An act of courage. Really?

September 24, 2025

Although many of the points made by Stuart Rees and Greg Barns in their joint article make sense and reinforce what had already often been said in previous articles, qualifying the recognition of Palestine as a state by the Australian Government as a courageous act and congratulating it for having taken this step certainly doesn’t.

Perhaps it would have been a courageous act if Australia had joined the other 93 states, which by February 1989 had recognised the State of Palestine following the Declaration of Independence proclaimed by Yasser Arafat on 15/11/1988 on behalf of the Palestinian National Council. Even more courageous would have been for Australia to unfailingly advocate, since 1949, for Israel to comply with the conditions imposed by the United Nations when it was accepted as a member state, namely its acceptance of the partition plan, the internationl status of Jerusalem and the right of return of the Palestinian refugees.

Further, I don’t think someone or a state ought to be congratulated for doing what should have been done a long time ago; rather, that person or that state should be made to feel ashamed for having waited so long to do it.