When I sat down to debate NSW Libertarian MP John Ruddick, I knew this wasn’t going to be a polite tea party. This was about holding him to account after he marched across the Sydney Harbour Bridge with socialists, Islamists, and radical pro-Palestine activists after he accused Israel of “genocide”.

Go Ad Free

Ruddick, once a staunch supporter of Israel, now claims his ideal outcome is a “three-state solution” — Israel, West Bank, and Gaza — but the details of his plan were, frankly, all over the place.

At one point, he admitted, “There’s no way in the world that anyone’s going to ever negotiate with Hamas,” yet moments later he floated ideas about releasing thousands of Palestinians in Israeli jails in exchange for hostages, before somehow expecting Gaza to hold elections after 18 years without one.

WATCH THE FULL DEBATE!

When I pressed him on the reality of that happening, his answer was to “get the UN involved” and flood Gaza with humanitarian aid, funded by “oil money” from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States. I told him point-blank: “You haven’t thought it through… you’re coming at it from a completely lefty woke emotional position.”

The solution is far more immediate: “Release the hostages and Hamas lays down its arms. That can be done today.

I pointed out that even the Arab League, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, condemned the October 7 massacre and called for Hamas to disarm. Yet the protesters Ruddick marched with still refuse to make that demand.

He eventually conceded, “They should… I don’t organise these protests,” but continued to push the claim that Benjamin Netanyahu “pumped up Hamas,” a line I told him was flat-out false and doesn’t change the fact Hamas was elected in 2005 on an openly genocidal charter.

In the end, Ruddick’s plan boiled down to wishful thinking.