“Australia’s colonial history is full of [such] genocidal punitive massacres. But somehow the Australian government couldn’t see the similarity when they declared their full support for Israel’s right to defend itself.”
Lebanese-Australian anthropologist, Ghassan Hage, wrote these words in November 2023, at the start of Israel’s genocidal assault on Palestinians in Gaza. For more than a year now, we have been witnessing what the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories since 1967, Francesca Albanese, has termed “the first live-streamed settler-colonial genocide”. Yet our government continues to afford Israel impunity, ignoring its legal obligations as a UN member state to use what levers are available to it to ameliorate the risk of Israel’s continuous breach of the Genocide Convention and Geneva Conventions.
What are the reasons behind Australia’s immoral inaction and its grotesque indifference to the mass slaughter and ethnic cleansing of Palestinian civilians?
Hage’s reference to Australia’s violent settler-colonial history, which has parallels to Israel’s ongoing settler-colonialism, suggests one reason, among others, for our government’s inaction. Australia’s failure to come to terms with its own history and its enduring legacy, may have contributed to its unwillingness to acknowledge Israel’s assault on Gaza and the indigenous Palestinians for what it is: a settler-colonial genocide.
Both Israel and Australia were founded on the killing, displacement and dispossession of the indigenous population and its replacement with a European one. In both cases, the colonisers characterised the land they stole and colonised as terra nullius.
The colonial practices of Australia and Israel have much in common. Some of these practices continue. Massacres. Land theft. Dispossession. Displacement. Cultural erasure. High rates of incarceration and detention, including of children. Abuse of detainees. Deaths in custody. Segregation, subjugation and immiseration. Restrictions on movement. Exploitation of land and extraction of resources – stolen wealth. Damaging and replacing diverse and complex indigenous ecosystems with European ones.
Dispossession of an indigenous people from their land and its resources has enduring consequences. As Francesca Albanese writes in her report “Genocide as colonial erasure” of 1 October, 2024, “Land is intrinsic to both a people’s right to self-determination and the settler-colonial project. … Disconnection from land and cultural roots contributes to the erosion of identity and community resilience, resulting in physically destructive outcomes: poorer health, lower life expectancy and abnormally high suicide rates. The issue of land is therefore indicative of how the settler-colonial project destroys – in order to replace – the indigenous population.”
The events of 7 October provided Israel with the impetus to accelerate its decades-long settler-colonial process of territorial expansion and ethnic cleansing to achieve a “Greater Israel” from the river to the sea. Popular bumper stickers on Israeli cars read “Resettle Gaza now” and “Finish them.” The latter is an echo of Trump’s advice to Biden that he should let Israel “finish the job”. Speaking from Haifa on the day of Trump’s election victory, Palestinian-Canadian lawyer, Diana Buttu, said that Zionists were viewing Trump’s election as a golden opportunity to achieve a “Greater Israel” and to finish off Palestinians.
Israel’s dehumanisation of Palestinians is emblematic of the coloniser’s characterisation of the colonised as violent and uncivilised. Our government’s failure to do anything to stop the carnage is evidence of its own devaluing of Palestinian lives.
Aside from the parallels between the settler-colonial histories of Australia and Israel, there are geopolitical and domestic reasons for Australia’s failure to condemn or take any action to stop Israel’s genocide. As usual, Australia has been acting as America’s lapdog, faithfully following the Biden/Harris script as the US continues to fund the genocide. Domestic reasons have also played a part in Australia’s pro-Israel stance. Louise Adler, a member of the Advisory Committee of the liberal Jewish Council of Australia which has called for sanctions to be imposed on Israel, has described Labor Party support for Israel as axiomatic.
Right-wing Jewish organisations have the ear of government. It has echoed their characterisation of the 7 October attacks as being motivated by antisemitism, rather than resistance against decades of colonial occupation, domination and immiseration. It has also adopted their false narrative that Israel, the illegal occupier, is acting in self-defence.
On the anniversary of the attacks on 7 October, one year into Israel’s genocide of Palestinians, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry issued a joint statement with Jewish organisations from six other countries including the US, the UK and Canada, all countries with violent colonial pasts. They called on their governments and the international community “to support Israel as it remains under constant attack” from those who “seek its eradication.” Israel, the genocidal settler-colonial apartheid state, is the victim.
In contrast to our government’s support of Israel, networks between Aboriginal communities and the Palestinian diaspora have strengthened in the past year. Aboriginal people have been rallying and speaking in solidarity with Palestinians. The parallels between the settler-colonial experiences of the indigenous populations of Palestine and Australia, and the colonisers’ denial of indigenous sovereignty and right to self-determination are only too apparent to many Aboriginal people. The global pro-Palestinian activism of students and young people, including diasporic Jews, speaks to their own understanding of Israel’s settler-colonial regime, and the Palestinian struggle for justice and liberation.
Francesca Albanese has commented that Israel’s genocide of Palestinians is the first settler-colonial genocide to be taken to the International Court of Justice. It is telling that Australia has not joined other countries in supporting South Africa’s genocide case in the ICJ, despite the Attorney-General’s declaration that Australia has an “unwavering commitment to upholding fundamental rules of international law and the integrity of the Genocide Convention.”
UN agencies and aid organisations are describing the situation in northern Gaza as “apocalyptic”, with the entire Palestinian population there at imminent risk of dying from disease, famine and violence. Yet our government does nothing except robotically repeat hollow rhetoric.
As Desmond Tutu observed, “If you are silent in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” When will the Australian government speak up, and stand up, for Palestinians?
Angela Smith
Angela Smith is a former lawyer with broad legal experience including in refugee law and the university sector. Her writing has been published widely and can be found in such places as The Guardian (online), Griffith Review, Meanjin, New Philosopher and Overland.
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