Image: 42 Relatives, including all pictured here, were killed by Israeli airstrikes on their compound in Gaza City, Sunday 19 October.
Palestine, ‘Land of Prophets,’ has become a ‘Graveyard of Children,’ reinforcing the view this is a gross genocide by Israel. Intent is indicated by Israeli PM Netanyahu evoking, 1 Samuel 15:3 in the Bible, which called for massacring the Amalekites (non-Palestinians): “Destroy them … spare none; put them all to death, men, women, children, babes in arms, herds and flocks.” Israel’s Heritage Minister Eliyahu acknowledged that a nuclear strike on Gaza is a current option.
In a terrible replay of the Jewish WW2 holocaust, Israeli Zionists are now conducting holocaust massacres against Palestinians, who are fellow Semites (descendants of Noah’s son, Shem).
Israel’s relentless attacks till Thursday 9 November have killed over 10,569 Palestinians, predominantly civilians (41% children), with thousands more trapped under rubble. Over 70% of Gaza’s population are now displaced.
As UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres highlighted, the October 7 attack “did not happen in a vacuum.”
After Israel’s most extremist right government formed in November 2022, Palestinians’ situation in occupied territories deteriorated with illegal settlement expansion, rising police actions/settler violence with apparent murders of Palestinian civilians, children and journalists, illegal use of Palestinian land, cutting water supplies, and vows to ‘annex the West Bank.’
UK, France, USA failed to pressure Israel to stop these illegal actions making them complicit.
Peaceful worshipers were repeatedly attacked inside Al-Aqsa mosque desecrated by Israeli militia over the past three years.
With the 1993-5 Oslo Accords, Israel worked tirelessly to sabotage the Two-state Solution, expanding its hegemony over ‘Greater Israel.’
Two-thirds of countries in UN General Assembly approved referring Israel’s conduct to the International Court of Justice. Palestinians have every right to defend themselves.
On Saturday 7 October, Hamas and other resistant fighters attacked decimating Israeli border forces, but allegedly killed some civilians. Israel ‘amplified’ the numbers. Many Israeli civilians were actually killed by Israeli military themselves.
The world is shocked and disgusted with the scale of Israel’s transgressions against international law, the numerous continuous war crimes and genocide actions in its massive attacks and killings directed at hospitals, schools, ambulances, journalists, bakeries, mosques and churches.
Water, food, electricity and medical supplies have been cut for weeks!
Everyone was horrified by serial Israeli bombardments of the densely-populated Jabaliya refugee camp, which killed 300 civilians in attempting to kill one or two Hamas commanders.
Head of UN’s human right office, Craig Mokhiber, who resigned last week, stated: “There is no way to view the mass killings as anything but genocide.”
Its a shame on Israel and its Western backers, including Australia.
PM Anthony Albanese, Founder of Parliamentary Friends of Palestine, abstained from the UNGA resolution for a Humanitarian Truce. Shame!
Israel treats Gaza as a concentration camp, and Palestinians like human animals, similar to genocidal treatment of indigenous Australians by colonial British who killed them in many massacres and took other measures to eradicate them.
Like Palestinians, however, they are a resilient people.
Israel’s continuous encroachment of Palestinian lands is a dishonest land grab, settler colonialism, same as oppressive British, American and French regimes imposed historically on indigenes worldwide.
Western politicians, most recently Scott Morrison, often cite the 9/11 atrocity as reason for supporting Israel.
The urgent call from the international community must be heard for an immediate ceasefire, help to all war victims, release of all political prisoners, International Criminal Court investigation of war crimes, recognition of a Palestinian state, expulsion of all illegal settlers, and handing-over of all buildings and homes in illegal settlements and resources in the occupied territories to the Palestinians.
It is an Irony of Life.
Our brothers and sisters Aboriginal persecuted historically was suppose to get The Voice. It did not happen but we tried. Nevertheless they are not being bombed or persecuted today. Sporadic cases of Injustice meted to them cannot be denied.
But today in Real Time Palestinians and their children are being mercilessly bombed to smithereens in Gaza and persecuted in occupied Palestine. Our Labour Government altruistic effort in offering the Voice to our Aboriginal ( though not successful as our Liberal guys played the wrecker) has abstained from their moral obligation to support the humane Vote in UN that demanded the ceasefire in Gaza.
Aboriginals and Palestinians are members of our Human Society. Genuine regret for historical Sins committed by our Predecessors on our Aboriginals should translate to NEVER AGAIN for our pulverised Palestinians and any others.
The tragic event on Oct 7 (that did not happen in a vacuum, despite the protest of the Occupier and their partisans) does not mean open season on the occupied Palestinians now.
Anything short of preventing Israel to unrestrained barbarism is just political gesture, posturing and cruel delaying game.
Sadly the dead and dying babies in Gaza have no Voice while being buried under massive concrete.
