world, a country which until recently had engaged in up to $20bn of economic sanctions against the bilateral free trade agreement. If the Chinese government is not able to abide by the standards it voluntarily agreed to enter into under the Australian free trade agreement, why should we expect that they will behave any differently in the future?
Continue reading...