Senator Fatima Payman has become the first member of the Australian Labor Party to call Israel’s war on Gaza a “genocide”.

Payman called for sanctions and divestment from Israel and declared “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” – a politically charged phrase that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has criticized, the Guardian reported. 

But Payman characterized the call as signifying “freedom from the occupation, freedom from the violence and freedom from the inequality”.

“My conscience has been uneasy for far too long. And I must call this out for what it is. This is a genocide and we need to stop pretending otherwise,” Payman said. 

The senator said she saw leaders, instead of advocating for justice, “performatively gesture defending the oppressors’ right to oppress while gaslighting the global community about the rights of self-defense”.