Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Recent footage of the Israeli government minister Itamar Ben-Gvir taunting detained flotilla activists heading to Palestine highlights the arrogance, brutality and disregard for international law of the Netanyahu government. My understanding is that there were two recent interceptions of the flotilla, which consisted of 70 boats and 3,000 participants from 100 countries, including 17 Australians. With them was a dedicated medical fleet of 1,000 healthcare professionals carrying vital supplies to support Gaza's decimated healthcare system. Credible reports, including firsthand accounts from flotilla activists, allege violence and degrading sexual abuse towards some of those detained.

If the treatment of the flotilla members was perpetrated by any other country, there would be universal outrage throughout the community and across this chamber, but, because it is Israel, there has hardly been a murmur. There are also allegations that dual Australian-Israeli citizens have returned to Israel and participated in Israeli military operations that are now the subject of war crimes investigations.

One can only imagine the brutality and cruelty of how Palestinian prisoners are treated, and I do not dismiss allegations of sexual assault, rape and torture of Palestinians in Israeli detention centres, as has been reported time and again and which Israel continues to deny. Simultaneously, the Israeli settlements in the West Bank continue, in breach of international law and after international condemnation.

I commend the Albanese government for joining with several other Western countries in calling for:

… the Government of Israel to end its expansion of settlements and administrative powers, ensure accountability for settler violence and investigate allegations against Israeli forces, respect the Hashemite custodianship over Jerusalem's Holy Sites and the historic status quo arrangements, and lift financial restrictions on the PA—

Palestinian Authority—

and the Palestinian economy.

These are not the words of radicals but of the leaders of nine Western countries.

I also note that Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir were sanctioned last June by the governments of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom for inciting extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights. However, there needs to be stronger measures taken because whilst the Israeli government has the backing of the USA it will continue to ignore global opinion and international law.