- The Guardian
- Issue #2165
People who want to downplay solidarity with Palestine have a hard time denying that Israel is carrying out a genocide. Not wanting to be openly pro-genocide, they sometimes complain that Palestine is a long way from Australia. “What’s it to do with us?”, they ask.
Readers of the Guardian will know that’s a dishonest question. Australia provides weapons components to Israel, not to mention multi-million dollar contracts to Israeli arms firms. Israeli PM Netanyahu took the time to condemn Australia’s belated recognition of Palestinian statehood, so he obviously doesn’t think this country has nothing to do with the conflict.
There’s another way the war affects us, through a determined lobby group for whom Israel is always the victim. For them, defending Israel, no matter what it does, justifies almost any action.
Last month, that meant derailing an event aimed at helping health professionals help children.
The event, ‘Children and War’ was meant to discuss the effects of war on children. It was cancelled because of lobbying by a “body opposing antisemitism” as the ABC put it. Australia has a lot of children affected by wars in Sudan, Afghanistan, Syria, and elsewhere. The ‘Australian Alliance Against Antisemitism’ opposed the event because of possible criticism of Israel.
Sue Wareham, president of the Medical Association for the Prevention of War said, “it seems that we would have had permission to talk about children in war, anywhere else, except Palestine.”
“What does that say about our humanity when the plight of children in one place cannot be discussed from a health perspective?”
It certainly doesn’t say much about the humanity of transparent lobby groups like the ‘Australian Alliance Against Antisemitism in Healthcare,’ who use antisemitism as a cudgel to silence honest discussion of Israel.
It’s not about antisemitism really. The Australian government’s anti-semitism envoy has been very vocal on antisemitism when it involves university protests, and has spoken out in support of the Israeli Defence Force bombing hospitals. She lost her voice when actual Nazis fronted a racist march.
It’s about defending Israel by silencing criticism.
This is why Israel-right-or-wrong advocates have conducted campaigns to have Antoinette Lattouf dismissed from the ABC. This is why a Whatsapp group of “creatives” worked together to try to get Clementine Ford sacked for supporting Palestine.
This is not a Jews versus non-Jews issue. Groups like Jews Against the Occupation and the Jewish Council of Australia have been eloquent on the topic of Israel. They don’t want their religious and ethnic identity to be shackled to the actions of a state that’s committing genocide and war crimes. They don’t think that state should be above criticism.
The Children’s Hospital is yet another organisation that has tried to placate the Israel lobby and fallen on its face. Like the Bendigo Writers’ Festival which saw more than 50 writers withdraw rather than face a requirement to sign a tendentious definition of antisemitism that rules out valid criticisms of Israel, and the ABC which sacked Antoinette Lattouf after pressure from pro-Israel lobbyists and has since stumped up $150,000 after the sacking was found illegal, the Children’s Hospital has found that buying off the lobbyists isn’t worth it.
So what’s the communist take on this? Israel is an imperialist colonial settler state, and an instrument of the USA’s imperialism in the Middle East. Communists support Palestine because we support anti-imperialist struggles everywhere. Communists support the right of health professionals to do their job to protect children without harassment. Social organisations like the Children’s Hospital and the ABC need to stand up to the Zionist lobby in the interests of Australians. So too does our government.
