1 year of Gaza genocide: Why is Australia bent on backing Israel?

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – Ever since Israeli fighter jets launched an attack on Gaza on Oct. 7 last year with US-made munitions, wreaking havoc on the besieged Palestinian enclave, Australians have expressed outrage.

“It’s reminiscent of the outpouring of Australian public opinion against the Iraq war in 2004,” sociologist Jake Lynch told Anadolu.

Observers and community members say mobilization in favor of Palestine has been possible through grassroots organizations, social media campaigns, and community leaders driving the message of justice, peace and human rights.

Unlike the Iraq war, Lynch, who teaches at Sydney University, noted: “There’s been a massive and sustained public campaign for Australia to back an immediate cease-fire and stop exporting weapons to Israel.”

But why has the government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese been under severe domestic pressure?

Observers point to differences and divergence, which many call hypocrisy, in the ruling Labor Party’s policies.

- Upending Labor’s pledge to recognize Palestine

Lynch, an associate professor of sociology and criminology, recalled that the Australian ruling party held two policy-making conferences in 2021 and 2022.

The party members “voted to support a motion that an incoming Labor government should ‘recognize a Palestinian state as an important priority’,” he said.

Albanese-led Labor won general elections in May 2022 and has been in power since. The next elections are due in 2025.

But Lynch regretted that Labor “has not done so.

“When the issue came up in Parliament, it hypocritically pretended this could be achieved in the guise of a ‘two-state solution’, i.e. making recognition conditional on Israeli agreement,” he said.

Australia's Parliament saw two occasions when lawmakers were put to vote to seek recognition of Palestine as an independent state.

Labor differed against the motion put forth by the Australian Greens party.

In the second chance, Labor Senator Fatima Payman crossed the floor to support the motion.

Soon she felt intimidated and ostracized by the same party that once boasted of pluralism and diversity.

Payman, an Afghan immigrant, now sits as an independent lawmaker inside the upper house of Australia's bicameral Parliament.

Lynch pointed out that Canberra also abstained on the Palestinian motion at the UN General Assembly demanding that Israel withdraw from occupied territory in line with a ruling by the International Court of Justice within one year.

“Even several NATO members (France, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Belgium) voted in favor, but Canberra did not,” he said.

- Arms supplies to Israel

One of the major demands during demonstrations in Australia since the Israeli war on Gaza began last October has been to halt arms supplies to Israel.

Rita Jabri Markwell, a lawyer, told Anadolu that Australia is a key part of the US-UK military complex.

The Albanese government has been “continuing contracts to weapons companies that the United Nations has asked governments to stay clear from,” said Markwell, a solicitor at Sydney-based Birchgrove Legal.

Despite strong domestic opposition to Australia’s defense policy, she pointed out that Canberra has been “accelerating defense exports to the US and UK, removing our normal checks and balances.”

“Former ministers and prime ministers have said that the current defense policy of unconditionally following the US is disastrous for Australia.”

Canberra, said Markwell, “is only seeking to increase that role at the moment.”

Lynch backed Markwell’s claims.

While noting the government’s rhetoric seeking a cease-fire, he said “Australia has made over A$4 billion (about $2.74 billion) from exporting into the global supply chain for the F-35 warplane, which has been used to bomb Palestinians.”

“Without supplies from Australia -- even of non-lethal parts for landing gear, etc., -- it could not operate,” he contended.

“This trade has continued unabated.”

Lynch also pointed out Canberra’s crucial role in intelligence sharing.

Australia hosts “one of the main US listening bases at Pine Gap in the Northern Territory,” he said.

“It is instrumental in the 24-hour supply of signals intelligence and information from satellite surveillance, which is purveyed to US allies including Israel, thus implicating Australia in the genocide,” said Lynch.

Australia is also part of Five Eyes – an intelligence gathering alliance among the US, the UK, New Zealand and Canada.

- Scaremongering of 'terrorism risk'

Australian police used tear gas and baton charges to thwart the swelling pro-Palestine demonstrations.

University campuses turned into encampments to pressure the Albanese government to sanction Israel.

The Labor government remained unmoved.

However, Markwell said that both the Labor government and opposition Liberal Party accused the minor Greens party of “contributing to the terrorism risk” in the country.

The government introduced a bill in Parliament which appeared to get support from the opposition that “would enable whole territories and countries to be blacklisted from travel to Australia where the (Interior) Minister thinks it is in the national interest,” she said.

After beleaguered Gazans began fleeing the Israeli attacks, Australia in several cases closed its borders to them, despite them having visas.

“Terrorism discourse is used by both the major parties to divert attention and cause panic.

“It’s a playbook that politicians have used for decades to stop people from thinking about and criticizing foreign policy and defense policy,” she added.

The Labor Party is “under increasing challenge from the Greens, who have consistently called for a cease-fire, exposed weapons exports to Israel and demanded their cessation and supported” the Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions movement, Lynch said.

“The government is engaged in a cynical exercise of trying to give sufficient signals to fend off the Greens’ challenge while continuing its normal behavior of parroting Washington,” he said.

- Ukraine or Palestine: ‘It is hypocrisy’

Markwell noted a “massive difference” in responses to the military operation by Russia against Ukraine and the Israeli war on Gaza.

Canberra imposed many sanctions on Russia and the Russian military, but it has not imposed a single sanction on the state of Israel or the Israeli military, she said.

“Australians can still go and fight for the Israeli military and are not even being warned of the risk of prosecution for war crimes.

“Australia supported Ukraine before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) when Russia was accused of genocide, (but) it refused to be involved in South Africa’s application,” said Markwell.

Canberra’s “muted stance on Gaza reflects inconsistency,” an Australian community member told Anadolu.

“There is clear hypocrisy in how Canberra vocally supports Ukrainian self-determination while remaining largely silent on Palestinian rights.”

Regardless of whether Australia is complicit in the genocide of Palestinians as found by the ICJ, Lynch said “Australia should be taking steps to avoid complicity in genocide.”

“Australia should quit the US-led global supply chain for the F-35 and demand that no signals intel or surveillance material from Pine Gap is supplied to Israel, as it is being used to commit genocide,” he added.

Taking a cue from Nicaragua’s case against Germany, Markwell said another country “could bring an application against Australia before the International Court of Justice for contributing to violations of the Genocide Convention.”

- 'Clear shift' in support for Palestine among Australians

Notwithstanding the diverging attitudes of the ruling Labor Party, Australia's Muslim community has begun a campaign for consolidating its vote.

“It’s about advocating for justice, human rights, and ensuring that Muslim Australians have a stronger voice in the political process, especially on issues like Palestine,” a spokesman for Muslim Votes Matter told Anadolu.

Lynch agreed.

“Labor must be made aware that it has no hope of getting a parliamentary majority as long as it supports apartheid Israel,” he said.

When Senator Payman quit Labor in July, she yelled: “Our actions must align with our principles!”

However, Markwell believes the situation in Gaza “has not dissuaded” the Albanese-led Labor Australian government.

“It seems more emboldened than ever to become the largest weapons manufacturer of US weapons outside the US,” she said.

The Muslim Votes Matter campaign, however, is optimistic about future support for Palestine in the country.

“There has been a very clear shift in the support for the Palestinian cause across the broader Australian community,” it said.