At least with Nature’s earthquake the buried have some chance of being rescued with specialised equipments and no fear of bombs raining down on them and the rescuers.
As ‘ Salaamu ‘ Alaikum,
All the Western Countries (Christanity ) according to the Bilble are GENTILES and Jews are GOD’s Chosen people and the GENTILES have
to Serve them.
That’s why the Jews are above the Law and do not confirm to any UN resolutions .
I wish to address some points in Daud Batchelor’s letter concerning the Palestinian situation. It’s important to examine the roles of various global regions in this complex issue. While the West often faces criticism, it’s also valuable to consider the positions and actions of regions such as Africa, the Middle East, Scandinavia, South America, the Pacific Islands, and the Caribbean and more in the geopolitical landscape. Maybe the Muslims are complicit. There is a lot of West blaming in the muslims posts. Maybe it is time that you looked at yourselves.
UK, France, USA failed to pressure Israel to stop these illegal actions making them complicit. (Why doesn’t the middle east take responsibility for itself, after all you are mostly Muslim).
On Saturday 7 October, Hamas and other resistant fighters attacked decimating Israeli border forces, but allegedly killed some civilians. Israel ‘amplified’ the numbers. Many Israeli civilians were actually killed by Israeli military themselves.
(Here you are playing down the murder of innocent people killed at a dance party. Allegedly killed some people?? Really?? Israel amplified the number?? Do you have proof of this? Do you have proof that the Israelis’ were killed by their own people?? Or again is this your way of stirring up hatred amongst the muslims. Maybe Islamaphobia is caused by your own talk.
I empathize with Jeannie since Australians are served very poorly with factual information about the real global situation by the biased media conglomerates here (reason for calls for a Royal Commission into the Murdoch empire and media diversity). Do follow Al Jazeera channel for truthful comprehensive news about the Middle East.
By “complicit Western States” I refer particularly in the current Gaza situation where Israel is massacring civilians, 70% of whom are women, children, and elderly, and now is directly striking hospitals killing doctors and nurses (God forbid!), which represent genocidal actions and war crimes under international law. After the October 7 attack, Britain and the US publicly increased weapon deliveries to Israel, which no doubt, have been used in these massacres. The US itself stated there were absolutely “no restrictions on their weapons’ use” implying they could potentially be used for committing war crimes against Palestinians. Australia and other Western countries close to Israel did not call out Israel earlier for committing genocidal and war crimes actions, which surely demands an immediate cessation of hostilities since Israel is clearly breaking international law on the conduct of War. Many Western countries also did not speak out prior to October 7, against long-term Israeli illegal settlements in the West Bank, the stealing of Palestinians land, murdering Palestinian civilians, including children, cutting water supplies to Palestinian villages and farms, cutting olive trees, etc. and many (United States, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Croatia) support Israel in UN General Assembly resolutions. This is the case in the latest UN General Assembly resolution calling for an immediate truce between Israel and Hamas and demanded aid access to Gaza. Australia and the UK did not support the resolution but Abstained, which suggests complicity in the Genocide. All Muslim countries except Tunisia, voted for this Resolution.
Related to your last comments about proof that Israeli military killed their own civilians, this is testified to by Israeli civilians themselves and reported in the Middle East Observer and the Middle East Monitor. Many Israelis were killed by Israeli Apache helicopters and tanks firing indiscriminately into vehicles, houses and their own military bases, killing Israeli civilians, IDF soldiers, as well as Hamas fighters. It was partly based on the IDF’s Hannibal directive that hostages should be killed together with hostage-takers. Hamas fighters had been given pre-combat directives not to kill civilians, although many may still have been killed as many civilians had their own weapons, and others could have been killed unintentionally in cross-fire. Investigations show no evidence exists for so-called beheading of babies or rapes by Hamas that were announced early by the Israeli government propaganda machine.
If you want to know about footy, soccer, cricket, when Obama dog died and the Kardashians then read Our Australian broadsheets. For Middle East politics beside Al-Jazeera read Haaretz (Israel News, the Middle East and the Jewish World). Haaretz does a commendable effort in bringing out the Right and Left Wing version of Middle East news. You can them make your own judgment what the Truth is or what is probably Truthful.
That the self-described democracies could endorse this genocide in the face of daily coverage of the atrocities forces us to consider just what we are dealing with.
Human rights have been defended in most cases by these same democracies but that has evaporated under American and Israeli pressure. The German government has for the second time in 100 years endorsed a genocide. Britain has jumped on the American bandwagon as usual.
The division of the Muslim countries is as the Sykes-Picot Agreement intended and they are ineffective by choice.
The UN General Assembly vote and the huge demonstrations across the world show that Israel and the US have taken a major blow from which they may not recover.
That our Labor government endorsed the Netanyahu gang of religious fanatics is deeply shocking. Politics in this country will never be the same either.