7d ago

Australia joins other nations in call for an immediate end to war in Gaza

www.abc.net.au

Australia condemns 'slaughter' in Gaza in signing 28-nation statement

"We, the signatories listed below, come together with a simple, urgent message: the war in Gaza must end now," the statement said.

In short:
Australia has joined the United Kingdom, France and other countries in demanding an immediate end to the war in Gaza and for Israel to lift aid restrictions.
Israel says the statement is "disconnected from reality" and is urging countries to instead place pressure on Hamas.
What's next?
The 25 countries went on to urge other members of the international community to "unite in a common effort to bring this terrible conflict to an end".

ABC doesn't seem to have a link to the full statement, but I believe it's this: https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/minister/penny-wong/media-release/joint-statement-behalf-26-partners-occupied-palestinian-territories

This statement has been signed by:
The Foreign Ministers of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK
The EU Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management

7 comments

So we're gonna stop sending them parts for their jets, right? Right??
- While Australia is in that supply chain, "stopping it" wouldn't do anything. For a start, the manufacturer/seller of the parts is Lockheed Martin. The government can sanction a country and tell LM they can't send their parts from Australia to Israel.
  But all that will happen from this is LM will send the parts to their USA operations and from there, they'll magically be reassigned to Israel. Or worse: They move production of those parts to another nation and Australians lose their jobs. Either way, the parts will still get to Israel. The government holds no actual cards in this equation.
  
  While Australia is in that supply chain, "stopping it" wouldn't do anything.
  It would stop Australian workers from being implicated in the genocide of Palestinians.
  But all that will happen from this is LM will send the parts to their USA operations and from there, they'll magically be reassigned to Israel. Or worse: They move production of those parts to another nation and Australians lose their jobs.
  Who cares. Albo goes on national TV and says in order to protect Australian workers (and businesses?) from being involved or implicated in genocide these parts will no longer be manufactured here. All Australian workers (and businesses) affected will be be supported long term by
  <insert name of special anti-genocide-complicity package here>
  .
  Either way, the parts will still get to Israel. The government holds no actual cards in this equation.
  I don't think you understand how important even the smallest wins on the board are to a people under the threat of extermination.
Enough of hypocrisy https://acij.org.au/despite-government-claims-australia-still-exporting-lethal-arms-to-israel/
ENDING the Slaughter of Children literally DYING In the Streets from Starvation? I didn't know Australia was ANTI SEMETIC!
-The ADL!
It's a pretty damn milquetoast statement. No mention of the ongoing genocide Israel is carrying out. No mention of the war crimes being committed in service of that genocide. No mention of the apartheid conditions Israel imposes on Palestinian people which were the initial cause of the war.
They can't even name the state of Palestine properly.
I guess it's nice that we've signed on to it. But it means nothing if it isn't backed up by real action.
I hope these 28 countries can remain linked on this and continue pursuing a constant drumbeat of pressure against the Israelis to stop murdering the Palestinian children, mothers and fathers.
This single statement, while meaningful, is passing and will need reinforcement (in further statements and actions), against such a revanchivist and bigoted State like Israel to elicit meaningful change.

7 comments