Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.
- W H Auden
On Sunday evening 4 Feb 2024, journalist Nick Chesterfield gave a thorough analysis of immoral and culpable behaviour at the Australian Broadcasting Vommission (ABC). He detailed the ABC’s heinous stenography of Israeli genocide in Gaza. The event was organised by Justice for Palestine Magandjin, it took place outside ABC headquarters in Southbank, Brisbane.
The ABC sacked the first journalist, Antoinette Lattouf, who called out fabricated allegations of antisemitic chants at a Pro-Palestinian rally at Sydney Opera House on 9 October 2023. This fabrication of anti-semitism was confirmed by the New South Wales police only three days ago.
Chesterfield revealed in his speech that Christine Zeitz, Deputy Chair of SBS is a Zionist war criminal. Zeitz worked for Northrop Grumman, the maker of hellfire missiles. Reports say Israel used an R9X Hellfire missile on the courtyard of Gaza’s biggest hospital, Al Shifa, where thousands of displaced Palestinians and journalists were seeking refuge. Certainly a war crime.
Palestinian genocide and journalistic integrity. (0:00)
Nick Chesterfield rejects genocide and colonization in Palestine and Australia, calling for journalists to report without fear or favor.
Media accountability in the face of genocide. (2:11)
Nick Chesterfield calls for dismantling of media academy, citing lack of accountability for Israeli war crimes.
Journalistic integrity in Palestine coverage. (4:55)
Journalists in Australia demand stricter editorial guidelines for Palestine coverage.
Media censorship and solidarity with Palestine. (6:16)
Staff at the ABC have called for management to take action on Palestine, but resignations and walkouts have been slow to materialize.
Journalists in the colony are complicit in censoring Palestinian perspectives.
Journalism ethics and genocide reporting. (9:48)
Here is a video of the rally outside the ABC headquarters at Southbank in Brisbane
Ian Curr
5 Feb 2024
Jim Chalmers Picket at Logan on 9 Feb 2024
In contested proceedings, a Court may make interim orders before the final determination to prevent irreparable harm. Those orders have full force and effect whatever the ultimate decision. Breach of those orders is contempt of court.
The ICJ made a number of interim orders one of which was that Israel must
TAKE IMMEDIATE AND EFFECTIVE STEPS TO ENSURE THE PROVISION OF HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE TO CIVILIANS IN GAZA
In response, Israel, almost immediately, called for the Defunding of the UNRWA relying on its allegations against the 12 UNRWA employees in direct contravention of the order. Many western nations including the United States and Australia have withdrawn funding in response to Israel’s call.
Defunding UNRWA has the effect of denying the provision of humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza Aand as such is in contempt of th eorders of the court. Those nations who responded to the call are accessories to the contempt and in breach of their obligations under international law.
Israel called for defunding of UNRWA, in breach of the order, doubling down on the alleged genocide, for the purposes of influencing the ICJ in further proceedings. The countries which responded to Israel’s call are complicit.
The defunding is to send a message to the ICJ that if it decides that Israel was non-compliant with the present orders such as to warrant further orders and /or a finding of contempt, it would do so while Israel and the U.S. held a (metaphorical and literal) gun to the heads of defenceless, starving, homeless and dispossessed Palestinian people who had no agency in the October 7 attack.
House of Representatives 7 Feb 2024
Mr CHANDLER-MATHER (Griffith) (13:35 ): The political and economic system is stacked against everyday people. Here are a few reasons why. Labor will make more money charging interest on your HECS or student debt than they will off their new taxes on oil and gas corporations. While house prices, rents and mortgages continue to skyrocket, they are handing out hundreds of billions of dollars in tax concessions to property investors and landlords.
Labor continues to support Israel as it carries out a genocide in Gaza, refusing to even call for a permanent and immediate ceasefire, and pausing aid funding for Palestine.
People are being crushed under the weight of bills, whether it be groceries, rents, mortgages or healthcare costs, meanwhile corporate profits continue to soar. It is easy to lose hope in that situation, but the thing is that’s exactly what the political establishment wants you to do. They want you to turn away from the horrors in Gaza and lose hope that we can help win peace together. They want you to believe it’s impossible to scrap student debt and make uni free again, even though so many of the politicians in this place got uni for free themselves. They want you to believe that we can’t tax the super profits of big corporations and use that money to give people the things they need to live a good life—a good affordable home, free health care and education. They want you to feel powerless and like you can’t change anything yourselves, but here’s the thing.
We know the power of collective organising. We know the power of everyday working people coming together and fighting for a better future, and it’s time we showed the political establishment what that looks like.
The News that Australia is to resume fundiung is encouraging . It should be expedited to cover the the hiatus and it should be expanded becasue of the extraordinary circumstances.
Israel’s call to cease funding should be pursued for the contempt of the ICJ that it is.
