The Australian government is lying. It supports genocide in Gaza

On November 5, 2024, Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong published an article in The Sydney Morning Herald largely dismissing the demands of people protesting Israel’s actions in Gaza and any claim of Australian complicity in Israel’s genocide in Palestine.

I am one of the organisers at the Palestine Action Group Sydney, which has been leading protests in Sydney demanding an end to the genocide.

Penny Wong’s misrepresentation of Australia’s stance reflects an attempt by the government to dissuade the masses and regain legitimacy, while quietly continuing to support the genocide.

Over 55 weeks of protest have injected crisis into the ruling class, as they struggle to reconcile their support for Israel with the growing opposition from the public.

I will address Penny Wong’s key misrepresentations to show that Australia’s government does not oppose the genocide, and our demands remain urgent.

In her article, Penny Wong says our call for Australia to demand a ceasefire is resolved, pointing to Australia’s vote for a ceasefire at the UN in November.

This claim is blatantly false. Whilst we initially demanded Australia call for a ceasefire, this was in the context of Australia’s abstentions at the UN general assembly. However, we always maintained that calls were not enough and Australia urgently needed to engage in material action to stop this genocide. We are of the position that Australia has not engaged in material action and so therefore cannot say that calling for a ceasefire is enough.  

Israel has been able to commit this live-streamed genocide, which has martyred well over 45,000 Palestinians in the past 12 months, because of the degree of impunity offered by the international community, including Australia.

This is not about protestors failing to “hear” Australia’s condemnations, in our foreign minister’s words, but rather, that Penny Wong’s op-ed serves to silence and manipulate the masses into thinking Australia is acting to stop the bloodshed in Palestine and Lebanon.

In the context of the degree of military, economic and diplomatic support Australia provides Israel, we do not plead for Australia to simply call for a ceasefire but demand it, by cutting all military, economic and diplomatic ties with the genocidal state of Israel and imposing sanctions. 

How Australia supports Israel’s genocide in Gaza

The most obvious and direct military link is Australia’s role in the F-35 jet global supply chain. Lockheed Martin, one of the world’s largest weapons manufacturers has made record profits on the back of the genocide and confirmed that every single F-35 jet contains Australian parts and components.

These are very jets being used by Israel to reign hell on the people of Gaza and Lebanon. This completely counters Penny Wong’s claim that Australia is not supplying weapons for this war, noting that UN experts have noted that exporting parts could still be a violation of international law.  

A key argument put forward by the Australian government is that it does not arm Israel after these links were uncovered. The first is that Australia does not directly export the jets to Israel and it is simply a part of the global supply chain.

However, this does not negate complicity, particularly when we have control over the exporting of parts and components to countries like the US who directly send the F-35 jets to Israel.

Further, nations such as the Netherlands have ceased exporting F-35 parts and effectively, participating in the global supply chain to ensure they are acting in accordance with their obligations under international law. 

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Our military ties run even deeper where Australia has provided almost $1 billion worth of contracts to Elbit Systems, an Israeli weapons company which produces many of the weapons used to carry out genocide, some weapons completely unlawful under International law.

These decisions exposed the ruthlessness of our leadership, with some of these contracts being awarded as Palestinian children were being massacred abroad and a cost of living crisis growing strong at home.

This is why we are calling for a two-way arms embargo on the state of Israel, we are explicitly and implicitly funding or providing the weapons being used to carry out the genocide, with Australia’s capitalist class profiting off of the sale of arms and ammunition to Israel. 

However, weapons are not the only fuel being provided to the State of Israel to carry out genocide.

Only one day after the foreign minister published this shameful article, it was uncovered that Australian coal was being sold and shipped to the State of Israel from Newcastle, Australia’s largest coal port.

It is unknown how long Australia has been selling coal to Israel, albeit it has always been known that Australia had active trade relations with the State of Israel.

However, what is known is that this comes after Colombia, Israel’s largest coal exporter, imposed a coal embargo on Israel. Colombian coal accounts for more than 60 percent of all coal supplied to Israel and Israel’s power depends on coal for 22% of its output. Quite literally, coal fuels the genocide in Gaza. 

Australia’s material complicity in this genocide has not slowed down but actually escalated, despite the appearance of more weasel statements from our government.

The Australian government and more broadly Australia’s capitalist billionaire class have shamefully found new ways to profit off of the blood of the Palestinian and Lebanese people

The statements are an attempt for the Australian Labor government to regain legitimacy as an international actor who respects International law among the masses.

The Western imperial core, including the Australian government, is not “upholding International law” in Penny Wong’s terms but rather acting in complete violation of it by failing to cut its material ties to this genocide and also failing to act to stop it such as imposing sanctions and cutting diplomatic ties.

With the highest international court declaring that the case for genocide in Gaza is plausible, Penny Wong cannot claim that they back the independence of the ICJ, whilst failing to adhere to their duties under the Genocide Convention.   

With our material ties to Israel escalating, potentially over 180,000 martyrs and our government using PR spin to conceal its role in this genocide mobilising is more urgent than ever.

The masses cannot be dissuaded and must organise and mobilise to stop this genocide and ensure all our demands are met. 

Words are not enough and as long as Israel is being provided with the fuel to carry out this genocide, it does not care what motions countries vote for at the UN or what condemnations they offer in tweets and statements.

Australia must and can do more.

We demand a full two-way arms embargo, a coal embargo, and all military economic and diplomatic ties to be cut with the State of Israel.

We demand sanctions on Israel.

Finally, we demand to live in an order where profits are not stained with the blood of the Palestinian and Lebanese people. We cannot go on while profit is valued over life. This is the system we all have a moral duty to resist. 

Amal Naser is a Palestinian organiser and third-generation refugee. She lives on unceded Bidjigal land.

Follow her on Instagram: @amalnaser__

Have questions or comments? Email us at: editorial-english@newarab.com

Opinions expressed here are the author’s own, and do not necessarily reflect those of their employer, or of The New Arab and its editorial board or staff.