Dear Ms Harrison

We write to you as a matter of urgency as fellow-Australians who are profoundly concerned at the failure of the International Red Cross to take action in regard to the hostages who were abducted by Hamas from Israel into Gaza on October 7, 2023.

It is known that hostages are experiencing inhumane treatment including rape and facing death at the hands of Hamas terrorists, which makes this appeal to you a matter of great importance.

Indeed, in appealing to you, we invoke the motto of the Red Cross – Per humanitatem ad pacem - Through humanity to peace - which necessarily ignores politics and focuses instead on this admirable mission statement. It is in that spirit that we respectfully ask the Australian Red Cross to:

1. Urge the International Red Cross to ⁠visit all the (approximately 130) hostages immediately to check their well-being.

2. Together with the International Red Cross, publicly call for the release of all the hostages and reiterate that call on a regular basis until their release is achieved.

3.⁠ Urge the International Red Cross to ⁠⁠ensure those in need of medication receive it expeditiously.

4.⁠ Urge the ⁠⁠International Red Cross to ensure those in need of medical treatment for injuries receive it expeditiously.

5. Arrange regular intervals for welfare checks until all the hostages are released.

We emphasise for the record that we grieve for every civilian life lost on both sides of this war and we look forward to the day when Israel and Gaza can coexist in peace, as was Israel’s hope and expectation when it withdrew all its soldiers and settlers from the territory in 2005.

We emphasise too that this issue is wholly a humanitarian matter which cries out for International Red Cross intervention irrespective of the ongoing war.

Tragically and regrettably, the lack of involvement by, and disengagement of, the International Red Cross in the crisis in general and in the hostage issue in particular since approximately 240 people were abducted underscores the organisation’s abandonment of the hostages, most of them Israeli but including many foreign nationals. Some of them were babies and some of them were elderly Holocaust survivors.

Inevitably, the situation currently facing the hostages invokes the infamous Evian Conference, which was convened in 1938 to address the issue of Jewish refugees desperate to flee persecution by Nazi Germany. Despite the gathering war clouds, only one of the 32 participating nations – the Dominican Republic – agreed to accept Jewish refugees. The remaining nations, and Australia amongst them, did nothing. What message did this send the Germans about the world's resolve to advocate for these refugees? 

It is imperative to recall the introspective words of Mr. Peter Maurer, President of the ICRC in Geneva, in relation to those previous atrocities.  On April 2015 Mr. Maurer said: "...the ICRC also learned some hard lessons. It had failed to protect civilians, and most notably the Jews persecuted and murdered by the Nazi regime; it had failed to respond to the atrocity with the necessary urgency, resorting instead to standard procedures; it had remained passive and silent, not exerting enough effort to honour the principle of humanity... This lapse is now an indelible part of our collective memory."

We are deeply dismayed that Israeli victims of terrorism, barbarism, rape and depravity have been effectively denied the benefit of the moral weight and powerful advocacy which only the International Red Cross can bring to bear in such a grave situation. As Australian citizens, we look to the Australian Red Cross to raise its voice and we appeal to you to make that voice heard on the international stage in the corridors of the International Red Cross.

As mentioned above, this is a matter of extreme urgency, given that hostages are experiencing inhumane treatment including rape and facing death at the hands of Hamas.

We thank you for giving this matter your attention.

Your sincerely,

The undersigned