Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Christinamio.
Speaker 1: It's Friday, October tenth, twenty twenty five. The Victorian Director
Speaker 1: of Public Prosecutions says, just as Christopher Beale got it
Speaker 1: wrong when he found mushroom killer Aaron Patterson would spend
Speaker 1: most of her life sentence in solitary confinement. The DPP
Speaker 1: is appealing the sentence, which they say is manifestly inadequate
Speaker 1: and should be revised. Patterson was convicted in July of
Speaker 1: killing three elderly relatives and attempting to murder another at
Speaker 1: a family lunch. In twenty twenty three. She's confirmed shell
Speaker 1: lodge and appeal against the convictions. The Prime Minister's office
Speaker 1: went around Jim Chalmers for advice on backlash to the
Speaker 1: government's plan to tax superannuation. They wanted to know if
Speaker 1: a petition with twenty thousand signatures would affect the policy.
Speaker 1: Those stories are live right now at the Australian dot
Speaker 1: com dot au. Peace in the Middle East hinges on
Speaker 1: one thing hamas disarming. There was jubilation across Israel and
Speaker 1: Gaza on Thursday as Donald Trump announced the militant group
Speaker 1: had agreed to the first phase of a historic peace plan.
Speaker 1: Now they have to follow through releasing the Israeli hostages
Speaker 1: and laying down their weapons for good. Today our correspondents
Speaker 1: joined me amid the celebration and caution. For two years,
Speaker 1: the skies over the Mediterranean coast in the Middle East
Speaker 1: have been pierced by missiles and air sirens. But as
Speaker 1: the sun rose on Thursday October nine, the sounds of
Speaker 1: war gave way to joy in Israel beside and in Gaza.
Speaker 1: The reason the promise of peace at last.
Speaker 2: President Trump has announced Israel and Hamas have signed off
Speaker 2: on what he is calling the first fees of his
Speaker 2: peace plan. Trump making the announcement.
Speaker 1: Joanni Bashan and Liam Mendes are in Israel for the
Speaker 1: Australian Liam Listeners to the Front heard a few days
Speaker 1: ago about Hostages Square in Tel Aviv and the quiet,
Speaker 1: solemn atmosphere there as the second anniversary of the October
Speaker 1: seven attacks approached. What's it like there now.
Speaker 3: Well, it's an incredibly different scene right now, Chrissy singing, dancing,
Speaker 3: a huge amount of emotion and excitement. There was a
Speaker 3: lot of praise to US President Donald Trump. People wearing
Speaker 3: maga hats. It was even one woman wearing a Trump
Speaker 3: paper mache mask. But just after we arrived at around
Speaker 3: six am, there was one elderly man who was essentially
Speaker 3: marched out by palice. He was holding a sign with
Speaker 3: a bunch of faces, one of them was Benjamin et Yahu.
Speaker 3: On there that there was a bit of a scuffle
Speaker 3: between him and police as he was taken away, but
Speaker 3: apart from that, it was just a lot of emotion
Speaker 3: and a lot of excitements.
Speaker 1: The agreement reached on Thursday is being called phase one
Speaker 1: of Donald Trump's twenty point piece plan. That means on Sunday,
Speaker 1: Hamas will release forty eight hostages who've been held in
Speaker 1: Gaza since they were taken captive on October seven, twenty
Speaker 1: twenty three. But not all of the hostages survived their ordeal.
Speaker 1: Their bodies are expected to be returned to Israel on Monday.
Speaker 1: In return, Israel will maintain a presence in about half
Speaker 1: of the Gaza strip until the hostages are safely home
Speaker 1: and released terror linked prisoners currently held in Israeli. P
Speaker 1: six hundred trucks carrying aid supplies will also be allowed
Speaker 1: into Gaza every day. Donald Trump praised negotiators from Qatar
Speaker 1: and Egypt in an interview with Fox News for their
Speaker 1: help in sealing the deal.
Speaker 4: The whole world came together, to be honest, so many
Speaker 4: countries that you wouldn't have even thought of it. The
Speaker 4: world has come together around this deal, and it's been
Speaker 4: really an amazing period of time and so great for Israel,
Speaker 4: so great for Muslims, for the Arab countries. This is
Speaker 4: more than Gaza, this is peace in the Middle East,
Speaker 4: an incredible thing.
