According to PM Albanese and Foreign Minister Wong, “Australia is not a central player in the [Middle East] region,” but the ties between Israel and Australia are significant.
It is hard to read books about the aboriginal genocide while we are living in another. It is especially difficult when the Great Australian Silence about the genocide of Aboriginal Australia extends far across the seas. to Palestine.
We watch daily massacres on our screens for over a year, yet the Great Australian Silence persists.
Palestinian resistance to their genocide began in 1948 and continues despite the murder in the short space of 12 months of over tens of thousands of people in Gaza and many thousands more in Lebanon. Israelis have bombed author Olfat Mahmoud’s neighbours in Dahiya near Burj El Barajneh. Olfat wrote ‘Tears for Tarsiha’ about how her family was displaced by Zionists only to find refuge in the southern parts of Beirut at Burj El Barajneh neighbourhood now being bombed by another generation of Israelis.
The United States and Australia are partners in the genocide. The USA because they have provided Israel with 85 ,000 pounds of bombs to drop on Gaza murdering residents all over te strip.
Queensland and Australian governments have enabled the dropping of bunker buster bombs by licensing parts for F35 planes. Those parts are made here in Brisbane in the suburb of Tingalpa by Ferra Engineering.
There were between 10,000 to 12,000 Australians in Israel after 7 October, according to Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT). Some were holidaying; others were permanent residents.
At any one time, there are around 100 Australians in the Israel Occupation Force, according to DFAT, a number likely to be higher now. Some Australians have volunteered since October 7 to join the IDF under the Mahal program that recruits youths under 24 years from other countries to volunteer to join the IDF. They serve full-time in the military for eighteen months.
An article in The Australian Jewish News last November said more Australians were needed to volunteer for Sar-El “to work in uniform on Israeli military bases’. SHAME on them.
We need to change our direction and focus on the relationship between Australia and the United States alliance with Israel. We must break the Alliance. Thereby, we end our partnership in the genocide of the Palestinian people.
Ian Curr
10 October 2024