Labor Senator Breaks Ranks (Help! –Albo)

Labor Senator for Western Australia, Fatima Payman, broke ranks yesterday saying something controversial about Israel, making Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s life even harder – “F**k! Just what I need!” On SBS News, with regards to the Israel–Hamas war, she said, “Today, more than ever, is the time to speak the truth – the whole truth – with courage and clarity.”
Albo: “Oh God, please don’t.”
Senator Payman: “My conscience has been uneasy for far too long. And I must call this out for what it is.”
Albo: “Please, for the love of God, stop.”
Senator Payman: “This is a genocide and we need to stop pretending otherwise.”
Albo: “F**K!”
Senator Payman: “I see our leaders performatively gesture defending the oppressors' right to oppress while gaslighting the global community about [Israel's] rights of self-defence. I ask our prime minister: How many international rights laws must Israel break for us to say enough? What is the magic number?”
Albo: “As long as she doesn’t finish with that slogan, I think I’m in the clear…”
Senator Payman: “I ask you to join me to continue to call for freedom from the occupation, freedom from the violence and freedom from the inequality.”
Albo; “Oh my God, I think she’s finished…”
Senator Payman: “FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA, PALESTINE WILL BE FREE!”
Albo: “MOTHERF**KER!”

When asked if Payman’s use of the phrase “From the river to the sea” was appropriate, Albanese said: “No it’s not. What’s appropriate is a two-state solution where both Israelis and Palestinians have the right to live in peace and prosperity. It is not in the interests of either Israelis or Palestinians to advocate there just be one state that is a forerunner of enormous conflict and grief and we are seeing enormous grief in Gaza.”

He also added, “The idea that we here in Australia can determine what is happening in the Middle East is just not correct”. That’s funny, that sounds almost like, “The idea that we here in Australia can determine the global climate is just not correct”. Sorry, he didn’t say that.

He also said, “We have said very clearly that all lives matter, whether they be Israeli or Palestinian.” Hmm, that seems very familiar.

The co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Alex Ryvchin, commented, “Senator Payman should immediately apologise for stoking hatred in such a vile way. ‘From the River to the sea’ is an old Arab supremacist slogan calling for the destruction of Israel and the ethnic cleansing of its Jewish population. If she can’t refrain from using racist slogans at a time of extreme tension in our society, she should reconsider her position.”

The president of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, Nasser Mashni, said, “I thank Senator Payman for speaking truth to power in the interests of the sanctity of human life and human rights.”

Anyway, Albo is in a world of hurt. He seems to not be able to control some of his senators. But the question is: Has he lost control of his party?

MUSIC
Allégro by Emmit Fenn