Senator Fatima Payman has resigned from Australia's ruling Labor Party, days after voting against a motion to grant Palestinian statehood.
The Labour Party has strict penalties for those who undermine its policy positions, and Ms Payman has already been “indefinitely suspended” from her party seat after vowing to do the same thing again.
“This is something I cannot compromise on,” the 29-year-old said on Thursday, adding that she felt “deeply conflicted” about the decision.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Ms Payman had thanked him for her leadership and denied allegations she had been pressured into resigning.
Mrs. Payman now joins the ranks of independents as an independent senator.
The 29-year-old Muslim MP, who fled Afghanistan with her family after the country fell to the Taliban in 1996, is Australia's first and only federal politician to wear the hijab.
“Unlike my colleagues, I know what it's like to be treated with injustice. My family did not come here as refugees from a war-torn country, so it's not my job to remain silent when I see atrocities being committed against innocent people,” she said at her resignation press conference.
The Gaza conflict has emerged as a volatile political issue within Australia, which both sides have tried to manage carefully.
Officially, the government favors a two-state solution, but has since declined to back the agreement after trying and failing to insert a condition that any recognition must take place “as part of the peace process”.
The Israeli military launched an operation to destroy the Hamas group that rules the Gaza Strip in response to an unprecedented Hamas-led offensive in southern Israel on October 7, which left about 1,200 people dead and 251 hostage.
More than 37,900 people have died in Gaza since then, 28 of them in the past 24 hours, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Strip health ministry.
Ms Payman said the Greens had received “tremendous support” from some colleagues and “pressure to toe the party line” from others since the vote for Palestinian statehood passed the Senate last Tuesday. She also reported receiving “death threats and very hostile emails” from members of the public.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who issued the suspension order on Sunday, has repeatedly said MPs could rejoin the caucus that discusses the government's agenda if Ms Payman is willing to participate as a “team player”.
But in a statement released earlier this week, Ms Payman said she had been “expelled” by the Labour party, barred from meetings, group chats and all committees.
