Palestinian advocacy groups including a large number of Muslim community organisations have condemned moves and statements by Labor federal and state governments amounting to intimidation of Palestinian supporters highlighting the ongoing genocide perpetrated through Israeli state terrorism.
These recent moves include Australian Senate passing a motion on Thursday 16 May condemning the phrase “From river to the sea” after Labor Senator Fatima Payman referred to it while condemning genocide of Palestinians.
Other anti-Palestinian moves include Victorian Parliament’s ban on the wearing of the keffiyeh within its chambers and Premier of NSW Chris Minns sacking of pro-Palestinian MP Anthony D’Adam as a parliamentary secretary after he criticised the behaviour of NSW Police officers at pro-Palestinian protests.
The Senate motion said the phrase “opposes Israel’s right to exist, and is frequently used by those who seek to intimidate Jewish Australians via acts of antisemitism” which was passed overwhelmingly by both Labor and Liberal senators by 56 votes in favour and 12 against.
Those voting against the motion including Greens senators and independent senator Lidia Thorpe. Senator Payman was not in the chamber.
Senator Fatima Payman, the first federal Labor parliamentarian to break ranks by publicly describing what is happening in Gaza as a genocide, called on the prime minister and government to sanction Israel and ended her speech by repeating the phrase “From river to the sea” on Wednesday 15 May.
“Instead of advocating for justice, I see our leaders performatively gesture defending the oppressor’s right to oppress while gaslighting the global community about the rights of self-defence,” Senator Payman said on Wednesday.
“My conscience has been uneasy for far too long and I must call this out for what it is. This is a genocide, and we need to stop pretending otherwise. She ended her speech by repeating the phrase: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”.
The joint statement condemning the Senate motion was issued by a large number of Islamic organisations both federal and state including AFIC, ANIC, AAM, ICV, ICNSW, LMA, MWA, AMAN, Palestine advocacy groups including APAN as well as the Jewish Council of Australia.
Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) President Nasser Mashni accused the Senate’s motion of trying to silence campaigners.
“This motion reads as if it was scripted by Zionist lobby groups, in yet another desperate bid to shrink the space for Palestinians and civil society groups to defend human rights, and to divert attention from the real issue at hand – that Israel is, in broad daylight and with the support and resourcing of Western governments, committing brutal genocide in Gaza,” he said.
In an open letter dated Friday 17 May, Australian Muslim Advocacy Network (AMAN) has written to Australian Senators to put them on notice of legal risk should they continue to impute inhuman and hateful intent on the part of Palestinian Australians, as was done in the Senate Motion on Thursday.
AMAN contends that those who supported the motion have adopted the pro-Israel lobby’s racially biased perspective on Palestinian Australians and their allies.
“The pro-Israel lobby interprets the slogan as violent and oppressive, reflecting their own chant, “from the river to the sea, the [Israeli flag] is all you’ll see.” Likud, Israel’s long-time ruling party, openly advocates annexing all Palestinian territories to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state. Their efforts to project such a meaning on the Palestinian freedom chant are made in bad faith and are a particularly egregious form of gaslighting the victims of Israel’s crimes. In genocide prevention studies, the technique is known as ‘accusation in the mirror’1 and has been used throughout historical genocides– accusing victims of genocide of genocidal tendencies to help pave the way for public acceptance of violence against them, ” the letter states.
It further states,”From the River to the Sea” is a call for freedom from Palestinians and their allies, fundamentally different from the annexation and colonisation promoted by Likud under the same phrase.”
The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC) has condemned the Victorian Parliament’s decision to ban the wearing of the keffiyeh within its chambers.
“This ruling not only suppresses an important symbol of Palestinian identity and resistance but also represents a broader attempt to silence voices advocating for the Palestinian cause amidst an ongoing ‘genocide’,” AFIC statement reads.
“The ban came into effect as the world commemorates Nakba Day, reminding us of the catastrophic displacement of Palestinians since 1948, which continues under the current hostilities. At a time when we should be amplifying Palestinian voices, the Victorian Parliament has chosen to mute them. This is an outrage against the values of freedom and justice,” AFIC President, Dr Rateb Jneid said.
Comments