A brief look at some items of note during the last ten days.
On
14 August 2024 the State of Israel's War on Gaza entered its 313th
day and, the Palestinian population has suffered more war deaths than
the Australian people did during the approx. 2,107 days of the
last world war.
A
sad comparison
In
World War Two 34,000 Australian service personnel were killed along
/w 700-1,000 civilians [ABS 1998, Parramatta History and Heritage 2020, Statistica 2024]. These numbers are estimated to be 5% of
Australia's total population as of 30 June 1939.
In the War on Gaza from 7 Oct 2023 up to 14 Aug 2024 a total of 39,965 Palestinians are
recorded as killed [UN OCHR August 2024] with est. 11,000 of those
killed being children.
NOTE:
These UN numbers do not include the thousands missing presumed dead or
the as yet unidentified dead stored within the Gaza Strip.
However,
the numbers do represent an estimated 2.0% of the Palestinian
population residing in the Gaza Strip on 1 September 2023.
As
of 20 August 2024 there is no negotiated ceasefire or any timetable
for a declaration that the War on Gaza has ended.
Jewish
Council Australia,
media release,
14 August 2024:
Jewish
Council condemns Peter Dutton and Dave Sharma for stoking racism in
comments on Palestinians fleeing genocide
August
14, 2024
Today,
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton told Sky News that no Palestinians from Gaza should be entering
Australia and that a visa scheme for Palestinians fleeing Gaza would
put Australia’s national security at risk.
These
comments were made days after Liberal Party Senator Dave Sharma
criticised the government, suggesting that Palestinians entering
Australia “might endanger” Australian citizens and “our own
democracy.”
These
comments cannot be taken in isolation. Only two weeks ago, neo-Nazis
held a Trump inspired anti-immigration rally outside Federation
Square in Melbourne calling for the mass deportation of immigrants.
Rather than clearly distancing themselves from dangerous
anti-immigrant sentiment, Peter Dutton and Dave Sharma are only
fuelling division.
The
Jewish Council rejects any assertion that Palestinians fleeing
violence are a threat to the safety of Australians.
Palestinians
in Gaza face extreme levels of violence. On Saturday morning, an
Israeli attack at the Al-Tabeen School in Gaza City killed at least
100 people, making it one of the deadliest attacks in Israel’s 10
month assault on Gaza. The intensity of the bombing was such that
many victims were dismembered beyond recognition. Doctors resorted to
collecting body parts in plastic bags, giving families 70 kilos of
remains when their loved ones could not be individually identified.
The
horrific reality of violence faced by Palestinians in Gaza underlines
the need for Australians to do all we can to support and welcome
Gazans seeking to enter Australia.
Dr
Max Kaiser, historian and Executive Officer
“The
rhetoric directed against Palestinian refugees is reminiscent of the
same rhetoric used to vilify Jewish refugees in the 1940s and 1950s
who were frequently labeled ‘security risks’. This rhetoric is
also part of a long history of racism and exclusion in Australia,
from the White Australia Policy to panics about ‘boat people’.”
Sarah
Schwartz, human rights lawyer and Executive Officer
“Peter
Dutton and Dave Sharma should be ashamed of themselves for using
anti-immigrant rhetoric to stoke fear and division. It is only weeks
since anti-immigrant riots took place in the UK, and neo-Nazis held
an anti-immigration rally in Melbourne’s CBD. Politicians should be
distancing themselves from all forms of racism and xenophobia not
fuelling division.
“The
Australian Government should not be influenced by the Israel lobby’s
false and racist depictions of Palestinians. Many Jewish people have
family histories of fleeing persecution and understand the importance
of Australia meeting its obligations under International Law to
protect the human rights of refugees.”
Historical
background
Rhetoric
directed against Palestinian refugees is reminiscent of the same
rhetoric used to vilify Jewish refugees in the 1940s and 1950s who
were frequently labeled ‘security risks’. T.H. White, Australia’s
delegate to the 1938 Evian Conference famously said with reference to
German and Austrian Jewish refugees, Australia has "no real
racial problem [and is] not desirous of importing one". This
rhetoric is also part of a long history of racism and exclusion in
Australia, from the White Australia Policy to the War on Terror’s
exclusion of people from the Middle East.
Statements
by Leader of the Opposition & LNP MP for Dickson, Peter Dutton:
The Sydney Morning Herald,
14 August 2024:
....Dutton
on Wednesday decided to push beyond the Coalition’s previous
demands for tougher scrutiny of Palestinian refugees, saying: “I
don’t think people should be coming in from that war zone at all at
the moment. It’s not prudent to do so and I think it puts our
national security at risk.”
9 News,
15 August 2024:
"So
(the government) said that they will bring people into Australia who
are sympathisers with a listed terrorist organisation," Dutton
said.
