(The Australian, 8/8/2024)
At least one Australian Party knows how to challenge Genocide and Murder – Mark
The Greens will use the return of parliament after the five-week winter break to urge the Albanese government to sanction Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his government, after knocking on 50,000 doors to campaign on Labor’s “failure to act” on Gaza.
As Anthony Albanese appealed to politicians to “lower the temperature of debate”, a defiant Greens leader Adam Bandt declared: “If Labor wants to change the debate, they should change their position, starting with sanctioning the extremist Netanyahu government, recognising Palestine and ending the two-way military trade with Israel.”
A Greens motion that could be put to the Senate as early as Monday, but will be moved at a time that will have “greatest effect”, notes the government has imposed autonomous sanctions on people and entities connected to North Korea, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Russia, Syria and Zimbabwe.
It says that, despite UN independent investigations showing “clear violations of international law” by Israel, the government hasn’t placed sanctions on any person or entity “complicit in the genocide and war crimes being perpetrated by the State of Israel”.
The motion “calls on the government to sanction members of the extremist Netanyahu government, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant”.
Cabinet minister Ed Husic said over the weekend that Labor should be open to extending sanctions to Israel and its leader, sparking condemnation from Jewish groups and the opposition who warned such sanctions against the government of a democratic friend and partner would be unprecedented.
The Greens conducted a pre-election ground offensive in Labor electorates with working class and migrant communities, knocking on 50,000 doors during the winter break to try to destabilise the government over the war in Gaza and the cost of living.
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