You might think that Australian governments would be reluctant to join in with United States and Israel in the genocide of the Palestinian people. Australia has been on the losing side with the Americans during many wars: in Vietnam, in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Ukraine, and now in Israel. Wouldn’t you think the current government would learn? The Labor Australian government and its LNP opposition have proven time and again that they are not interested in human rights for the Palestinians when contrasted with support for Israel and ‘American strategic interests‘ the middle east.
The latest instance of that stupidity are the pronouncements by the Australian treasurer. Miffed at having his office redecorated by protestors, The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said the Australian government already contributed to maritime security in that “often dangerous part of the world”.
“When we get these kinds of requests from time to time, the usual practice would be for the defence minister to consider that, to recommend to colleagues whether [and] how we respond to that request,” he told the ABC on Thursday about the Americans request for the deployment of a warship into the Red Sea to help combat the who the rebels who have taken Israel ships hostage in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance.
“As I understand it, there has been a request made and we’ll consider it in the usual way.” said Chalmers. Chalmers later told Nine’s Today Show “some kind of request” had been conveyed to the government.
What possible good can this do, sending armed warships into an already volatile area?
Violence by Israeli settlers is complicating Israel’s war in Gaza
Thousands of Hamas fighters are now facing a deadly shootout with the Israeli army as the disastrous war their leaders triggered is in its tenth week. Now out of their tunnels, those men are trying to cope with the increasing winter chill and heavy rains. There is little shelter for them, or for the bedraggled surviving citizens of Gaza, from the elements and from Israeli bullets and bombs.
War is hell, too, for Israeli troops, who are on the hunt, now engaged in house-to-house and rubble-to-rubble searches for Hamas fighters, who will be far more willing to engage in one-on-one shootouts in the south of Gaza than in the earlier days of mass bombing in Gaza City. Future historians will make their judgment on the stunning ratio of dead Palestinians in Gaza to the Israeli combat dead. Israel’s military leaders now assess that the majority of Hamas fighters will be dead, will be captured, or will have deserted by the end of January. But then what? If the religious zealots who now dominate the government headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have a day-after plan, it is not known. What does the end of fighting mean for the surviving citizens of Gaza? …”
Seymour Hersh
15 Dec 2023