"Could
you imagine if we were proposing to bring people in who were
sympathetic to another listed terrorist organisation, like al-Qaeda
or ISIL or ISIS? It's completely unacceptable.
"You
bring 3000 people in, let's say 99 per cent are good.
"If
one per cent, 30 people, are questionable or sympathisers with a
listed terrorist organisation, how on earth is that in our country's
best interests?"
ASIO
Director-General Mike Burgess has previously said that "rhetorical"
sympathy for Hamas
would
not be considered an automatic bar to entry.
Note: Using statistics drawn out of thin air to create hypothetical risk scenarios produces nothing but 'word salad' - especially as the number of Palestinian refugees who have entered Australia since October 2023 is far less than the 3,000 mentioned. A wider lens is required. As an example, between
2014 & 2020, a total of 3,360,650 people entered Australia on
migrant visas [ABS, 2021]. If the total number of individuals actually charged with terrorism related offenses within this period had been in that 6 year migrant intake, it would still only have represented an estimated percentage point of 0.003273176320057132% of this statistical cohort.
A cartoonist's perspective
An exchange in the Australian Parliament
House
of Representatives,
Hansard,
15 August 2024, excerpt:
Ms
STEGGALL (Warringah) (09:16): It's extremely concerning to see the
opposition turn up today with this suspension of standing orders and
the words and the rhetoric that we're hearing here. It goes directly
against the advice of ASIO and the concern around the polarisation in
our communities—that whipping up of a sense of fear and that
inference that, for example, our services and systems are not
working. What I'd like to share is the human story, the real story,
about some of the people we're talking about and the lives we're
talking about.
Mr
Conaghan interjecting—
Ms
STEGGALL: And I would ask you to be silent! I have the floor!
The
SPEAKER: Order! The member for Cowper will cease interjecting. The
member for Warringah will be heard,
just as other members were heard, in silence.
Ms
STEGGALL: In 2020, I met a man called Mohammed at the North Steyne
Surf Life Saving Club. He had come
to Australia under a visa approved by the Morrison government under
the same systems. He came to participate in a surf lifesaving skills
program. He wanted to give the children of Gaza an opportunity to
learn water safety, to not drown, to have something positive on
weekends. They loved that program. They attended.
Unfortunately,
after the horrendous events of October, that program, of course,
ended. The bombing started. Many people that participated in that
program have died. Many of the children have died. These are normal
families. These are families that you are seeking to paint as all
being terrorists, who should all be mistrusted and who are not worthy
of humanitarian aid.
Mr
Dutton: Complete rubbish! Stop repeating the governments lines.
The
SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition will cease interjecting.
Ms
STEGGALL: We heard you in silence; you can hear me in silence. Stop
being racist.
The
SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition is seeking the call.
Mr
Dutton: That was an offensive and unparliamentary remark and it
should be withdrawn.
The
SPEAKER: Order! There is far too much noise. As I previously asked
for the chamber to be silent, I'm just going
to ask the member for Warringah, if she made an unparliamentary
remark, to withdraw it to assist the House.
Ms
STEGGALL: Could I have a clarification: is a description of language
as being racist an unparliamentary remark?
Mr
Katter interjecting—
The
SPEAKER: Order! The member for Kennedy will resume his seat. Just to
assist the House so the debate can
keep going, as has been previously ruled, I will just ask the member
to withdraw and continue. [my yellow highlighting]
The War on Gaza continues
ABC
News,
16 August 2024:
The
death toll in Gaza from Israel's offensive has surpassed 40,000
people, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
It
says a total of 40,005 people have been killed and 92,401 injured
since October 7, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern
Israel....
The Leader of the Opposition & LNP MP for Dickson continues
The Daily Telegraph,
17 August 2024:
The
Nazis tried to conceal their crime of murdering six million Jews.
Hamas felt no guilt when they carried out their terrorist attack on
October 7. They invaded Israel with body cams and phones to film
their butchery of 1200 people – the greatest loss of Jewish life on
a single day since the Holocaust.
The Sydney Morning Herald,
17 August 2024:
“The
advice that I have is that, out of the last 33 people who have been
charged with terrorist-related offences in this country, 22 are from
second- and third-generation Lebanese Muslim backgrounds,” he said
in November 2016.
The
comments were widely condemned at the time and last year, in an
episode of the ABC’s Kitchen
Cabinet,
journalist Annabel Crabb put to Dutton that they were racist.
“They’re
comments that I shouldn’t have made,” he replied. “I have
apologised for that.”
But
five leaders of Australia’s Lebanese Muslim community now say they
have no recollection of Dutton ever making that apology.
The
opposition leader’s office did not respond to multiple enquiries
from this masthead about when, how and to whom he said sorry.
[my yellow highlighting]
The pushback by members of the Jewish community in Australia continues
.jfif)
.jfif)
