Australia Fetes Israeli Oppressors While Palestinians Suffer

Australia does not need friends like this.

Courtesy: studentsforpalestine.files.wordpress.com/

(CANBERRA, Australia) - In the last week, Australia has been host to Israeli war criminals and their supporters. Some 35 Israelis are here as part of the delegation led by Israeli Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom and are attending various functions and forums shamefully attended by our government ministers and members of parliament from both sides of the political spectrum.

Only yesterday, our Prime Minister rushed to an Australia Israel Leadership Forum luncheon in Sydney where he was guest speaker, despite having just returned from an overseas trip. He said that “Australia’s new era of political partisanship could hardly have had a more convivial start.” Not to be outdone, new opposition leader Tony Abbott said “I’d like to think that nowhere in the world [does Israel] have more stauncher friends than us.”

When almost the whole world is beginning to acknowledge Israel’s war crimes and crimes against humanity, it little behoves Australia to declare its fealty to Israel. The visit is not over yet. On Sunday, Shalom and his delegation will be attending a gala dinner at the Park Hyatt in Melbourne with Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard in attendance.

We would like supporters to come and protest from 5.00 p.m. and let them know that while our government representatives may be feting these war criminals and their supporters, the rest of Australia (at least those who know) are disgusted that they have even been allowed into the country. It is barely 12 months ago that Israel bombed Gaza when the 1.5 million population was already on its knees from the crippling sanctions that Israel had imposed 18 months earlier.

In light of all this, Australians for Palestine has written to the Attorney General asking him to investigate the war crimes of Ehud Olmert since he was ultimately responsible as Prime Minister of Israel for the massacres that took place in Gaza recently.

He is already facing war crimes charges in other countries and is likely to be arrested if he tries to enter the UK. Copies of the letter were also sent to the Federal Police Commissioner Tony Negus, the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister. A press release was sent to the media last night.

Needless to say, there is silence. The letter and press release was posted on our website, but this morning we found ourselves unable to connect to the website. This is being investigated. In the meantime, we will send you the letter and press release and ask you to circulate them and urge you and the people you know to protest to our government and the media.

Australia does not need friends like this.

The Rudd government ought to be repairing the damage that was done to our international reputation during the eleven years of John Howard’s rule and not jump in after them. It seems though that Australia is not picking up on the rising chatter in cyberspace and elsewhere that Israel’s history of criminal deeds are soon going to bring it undone.

They should have arrested them while they had them in their hands, and put them on trial.

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Sonja Karkar is the Editor, Australians for Palestine