“Absolute savagery”: What is stopping Australia from holding Israel to account?
Nov 23, 2024
Why won’t you hold Israel to account? You don’t have to wait for the rest of the world. You can be the leaders, you can be the leaders to hold Israel to account, for the slaughter of tens of thousands of Palestinians, for the killing of Zoni Frankcom.” – Senator Mehreen Faruqi, addressing the Australian Foreign Minister, Senator Wong.
Some readers may have seen/listened to The Guardian News link of 19 November, described as an “offensive tirade”, in Senate Estimates.
Senator Mehreen Faruqi, addressing the Foreign Minister, Senator Wong:
“What is stopping you from doing anything real to hold Israel to account? Is it the pressure from the US?Is it the pressure from the pro-Israel lobby?Is it because your government doesn’t think brown lives are valuable?
If those are the cases, just be honest with the Australian people – tell them why you won’t take meaningful steps to hold Israel to account when it is committing absolute savagery, absolute savagery.
Why won’t you hold Israel to account? You don’t have to wait for the rest of the world.You can be the leaders, you can be the leaders to hold Israel to account, for the slaughter of tens of thousands of Palestinians, for the killing of Zoni Frankcom. And as you say, deadliest year for aid workers – more than 300 have been killed by Israel. Why would you do that?”
Senator Penny Wong:
“Senator, all lives are – we mourn every life lost.
I’ve spent my whole life advocating for equality, for an end to prejudice, in a world where every human being is valued regardless of their cultural heritage, their faith, who they are, where they come from. I have the experience also of migration.
And I’ve spoken about this in the Senate, including in support of you. I regard the assertion that you made as deeply offensive, and false, and it is an example of the way in which you are seeking to make a really awful assertion in an attempt to make a political point.
One of the things that has been lost in this debate is the capacity for people to disagree about issues without denigrating one another”.
My immediate comment is that I didn’t actually understand Senator Faruqi to be asking any questions of Senator Wong as to her personal life, what were her views as to the value of human beings, or the fact that she may have been a migrant? Nor did I pick up any ‘assertion’. I thought Senator Faruqi was addressing questions as to the response of the government to a particular issue.
Now, I may be doing Senator Wong a disservice, I have not seen the transcript of what may have followed – if anything. However, I might be forgiven for assuming that if Senator Wong in fact proceeded, after the recorded transcript, to answer the half a dozen or so questions that were put to her, that The Guardian would have felt obligated to reproduce them.
Whatever, I for one, and I rather suspect that a great many other readers of Pearls & Irritations, would love to know the Foreign Minister’s answers to the questions actually put to her as a representative of the government.
What I am hoping is that our government might proceed to do the following in the circumstance where Israel has dismissed the ruling of the ICJ of 19 July, and the General Assembly, of 18 September, and indicated that it has no intention of ending the occupation.
What might Australia do?
First, recognise the state of Palestine; second, recall our ambassador from Tel Aviv; third, expel Israel’s ambassador from Australia; fourth, sanction all trade and cultural, sporting and other ties between the two countries. The second to fourth acts would be on the basis that such actions would end when Israel complies with the orders of the ICJ and the General Assembly of the UN.
We can only hope.
Paul Heywood-Smith is an Adelaide SC of some 20 years. He was the initial chairperson of the Australian Friends of Palestine Association, an incorporated association registered in South Australia in 2004. He is the author of The Case for Palestine, The Perspective of an Australian Observer published by Wakefield Press in 2014.
https://johnmenadue.com/absolute-savagery-what-is-stopping-australia-from-holding-israel-to-account/
