On election day, accountability takes centre stage

Oct 7, 2024
New York, USA. 22nd Sep, 2023. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu displays a map of the Middle East with countries in green that are in peace with Israel, but without Palestine on the map, as he addresses the 78th United Nations General Assembly at the UN headquarters. Image: Alamy/ Enrique Shore/Alamy Live News

If the government and Opposition think they will not be held accountable, they should think again.

The government and Opposition are disregarding the year-long protests of millions of Australians against Israel’s war on Palestinians and now the Lebanese people. Moreover, they are completely disregarding numerous petitions signed by thousands of Australians, including current and former judges, lawyers, politicians, ambassadors, public servants, doctors, workers, journalists and more.

While Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, and their party members lined up in parliament to condemn in the strongest terms the killing of 1,139 Israelis, including 36 children and 71 foreign workers, carried out by Hamas fighters on 7 October in retaliation to Israel’s occupation and killings. They have not, until now, uttered a single word of condemnation about Israel’s cowardly and savage war of genocide against 2.3 million defenceless people in Gaza. A war of genocide that has included cutting food, water, medical supplies and fuel; the indiscriminate carpet bombing of the entire Gaza strip, including hospitals, schools, universities, mosques, churches, banks, and bakeries…; and killing in the past year over 42,334 Palestinians, including more than 16,891 children and 11,458 women, and injuring 102,009, not to mention thousands missing under the rubble.

The labelling of Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Arab and Palestinian liberation movements as terrorist organisations by the US, Australia and some Western countries has enabled the Israeli regime to carry out the war of genocide against the Palestinian and Lebanese people and facilitated Israel’s violation of international law, under the pretext of fighting terrorism. Therefore, these countries bear responsibility for the terrorism and crimes committed by this colonial regime.

If the shedding of the blood of innocents is abhorrent, as it should be, then why do our leaders only show concern for this when Israeli colonialists are killed and remain dead silent over the killing of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians and Lebanese? Is it racism that guides these politicians? Do they believe Jewish blood is more valuable than Arab blood? This bigotry is condemnable and unacceptable to all decent Australians.

The government and Opposition put facts on their heads, making the aggressor a victim and the victim an aggressor. At best, they equalise between the criminal and the victim.

The issue did not begin on 7 October last year, and Israel is not an innocent party defending itself as the government implies. Israel is a settler-colonial apartheid regime established at the expense of the Palestinian people and on the ruins of Palestine.

With the backing of Britain, the US, and Western countries, three terrorist groups – the Haganah, Irgun, and Stern Gang – carried out dozens of massacres and ethnically cleansed two-thirds of the Palestinian population. They renamed the country ‘Israel’ in 1948, and declared the establishment of a colonial Zionist regime on 78% of Palestine; the three terrorist groups later merged to form the Israeli army.

The United States and Western countries nurtured, armed, and appeased this monster they created in the Middle East, which has spiralled out of control, engaging in aggression, occupation, gross violations, war crimes and state terrorism.

Australian politicians should realise that by appeasing Israel, they are undermining international law and order and jeopardising Australia’s security by encouraging other tyrant regimes to follow suit.

Colonialists, occupiers and apartheid regimes do not have the right to defend their occupations and apartheid systems; it’s the occupied who have the right under international law to defend themselves, liberate their countries and exercise self-determination.

While the government and the Opposition remain virtually silent, except for token words, on Israel’s colonial apartheid policy over all of Palestine from the river to the sea, both parties have submitted to the dictates of Israel and its extremist lobby in conflating Zionism with Judaism and attempt to brand opponents of Israeli crimes and apartheid as anti-Semitic, going so far as to adopt the lobby’s misinterpretation of the slogan “from the river to the sea Palestine will be free” from its call for freedom so that all citizens, Jews, Christians and Muslims, can live in equality and democracy, to mean killing all Jews.

The governing Israeli Likud Party, led by PM Netanyahu, states in its charter, Between the Sea and the Jordan [river] there will only be Israeli sovereignty”. During his speech at the United Nations in September 2023 and this year, Netanyahu presented a map showing all of Palestine from the river to the sea as Israel. Additionally, let’s not forget that Herzl, the father of Zionism, outlined Israel’s borders in his diaries between the two rivers, the Nile and Euphrates, which is depicted by the two blue lines on the Israeli flag, with the Star of David in between. Neither the government nor the Opposition has condemned Netanyahu nor Likud for their expansionist colonial project.

So why is the government and Opposition siding with the occupier, the coloniser, and the apartheid, and not with the one who is under occupation, and the Australians who are calling for equality, liberty, and democracy from the river to the sea? The government and Opposition should tell us where Australia’s moral values are.

