Michael Sukkar MP

Interview with Andrew Bolt – Sky News Australia

THE HON MICHAEL SUKKAR MP – SHADOW MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES, NDIS, HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS

TRANSCRIPT

INTERVIEW WITH ANDREW BOLT – SKY NEWS AUSTRALIA

Tuesday 1 October, 2024

TOPICS: Middle East crisis

E&OE

Andrew Bolt: Now, yesterday, I showed more examples of ABC bias in reporting this war, promoting, in my opinion, pro-Hezbollah voices. But today came this extraordinary exchange between an ABC reporter and Peter Dutton after the Opposition Leader demanded that the Albanese Government take action to make sure it was illegal to fly the terrorist flag of Hezbollah, as we saw on the weekend. But what about Israel’s flag? The ABC reporter asked:

(GRAB: exchange between ABC journalist and Peter Dutton)

Andrew Bolt: Just a quick memo to the ABC. Among the many terrorist attacks committed by Hezbollah, including on American soldiers, was one on a Jewish cultural center in Argentina. Nearly 90 people killed… seriously. Joining me is Michael Sukkar, the Shadow Minister for Housing, NDIS and Social Services, who also has Lebanese background through his father, Michael Sukkar. Thank you so much for your time. What did you make of that exchange?

Michael Sukkar: Well, I think it’s in some respects entirely unsurprising that the ABC seems to be running interference on something that I think any decent minded Australian would agree with, and that’s that Hezbollah, its symbols that represent Hezbollah or Hamas should be banned. These are terrorist organisations, let’s be frank, and if that ABC journalist wants to understand why we don’t think Hezbollah symbols should be shown, I think we can just mention suicide bombings, car bombings, plane hijackings, murders, kidnapping, rape, torture, short and long range missiles into Israel, murdering Israeli citizens, they assassinated – they were indicted for assassinating the Lebanese prime minister, Rafic Hariri. I’m not sure what more the ABC would need for us to demonstrate that Hezbollah is a terrorist organisation, but it’s a pretty damning list and I commend Peter Dutton for the way he handled that, because I think most of us would have been absolutely incredulous if we had received a similar sort of question and statement from any reporter, let alone an ABC reporter.

Andrew Bolt: Yeah, I was shocked too, I admit. I know the rot has gone deep in the ABC, but this is really, I mean, this is just so flagrant. I mean, the idea that she – implicit in the question – equating the Israeli flag to the Hezbollah flag or at least asking a question that seemed to do that, whether the Israeli flag should also be banned as a terrorist flag. But you wonder what she didn’t say, you know, the Syrian flag should be banned. Half a million people killed there. Well, the Russian flag, half a million people killed, well, a million including the Russian dead in the attack on Ukraine. I mean, so many flags could be banned by this measure. But she said why wasn’t the Israeli flag also banned as a terrorist symbol? What would be your answer?

Michael Sukkar: Well, I think I would have been far less polite than Peter Dutton was. I just think it’s extraordinary, A. that the ABC would not just accept at face value that any symbol of Hezbollah is a symbol that represents a terrorist organisation. I just went through the litany of crimes of Hezbollah, and I think it not only shows where the rot has started in the ABC, but a lack of intellectual rigour. You don’t need to be a middle Eastern expert to appreciate and understand that Hezbollah is just like al Qaeda, just like ISIS, just like Hamas. And the idea that you would compare the sovereign flag of a nation like Israel, the only true democracy in the Middle East, somehow to a Hezbollah flag, just shows how far the rot is in the ABC, and I feel for that journalist if she was put up to asking that question from some other senior journalist texting it to her, or, and I feel a little less sorry for her if that was her question herself. But outrageous that you would draw that link. And let’s be let’s be honest, Andrew, in the ABC you’d only get away with making that connection with Israel. No ABC journalist would dare make that connection with the flag of any other nation, let alone any other Middle Eastern nation.

Andrew Bolt: Michael, this is an interesting, maybe a very difficult thing for issue for you to be commenting on, given that your father was Lebanese, Lebanese, Maronite Christian, the Christians used to make up half the population in Lebanon, now it’s less than a third. How do you feel about Hezbollah? How do you feel about this war that’s being reported as an Israeli war against Lebanon, as if all Lebanese must be against what’s happening and be mourning the death of the Hezbollah leader?

Michael Sukkar: Well, it’s utterly false to suggest that this is a war between Israel and Lebanon. This is a war between Israel and a terrorist organisation who takes its orders from Tehran, who is a wholly owned subsidiary of Iran, but conducts themselves within the borders of Lebanon. So I can tell you right now there will be many Lebanese, Christian and Muslim alike who will be willing Israel on because Hezbollah is not operating in the best interests of Lebanon. Hezbollah is operating in the best interests of Iran, just like Hamas and just like the Houthis, who are two other groups that are essentially wholly owned and funded by Iran. That’s what Hezbollah is. So this idea that it’s Israel versus Lebanon is utterly false. And the other thing I’d say just touching a little bit on what we hear a lot from the government and from the ABC about a ceasefire. Hezbollah has been lobbying missiles into Israel to the point where Israel has had to evacuate tens of thousands of their citizens outside of the range of those missiles. Israel would be derelict in their duty if they weren’t to suppress that threat to the to their country. Let’s think about it as Australians. If Australia was being bombed and large parts of our country and citizens had to be moved outside of that bombing zone, I think any decent minded Australian would expect that the Australian Government and Defence Force would fight back. So this idea that Hezbollah is allowed to wander in there and punch Israel in the face and then Israel hits back and then all of a sudden we call for a ceasefire now, I think is remarkable. Israel has a duty to hit back and to go back to where we started, Andrew. There will be many, many Lebanese, Muslim and Christian alike who will be willing, the IDF on to eliminate Hezbollah from Lebanon, who would not operating in the best interest of Lebanon, but are in fact bringing misery onto Lebanon.

Andrew Bolt: Michael Sukkar, thank you so much for your time.

Michael Sukkar: Thank you, Andrew.

ENDS