Lydia Thorpe has dramatically pulled out of her appearance on Monday night’s Q+A due to a ‘serious terrorist threat’ against her.
The outspoken Indigenous senator posted a message on social media just 30 minutes before the ABC show began.
‘FTP. I am not protected by a known far-right Nazi terrorist organization. That’s why I can’t do Q+A tonight,” she said on Facebook.
The development came just hours after Ms Thorpe compared the Australian government to Israel as the ‘illegal occupier of these lands’ in an impassioned speech pledging support for Palestine.
The Greens senator-turned-independent arrived in the chamber for his first day in office in a month, wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf.
In response to the tragic ongoing war between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas, Ms Thorpe said she sympathized with the victims on both sides of the conflict.
She said that Palestinians ‘live with the trauma of generations of dispossession, they continue to fight for sovereignty, liberation and return, just like the first peoples of this country.
“You have a responsibility to support the Palestinians who stand against him, just as you have a responsibility to support the First Nations people here who stand against him.”
The Greens senator-turned-independent arrived for his first day of residency in a month wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf
A large crowd gathered outside the Opera House to protest the burning of the Opera House
A fireball explodes during Israeli bombardment of Gaza City on October 9, 2023. Israel imposed a complete siege on the Gaza Strip on October 9 and cut off water supplies while bombing targets
Ms Thorpe said she was “not surprised” the Australian government offered strong support to Israel after Hamas launched a rocket attack on a music festival on Saturday morning.
The conflict prompted swift retaliation from Israel, and some 2,600 Palestinians in Gaza have been reported dead since October 7.
“I am not surprised that the Australian government, which is itself the illegal occupier of these lands, condones the illegal occupation of other lands and sides with an oppressive regime,” she said.
“Governments around the world, in an effort to address anti-Semitism and somehow address the horrors of the Holocaust, are allowing Israel to get away with apartheid, ethnic cleansing.
Ms Thorpe condemned Hamas’ attacks on Israel but said she was also condemning “the violence that Israel is and is inflicting on the Palestinian people”.
In response to the tragic ongoing war between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas, Ms Thorpe said she sympathized with the victims on both sides of the conflict.
She criticized the government’s decision to light up the Sydney Opera House in blue and white in solidarity with Israel and said the debate on the international stage had been “extremely one-sided”.
Israel’s indiscriminate bombing of Gaza is killing thousands of innocent people, people who had to suffer for so many decades in what is often called the world’s largest prison.
“These people did not attack Israel, and yet they are Israel’s human collateral fighting against Hamas with unprecedented force.
“They will be the ones who will suffer the long-term consequences, which will more than likely be the continued and possibly intensified oppression of the Palestinian people through Israel.
She criticized the government’s decision to light up the Sydney Opera House in blue and white in solidarity with Israel and said the debate on the international stage had been “extremely one-sided”.
‘How can the world allow this to happen? All talk of government support for a two-state solution seems to have been forgotten – worth nothing but a side note.
“The current war has set the solution back decades. Most Palestinians want nothing more than to live in peace in a free Palestine. For 75 years, Palestine has been under brutal occupation.
“The state of Israel was founded on Palestinian land in 1948, when tens of thousands of Palestinians sought refuge in Gaza as their towns and villages were ethnically cleansed.
“Palestinian voices have been silenced about what happened.”
Senator Thorpe’s criticism of the government comes as the Coalition complained that the government had not gone far enough to condemn attacks against Israel.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s first order of business after returning to parliament on Monday was to roundly condemn Hamas’ attack on Israel.
He and his government have made several statements over the past week, but Monday marked the first official acknowledgment of the attacks on parliament.
He described Hamas – which is a designated terrorist organization in Australia – an enemy of peace in the Middle East.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s first order of business after returning to parliament on Monday was to roundly condemn Hamas’ attack on Israel.
“This was not just an attack on Israel, this was an attack on the Jewish people. Hamas is an enemy not only of Israel, Hamas is an enemy of all the peace-loving Palestinian people, who have been left to pay a devastating price for this terrorism,” said the prime minister.
“We have learned of acts of violence and humiliation so grotesque that they should be beyond imagination, but have been made a reality by Hamas.”
Mr. Albanese reiterated that Israel had the right to defend itself after the attacks.
He also said anti-Semitic comments following the attacks, as well as Islamophobia, had no place in Australia.
“The appalling anti-Semitism chanted by some of the protesters at the Sydney Opera House is beyond offensive, it is a betrayal of our Australian values,” Mr Albanese said.
A motion tabled by the prime minister in parliament condemned the attacks, along with acknowledging the loss of life on both sides of the conflict, as well as supporting ‘justice and freedom for Israelis and Palestinians’.
Parliament also observed a minute of silence for the victims of the conflict.
People around the world are taking part in pro-Palestinian demonstrations (pictured, Santiago, Chile)
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said the attack by Hamas was an act of “utter barbarism”.
“The apologists of this death cult can no longer claim to have a just and noble cause. What happened nine days ago was the epitome of evil,” he said.
“No restraint should be shown to those who have shown no self-restraint.”
Mr Dutton also urged Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil to use her ministerial powers to deport people who engage in anti-Semitic behaviour.
‘The rally at the Sydney Opera House escalated that anti-Semitism, we eat
More to come.
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Lidia Thorpe is forced to abandon Q+A appearance over serious ‘terrorist threat’ just hours after she wore a Palestinian scarf into the Senate and compared Australia to Israel as the ‘illegal occupier of these’ lands
