The insignificant seven
By Daryl Guppy
Jul 26, 2024
Israeli terrorists in uniform in east Jerusalem's Shuafat refugee camp in January. Credit: AHMAD GHARABLI – AFP. (Photo inserted)
In a blow that will strike little fear into the hearts of the Israeli Government, Foreign Minister Wong has announced sanctions against seven West Bank settlers.
It (coincidentally) follows the sanctioning of these seven settlers a few days earlier by the United States.
Just who are these settlers? Nobody really knows, or cares. In the regular attacks by Israeli settlers, in the Kristallnacht-style attacks on food convoys by Israeli civilians whilst the military and police look on, and in the graphic social media posts of armed settlers posing with mutilated bodies, it seems that these seven are the most egregious.
Unlikely to ever travel to Australia, the seven will [not]suffer grievously from the Australia’s sanctions and travel bans. But this Government and Foreign Minister Wong are able to hold their heads high because they have taken decisive action against these insignificant seven.
I am pleased that Australia has found the courage to call out these exemplars of atrocity whilst ignoring the hundreds of Israeli soldiers boldly posting evidence of their war crimes on social media.
Posing as the most ‘moral’ army in the world, they cheerfully force civilians into safe areas and then proceed to bombard them with US supplied blockbuster bombs.
This is a ‘moral’ army whose soldiers admit to indiscriminate recreational shooting of civilians to relieve boredom.
A ‘moral’ army deliberately starves a trapped population while denying them access to medical aid because hospitals are used by the Israeli troops as command bases before destroying all life saving medical devices when they depart.
The Australian Government sees fit to sanction not one of these clearly identifiable Israeli perpetrators of criminality and war crimes. It excels in the occasional mealy-mouthed request to Israel to engage in peace talks but refuses to mention genocide. Quick to suspend aid funding to UNRWA on the merest unsubstantiated allegation by Israel, it is painfully slow to take any other definitive action.
This powerful act of sanctioning seven nondescript individuals replicates the charade of concern Australia displayed in demanding accountability for the attack on the World Central Kitchen aid convoy. Working hand in glove with the perpetrators, it came as no surprise that the hastily convened commission of enquiry found no fault with the action of the Israeli military.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the death of seven aid workers in Gaza ” was obviously a deadly failure. It cannot be brushed aside and it cannot be covered over,” but that was the result the Australian Government accepted.
The Australian reaction was, as Macbeth laments “full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.” The current individual sanctions that ignore the ongoing commission of war crimes in Gaza fall into line with the same miserable record.
I am disgusted that it took so long for Australia to take action that does not even address the issue of war crimes. I am deeply ashamed that it took the death of one Australian worker to trigger the semblance of action by Wong and Albanese in a way that the deaths of an estimated 30,000 children could not.
Australia has the opportunity again to establish some credibility to back up its oft-repeated mantra of supporting the global rule-based order and its obligations to the UN and the Rome Accords. The sanctions against the seven are a charade undermines any potential credibility and further weakens Australia’s influence within our region.
It is a charade that was slow to recognise the mounting international disgust at both the aid convey attacks and the ongoing calculated commission of war crimes in Gaza.
On the international stage, Australia could take a lead in condemning the continued commission of war crimes in Gaza. Australia could refer Israel’s attacks on neighbouring countries and diplomatic compounds to the United Nations and press for immediate action.
It could use its much-vaunted special relationship with the United States to press President Biden to halt the flow of weapons to Israel.
Australia could open its own investigation into the role, if any, played by Pine Gap and the North West Cape facilities in providing targeting information– although perhaps not, as these facilities are for all intents and purposes, sovereign US territory.
Australia could withdraw its intelligence agents currently based in Jordan that are playing a classified role in the region which may, or may not, include providing information used by the Israelis in their drone strikes.
Australia could take a leadership role and show its genuine commitment to the global rules based order by imposing sanctions and restrictions on Israeli products entering Australia.
As it has been so ready to do in the past in relation to other conflicts, it could criminalise those who travel to Israel with the intent of joining a military involved in these war crimes. The right to self-defence is not a right to a disproportionate response with atrocity piled on atrocity, war crime upon war crime.
Lord Nelson ignored orders by putting his telescope to his blinded eye. Following his example Foreign Minister Wong has imposed sanctions on an insignificant seven and this stands as a beacon of moral cowardice in the face of evil.
Daryl Guppy is an international financial technical analysis expert. He has provided weekly Shanghai Index analysis for mainland Chinese media for more than a decade. Guppy appears regularly on CNBC Asia and is known as "The Chart Man". He is a former national board member of the Australia China Business Council. The views expressed here are his own.
https://johnmenadue.com/the-insignificant-seven/