Demand Australia sanctions Israel NOW!
Israel is committing genocide in Gaza – bombing Palestinians, incinerating refugees in their tents, starving families, and destroying essential infrastructure. The Lancet estimates that over 186,000 Palestinians may have have been killed, yet the Australian Government refuses to sanction Israel. In fact, it seems to have committed itself to shielding this genocidal, apartheid regime from accountability.
Instead, Australia has sanctioned Iranian individuals, blatantly ignoring Israel’s ongoing war crimes and atrocities. This double standard is an outrage and a clear message that Palestinian lives are seen as expendable. Enough is enough!
We need your voice. Contact your MP, Senators, the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. Demand immediate sanctions on Israel for its genocide in Gaza, its illegal occupation, and its apartheid regime.
Australia must stop protecting Israel. It must stop treating Palestinians lives as though they are disposable. Together, we must ensure our government stands for justice and human rights in Palestine.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
You can send the email created by our friends at APAN to your MP, Senators, the Prime Minister, and Foreign Minister. Demand immediate sanctions on Israel for its genocide in Gaza, its illegal occupation, and its apartheid regime. Click on the picture below or go to APAN’s website to access the email.
You can phone the Foreign Minister. APAN has composed a script you can use. Penny Wong is a Senator for South Australia. As a South Australian, you have the right to ring her office and leave a message as a member of her electorate. She is supposed to represent YOU! It’s important to be calm and respectful in leaving your message. LET’S FLOOD PENNY’S message bank!
You could write your own email or letter using your own words demanding that our government takes action to bring pressure on Israel to obey international law. Use the comparison of how our government has put sanctions on Russia and Iran, but just mouthed words in relation to Israel conducting a genocide in front of our eyes. You will find the contact details of your representatives at the Australian Parliamentary website here.
YOU CAN TAKE OTHER ACTION
You can use the fantastic RESOURCE KIT that APAN has created to help you take action for Palestine.
You’ll find:
A Local Council toolkit
A Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions (BDS) Toolkit
A Kitchen-Table Conversations Toolkit
A Conversation Skills Guide
Facts Sheets and Brochures
If you are a South Australian academic, lawyer, teacher, health worker, unionist, student or bicycle rider, there is a group in South Australia that you can join. Look for these groups on Facebook, Instagram or the Internet. If you can’t find them, drop us a line at secretary@afopa.com.au and we’ll give you the details.
You can attend AFOPA’s events and other groups’ events. There’s something on every week. Keep up to date by checking AFOPA’s EVENTS CALENDAR here.
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Australia: All words and no action
On 15 October 2024, a day after Israel burnt Palestinians alive in their tents outside a Gazan hospital, Australia’s Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, Senator for South Australia, announced “Targeted sanctions in response to Iran's destabilising actions”. Apparently, according to the Australian Government, Iran is acting to destabilise the Middle-East. The Foreign Minister stated that “Australia will continue to hold Iran to account for its reckless and destabilising actions.” No mention of holding Israel to account for what its reckless and brutal behaviour against Palestine, Lebanon and Syria. Not a mention of the genocide in Gaza.
There has not been a single action taken by the Australian Government since October 2023 (let alone before that) to sanction the real aggressor and destabiliser, Israel, for its illegal, vicious, indeed genocidal behaviour that is set to inflame the Middle-East and draw us again into an unnecessary war.
Australia can take action - we’ve done it before!
Australia seems to pride itself on being a good international citizen. In the past we have been capable of TAKING ACTION against rogue states that have been internationally condemned for their behaviour. In order to bring down the brutal racist apartheid regime in South Africa, which fell in the 1990s, Australia took action against South Africa. We would not play sport with them and, more significantly, an ALP Government with Bob Hawke as the Prime Minister, led international efforts to sanction South Africa financially and diplomatically. In the end, that horrific and illegal apartheid regime ended through international action.
International Law
Either we are a country that upholds international law or we aren’t! Either international law applies to everyone or it doesn’t apply to anyone. There are many resolutions passed in the United Nations General Assembly, of which Australia is a member state, that have called for Israel to obey international law. Israel ignores it all and gets away with it under the protection of the United States.
The most recent and far reaching finding in international law is that of the International Court of Justice of 19 July, which found that Israel is committing the international crime of apartheid in the Palestinian Occupied Territories and that it must end it’s illegal occupation and remove all of its illegal settlers there. This is now INTERNATIONAL LAW.
Executive Director of the Australian Centre for International Justice (ACIJ), Ms Rawan Arraf has said of this ICJ ruling:
“The ICJ ruling is monumental and creates an urgency and a positive obligation for Australia to act to ensure it ends its complicity in these serious violations of international law which also amount to international crimes.”
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Thank you to our friends and colleagues at APAN for permission to use the information on their website.
Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) works for an Australian policy that supports Palestinian human rights, justice, and equality.
AFOPA is an organisational member of APAN.