- by Hannah Middleton and Denis Doherty
- The Guardian
- Issue #2078
Perth rally for Palestine.
There is absolutely no excuse for the Netanyahu government to act in the way it is, raining down artillery shells and bombs on a trapped people in Gaza. This is indiscriminate bombing but also targeted bombing of schools, churches, mosques, universities, ambulances and hospitals.
Israel apparently considers that the ‘right to defend itself’ includes the annihilation of anyone in Gaza. Even though Israel is clearly attempting to exterminate all Palestinians inside Gaza, Australia, the United States, and other western nations are backing Israel as it commits genocide.
The west is sanctioning Israeli-perpetrated crimes against humanity.
Israel has fired over 12,000 tonnes of explosives into Gaza since 7 October. The explosive force is equivalent to the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima in Japan in 1945.
Israel “declared war” after the 7 October Hamas attack. This is not a war. It is a massacre of innocents as Israel, with the 4th largest military in the world, saturation bombs a defenceless people trapped in a small space.
What is Israel’s aim? Do the zionists intend to annihilate or expel all of Gaza’s population and annex half or more of the land? Will Egypt be forced to accept the expulsion of Gaza’s population into the Sinai Desert as a ‘humanitarian’ move? It appears that Prime Minister Netanyahu is making a major step towards achieving ‘Greater Israel.’
CHILDREN
For Israel, it seems that there are no civilians, no innocents. All Palestinians, including children, deserve and need to be exterminated.
Israel spins its slaughter of Palestinian civilians by using dehumanising expressions for Gazans such as “human animals” and “terrorists.”
The children who have not been slaughtered will have been unbearably traumatised. Their anger and hatred will fester until it breaks out again. Israel is training another generation of Palestinian resistance fighters.
HAMAS
Israel does not have the right to defend itself in lands it illegally occupies. Palestinians have every right to defend themselves against forced removal from their land and livelihoods.
Palestinians are defending their right to remain on 22 per cent of the original Palestine. They are not threatening the 78 per cent of Palestine which is now called Israel.
Hamas is a body many Gazans rely on for medicine, education, and other humanitarian needs. Do the people Gaza support Hamas? Hanan Ashrawi suggests at least 30 per cent of Gazans are members of Hamas. This is not surprising. Who else is going to speak for them or act for them?
The west and its media do not distinguish between Hamas’ military and civilian wings.
NUCLEAR THREAT
In an interview with Radio Kol Berama, a religious radio station, the Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu said dropping a nuclear bomb would be one option for dealing with Hamas forces in Gaza. A member of the ultra-nationalist Jewish Power party, Eliyahu claimed there are “no non-combatants in Gaza,” so using a nuclear warhead there was “one of the possibilities.”
At the same time the US military announced that a submarine capable of carrying nuclear missiles had arrived in the region.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry responded by stating: “The failure to immediately dismiss the minister from the government and merely suspending his membership reflects the utmost disregard for all human, ethical, religious and legal standards by the Israeli government.”
The Arab News reported that Saudi Arabia had also stated that: “The racist statements of Israeli Minister Eliyahu are revealing. Not only does he admit that they possess a nuclear weapon, but he also confirms the reality of the Israelis’ abhorrent racist view towards the Palestinian people.”
WEST BANK ATROCITIES
With the eyes of the world focused on Gaza, settlers and soldiers in the occupied West Bank have stepped up their attacks on unarmed Palestinians.
The UN reports that the weeks following 7 October have been the deadliest for Palestinians on the West Bank with at least 123 Palestinians killed, including 34 children. Some 2157 Palestinians, including at least 201 children have been injured.
Bedouins and herders are being specifically targeted by armed violent religious zealot settlers in a systematic frontier war.
All this is accompanied by the violent expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank.
The goal of this violence is to make it impossible for Palestinians to stay on their land. According to the Israeli human rights organisation Yesh Din, about 545 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced from at least 13 communities since 7 October.
AUSTRALIAN COMPLICITY
Australia abstained when 120 nations voted for a UN General Assembly resolution calling for an “immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce” between Israel and Hamas and the “continuous, sufficient and unhindered” provision of lifesaving supplies into Gaza.
Australian defence minister Richard Marles announced on 25 October that Australia will deploy two additional aircraft to join another at an undisclosed Middle East location, along with “a significant contingent” of 270 Australian troops.
PINE GAP
Australia is assisting the Israeli crimes against humanity through the use of Pine Gap, the US war fighting and spy base located outside Alice Springs, which is collecting an enormous range of communications and electronic intelligence from Gaza and passing it on to the Israel Defence Force.
As well as surveillance of civilian, commercial and military communications, Pine Gap provides detailed geolocation intelligence which is likely to include remote launch signals for Hamas rockets as well as any threatened missile launches from Lebanon or Iran.
The US National Security Agency (NSA) maintains a far-reaching technical and analytic relationship with the Israeli SIGINT National Unit (ISNU) with the two organisations sharing information on access, intercept, targeting, language, analysis and reporting.
CUT TIES
The Australian government must be persuaded to end its complicity in the Israeli genocide in Gaza and to distance itself from Israel in every way possible. Australia can no longer be on diplomatic terms with such a pariah state.
A clear and deliberate message must be sent to the Israeli government that their behaviour is unacceptable and must stop immediately.
This demand must be heard by every government MP and Senator in Australia. The message must get to them using all the means at our disposal – phone, text, email, contact sheet, and actions outside their offices.
ACT FOR GAZA
The size and passion of the many demonstrations that have already been held around Australia demonstrate that the people are more in tune with the times than the government and the Opposition.
Australians must tell our gutless government to reflect the human values of ordinary Australians and to end its slavish subservience to the US and to the pro-Israel lobby in this country. It must stop supporting genocide and cut ties with the apartheid state of Israel.
Leave Gaza immediately: We call for Israel to leave Gaza, end its ground invasion and allow full humanitarian access to the area.
Cut diplomatic ties: We demand that the Australian Ambassador is recalled from Israel. Honduras, Colombia, Bahrain, Turkey, Chile, Bolivia, and Jordan have already done this.
We demand that Israeli diplomats be expelled from Australia until Israel is prepared to talk peace and justice for the Palestinian people.
Ban all military links: Israeli weapons companies in Australia must be expelled immediately. The companies Elbit and Rafael profit from Israel’s attacks on Gaza, driving sales for their products. They must be thrown out of our country.
Since 2017, the Australian Government has provided over 350 military export permits to Israel. The Albanese Government must stop all military export permits to Israel immediately.
Palestinian human rights organisations and the Australian Centre for International Justice have launched legal action against the Albanese government to provide full disclosure of all military export permits since 7 October this year.