Speaker 1: What's the significance of this Phase one agreement to the
Speaker 1: Israeli people, Yonnie.
Speaker 2: Well, I think critical to the Phase one deal is
Speaker 2: the release of all the hostages, which is what the
Speaker 2: Israeli people have been calling for since the start of
Speaker 2: this war in October seven. I mean, really, that was
Speaker 2: the essence of what all the fighting was about. It
Speaker 2: was that Hamas had conducted an invasion upon Israel, slaughtered
Speaker 2: a very large number of people, and then taken two
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty one people captive to Gaza. And all
Speaker 2: of the efforts with regards to this war have been
Speaker 2: really twofold. One has been to eradicate Commas, but first
Speaker 2: and foremost it's been to bring home the hostages. So
Speaker 2: the significance of this steal just cannot be overstated to
Speaker 2: the Israeli people. The people I've spoken to today have
Speaker 2: said that this was a day that was always going
Speaker 2: to come, although they feel that it's one that could
Speaker 2: have come a lot sooner. Have the politics and the
Speaker 2: diplomacy been aligned at certain points along the way.
Speaker 1: Liam, You've spent time with the hostages families on your
Speaker 1: various trips to the Middle East over the last two years.
Speaker 1: How do you think they're feeling right now.
Speaker 3: There's a real mixed bag of emotions here. On the
Speaker 3: positive side, people are coming home, but some of those
Speaker 3: people are tragically deceased. Families are finally going to get
Speaker 3: the bodies of their loved ones. And then there's other
Speaker 3: families that are going to have their relatives come back,
Speaker 3: but they're going to be psychologically damaged. Over seven hundred
Speaker 3: days in horrendous conditions inside tunnels, that's going to have
Speaker 3: an enormous toll on the psychological welfare of these hostages.
Speaker 3: This isn't the end of the road at all. There's
Speaker 3: still years and years of recovery ahead.
Speaker 1: Donald Trump said on Thursday, his confidence subsequent phases of
Speaker 1: the peace plan will come to fruition.
Speaker 4: I think you're going to see people getting along, and
Speaker 4: you'll see gas are being rebuilt. We're forming a council,
Speaker 4: the Council of Peace. People are going to be taken
Speaker 4: care of. It's going to be a different world. I think.
Speaker 4: Really the Middle East came together amazingly, they came together.
Speaker 1: You know they are. But statements made by Egyptian officials
Speaker 1: hinted that some of the details were yet to be
Speaker 1: hashed out. That includes how Hamas will disarm and how
Speaker 1: Gaza will be governed following the withdrawal of Israeli forces
Speaker 1: and Hamas militants who've been promised if they choose.
Speaker 4: To lead.
Speaker 1: Jonni. The agreement reached on Thursday only represents a fraction
Speaker 1: of the twenty point plan presented by Donald Trump. How
Speaker 1: confident are you the remaining parts of that plan will
Speaker 1: come to fruition.
Speaker 2: Well, I think it's certainly everyone's hope on the ground here.
Speaker 2: I mean, the point of greatest contention is going to
Speaker 2: be will Hamas willingly disarm. It's all well and good
Speaker 2: for an agreement to come about for the return of
Speaker 2: the hostages, and certainly that is what's going to make
Speaker 2: the Israeli public happy. It's going to result in the
Speaker 2: israel Defense Forces pulling back their troops, their artillery, the drones,
Speaker 2: and the border crossing at Rapha is going to be
Speaker 2: reopened to allow the entry and exit of Palestinians and
Speaker 2: of AID, and there will be an enormous surgeon Aid
Speaker 2: going into the territory. So all of those things are
Speaker 2: wonderful for the first phase, but in terms of a
Speaker 2: broader outlook for the future of the Middle East, it's
Speaker 2: really going to hinge on whether Hamas plays any role
Speaker 2: in that territory and the conditions that have been placed
Speaker 2: on this cease fire or on any cease fire throughout
Speaker 2: the two years of warring Gaza, at least from the
Speaker 2: Israeli side, is that Hamas needs to put down his arms.
