2020s NON-JEWS AGAINST RACIST ZIONISM

AUSTRALIAN GREENS. Australian Greens: “The Australian Greens are horrified by the ongoing escalation in violence in Israel and Palestine, which has resulted in more than 109 Palestinians and 7 Israelis being killed. Senator Janet Rice, Australian Greens foreign affairs spokesperson, said: “This escalation in violence follows the threatened evictions of Palestinian families from East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah to make way for Israeli settlers, and the restrictions and violence against worshippers at Al-Aqsa mosque during Ramadan. “Fundamentally, the latest outbreak in violence stems from the Israeli Government’s unlawful and unjust occupation of Palestine, which has subjected Palestinians to systematic discrimination and oppression.  "The Greens oppose any violence, whether that be airstrikes or rockets, especially that which impacts innocent civilians. But we cannot ignore the asymmetry of power or that this cycle of violence will not end until the root causes of injustice are addressed.  It will not stop until the occupation ends - we must end the evictions, the illegal settlements, the demolitions and the oppression.  "Staying silent is not an option. If the Australian Government is committed to a two-state solution, it must forcefully call on the Israeli Government to cease its occupation of Palestine.  Once again we urge the Morrison Government to recognise Palestine." (Australian Greens, “Statement from the Australian Greens on Israel/Palestine”, 14 May 2021: https://greens.org.au/news/media-release/statement-australian-greens-israelpalestine ).

FARUQI. Australian Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi: “I will not be silenced about justice for Palestinian people… In a speech to the Senate earlier this month, Senator Mehreen Faruqi again shares the ongoing plight of the Palestinian people and why she will not be silenced on the issue… In this chamber many senators get up and speak about human rights violations and human rights abuses, but definitely choices are made about whose human rights will get the nod in here and whose are taboo. I can tell you that there is one group of people whose human rights don't matter to those opposite me in the chamber : the Palestinian people. Palestinians for decades have been amongst the most oppressed people in the world. They are subject to daily humiliation, brutality and violence by the Israeli government. Their human rights are being violated and abused every single day, but in here they are not considered human enough to have rights. Obviously, they are not equal and everyone is not equal in the eyes of many in this chamber. Israeli authorities continue to persecute and oppress Palestinian people. Settlement and occupation continues. Violence continues. The Gaza blockade continues. Homes continue to be demolished. Palestinians are routinely subjected to dispossession, violence, forcible separation, persecution and humiliation. Yet as soon as you raise these injustices you are hounded and condemned. Shamefully and shamelessly they try to label you as anti-Semitic. It is all designed to shut you up, to silence you. I can tell you that your false accusations are not going to silence me. I will not be backing down in calling for an end to these injustices of settler colonialism, as I will not be backing down in talking about human rights abuses wherever they happen. Just recently the Israeli government labelled six Palestinian civil society and human rights organisations as terrorist groups… ”(Senator Mehreen Faruqi, “I will not be silenced about justice for Palestinian people”, The Greens, 17 December 2021: https://greens.org.au/magazine/i-will-not-be-silenced-about-justice-palestinian-people ).

JINPING. Xi Jinping (President China) at the Riyadh-Gulf-Chinese Summit for Cooperation and Development in Saudi Arabia (2022): “It is not possible to continue the historical injustice suffered by the Palestinians…  [grant Palestine] full membership in the United Nations… [ Beijing] supports the two-state solution and the establishment of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital" (Bernama, “Injustice towards Palestinians cannot continue - Xi”, Malaysiakini, 10 December 2022: https://www.malaysiakini.com/world/647617 .)

