Australians for Humanity is a coalition of interested parties seeking to have Australia and Australians respond to the genocidal slaughter of Palestinians and the declared Israeli intent to ethnically cleanse Palestine and proceed to the annexation of Gaza, the West Bank and parts of Lebanon and Syria.

We are in election mode. In that election, it is time to hold politicians accountable. This is a time for change.

What are the catalysts for this necessary change? I suggest they are the following:

• Genocide in Gaza, Gaza, the moral compass of the world.
• Climate change.
• The Trump accession — US exceptionalism — and AUKUS — and a perception that global systems of accountability are weakening, principally through the breakdown of international law.
• The groundswell of a new philosophy — based on the perceived loss of moral bearings and on a respect for humanity — let’s call it “Universalism”.

I shall commence with Gaza, clearly the most significant at this moment in time. Save and except for some essentials, there is no need to go over what you already know about Palestine/Gaza. What you already know is the mass slaughter, wilful starvation, ethnic cleansing, and indiscriminate bombing of civilian infrastructure. We have passed the point at which Israel’s war crimes and crimes against humanity are debatable. The moral bankruptcy is a fact.

The essentials, which need to be clearly understood, are:

• 1947 – the UN vote – 33:13 (with 10 abstentions) to partition, with 56% given to the new Israeli state.
• 1967 – the war leading to occupation of what was left of Palestine – Security Council Resolution 242 called for withdrawal of Israeli forces from all territories occupied in the war.
• 2004 – the International Court of Justice decision concerning The Wall – the ICJ opinion was that the construction of the Wall was contrary to international law, and inconsistent with the right of self-determination of the Palestinian people. The General Assembly took a vote calling upon Israel to dismantle the structures and abide by the Court’s opinion: 150 were in favour with 10 abstentions and 5 against, including Australia. The US advised that it would veto any attempt for the Security Council to act.
• 2016 – Security Council Resolution 2334 - December 2016 – Obama in his last month of office did not veto – the Resolution called for an end of the illegal occupation.
• 2024 – the Advisory Opinion of the ICJ of 19 July 2024, and the UN General Assembly Resolution of 18 September 2024. These instruments, of course, demanded the end of occupation – the expulsion of settlers, etc., from the West Bank. The ICJ judgment also noted the right of the occupied to resist the occupation and engage in wars of national liberation – that right was specifically recognised in the Geneva Conventions of 1949. This fact is never mentioned by our press, whenever 7 October 2023, is mentioned. Rather, any Palestinian who resists occupation is necessarily labelled a terrorist. The Opinion also confirmed the findings by such bodies as Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International, that Israel is an apartheid state. The principal Western States backing Israel have ignored the Opinion – and that includes Australia.

Against all that, what must be understood is that the preservation of Jewish supremacy is fundamental to Israeli state policy and enshrined in legislation (2018 Jewish National State Law): “The Jewish people have an exclusive and unquestionable right to all areas of the Land of Israel”, i.e. “in the Galilee, the Negev, the Golan, Judea and Samaria”: Netanyahu. That includes all territories which are supposed to become a future Palestinian state, including the West Bank and East Jerusalem. And, of course, the Golan is illegally occupied Syrian land.

It is worth taking a moment to consider SC Resolution 2334 a bit further. That resolution was not vetoed by the US. It is international law. Israel was ordered to get out of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Israel has ignored the law. The secretary-general reported on the implementation, one should say “non-implementation”, of the resolution as recently as 21 March. He emphasised the obligation under the Resolution to address final status issues associated with a two-state solution and noted with approval the recent (4 March) Summit of the League of Arab States, which endorsed the Arab Islamic Contact Group Gaza reconstruction plan prepared by Egypt and the Palestinian Authority. The secretary-general rejected the forced displacement of the Palestinian population from any part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory. He asserted that the occupation must end as rapidly as possible and called for the implementation of a two-state solution with Gaza as an integral part of Palestine. Does anyone think for a moment that if SC Resolution 2334 had been implemented in 2016 or at any time thereafter, that 7 October 2023 would have occurred?

It is necessary to consider where Australia has positioned itself, what it has and has not done — and if there has been irresolution — hence why your vote is critical so that such irresolution cannot continue.