Labor and the Opposition are wholly outdated and out of touch with the majority of Australians when it comes to Palestine. They have failed to acknowledge the changing public opinion against Israel and the growing support for Palestinian rights and are still influenced by the Israeli lobby and the discredited Murdoch media from whom they derive their policies.

Several public opinion surveys in the last few years have shown the majority of Australians are on the side of the Palestinians, not Israel.

Events have proven that pursuing a pro-Israeli policy, kowtowing to appease Israel and its lobby, is not a winning strategy for votes in Australia, even in an area with a significant Jewish voting population. For example, when Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced his intention before a byelection in Wentworth in October 2018 to recognise West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, he believed this would be popular and secure the support of the largest Jewish electorate. The result was the loss of the Liberal candidate to an independent, a substantial public and regional backlash that forced Morrison to a humiliating backdown.

In the last federal election, the Israeli lobby and its devoted servant, Murdoch’s media empire, incited the public against Anthony Albanese and the ALP, which culminated in the Sky News report “uncovering unsavoury dark past” regarding Albanese’s earlier support for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and opposition to Israel’s occupation, and violations. The election results were a miserable failure for the lobby and the Liberals. Not only did Albanese and the ALP increase their public support, but they also boosted support for the Greens, who have a strong pro-Palestine policy. Additionally, the Liberals lost three seats in areas with a large Jewish community despite having two zealous pro-Israeli candidates, Dave Sharma and Josh Frydenberg.

This once again demonstrates that pursuing a pro-Israeli policy, kowtowing to appease Israel and its lobby, is not a winning strategy for votes in Australia, even in an area with a significant Jewish voting population.

Albanese’s betrayal of his position, the principles he claimed and those who voted for the ALP will cost him and the ALP dearly at the next election.

They will pay the price in the upcoming elections for their unprincipled biased support for the occupying power, Israel, and their failure to condemn its state terrorism and war of genocide in Palestine.

They can no longer take the votes of Australian Arab and Muslim communities and millions of other Australians who support Palestinian rights for granted. They will need to earn their votes back by demonstrating their opposition to Israel’s war crimes, occupation, and apartheid.

While the Jewish community (and not all Jews support Israel’s genocide, occupation, and apartheid) may have influence through political donations to buy a pro-Israel policy, more importantly, the Arab, Moslem and decent Australians at large have the voting power, which at the end of the day counts the most.

However, these donations will not stop, because businesspeople have their own vested interests out of these donations.

Data analysis, based on the 2021 General Census, comparing the number of Australian Arabs, Muslims and Jews and their percentages in each federal electoral district and the number of votes government and Opposition candidates in these seats received in the last 2022 federal election showed the vote of the Arabic and or Islamic community can influence which candidate wins in at least 21 federal seats – 15 are held by Labor (11 of them marginals), 5 by the Liberals (4 of them marginals), and a marginal seat held by an independent. In comparison, the Jewish vote can only influence 4 seats, 2 held by independents (1 marginals and 1 Fairly safe) and 2 marginals held by Labor. (See below)

Neither Arab, Muslim, nor Jewish communities are homogeneous in their voting. Nevertheless, the voting power is heavily on the side of the Arab and Muslim communities.

Yet despite the weight the community vote represents and can play in changing the balance of power, it has not been given, until now, the attention it deserves, nor are the community’s concerns and ties with the Middle East respected. Muslim and Arab community voters are wholly disillusioned with their pro-Israeli MPs and have lost trust in them.

The difference between pro-Palestine voters and pro-Israeli voters is that while the latter are lobbying politicians for Australia to support Israeli aggression, occupation, violations, and apartheid, the former are calling for Australia to support justice, international law, equality, and peace in the Middle East. This is where Australia’s national interest lies.

There is no moral or compelling reason for Australia’s pro-Israel policy. The government cannot justify its bias on the grounds of votes, trade interests, international law, UN resolutions, moral values, rights, justice or public opinion. All are in favour of the Palestinians and not Israel.

It is overdue for Australian politicians to bear responsibility for their immoral pro-Israeli policy. What it applied against aggressive countries and the former racist regime in South Africa must be applied against Israel’s occupation and apartheid policy; the public will not accept Israel being treated as above international law by politicians.

It has become essential for citizens to hold these politicians and their parties accountable and to choose representatives who are more worthy and keen to protect international law, human rights, Australia’s moral values and its national interests.

Due to the large size of the data analysis, here are the 21 seats in which the Australian Muslim and Arab communities have most voting influence and the four seats in which the Australian Jewish community has most voting influence.

 The Australian Arab and Moslem community

The Australian Jewish community

Abbreviation:              S (Safe)           F/S (Fairly Safe)         M (Marginal)

This data analysis is based on May 2022 Federal Election results & 2021 General Census. Researched and compiled by Ali Kazak.

Images: Supplied

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