KEANE. Bernard Keane (political editor, Crikey) (2022): “Say what you like about Chris Mitchell [editor of The Australian newspaper], but at least he was prepared to stand up to the Israel lobby and encouraged fair reporting by John Lyons of Israel’s murderous occupation of Palestine when he ran the Oz. One can understand the rage, to an extent, because Israel and its apologists here have grown used to almost unthinking obeisance from most Australian politicians and much of the media. The Coalition has readily turned a blind eye to the implementation of apartheid, the constant extension of illegal settlements and the routine murder of Palestinians by Israeli soldiers. Much of the Labor Party has been indistinguishable from their opponents; efforts by Bob Carr during his brief stint as foreign minister to have a marginally less anti-Palestinian policy were met with relentless opposition by Julia Gillard. Politicians on all sides happily cultivate close relations with Israeli diplomats. It’s an open secret within Labor, for example, that then-Israeli ambassador Yuval Rotem was actually present on the night when a right-wing powerbroker was helping organise the removal of Kevin Rudd from the prime ministership. Rudd, famously, had made the mistake of complaining to Israel about Mossad forging Australian passports to use on its murder operations abroad… Nonetheless, Israel’s fury isn’t that of the aggrieved but of the privileged, enraged that a government assumed to be compliant had displayed an annoying adherence to international law. Those of us who were around in the 1980s will recall the same tone adopted by diplomats from apartheid South Africa, toward which Australia — unlike Israel — developed a commendable record of criticism under both sides of politics, despite the efforts of right-wing extremists within the Liberal Party. But Israel has many more friends around Canberra” (Bernard Keane, “”, The Mandarin, 19 October 2022: https://www.themandarin.com.au/203000-israel-and-israel-lobby-enraged-that-australia-has-its-own-foreign-policy/  ).

RICE. Australian Greens Senator Janet Rice, “Australia musty speak out against Israeli apartheid… In a statement to the parliament earlier this month, senator Janet Rice expresses the Australian Greens’ solidarity with Palestinian people, and condemns both Israel’s Actions and Australia’s silence. … This week Palestinians commemorate Al Nakba day – Arabic for ‘the catastrophe’ – when in 1948 thousands of Palestinians were killed and an estimated 700,000 lost their homes and became refugees. Many of their descendants have remained in refugee camps since. This week, some Palestinians are facing the threat of a second expulsion, this time from Sheikh Jarrah in Jerusalem… Last week the EU said “The Israeli authorities should cease these activities and provide adequate permits for legal construction and development of Palestinian communities,” with similar sentiments expressed by UK officials and the US State Department. Australia must speak out and add our voice to stop the ongoing Nakba for Palestinians. I have spoken before about ongoing human rights abuses and I will keep speaking out in this parliament” (Janet Rice, “Australia musty speak out against Israeli apartheid”, The Greens, 21 May 2021: https://greens.org.au/magazine/australia-must-speak-out-against-israeli-apartheid ).

STEELE-JOHN. Australian Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John (Western Australia)): “The Greens are deeply concerned about the current situation in Israel. While hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens go out on the streets to protest the undemocratic measures being taken by the new government in relation to the judiciary, the blood spilt in recent weeks in Jenin, Jerusalem, Nablus, Jericho and other places in the West Bank, reaching a peak of mass violence in Hadera, remind us all that there can be no democracy while there is also occupation and inequality. A state that denies rights to millions of people and systemically discriminates against a fifth of its citizens cannot be considered a true democracy. The Israeli military is standing idly by while hundreds of settlers go on a rampage, freely killing and injuring Palestinians, burning down their homes and destroying their property. Only six Israeli settlers have been arrested despite the availability of video evidence of their egregious human rights abuses, and now the Israeli government is turning its police on its own citizens. The new changes in Israeli policy must be called out for what they are: the de facto annexation of the occupied Palestinian territory and a subversion of any pretence of Israel’s democracy. The Greens always rejected and condemned the promotion of violence, whether perpetrated by a state organisation or individual. While recognising the right of the Palestinian people to resist Israeli occupation in accordance with international law, we also recognise that the rise of far-right extremism in the state of Israel has contributed to an expansion of the occupied territories. The Greens are calling on the Australian government to immediately end all engagement and trade with the Israeli military and be clear in its condemnation of the Israeli” (Senator Jordon Steele-John speech to the Senate, APAN, 2023: https://apan.org.au/auspol/senator-jordon-steele-john-condemned-the-recent-violent-rampage-by-settlers-against-palestinians-in-the-west-bank/ ).

THORPE. Report: “More than 150 people from across Australia and New Zealand attended the Palestine Solidarity Conference, January 27-29, in Melbourne. They included First Nations, progressive Jews, unionists, students, Labor, Greens, socialists and independent and Palestinian activists. Encouragingly many young activists attended and, notably, young Palestinian women. … [Indigenous Australian]  Senator Lidia Thorpe [formerly Australian Greens but now Independent] on the opening plenary “Organising for Palestine on Stolen Land” said both struggles [Indigenous Australians and Indigenous Palestinians} are connected by “disempowerment, oppression, death, killings and grief” and the fight for land and justice is key” (Michael Bull, “Palestine Solidarity Conference draws widespread support”, Green Left,  4 February 2023: https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/palestine-solidarity-conference-draws-widespread-support .)