Speaker 2: And the announcement that was received overnight, while being celebrated
Speaker 2: widely across Israel and certainly in other parts of the world,
Speaker 2: it doesn't address that question. So that's something that still
Speaker 2: needs to be sorted out, and we expect to hear
Speaker 2: more on that in the coming days.
Speaker 4: Coming up.
Speaker 1: Why the work at home is only half done back
Speaker 1: home in Australia, Jewish leaders have warned optimism over the
Speaker 1: Middle East peace deal isn't a proxy for action against
Speaker 1: rising anti semitism. Liberal Minister Julian Lisa and Labour MP
Speaker 1: Josh Burns have been named as winners of this year's
Speaker 1: McKinnon Price for Political Leadership for their roles in fighting
Speaker 1: antisemitism over the past two years. Lisa told The Australian
Speaker 1: anti Semitism in Australia is at crisis.
Speaker 5: Levels, but there's a very deep support for Israel and
Speaker 5: a very deep recognition of the need to act strongly
Speaker 5: and swiftly to deal with anti semitism crisis we face
Speaker 5: in Australia, a crisis that I sadly don't think will
Speaker 5: abate even if there is a peace deal undertaken.
Speaker 1: You can see the full interview with Julian Lisa and
Speaker 1: Josh Burns at the Australian dot Com dot au. Just lastly, Yonnie,
Speaker 1: on Thursday in Sydney, we saw that a pro Palestine
Speaker 1: march will go ahead in some capacity on Sunday, despite
Speaker 1: the Court's rejection of the Palestine Action Group's argument that
Speaker 1: Israel has committed a genocide in Gaza. What does this
Speaker 1: mean for social cohesion in Australia and around the globe?
Speaker 2: Do you think, well, it certainly doesn't help social cohesion
Speaker 2: in Australia with regards to what has been a surging
Speaker 2: issue of anti Semitism the past two years.
Speaker 3: But what's always.
Speaker 2: Remained very confusing, at least for me, with regard to
Speaker 2: this protest, is why they haven't been out in force
Speaker 2: calling for Hamas to accept this deal. This deal to
Speaker 2: release the hostages and to end the war has been
Speaker 2: on the table for a long enough period of time,
Speaker 2: and instead we've had people rallying for protests with regard
Speaker 2: to a so called genocide occurring at the hands of Israel. Really,
Speaker 2: what these protesters should have been doing is hitting the
Speaker 2: streets and calling for an end to the war and
Speaker 2: calling for Hamas to sign the deal. But they haven't
Speaker 2: done that, So I think that exposes their true intentions,
Speaker 2: and I think no one would be fooled into thinking
Speaker 2: the work on anti Semitism in Australia is done in Israel.
Speaker 2: Liam and I have been walking around speaking to people
Speaker 2: about the issues that are going on here and the
Speaker 2: first thing they say when we tell them we're from
Speaker 2: Australia is what the hell is going on in your country?
Speaker 2: And they've expressed genuine disappointment and regret at what is
Speaker 2: happening in Australia with regard to anti Semitism. They regard
Speaker 2: Australia as an unsafe environment for them as Israelis, and
Speaker 2: more broadly for Jews in general, and that is in
Speaker 2: large part a criticism of a government than hasn't been
Speaker 2: able to reign in this issue adequately.
Speaker 3: What Yoon is describing is in an isolated incident, and
Speaker 3: I feel like it's happened a lot more this trip
Speaker 3: compared to some of our previous trips, so it's certainly
Speaker 3: not an isolated incident. For example, I was at Disingolf
Speaker 3: Fountain on Wednesday and this woman, she was seventy five
Speaker 3: years old. She comes up to me and as, you know,
Speaker 3: where are you from? I was taking some photos and
Speaker 3: chatting to people, and I say, I'm from Australian and
Speaker 3: she physically scoffed at that. So that's the reaction to
Speaker 3: that a lot of people have had when we've told
Speaker 3: them where we're from.
Speaker 1: Johnny Bashan and Liam Mendez are in Israel for the Australian.
Speaker 1: You can read the latest on the Middle East piece
Speaker 1: deal right now at the Australian dot com dot au