The incredible response from leading Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi after being asked a very simple question about Hamas FIVE times

Greens vice-chair Mehreen Faruqi has repeatedly refused to answer questions about whether she believes “Hamas should be dismantled,” saying it is not her place to say “who should go and who should not.”

Ms Faruqi was a guest on ABC’s Insiders on Sunday morning, after the party this week attempted to have parliament recognise Palestinian statehood.

The issue led to now-independent Senator Fatima Payman resigning from Labor after she was sidelined for crossing party lines and siding with the Greens.

Ms Faruqi criticised Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his government for not supporting the bill without attaching “reserves”.

However, when Faruqi was questioned about her position, she could not say whether she wanted Hamas to be abolished as a condition for state sovereignty.

The New South Wales senator was asked five times whether the Islamic terror group responsible for the October 7 attacks should be removed or disbanded.

“Hamas has nothing to do with the recognition of the Palestinian state,” she told host David Speers.

“Recognition of the Palestinian state is about the ability of Palestinians to decide for themselves.”

Greens vice-chairman Mehreen Faruqi has dodged questions about whether Hamas, a terrorist group in control of the Gaza Strip, should be dismantled to make way for a Palestinian state

When questioned further on the matter, the senator said: “I can’t keep repeating this: (Hamas) has nothing to do with the Palestinian state.”

‘Palestinians should decide for themselves where they want to go with their own region, and not have Western countries intervene.’

Speers noted that Hamas is on the list of terrorist organizations and told the senator: “Surely you can say for yourself whether you want them to disappear or not.”

“It’s not up to me to say who goes and who doesn’t,” she replied.

Ms Faruqi said she could not answer the question because it was based on a “hypothetical situation” if the Palestinians were to gain a state.

She then turned her attention to the Albanian government, which withdrew its support after their proposed amendments to the bill were not adopted.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the government would have supported the motion if Palestinian recognition was “part of a peace process in support of a two-state solution and a just and lasting peace”.

Ms Wong later told reporters that the Greens motion was strictly speaking “all about politics, not about change”.

Ms Faruqi responded to the claim, saying she was “really fed up with the Labour Party fooling her in that parliament”.

‘I was astonished that Labour wanted to talk about peace but did absolutely nothing.’

This comes after the Labour Party opposed a Greens motion in the Senate to recognise Palestinian statehood, leading to a protest in the parliament building (pictured) and the resignation of a senator.

Opposition to the Greens’ motion caused headaches for the Labour Party as pro-Palestinian protesters descended on parliament on Thursday.

The protesters climbed onto the roof of the parliament building and unfurled banners with popular slogans for the pro-Palestinian movement, one of which also featured a symbol of Hamas.

“That inverted red triangle is a Hamas symbol that is meant to indicate the goals of the Israeli military and Israel in the context of the war in Israel and Gaza,” said Senator James Patterson.

Hours later, the party was down one seat in the upper house when Senator Fatima Payman of Western Australia announced she would step down to become an independent senator.

Ms Payman was suspended indefinitely from her party’s parliamentary group meetings last Sunday after she said she would have no problem speaking again on motions relating to Palestine.

The focus on the divisions within the ALP has slowed the pace of the government’s tax cuts and cost-of-living measures.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Friday strongly criticised Senator Payman’s decision to leave Labor and warned parties “not to go the way of religious political parties” as this undermines social cohesion.