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The Government playing word games with weapons to Israel - Michael West

michaelwest.com.au Orwell revisited. The Government playing word games with weapons to Israel - Michael West

Richard Marles and Penny Wong deny Australia is aiding Israel's slaughter of the Palestinians but their language is Orwellian

Orwell revisited. The Government playing word games with weapons to Israel - Michael West

Foreign Minister Penny Wong was forced to concede that Australia was exporting parts into the F-35 global supply chain but then doubled down. She told ABC Insiders on 16 June: “We have F-35s… we are part of 18 nations who are part of that consortia. We are involved in non-lethal parts…”

The UN Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) makes no mention of the lethality of the individual parts or components that comprise the weapons (“conventional arms”) it covers.

The Arms Trade Treaty and the Geneva Conventions are clear on human rights responsibilities. Article 6.3 states that a nation-state should not authorise any transfer of conventional arms if it knows at the time that the items would be used in the commission of genocide, crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, or other war crimes.

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