Lidia Thorpe (Victoria, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Just turning down the temperature. With Palestinian Prisoners Day coming up on 17 April, I want to speak the truth this parliament too often avoids. Since 1967 over one million Palestinians have been detained under Israeli's military system. Today nearly more than 9½-thousand, including children, are imprisoned. Many are held indefinitely without charge under so-called administrative detention based on secret evidence. Often their crime is nothing more than throwing stones or sharing a social media post criticising the genocide.

And yesterday Israel passed a new law to sentence Palestinian prisoners to death by hanging without clemency. This is not justice but oppression and apartheid. If these practices were undertaken by any other country, we would condemn them.

Last week, UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese—the real good Albanese—released a report finding that Israel's use of torture is systematic, forming part of what she identifies as a genocidal project. Palestinians are beaten, subjected to sexual violence, starvation and psychological terror, both inside prisons and across the occupied territories. This system of organised cruelty and collective punishment is designed to crush dignity and resistance and break a people.

Australia claims to support human rights while turning a blind eye. Foreign minister Wong must impose targeted sanctions on Israeli officials and entities responsible for this system, support International Criminal Court investigations and urgently investigate Australians serving in the Israeli military. Silence is complicity. We must stand for justice, accountability and the fundamental right of Palestinians to live free from occupation, apartheid and genocide. Free Palestine!