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Labor MP Josh Burns said he hoped the peace deal emerging in Gaza would help ease tensions in Australia after two years of rising antisemitism and Islamophobia.
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“I think what’s really important is how we talk about difficult things and how we see the humanity in each other. I hope some of the dehumanization and some of the attacks that we see across society can take a deep breath, everybody can take a deep breath and we can all look at each other and see more humanity, and hopefully not just in the Middle East. We [can] “There is more peace in Australia,” Burns told ABC News this morning.
“Within the Jewish community, people feel like they want to grieve…sometimes it’s hard to express that publicly. I know there’s obviously been a huge increase in anti-Semitism, and it’s been difficult at a time when people really want this war to end and all the heartache to end,” he said.
Burns’ constituency office, which represents the south Melbourne seat of Macnamara, was vandalized last year. Vandals sprayed the office with flammable liquid and set it on fire, and the words “Zionism is fascism” and a pair of devil horns were spray-painted on a portrait of Burns outside the building.
Labor MP Josh Burns.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
“The international community, led by the United States, has played a very important role, and with that will come the very important work of staying on track and ensuring that this peace process or peace plan is not a headline-grabbing day, but the long, hard work of untangling one of the worst knots in human history. We need to solve this for the people of Israel, the people of Gaza, and the people of Palestine,” Burns said.
“Today is really about a peace agreement to acknowledge the pain and suffering of other communities and the Palestinian community as well. The loss of life is truly devastating. There has been real suffering that people have experienced. I think the really important thing that comes out of this is that we see each other’s pain, acknowledge that and respect that,” he said.
