Lidia Thorpe has been blasted after publicly throwing her support behind Palestine, as the brutal Israel-Hamas conflict in the Middle East rages on.
The controversial senator made clear her stance on the violent clash in a post on the social media platform X on Sunday night.
‘I stand with Palestine!’ she wrote.
The post featured a contested map of Israel, appearing to show the gradual dispossession of ‘Palestinian land’ over more than 60 years.
‘Unprovoked They said [sic],’ Ms Thorpe wrote in the caption.
Senator and No campaigner Lidia Thorpe has backed Palestine in a post to social media platforn X on Sunday
The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas launched its biggest assault on Israel in years early on Saturday, firing a barrage of rockets from Gaza and sending fighters across the border.
Israel said it was on a war footing and began its own strikes against Hamas targets in Gaza, with Israeli media reporting gun battles between bands of Palestinian fighters and security forces in southern Israel.
The death toll from the conflict has skyrocketed above 1,000, with officials reporting at least 413 deaths in Gaza and thousands more wounded across the warzone, while at least 100 have been taken hostage.
Many social media users rushed to condemn Ms Thorpe, pointing out the horror unfolding overseas.
‘The most appalling public statement you’ve ever made, and that’s saying something,’ Sky News columnist Will Kingston wrote.
‘You’re a disgusting terrorist-sympathiser,’ another said.
Others pointed out that women had been ‘kidnapped raped and brutalised’ in the conflict.
‘You stand with the raping and murdering of women. You are foul,’ one wrote.
‘Stand with Palestine but not for Hamas,’ another said.
The outspoken senator was blasted online for her stance and for sharing what many have said is a false map of Israel
Others took to the comments to point out the map shared by Senator Thorpe was incorrect.
An article by Australia Israel and Jewish Affairs Council notes similar maps such as those shared by Thorpe were ‘riddled with misrepresentations and omissions’.
‘Their overall narrative is an outright lie,’ it reads.
‘While the small patches may correspond reasonably accurately with the land then privately held by Jews, the rest of the map is a lie.
‘The totality of the remaining area was not in any sense ‘Palestinian’, whether this refers to ownership, control, or even simply habitation.’
The tweet is not the first time Senator Thorpe has voiced her support for Palestine.
In a speech before the Senate last month, she called on Australia to recognise the sovereignty of the Palestinian people.
‘I rise to condemn the violent occupation of Palestine, the brutality of the colonial power that is Israel and their state-sanctioned murder of the Palestinian people,’ she said.
‘In 2022, Israeli forces murdered more than 170 Palestinians, including 53 children. Since the start of 2023, 160 lives have been taken, including 35 children.’
The death toll from the conflict has surged above 1000, with officials reporting at least 413 deaths in Gaza and thousands more wounded across the war zone
She urged the Australian government to call on Israel to ‘end the illegal occupation’.
‘This government must recognise sovereignty abroad and at home, recognise the sovereignty of the Palestinian people over all the land taken since 1967 and call for the Israeli government to end the illegal occupation.’
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Sunday condemned attacks by Hamas against Israel, describing the conflict as a ‘very dark 24 hours’.
‘This is an abhorrent attack on Israel. This is indiscriminate. Civilians being targeted, killed and murdered, and as well, many of them being taken as hostages,’ he told ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday.
‘Of course, people are worried about escalation, but Israel has a right to defend itself and it will be doing so’.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the nation was in for a ‘long and difficult’ war.
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