The War on Gaza has entered its 10th week and nothing changes - a recounting in video clips

Yesterday, 10 December 2023 was the 75th Anniversary of the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 10 December 1948 during the tenure of Australia's Dr HV Evatt as President of the General Assembly. 

Australia had been on the UN Drafting Committee responsible for formulating the draft declaration and pushed for the declaration to include a covenant making it legally enforceable. Australia went on the become one of the original signatories to the final form declaration. 

Seventy-five years later...... 

On 10 December 2023 media sources stated that the death toll in the Gaza Strip was thought to be over 17,700 dead or missing presumed dead since Israel's sustained retaliatory bombardment began on 8 October 2023. UNWRA the UN relief & works agency confirms the vast majority of the dead are believed to be Palestinian civilians with an estimated 40 per cent being children, including newborns, infants and toddlers.

These deaths are now occurring in both the north and south of Gaza as Israel conducts its ground war.

"There is no safe place to go in the Gaza Strip" 

[Palestinian Health Ministry, 9 December 2023] 

The International Criminal Court (ICC) continues to investigate alleged crimes committed "in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, since June 13, 2014". The Israeli Likud Government has refused the ICC and foreign media access to the Gaza Strip since 8 October 2023.

According to the World Health Organisation the Gaza Strip remains cut off from food, water, electricity, civilian telecommunications and health care, with little humanitarian aid allowed to pass though Israeli checkpoints.

The War on Gaza has entered its 10th week, nothing changes and Australia refuses to acknowledge those humanitarian obligations it espoused in 1948.

A recounting in video clips:

9 December 2023

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOe_6xoGXXA]

Note: Australia does not currently sit on the U.N. Security Council

7 December 2023

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtgfXG2Oimo]

BACKGROUND

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAuRU8wCG5w]

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJV3Tx2x56c]

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PsOw7hxiXs]

 

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u24WzpCNKrY]

*Supplied transcript*

"And we will tell you, what we tell you every day.

We are coming to Gaza.

We are coming to Lebanon.

We will come to Iran.

We will come to everywhere.

Can you imagine how many we are going to kill?

How many of you, we are going to kill? On each of the 1,300 people you killed, kidnapped.

You did not see these numbers in all Arab history. i assure you, that it will come, in case you are confused.

I assure you it will come, Numbers that you did not imagine, that it is possible, it is possible to get them.

And we are ready to enter International Unity.

We are prepared to fight United States and the entire world.

How long it will take untill all of you, including all your supporters go up to meet Allah? We will kill, it will be clear. This is the sentiments.

So wait in the social media. Do a free palestine. Do all your crying. We will destroy you.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyKB1kwVbdY]

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYevQ467lA8]

DEEPER BACKGROUND

Twelve months ago on 11 December 2022......

Middle East Eye 

Far-right Israeli member of Knesset Zvika Fogel's disturbing response to Channel 4 Foreign Correspondent, Secunder Kermani, on how the new Israeli government intends to de-escalate the tension between Israelis and Palestinians in Israel and the occupied West Bank moving forward.

Australian Society: because there are some things about ourselves we should never forget

 

Inquiry in accordance with section 27(3) of the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force Regulation 2016, into incidents rumoured to have occurred between 2005 to 2016 and recommendations for referral to the Australian Federal Police for criminal investigation.

IGADF Afghanistan Inquiry P... by clarencegirl

The Sydney Morning Herald, 24 November 2020:

In the wake of devastating allegations about members of Australia’s SAS force serving in Afghanistan – with soldiers accused on “credible information” of unlawfully killing 39 unarmed Afghans – a predictable schism has emerged in the commentary.

On one side are those who reel in horror, shocked at the number and authoritative detail of the allegations leveled at soldiers who – as heirs of the Anzac tradition – we are culturally conditioned to think are beyond reproach.

On the other are those who either deny outright that anything appalling could have occurred or – a la the famous speech by Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men – insist that things happen on the far front-lines and the rest of us have no right to criticise. It is as seductive a defence as it is outrageous – for it is following the rules of engagement which separates soldiers from a mob of murderers. But in the case of the SAS allegations, a frequent historical episode invoked to urge caution in condemnation is the court-martial and execution of Harry "Breaker" Morant 120 years ago, near the end of the Boer War…..

The line is that Morant was honourable, doing no more than following orders, and that his own trial was a travesty of justice. Now, while I pretend to no expertise in the matter of the SAS, on the matter of Morant, I write as one who recently released a book on the subject, deeply bolstered by the work of four researchers, two of whom have PhDs in history, one in military history.

And the evidence is overwhelming. Morant was indeed responsible for the worst British atrocities of the Boer War, including the shooting of an unarmed prisoner; the gunning down of four Afrikaan fighters and four Dutch commandos who had surrendered, and the shooting of a Boer farmer and his two teenage sons.

The man was a monster, but this has not prevented, particularly in recent times, an entire movement springing to life calling on Morant to receive a, get this, pardon. A pardon, for the man who didn't bother to deny murdering surrendered prisoners? Who cared so little for the law or the rules that in his famous speech in the court-martial, boasted that he “got them and shot them under Rule .303” …..

Australian Defence Force in 2020

The Australian, 11 August 2020:

The Defence Force has asked an independent expert to examine cultural and leadership failings involving Australia’s special forces ahead of a war crimes report on dozens of alleged murders of prisoners and civilians by the elite units in Afghanistan.

The study will look at the ethical standards and command culture of the secretive Special Air Service and Commando regiments from 1999 to the present day, with a focus on their deployment to Afghanistan in the war against al-Qa’ida and the Taliban.

The Australian can reveal that Chief of the Defence Force Angus Campbell has commissioned former naval officer and Anglican bishop Tom Frame to undertake the study, to be released in mid-2022.

The move comes as the government prepares for the release of a report by the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force into at least 55 alleged breaches of the laws of war by Australian personnel during the nation’s 13-year on-the-ground commitment in Afghanistan.

The alleged crimes are expected to include the killing of unarmed men and children, and the mistreatment and execution of Taliban prisoners who posed no threat to their captors.

The IGADF report, by NSW Supreme Court judge Major General Paul Brereton, will rock the nation’s military establishment and tarnish community perceptions of the nation’s most revered warriors.

Professor Frame, a respected military historian with the University of NSW, will examine the wider context of the alleged crimes, including actions of senior ADF leaders and Australia’s military strategy in Afghanistan.

His study will be used as a basis for further reforms to the SAS and Commando regiments, and in planning military operations.

One former SAS officer spoken to by The Australian on condition of anonymity said by 2010, special forces operators on the ground in Afghanistan had lost faith in the strategy and “the whole thing was just starting to unravel”.

He said mentally ill soldiers were regularly sent on to the battlefield, and commanders -allowed a culture where lower ranked soldiers became more influential than their officers. “You’ve got guys doing six or seven tours. Think about what that does — six or seven tours with heavy combat,” the officer said.

He said “wild swings in roles and strategy” also took their toll, along with the intensity of the fighting.

“All these things led to a culture and an environment where I think there was a degree of impunity,” he said.

“The only thing that was important to us was our own tribe. We didn’t trust anyone. We didn’t think necessarily we were being supported by some of the leadership.”

Another former SAS officer, Liberal MP Andrew Hastie, said the Australian people needed an explanation of the war in Afghanistan that went beyond individual cases of wrongdoing....