On this issue alone, Israel and the United States have declared to the world, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that it will not be bound by international law and that it holds the U.N. and its organizations in contempt.
See https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/01/wong-signals-labor-wants-to-resume-un-agency-funding-to-ensure-fewer-children-are-starving-in-gaza
Biden has done what Trump would do if he were US President, de-fund UNRWA. Meanwhile the US congress is voting on a bill to send a further $14 Billion of military aid to Israel. Shame.
Still no call for a permanent ceasefire from the Australian government. Shame.
Penny Wong and Anthony Albanese are waiting for permission from the State Department.
Let’s not forget that over 152 UNRWA workers have been targeted and murdered by Israel.
Illan Pappe gives this account of how ‘the Gaza Strip’ was formed by the apartheid state of Israel in 1948 after al Nakba …
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/ckhCDgP3QSy7UrB8/?mibextid=xfxF2i
Channel 4 in Britain filed this report refuting israeli claims that UNRWA staff participated in 7 October attacks by HAMAS.
Nevertheless, nine (9) countries suspended aid to people who are starving. Why?
In the case of Australian government ministers Penny Wong and Anthony Albanese, they are just doing what the Americans have told them to do.
Cut off aid to UNWRA.
The United States is the real terrorist in this conflict.
https://youtu.be/tqG2yeF_4sg?feature=shared
Artists for Ceasefire
https://fb.watch/q2yOQZjoPm/?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v
1st February, 2024. 9:00am
Dear Prime Minister
We, the undersigned, urge the Australian Government to reverse its decision to freeze funding to the UN aid agency for Palestinians, UNRWA. We are deeply concerned that Australia, America and others that have paused funding to UNRWA, based on unproven allegations from Israel, are contributing to Israel’s collective punishment of Palestinians in Gaza and in doing so, are most likely violating their obligations under the Genocide Convention.
Close to 26,000 Palestinians have been killed, thousands of them children, and more than 65,000 injured since October 2023. In a horrifying case of collective punishment, much of the population of Gaza is facing starvation and hospitals are non-functioning, deprived of fuel and medical equipment. Children and others are suffering through surgical operations in Gaza without anaesthesia. Hundreds of doctors, nurses and ambulance workers and more than 100 UN workers have been killed. More than 70 journalists have been killed while trying to show the world the reality of Israel’s attacks on Gaza. UN schools and shelters, despite being protected by international law, have been attacked.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) found on 26 January 2024 that South Africa presented a plausible case that Israel had intent to commit genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Furthermore, the court ruled that Israel is legally bound to “take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts within the scope of Article 2 of the convention, in particular (a) killing members of the group [Palestinians], (b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, (c) deliberating inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, and (d) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.”
This ruling in effect requires a ceasefire for Israel to comply with it. Likewise, it obligates all parties to the Genocide Convention, including Australia, to prevent and punish the crime of genocide. The Australian Government must call for a ceasefire by Israel and the urgent, unfettered provision of ongoing and sustainable amounts of humanitarian aid.
With the UNRWA being the only organisation currently distributing the limited aid that Israel permits into Gaza, its work is truly life-sustaining. UNRWA Chief Phillipe Lazzarini has stated that Australia and its allies’ suspension of funds puts this vital agency at risk of collapse. As such, we urge Australia to reverse the cuts to UNRWA as a statement of commitment to the ICJ’s ruling, and the human rights and lives of Palestinians in Gaza.
Australia must also recognise Israel’s stated intent to continue to defy international law and persist with its atrocities in Gaza, its displacement of Palestinians from their homeland and its further occupation and colonisation of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Australia must act collectively with governments across the globe to urgently and decisively pressure Israel to end its violence and commit to a political resolution.
To this end, we urge the Australian Government to:
Immediately reinstate Australia’s funding to UNRWA;
Officially express Australia’s support for the ICJ’s rulings;
Call for an immediate unconditional, permanent ceasefire and unfettered, ongoing and sustainable humanitarian aid to be provided to Gaza;
Expel the Israeli ambassador until a continuing ceasefire is in place;
End any military support for, or contracts with Israel, including:
Ending Australian supplies of military equipment to Israel, eg, provision of parts for Israel’s F-35 Joint Strike fighter plane;
Halt any intelligence going to the Israeli government from the Joint Defence Facility at Pine Gap;
Expel Elbit Systems, an Israeli weapons and military equipment firm providing drones and white phosphorous to the Israeli armed forces, from Australia;
Implement cultural, sporting and economic sanctions on Israel until there is an end to the brutal Israeli apartheid system in the West Bank, Gaza and in Israel.
Australia must not be complicit in genocide being committed by Israel in Gaza and the West Bank.
Please sign petition @ https://ipan.org.au/statements/open-letter-to-prime-minister-albanese-on-gaza-february-2024/?