During the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials at the end of World War 2 a common Nazi defence was “I was only following orders” but there was a less well-known defence offered by senior Nazi figures.
In March 1946, Sir David Maxwell Fyfe, a British prosecutor at the Nuremberg war crimes trials was cross examining the head of the Luftwaffe, Herman Goering about the execution of allied prisoner of war in camps under his control.
While attempting to evade the questions his answers boiled down to “I did not know”. This did not absolve him of responsibility for his crimes.
Goering was not the only one to use that excuse.
In April 1945, when the Buchenwald concentration camp was liberated by allied soldiers, more than 1000 residents of nearby villages were forced to tour the camp to view the atrocities committed firsthand.
Many of those claimed they did not know that at a conservative estimate more than 35,000 prisoners were murdered there. It is apparent from interviews that while many Germans did not know the details, they had suspicions of what was happening.
In fact, it was not just Germans ignoring the obvious.
The US, the UK and Russia knew as early as December 1942 that as many as 2 million Jews had already been massacred and millions more were at risk. They kept this information secret for fear of the public’s reaction.
All they could do was continue trying to bomb Nazi Germany into submission and prepare for the inevitable invasion of the European mainland.
Today it is different.
We have politicians feigning ignorance and hiding behind the mantra of “Israel has a right to defend itself”, while knowing fully well that the Israeli military is not a defence force, it is an occupation force practicing all the brutality that an occupation entails.
At the same time a complicit mainstream media practices both-sidesism by giving a megaphone to Israel’s apologists for genocide.
Unlike in World War II the crimes of Israel cannot be hidden. They are live streamed every day by courageous journalists who are targeted for execution by the Israeli state.
As of 27 December 2024, Israel has murdered 154 journalists in Gaza and others in Lebanon and the West Bank. Just as in World War II there are always survivors to testify to atrocities, but an extra dimension has been added by Israeli soldiers whose souls are so depraved that they proudly broadcast their war crimes on Tik-Tok.
We have all seen vast fields of debris where houses, schools and hospitals once stood, images of mass burials and the bloodied bodies of children appear on our screens.
Reports of arrest, torture and murder of medical personnel, including the rape of prisoners are common.
Israel has its own Abu Ghraib where its war criminals are free to commit their crimes supported and encouraged by Netanyahu and his ministers.
You cannot absolve the Israeli people of these crimes either. With viewing platforms constructed so they can view the crimes against humanity live.
As much as western governments try to deny it, even they cannot hide.
There is chilling video of a doctor giving evidence at a British Parliamentary committee hearing where he describes Israel’s use of AI powered hunter killer drones to target civilians fleeing the bombing of their homes.
When asked how bad it was, he described it as being worse than the Rwandan genocide where he also served with foreign aid agencies.
He broke down in tears as he described a 3-year-old child victim of one of these deliberately targeted drone attacks. How he used the hospital’s last arterial shunt to repair her severed neck artery only to have her die 5 days later from an infection which could not be treated because Israel blocks the entry of essential antibiotics.
That hospital, one of the last one’s functioning has now been closed by the Israeli military who beat, stripped and tortured patients and medical staff and transported them to one of their prison camps where prisoners frequently die as a result of beatings and torture.
The hospital is now used as a headquarters by the Israeli military.
We know, the world knows, and politicians know. They can’t use Herman Goering’s defence. So, what can politicians like Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong do?
They can start by recognising Palestine and demand an immediate ceasefire, not the current sham where returning Gazans are targeted by Israeli snipers and the murder of Palestinians and home demolitions continue to occur almost daily in the West Bank.
They can demand that Israel close its illegal settlements and move back behind its pre-1967 borders.
Of course, Israel won’t do that, but Australia can still act. It can join South Africa and Ireland in bringing genocide charges in the International Criminal Court. It can ban trade with Israel and impose sanctions.
The government can close Australian ports to Israeli shipping. It can cease buying weaponry from Israel which is field tested on the blood and bodies of Palestinians.
It can make it easier for Palestinian Australians to bring their surviving relatives in.
It can also ban money being sent to support Israel’s illegal settlements or the military. More importantly it can ban the recruitment of Australians to serve in the Israeli military and ban Australians from service in the Israeli military.
It’s not being courageous. It’s about being on the right side of history. Given recent statements by the Trump-Netanyahu axis promoting the continued ethnic cleansing of Gaza politicians can also firmly condemn this policy and refuse to commit Australian troops and resources to this criminal misadventure.
What can we do apart from marching in protest?
We can make sure our politicians can’t use the Herman Goering defence. Go to the Australian Parliament website (https://www.aph.gov.au/), and search for your local members name and government email address.
Then send them the videos of the crimes committed by Israel together with respectful demands for action so they can’t claim they did not know.
Above all send them to Anthony Albanese, Penny Wong and Peter Dutton.
Remember to be polite and clear about what you are asking them to do and remind them that they are supposed to represent you, not the interests of a genocidal state.
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