Death, destruction and ethnic cleansing in Gaza and on the West Bank continues. Israeli savagery, lying, and disdain for international law display the depths of inhumanity, but when challenged to show courage by supporting life for Palestinians, the Australian Government remains silent.

To save Palestine and Palestinians, intervention by influential governments could occur by supporting the dispatch of UN peacekeepers to Gaza, and by effective boycotts and sanctions against Israel. Yet in response to Israeli slaughter on Palestinians’ lands, governments only watch.

Preoccupied with an election campaign and with the Trump tariff blitz, major Australian political parties repeat the claim that the cost of living is the issue. There is neither vision nor courage to comment on Palestinians counting the costs of not living.

What should Australia do?

Even in the middle of an election, to save face, to demonstrate that respect for a people’s rights to self-determination has not been entirely forgotten, the Labor Party could yet again vote to recognise Palestine.

Forget about principle. Be a bit pragmatic. Such an initiative could be a vote winner.

YouGov polls show a majority of Australians want Palestine recognised, they seek an end to the occupation, they support the International Criminal Court’s charges that the Israeli prime minister and defence minister be arrested for war crimes.

Recognition of Palestine is not a new demand

Since 2015, we have worked together to campaign for the recognition of Palestine. During meetings with key political and academic leaders, we have consistently advocated that Australia support Palestinian statehood. A decade later, that campaign is echoed in massive public marches, backed by the Australian Muslim community, by trade unions and NGOs, by Students for Palestine, Indigenous and anti-colonial activists.

Recognition today would be a response to an urgent need to display more than a touch of humanity.

On April 5, the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reported that ’Israel’s brutality in Gaza surpasses all recent forms of terrorism.’ On the same day, Jepke Goldsmit for ‘Jews Against the Occupation48’ wrote in Pearls & Irritations, ‘Palestine is the issue to consider when you enter the voting booth.’

Recognition, far more than symbolic

Recognition could be regarded as only symbolic, but in a world seeking neutrality, riven by fear of bullies and dictators, even symbolism is important. If accompanied by alliances with other countries committed to boycotts, divestments and sanctions in support of Palestinians’ rights and against Israeli occupation, recognition could be coupled to policies to end colonial practices and the consequent Israeli apartheid.

At the very least, long overdue recognition by Australia would replace the impression that when faced with Israeli atrocities, it is wise to say and do nothing. Not much courage is required. Australia would be in good company. A total of 140 other governments recognise Palestine.

It also beggars belief why a December 2018 ALP National Conference resolution for recognition has been ignored. Instead, by withholding recognition, Australia seems content to be complicit in Israel’s ongoing savagery.

Fearful politicians will be weighing reasons for their silence, foremost of which is the spurious claim that the appearance of a Palestinian state would threaten Israel’s security.

Then we will hear repetition of the view that recognition of Palestine would undermine efforts to attain peace, that bogus strategy for ensuring a non-existent process can be used to delay Palestinian statehood.

Reference to a non-existent peace, but not to Israeli barbarity, guarantees continuation of Israel’s diplomatic immunity irrespective of the cautious conclusion of the International Court of Justice concerning a “plausible genocide” committed by Israel.

Israeli governments’ deceit and hypocrisy about their virtues has been endless, decades of terrorist attacks by Israeli armed gangs and the IDF too easily forgotten. When foreign policies are conjured by bullies, the principles of international humanitarian law count for little.

In 2024, when Norway, Spain and Ireland recognised Palestine, Israel recalled its ambassadors from those countries and claimed that recognition meant rewarding terrorism. In response to Israel’s threats, lies and repetition about the dangers of others’ terrorism, influential Western governments react with a nauseating silence.

Genocide in Gaza, continuing destruction and slaughter in the West Bank leave no room for neutrality, let alone silence.

For a leader such as Prime Minister Albanese, support of Palestinians rights to self-determination would be personally therapeutic and politically astute, hence this request:

“Prime Minister, when faced with Israel’s illegal occupation and unending cruelty, end your silence, remind the public of international law and of crucial humanitarian values. Better still, recall Gough Whitlam’s 1972 slogan, ‘It’s time!’ In consequence, ‘Recognise Palestine’.”