- The Guardian
- Issue #2192
The scene: a room full of prisoners. The prisoners were illegally abducted in international waters. The prisoners have been zip-tied, hands behind their backs, and forced to kneel. A big man is shouting abuse at them and filming it for his supporters.
The man is Itamar Ben-Gvir. He’s Israel’s minister of national security. He’s also the leader of a far-right Israeli political party. ‘Far-right’ in this context means a party dedicated to racism and Israel’s expansion.
It’s horrible that he publicly humiliated the prisoners. There has been international condemnation, including from Israel itself where Even Israeli Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the episode was “not in line with Israel’s values.” Apparently those values include killing thousands of civilians, and using starvation as a weapon, but not posting bragging videos with captives as a backdrop. Ben-Gvir is still a cabinet minister, so maybe he’s not very out of line with Israel’s values after all.
It’s significant that this incident that has bought the most condemnation from Australia’s government. The Israeli ambassador to Australia has had a talking to, and Foreign Minister Penny Wong has used social media to call the action “shocking and unacceptable.” That’s something that hasn’t happened at any other stage of the Israeli genocide. The Israeli military has killed at least 75,000 people in a barbaric act of collective punishment since 7 October 2023. They’re still attacking Gaza, and Israeli settlers are killing Palestinians on the West Bank. The Albanese government hasn’t troubled the Israeli ambassador about any of that.
It’s also significant that speaking sternly and calling in the ambassador is all the Albanese government has done. They haven’t expelled the Israeli ambassador. Israeli military company Elbit systems made the drone that killed Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom. Their drones have killed a lot of other people too. It was clear that Elbit had a role in Frankcom’s execution, but Defence went ahead with a new contract worth $10 million. Elbit already has a $900 million contract with the Australian government.
Compare Australia’s reaction to that of other governments. Spain has told it like it is; the flotilla prisoners are being “held illegally.” With Brazil, Spain has condemned the abduction of their citizens in international waters. Ireland has spoken out about Israel’s plan to expand the war. Other countries stayed out of the Eurovision song contest rather than share it with a nation committing genocide. In Cuba, the President marches at the front of pro-Palestine demonstrations, and the country welcomes Palestinian students.
The extremely feeble reaction of the Australian government and the fact that their strongest reaction so far only happened in response to the high media profile of mistreatment of the Sumud Flotilla activists is an indictment of the Albanese Labor government. After 75,000 deaths and counting in an ongoing genocide, murder of an Australian citizen and torture of others, we could ask what it’s going to take for Labor to really do something.
Many conclude that what needs to happen is for people to push the Albanese government harder. Demonstrations and action probably helped push Labor to recognise Palestine, which is a good thing as far as it goes. No amount of demonstrations will change the fundamentals, which are that Australia has a system that reliably delivers us governments that serve capital. One way or another, those governments work for the corporations and people who control the economy.
Because of the system we have, we have a government that is subservient to the United States, the ultimate servant of capital.
That won’t really change by asking that system to improve. We need a real democracy, one that serves and is run by working people.
Changing the system is what the Communist Party of Australia is working for. If you support us, consider joining the Party or donating to the Press Fund.
