If the government and Opposition think they will not be held accountable, they should think again.

The government and Opposition are disregarding the year-long protests of millions of Australians against Israel’s war on Palestinians and now the Lebanese people. Moreover, they are completely disregarding numerous petitions signed by thousands of Australians, including current and former judges, lawyers, politicians, ambassadors, public servants, doctors, workers, journalists and more.

While Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, and their party members lined up in parliament to condemn in the strongest terms the killing of 1,139 Israelis, including 36 children and 71 foreign workers, carried out by Hamas fighters on 7 October in retaliation to Israel’s occupation and killings. They have not, until now, uttered a single word of condemnation about Israel’s cowardly and savage war of genocide against 2.3 million defenceless people in Gaza. A war of genocide that has included cutting food, water, medical supplies and fuel; the indiscriminate carpet bombing of the entire Gaza strip, including hospitals, schools, universities, mosques, churches, banks, and bakeries…; and killing in the past year over 42,334 Palestinians, including more than 16,891 children and 11,458 women, and injuring 102,009, not to mention thousands missing under the rubble.

The labelling of Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Arab and Palestinian liberation movements as terrorist organisations by the US, Australia and some Western countries has enabled the Israeli regime to carry out the war of genocide against the Palestinian and Lebanese people and facilitated Israel’s violation of international law, under the pretext of fighting terrorism. Therefore, these countries bear responsibility for the terrorism and crimes committed by this colonial regime.

If the shedding of the blood of innocents is abhorrent, as it should be, then why do our leaders only show concern for this when Israeli colonialists are killed and remain dead silent over the killing of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians and Lebanese? Is it racism that guides these politicians? Do they believe Jewish blood is more valuable than Arab blood? This bigotry is condemnable and unacceptable to all decent Australians.

The government and Opposition put facts on their heads, making the aggressor a victim and the victim an aggressor. At best, they equalise between the criminal and the victim.

The issue did not begin on 7 October last year, and Israel is not an innocent party defending itself as the government implies. Israel is a settler-colonial apartheid regime established at the expense of the Palestinian people and on the ruins of Palestine.

With the backing of Britain, the US, and Western countries, three terrorist groups – the Haganah, Irgun, and Stern Gang – carried out dozens of massacres and ethnically cleansed two-thirds of........

© Pearls and Irritations