Pearls and Irritations

“The role of the attorney-general in Australia, even in these partisan times, is to uphold the rule of law,” as the former Chief Justice Sir Anthony Mason said. So how can it be in any way compatible with that duty for Mark Dreyfus, the current holder of the office, to head to Israel and meet with a government that is committing genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity?

This is a regime headed by a Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who, along with his erstwhile Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, is under threat of arrest via the mechanism of International Criminal Court warrants issued against them last year. A government that has murdered men, women, and children in Gaza in a grossly disproportionate response to the horror perpetrated by Hamas on 7 October 2023. A government that is starving a population, and destroying healthcare, including critical life-saving facilities.

If Dreyfus was going to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government, there would be an outburst of hysteria among members of the political class, the media and community groups.

But Putin’s conduct in the Ukraine is mild when viewed in the context of the evil of the Netanyahu regime.

For Dreyfus to sup at the table of alleged war criminals is unconscionable. He is meeting the Netanyahu Government despite the existence of the ICC warrants. And inspite of his knowing of the activities of the Israel Defence Force’s thoroughly documented, hideous and inexcusable slaughter in Gaza.

And Dreyfus heads to Israel with the knowledge the International Court of Justice is being asked by countries such as South Africa and Ireland to rule on whether Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to genocide under international law.

Dreyfus also knows the court has already, last year, issued several measures which have been completely ignored by Israel. The court ruled that the IDF must improve access for the people of Gaza to additional means of life such as food and medical assistance. It also said Israel must increase points of access to Gaza. Israel simply thumbs its nose at the orders and requests.

Put it this way, Dreyfus is, in effect, rewarding Netanyahu and Gallant who are on the record as indicating they will refuse to comply with the ICC warrants. And Dreyfus is prepared to meet, as an Australian Government representative, a nation that flouts the ICJ.

To distill what is happening is simple. What Dreyfus is doing is making a mockery of the purported policy of the government of which he is a member, that it is fully compliant with the international rule of law.

This is illustrated by the fact that only seven weeks ago, on 15 November, Dreyfus addressed a colloquium run by his department on international law.

He told the colloquium that the department’s “Office of International Law… is part of the Australian community of international law practitioners, which, despite being physically distant from the traditional centres of international law and practice, is respected internationally for consistently influencing the practice and development of international law”.

Feel like your boss is undermining your good work by shaking hands and breaking bread with a government that has zero regard for international law?

And then there was this — obviously made for rhetorical purposes only — statement by the AG to the troops that, “it remains critical that we use international law to counter the injustices of everyday life and to influence those trends which, obscured and challenging as they may be, underpin the good of all”.

You couldn’t make this stuff up. Dreyfus’ comments on 15 November should have included this warning: “Be aware that none of my statements about the importance of international law apply to Israel.”

So how does one make sense of an Australian attorney-general doing what, in the case of, say, apartheid South Africa, would have been unthinkable. That is, meeting with a government hell-bent on breaching international law and, therefore, the rule of law.

It can only be explained by one thing – politics. The spinelessness of successive Australian Governments when it comes to the cajoling, threats and bullying of the Zionist lobby and its friends such as The Australian, which should really be called the “Netanyahu Times” so absurdly partisan its stance on the Gaza issue.

Australia’s purported commitment to the rule of law and a rules-based international order comes a distant second to garnering votes and caving in to a powerful lobby. That’s right, isn’t it, Mr Dreyfus?

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