Today in Parliament, Abigail delivered an adjournment speech calling out the continued complicity of the Australian Government in the State of Israel's illegal occupation and apartheid regime in Palestine, and now Lebanon.
Abigail said:
On 18 September, for the first time in 42 years, the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly voted to impose sanctions on Israel. Despite Australia abstaining from this critical vote, the global majority affirmed that the International Court of Justice's historic ruling triggers the legal obligation of all states to end their complicity in Israel's illegal occupation and apartheid regime. Starting today in New York, heads of state are gathering for their annual high‑level debate at the United Nations. At that meeting, all states, including Australia, must prioritise taking immediate and decisive action to put an end to Israel's genocide in Gaza, to dismantle its decades‑long apartheid and settler‑colonial regime against all Palestinians, and resolve to turn this resolution from words on paper into a global reality.
Now is the time for the Australian Government to act in concert with the overwhelming global majority in upholding its obligations under international law and to pay heed to the unified Palestinian civil society call. The global movement for peace and justice is demanding that we impose a mandatory and comprehensive two‑way military embargo on Israel to stop all export, import and transfer of weapons. This is a legal obligation, not a choice. It is demanding that we impose lawful and targeted sanctions, including ending diplomatic relations with Israel, imposing financial sanctions and suspending all trade and cooperation agreements with Israel.
Australia will be asked to activate and support universal jurisdiction mechanisms to hold suspected perpetrators of international crimes accountable in domestic courts, and to immediately begin the inspection of and denial of docking permission to ships suspected of carrying military supplies to Israel. But so far, the Australian Government has done none of this. In the face of over 42,000 people confirmed killed by direct Israeli attacks, with a further 95,000 injured and another 10,000 missing, our inability to condemn these atrocities without reservation or equivocation speaks to a deep and dark national failure. And now, with arms continuing to flow to Israel, with Australia a fundamental part of their supply and production chain, the Israel state has embarked on a dramatic escalation of its genocidal war, appearing to extend it into Lebanon.
Earlier this week waves of Israeli air strikes bombarded southern and eastern Lebanon, killing over 558 people, while displacing thousands of others. At least 1,835 civilians were reported wounded. Footage has shown Israeli forces engaging in the total carpet bombing of civilian homes in 58 towns and villages across Southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley. The Israeli bombing has targeted homes, medical centres, ambulances and the cars of people trying to flee. These are war crimes. These atrocities followed shortly after Israeli intelligence services launched a mass terror attack inside Lebanon.
This atrocity of a reckless and deliberately untargeted attack saw thousands of electronic devices remotely detonated, killing at least 40 and wounding and maiming thousands of others, while "unleashing widespread fear, panic, and horror among people in Lebanon", to quote a top United Nations official. Human Rights Watch have decried the scattergun approach, saying the attack is a clear breach of international humanitarian law. A group of more than a dozen United Nations legal experts, led by University of Sydney law professor Ben Saul, have labelled it a "terrifying violation of international law" that could constitute a war crime.
Under the guise of fighting terrorism, Israel continues to act with impunity in the region, emboldened by unconditional support from the United States, with Australia as its lackey in lockstep marching to the drums of war. Australia, under the joint urging of the legacy political parties, remains committed to our involvement and increasing participation in the global arms trade. This arms trade has delivered a steady flow of bombs that have massacred over 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza, and nearly one thousand civilians in Lebanon. Israel has launched over 8,000 attacks in Lebanon since last October. These are the facts, and they are undeniable. No amount of spin and bluster can deny the reality: a genocidal campaign is being waged. But the Israeli Government would prefer that we did not hear the truth. Just days ago, the Israeli Government raided the offices of Al Jazeera in the Israeli‑occupied West Bank, ordering the bureau to shut down amid an intensifying campaign of bombardment.
The simple fact is that Israel has no intention of pursuing a diplomatic solution to this crisis. Absent the adequate international condemnation, and absent pressure on Israel to halt its genocidal rampage, nothing will change until the entire region is drawn into an all‑consuming conflagration. Australia has told citizens currently in Lebanon that it will not be possible to safely extract them all, as the world braces for an expected ground assault by Israeli forces. I echo and paraphrase the words of United States Representative Rashida Tlaib that it is surely easier to stop sending the Israeli Government weapons to conduct its genocidal wars than it is to evacuate every Australian in Lebanon. Stop the war. No more atrocities. Palestine must be free.
Read the transcript in Hansard.
25 September 2024