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Foreign Minister Penny Wong claims to support a ceasefire in Gaza and that her government supports an independent Palestinian state. Prime minister Anthony Albanese claims to be "angry" about the killing of an Australian aid worker. And defence minister Richard Marles claims Australia hasn't sold weapons to Israel "for years".
But the government's actions belie these claims.
In 2017, the Australian and Israeli governments signed a defence industry cooperation pact which they have both refused to make public. DFAT's website boasts that since 2017, "Australia and Israel have expanded cooperation on national security, defence and cyber security." Australian company Rosebank Engineering supplies parts manufactured for F-35 fighter jets that are being used right now to bomb Gaza. More than 70 Australian companies have been awarded “over $4.13 billion in global production and sustainment contracts through the F-35 program to date.”
The US government's latest arms package for Israel, approved last month, includes an additional 25 F-35s just as Israel plans a new assault on Rafah.
And there is the $917 million dollar Australian defence contract with Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems to deliver "advanced protection, fighting capabilities and sensors" for Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFVs) being constructed in the Victorian electorate of Defence Minister Richard Marles.
Elbit systems manufacture unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) used for precision attacks on targets in Gaza, including schools hospitals, apartments and places of worship. It was an Elbit-manufactured Hermes 450 drone was used to murder Zomi Frankcom and six other World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid workers on 1st April after they had just delivered more that 100 tonnes of food aid to a warehouse in the central Gaza.
We demand the Australian government take real action to stop the genocide in Gaza, including:
- imposing an immediate two-way arms embargo on Israel and urging other states to do the same
- breaking diplomatic ties with Israel, including expelling the Israeli ambassador from Canberra and recalling Australia's ambassador in Tel Aviv
- banning entry to Australia from all Israeli government representatives and illegal settlers guilty of war crimes
- imposing trade sanctions on Israel, beginning with a complete ban on the import of all products made in illegal Israeli settlements.