Ed Husic calls on Labor to establish ‘red line’ on Israel’s actions, including treatment of flotilla activists

Labor MP Ed Husic says Australia has tolerated poor behaviour from the Israeli government for too long, calling for a “red line” from Canberra including tougher sanctions, an end to defence cooperation and a block on supplying parts for the F-35 fighter jet . Husic - the former industry and science minister – said a pattern of bad behaviour from the government of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, included mistreatment of activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla, the death of Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom and the destruction of Australian war graves . “We’ve tolerated this for too long,” Husic told Guardian Australia. “We’ve issued statements, and they’ve been important in terms of flagging our view, but at some point the statements have got to end and the action needs to begin.” Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email Husic said there was growing disquiet about Israel among Labor MPs, including after Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir , taunted detained flotilla activists last week. The foreign minister, Penny Wong, called in Israel’s ambassador over the incident, while she and prime minister Anthony Albanese have condemned the actions. Israel has denied allegations of mistreatment, claiming all prisoners and detainees were held “in accordance with the law”. The Israeli ambassador to Australia, Hillel Newman, said last week the detained flotilla members were handled with “great sensitivity”. …