One thing which was crystal clear from the vigils in Australia on 7 October 2024 was the almost complete unanimity between the Labor-Coalition political class at federal and state levels to only attend vigils solely commemorating the deaths of Israelis, while simultaneously completely ignoring vigils commemorating the deaths of Palestinians, or vigils commemorating the deaths jointly of Palestinians, Lebanese, Israelis and other people killed, such as UN aid workers, health professionals and journalists.
It deserves emphasis that prime minister Albanese and his senior colleagues all attended vigils which excluded commemoration of deaths of everyone except Israelis. It also deserves emphasis that leading Coalition politicians, former prime ministers and senior ministers, including Dutton, Abbott, Morrison and Frydenberg, used the occasion to express praise, admiration and effusive support for the actions of the Netanyahu government, especially Netanyahu himself, in all his policies over the last year.
It was all the way with Netanyahu for the whole lot. Tony Abbott said “we admire the way that Israel has been so incredibly fastidious in trying to avoid” civilian casualties, “and we admire the extraordinarily clever and successful way in which the Israeli military and government have fought”. Such gross misrepresentation of the truth can only be described as despicable and abhorrent given the overwhelming evidence of the deliberate murder and mutilation of tens of thousands of people, including toddlers being shot as target practice.
Peter Dutton was perhaps even more enthusiastic than anyone outside Netanyahu’s cabinet. He had already adopted Netanyahu’s statements as part of his own rhetoric, most notably copying Netanyahu’s description of protesters against his genocidal destruction of Palestinian society in Gaza as “Iran’s useful idiots” and “useful idiots of Hamas”.
Dutton and other Coalition politicians used the phrase in attacking politicians who supported allowing Palestinian refugees from Gaza entry into Australia, adding “evil” for good measure to the Greens’ position of supporting UN policy positions. Dutton echoed Netanyahu in claiming Israel was at the forefront in defending “civilisation” against “barbarism”, as did the dedicated Trump supporter Scott Morrison.
Former Coalition treasurer Frydenberg opined that there’s “a sense that Israel, which is fighting a war on seven separate fronts in the West Bank, in Gaza, in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and against the Houthis—and of course, the puppet master, Iran—that Israel is making gains at great cost against the terrorists”.
And so it went until the first parliamentary sitting day after 7 October, when the obvious first business of the day was to be a competition between Albanese and Dutton for the best resolution condemning the events of 7 October 2023, in full endorsement of the Israeli position, in full agreement with Israeli views of what occurred, irrespective of all evidence in conflict with Israeli statements.
One aspect of this hideous competition was a demeaning but revealing exchange between Dutton and Albanese about who was best at following, like loyal minions, the Biden administration’s support for Israel, Albanese almost pleading that he followed Biden’s every directive; Dutton vehement in his criticism that Albanese did not.
In summary, the Australian Labor-Coalition political class has made clear that it rejects the fundamental principles of international law as written into the United Nations Genocide Convention and all other conventions designed to protect fundamental human rights, as being applicable to Israel.
It has made clear that it has no interest or intent in following or implementing any of the advisory opinions of the International Court of Justice or of the main decisions made by the United Nations General Assembly in relation to Israeli destruction of Palestinian society. It has made clear that it completely rejects the UN determinations on the “right of self-defence” in international law, especially as it applies to Palestinian territories occupied by Israel, but other matters as well.
The Australian Labor-Coalition political class has ignored, and by its actions rejected, UN decisions that Australia is legally obliged to stop its support for the Israeli settler-colonial project, to actively seek to stop Israel’s racial segregation and apartheid, and to cease military, diplomatic, economic, commercial, financial, investment, trade, political, and legal relations with the Israeli occupation.
They have not yet publicly endorsed the position of Donald Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner that Gaza could be very valuable waterfront property once Palestinians were removed, “better than Monaco” in Trump’s words. Perhaps we can expect Australian endorsement of Trump’s views in the near future.
It should not be underestimated or ignored by the Australian opponents of genocide currently being undertaken by the Israeli government against Palestinians that the Labor-Coalition political class is absolutely united in its support of the Netanyahu government, whatever atrocities they commit.
They are completely in thrall to their stated primary purpose and responsibility to serve the policies and interests of the U.S. above all else, and that entails complete support for the U.S. administration on all matters of substance—irrespective of who is president—with a small and overall meaningless element of flexibility allowed to protect the illusion of independence.
The Albanese-Dutton conflict is confected within this narrow range of flexibility, as it is with their state counterparts, particularly in NSW and Victoria, and they are not going to change their position in giving material, diplomatic and political support to whatever policies Netanyahu and his government use to destroy Palestinian communities in occupied territories and nearby countries such as Lebanon and Jordan.
In effect, Albanese and Dutton are competing minion-managers of Australia’s role as a subject state of the U.S., and as such they have rejected international humanitarian law, including Australian obligations as signatories to UN conventions designed to uphold and enforce basic human rights.