Australia has been an avid supporter of apartheid Israel throughout Israel’s history. Australia has refused to recognise Palestine — despite the fact that 143 other countries have — and despite the fact that the ALP’s National Platform has called for it — back in 2021 before the last election. Australia has committed to providing military equipment to Israel and concurred in supplying the IDF with intelligence from Pine Gap. So far as military equipment is concerned, perhaps the most damning complicity is Australia’s participation in the global supply program for the Lockheed-Martin F35 fighter. Australia supplies parts for the F35 without which the F35 cannot fly. The F35 has been prominent in its use in the bombardment of Gaza. Australia’s Future Fund also has shares in Israeli defence contractor, Elbit Systems.

Australia has imposed no sanctions (trade, cultural, sporting) on Israel for it failing to remove illegal settlers from the occupied territories.

Australia has not recalled its ambassador to Israel, nor expelled Israel’s ambassador to Australia. Indeed, in January last, Australia’s attorney-general visited Israel to make clear “Australia’s support for Israel’s right to defend itself in the face of terrorism”. Make no mistake, Australia is complicit in genocide, and if Australia is complicit, so too are its citizens — citizens who don’t want to be so complicit — and see this coming election as a means of ending such complicity. Recall Desmond Tutu: “If you remain neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”

As a backdrop we have the recent statement about the US owning Gaza and turning it into a real estate developer’s dream – vulture capitalism. What you must understand about that gamut is that Israel has an enormous influence over US foreign policy.

I mentioned climate change as another catalyst for change.

I don’t want to say much on this topic. It is only necessary for you to be aware of it, and what is driving it, or in other words impeding the battle against it, and how that which is driving it is linked to the next catalyst, namely Trump, etc. I am referring, of course, to unrestrained capitalism.

The third catalyst is the Trump accession, US exceptionalism, AUKUS, and a breakdown of international law. This is too large a topic to do other than simply recognise its importance. Just be aware of such issues as:

• Greenland, Canada, Panama.
• The need to challenge China because it is a success story.
• The grotesque inequality affecting our world, evidencing the downside of capitalism.
• The adoption by Labor of the Morrison-initiated AUKUS with its commitment to US imperialism and nuclear terrorism via submarines.
• The fact that the US is a hegemon in decline.

But whilst in decline, the US must be recognised for what it is. It is not a true democracy. Members of Congress substantially buy their seats and then represent the interests of their financial backers, including such Zionist supporters of Israel as AIPAC. The US does not promote international law. To the contrary, US officials have threatened the International Criminal Court to the extent of sanctions against Court officials who pursue warrants against Israeli defendants. The US is not, of course, a party to the Rome Statute which created the ICC. In fact, the US has passed legislation enabling the invasion of the Hague to free any US citizen committed to trial there.

And reverting momentarily to the first catalyst, genocide in Gaza, and the issue of Trump, be aware of the leaflets dropped by Israel on Gaza on or about 21 February last. When considering this full quote, remember, it was not the subject of comment by our media here in Australia. Quote:

To the honourable people of Gaza,

After the events that have taken place, the temporary ceasefire, and before the implementation of Trump’s mandatory plan — which will impose forced displacement upon you whether you accept it or not — we have decided to make one final appeal to those who wish to receive aid in exchange for cooperating with us. We will not hesitate for a moment to provide assistance.

Reconsider your position. The world map will not change if all the people of Gaza cease to exist. No one will feel for you, and no one will ask about you. You have been left alone to face your inevitable fate. Iran cannot even protect itself, let alone protect you, and you have seen with your own eyes what has happened. Neither America nor Europe care about Gaza in any way. Even your Arab countries, which are now our allies, provide us with money and weapons while sending you only shrouds.

There is little time left – the game is almost over. Whoever wishes to save themselves before it is too late, we are here, remaining until the end of time.

Understand that the US is fully complicit in the genocide that has been committed in Gaza and is occurring in the West Bank. Understand, too, that this strikes at the very foundations of international law, which Australia, as a member of the global community, has a duty to defend. Gaza is evidence of a future that is already here, bereft of humanity, law, and human rights.

It is clear that we need new political leaders who will halt our continuing slide into a strategic dependence on and servility towards the US. We must restore our reputation which has been tainted by following the US into Iraq, Afghanistan and, today, by our complicity, into Gaza, East Jerusalem and the West Bank. We must scrap AUKUS. We must reject militarism and engage in peacemaking through diplomacy. We must challenge US imperialism.

