Labor MP Josh Burns says he hopes the unfolding peace deal in Gaza will help lower tensions in Australia after two years of rising antisemitism and Islamophobia.
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“What I think really matters is how we talk about difficult things and how we see the humanity in one another. I really hope that some of the dehumanising, and some of the attacking we have seen across society can take, everyone can take, a big breath and we can all look at each other and see more humanity and hopefully not just in the Middle East. We [can] have more peace in Australia,” Burns told ABC News this morning.
“Inside the Jewish community, people feel they want to grieve… sometimes that is difficult to express publicly. I know there obviously has been a huge rise in antisemitism and that’s been difficult at a time when people really just want this war to be over and for all the heartache to be over,” he said.
Burns, who represents the south-Melbourne seat of Macnamara, had his electorate office vandalised last year. Vandals sprayed flammable liquid and set fires at the office, and the words “zionism is fascism” and a pair of devil horns were spray-painted over an image of Burns outside the building.
Labor MP Josh Burns.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
“The international community led by the United States has played a crucial role and with that, will also come the very important work of staying the course and making sure that this peace process or the peace plan isn’t a day of headlines, but rather the long and difficult work of untangling one of the worst knots in human history. We need to untangle this for the people of Israel and the people of Gaza and the Palestinian people,” Burns said.
“Today is really about a peace agreement, to acknowledge pain and suffering across other communities, across the Palestinian community as well. The loss of life is just devastating. There’s been real pain experienced by people. I think what’s really important coming out of this is we see each other’s pain, we acknowledge it, and we respect it,” he said.