Alert – Ex-Australian Prime Ministers sign letter slamming Hamas – but there is one very conspicuous absence

A monumental letter penned by six former prime ministers has condemned the ‘hatred’ being spread by Hamas, with Paul Keating’s signature noticeably absent. 

All living former prime ministers bar Keating came together to pledge their support for Israel at the request of the Zionist Federation of on Monday. 

In the two page letter, John Howard, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison call for an end to the vilification of people on all sides of the conflict. 

‘If our hearts are filled with hatred, then we will be doing the terrorists’ work,’ the letter reads. 

‘Hamas’ one true goal is to spread hatred and relish in the killing of innocent civilians. 

‘Their mission is to promote hatred – hatred of Israelis, hatred of Jews, hatred of Palestinians, hatred of Muslims.

‘Whatever is happening elsewhere in the world, there is no place for racial or religious hatred.

‘No complaint or concern about international affairs justifies hate speech against any n, or any n community.’

The former leaders wrote that the vast majority of ns stand in solidarity with the Jewish community, who have suffered ‘the single largest massacre … since the holocaust’.

They also shared their sympathies for the n Palestinian community who have lost their families and friends in the war. 

‘They too deserve our love and support,’ they wrote. 

The letter reiterated ‘s long-standing support of a two-state solution to end the conflict.

It also pressed the need for Israel to allow humanitarian aid to reach Gaza.

‘We call for sustained humanitarian access to ensure essential supplies can reach innocent Palestinians,’ it read. 

‘We endorse, as we did in office, the n Government’s enduring support for a two-state solution as the basis for long-term lasting peace between the Israeli and Palestinian peoples.’

The letter, which was personally written by the former prime ministers, ended by misspelling Scott Morrison’s name incorrectly.

It was signed by ‘The Hon. Scott Morisson MP’. 

Former prime minister Keating said that the head of the United Israel Appeal of , Mark Leibler, had asked him to join the signatories but that he had declined.

‘I told Liebler in a written message that I would not be agreeing to join other former Prime Ministers in authorising the statement,’ he wrote in statement posted to X on Sunday.

‘That remains my position.’ 

The letter arrives after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese abstained from voting in a UN resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian truce between Israel and Hamas.

n Jewish Community president Jeremy Leibler told The Age the letter ‘transcends politics’.

‘This statement reinforces the longstanding bipartisan support of Israel from successive n governments,’ Leibler said.

‘The prime ministers’ decisions to individually sign, and jointly release such a statement today sends a message to the world that ns understand what is right and what is wrong and will not stand back when leadership is needed the most.

‘We are humbled and touched by their support.’

The unprecedented letter comes at a time of great domestic unrest in . 

The country’s major cities have seen weekly rallies from both the Palestinian and Jewish communities, and Nazis have been spotted in the street.

Shortly after the war began a pro-Palestine protest at the Opera House became so dangerous that police told Jewish people were told to stay home after protestors began chanting ‘gas the Jews’. 

A couple of days later three men were arrested after being caught doing Nazi salutes outside of the Jewish Museum in Sydney on October 13. 

That same day a band of two dozen Nazis were witnessed by  asking passengers aboard a Melbourne train whether they were Jewish.