I believe that there is a new faith developing – a belief in humanity, a belief in human equality and freedom. People have become sceptical over the old standby, i.e. religion. This has been occurring over the last half-century, but it is speeding up now because of a realisation that unfortunately religion has been a cover to conflict – war.

People are aware of the disaster of Zionism and its recent activism consequent upon the empowerment of a far-right government in Israel. That is the pretence that some so-called God gave a certain people a piece of land – the land of Israel, in respect of which the Jewish people have an exclusive and inalienable right to all parts. That has led to the genocide that we have seen, and the justification for such by reference to the Old Testament’s call to “smite Amalek” and utterly destroy the Palestine people.

The Zionist movement based in the US Jewish Community drove the establishment of Israel. This has been amplified by the huge Christian Zionist movement that has become a partner to Jewish Zionism in the US. Take the Christians United for Israel, America’s largest Christian Zionist organisation. They believe that as followers of Christ, they must ensure that the US commitment to Israel remains resolute. Thus, we have the nomination of Mike Huckabee as Trump’s nominee for US ambassador to Israel. Huckabee is a Zionist who claims that Palestinian people do not exist, but, whatever, they must be removed from the biblical Land of Israel.

Make no mistake – God is under the rubble in Gaza, and good Christians of true faith can only grieve.

Young people are offended by overt racism – including the Western racism that is behind the Western colonialism that is Israel. They are now putting their faith in humanity — a belief that life — all lives — are always sacred. It might be described as a liberal internationalism or universalism. This has the potential to bring back the social cohesion hitherto wavering by the decline, in Australia, of Christianity.

Young people are also questioning unrestrained capitalism. Is it really good for us with its need for perpetual growth, and consequent destruction of the environment? And they are also questioning our morbid fear of countries such as Russia, and China. Why, they ask, can we not ask of them: “Be our friend”. Then we can stop spending huge sums of money on arms.

I call upon you to act on these catalysts by using your vote for the public good. Despite what the major parties and our media tell you, this election is not just about whether you will get a dollar’s relief, here or there, through lower tax, or cheaper petrol: no, it is about humanity, and humanity’s survival.

First of all, recall what has happened in recent elections elsewhere. In France, the New Popular Front won promising to recognise Palestine. In the UK, Labour’s landslide was tempered in five constituencies, where independent candidates with pro-Palestinian platforms defeated Labour candidates, the most prominent, of course, being Jeremy Corbyn.

We cannot support the ALP which has totally failed us and humanity. Ditto the LCP, which has taken an even more strident position in support of Israel than the ALP. On 20 March in a major foreign policy address, Peter Dutton said that “on day one” as prime minister he would call Netanyahu to restore Australia’s standing with Israel. He emphasised unwavering support in the UN and promised to reverse Labor’s terminology on “occupied territories”. Dutton claims that Palestinian refugees are terrorists.

We can support the Greens and those independents who make their position clear, particularly as to which party they will support to form a government by guaranteeing supply. Unfortunately, it may be that many Teal candidates are reluctant to disclose their position on issues addressed herein.

An analysis of the 2022 election has shown that if the crossbench voters had preferenced every other crossbench candidate, a substantial number of more crossbenchers would have been elected. However, of course, not all crossbenchers warrant our support so care must be taken. Nevertheless, the professional advice for strategic preferential voting for the Lower House is that after placing your favoured crossbench candidate first, be it Greens or another, continue by preferencing all crossbench candidates ahead of the ALP, with the LNP last.

The Senate, too, is important. Vote above the line 1-6: first, number your preferred minor party candidate highest; that may be the Greens. Next, preferences for similar minor parties aligned with your values. The Greens must be in there somewhere, and Senator Fatima Payman’s Australia’s Voice party will presumably have a candidate in each state. Then the ALP in 6th place. The LNP should not be mentioned.

Vote yes to justice for Palestinians, and to holding Israel accountable under international law. Vote no to genocide and Israel’s impunity. So far as South Australia is concerned, apart from the Senate, the one seat of note, said to be a real possibility for change, is the Liberal held seat of Sturt, where Green’s candidate Katie McCusker is prominent, and a supporter of Palestine.