Photo: Rescuers and civilians sifted through the rubble of a girls’ school in southern Iran, desperately searching for survivors and recovering bodies, after a US-Israeli airstrike killed at least 165 people, including schoolchildren.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been accused of rushing to endorse what critics are calling an illegal and catastrophic war on Iran, after the United States under Donald Trump and Israel led by Benjamin Netanyahu launched sweeping airstrikes that have killed hundreds of civilians, including more than 165 primary school girls buried under the rubble of bombed classrooms.
In a joint statement, Albanese, Defence Minister Richard Marles and Foreign Minister Penny Wong declared their support for Washington’s actions, stating they “support the United States acting to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.”
The Prime Minister later described the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader as something that “will not be mourned.” Yet when pressed on the legality of the strikes under international law, Albanese deflected, saying such judgements were for the US and those “involved directly.”
The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC) has unequivocally condemned the joint US-Israeli assault.
Reports emerging from Iran indicate that schools, hospitals and homes have been bombed and hundreds of people have been killed within the last few days.
“The targeting of civilian infrastructure and the killing of children cannot be dismissed as collateral damage,” AFIC President Dr Rateb Jneid said. “This is not about defence. It is about power and destabilisation. The Middle East does not need further militarisation. It needs stability and serious diplomacy.”
AFIC expressed particular alarm at the Albanese government’s “swift expression of support,” contrasting it with Australia’s reluctance over the past two and half years to unequivocally condemn civilian atrocities in Gaza.
“If international law and the protection of civilians are principles we genuinely uphold, they must apply consistently,” Dr Jneid said. “Selective outrage erodes credibility.”
Greens Senator David Shoebridge went further, accusing Labor, the Coalition and One Nation of becoming “the three war parties in this parliament.”
In a blistering Senate speech, Shoebridge said the government had “rushed to be the first country in the world to back in Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu’s latest illegal war — literally rushing to back in a war that Labor knows is in gross breach of international law.”
He alleged that US facilities on Australian soil, including Pine Gap and North West Cape, were being used to support the strikes.
“Schoolgirls are being pulled out of rubble in a war that Labor supports. Multiple schools are being hit, targeted and destroyed in a war that Labor supports. A hospital was blown apart by Israeli missiles in a war that Labor supports,” Shoebridge said. “There is no plan B. You bomb and you kill, and you are reckless about the consequences.”
The Jewish Council of Australia also condemned Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s endorsement of the strikes, describing them as “an illegal act of aggression that threatens to escalate a dangerous regional conflict and lead to more death and suffering.”
Dr Max Kaiser, the Council’s Executive Officer, said the attack must be understood “not as an act of defence, but as an extension of the US and Israel’s efforts to control the region and divert global attention from their mounting war crimes in Gaza.”
Human rights lawyer Sarah Schwartz added: “We are horrified that the Australian Government would endorse an illegal military strike that risks triggering a broader war. Civilians across the region are already paying the price — it’s time for Australia to break ranks with those driving the violence.”
International law experts have echoed these concerns. Professor Ben Saul, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counterterrorism, described Australia’s support as backing “illegal US/Israeli aggression in violation of the UN Charter,” stressing that preventive regime change is an international crime.
As airspace across Iran remains closed and Australia’s embassy shut, tens of thousands of Iranian Australians anxiously attempt to contact loved ones amid mounting civilian casualties.
AFIC has called on the government to immediately urge de-escalation, condemn attacks resulting in mass civilian casualties and adopt an independent foreign policy grounded in international law.
Another widening war in the Middle East, community leaders warn, will not deliver safety or security. It will deepen suffering, entrench division and leave yet another generation of children — including more than 165 primary school girls — as its most tragic victims.
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