The International and Peaceful Network Australia (IPAN) has initiated an open letter calling on Defence Minister Richard Marles to stop sending weapons and parts to Israel.
The letter states that Australia has been continuing military exports to Israel as it commits mass murder in the Gaza Strip, including supplying the devices that open weapons bay doors for F-35 fighter jets and the Electro Optic Systems R400 cannon.
It also calls on Labor to cancel the $917 million defence contract with Israeli weapons corporation Elbit Systems.
It further warns that, under current arrangements, Australia and government ministers involved in the lethal trade are complicit in supporting and aiding Israel’s mass slaughter and starvation program in Gaza. Having ratified the 1948 Genocide Convention in 1949, Australia is required to prevent and punish a genocide, in times of peace or war, under its first article.
IPAN has listed a total of six international laws that require Australia to take action to stop the Gaza genocide.
Human rights lawyer and journalist Kellie Tranter, an IPAN patron, has uncovered details of Australia’s involvement in the supply chain of a key part for the F-35 which are being couriered to Israel. Green Left spoke with Tranter about this deadly trade.
What are the implications of Labor continuing to export weapons and parts, directly or via a third party, to Israel?
Australia is clearly in breach of its obligations under international law to do all that it can to prevent genocide by continuing to export weapons and/or parts and/or other materiel to Israel and probably also in having any commercial or diplomatic relations with Israel at all.
This is made clear by the ICJ’s 2024 Advisory Opinion on Israel’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories and by Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese’s numerous reports.
Australia’s exports of essential parts for war machines — and I am far from confident that is the limit of what we export — with the knowledge it has had since November 2023 of the likelihood of a genocide being committed, there is a real risk of Australia being legally complicit in the genocide and of those in government whose acts facilitate, or give rise to, that complicity being personally in breach of international law.
As things stand, the implications of continuing to trade arms with Israel are relatively limited in terms of legal consequences. In reality, the implications will flow from the electorate’s awareness of our government’s duplicity in circumstances where doing anything to assist Israel in its almost universally abhorred genocide is subject to extreme public disapproval.
The magnitude of the Gaza genocide was apparent to many in the early days. But ministers continue to deny that weapons are being sent to Israel. What do you think about the way the government has been handling the issue of weapons to Israel?
The probability of a genocide being in progress was obvious in November 2023. Official documents we unearthed demonstrated the government’s awareness of that back then.
Labor also had the benefit of legal advice about the characterisation and lawfulness of Israel’s actions, which it has not shared with the public. So there can be no doubt that the export of whatever military supplies, or parts, or like materiel, has been done with the approval of our government with that knowledge.
This is important on the question of moral culpability as well as legal culpability.
Labor’s attempts to hide its actions behind verbal gobbledygook and, in some cases, outright lies reflects badly on its members’ integrity.
If the government thought it was doing the right thing or that what it was doing was justifiable, then it would be frank with the public about what it is doing, rather than be evasive or obstructive. It would explain why it is doing what it is.
We expect our government to act on our behalf in a principled and morally upright way. We see weapons exports to Israel as a breach of what our country should be doing and 300,000 of us demonstrated that a few weeks ago [over the Sydney Harbour Bridge].
In Declassified Australia in November 2023, you revealed the F-35 weapons bay door devices are being produced in Australia and you recently produced evidence showing direct F-35 part exports to Israel. There have also been other revelations around plating, steel and weapons-related export licences to Israel. How would you describe the extent of the weapons’ trade with Israel?
I’m not sure I can competently summarise the combined knowledge of the extent of the weapons trade with Israel at the moment. I have been one of many investigative journalists and activists, here and overseas, sifting records and otherwise seeking information about these exports.
For example, the recent direct exports to Israel discussed in Declassified Australia were brought to our attention by our Irish friends at The Ditch.
I have written articles from time to time about things I turned up, but I have never kept a tally of what the evidence, overall, shows. In fact, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to know the real extent of what the trade is, both in terms of actual military supplies, as commonly understood, and in terms of dual-use items that are being applied in the Israel genocide.
This information would be enlightening on both fronts, but the government does all it can — by denials and administrative obstruction — to keep it secret.
The important thing is that our combined efforts have unearthed enough information to reveal a little of our government’s real activities and demonstrate their mendacity.
IPAN opposes the AUKUS pact and the bipartisan embrace of the force posture initiatives, which allow the United States unimpeded access to Australia’s airfields and airport facilities. How do you assess the integration of the Australian and US militaries?
I am, and have always been, appalled by the trend to military integration with the US. I cannot see any real benefit to Australia. The relationship with the US is not an equal alliance or true partnership; rather we are a subservient outlier that provides a convenient staging point for US ventures in our part of the world, and a useful ally to parade in attempting to lend legitimacy to any US predatory or inflammatory actions, including the South Pacific.
The legitimacy of the US as the leader of the free world has evaporated in the smoke and dust from the ruins of Gaza.
The recent Israeli attempt to murder the Hamas negotiators in Qatar, historically one of the strongest US allies in the Middle East, obviously with the foreknowledge of the US, speaks volumes for how much trust can be afforded to the US nowadays.