Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Foreign Affairs (Senator Wong) to a question without notice I asked today relating to Palestine.

Israel's depraved, monstrous and evil crimes go beyond using children as target practice, and I shared some appalling examples, like the 10-day-old baby shot in the head while being breastfed. The independent report adds to the evidence that Israel has systematically targeted hospitals and health infrastructure while intentionally depriving children of the nutrition, safety and support that they need to live a life, let alone thrive.

In response to Russia's war in Ukraine, the Australian government imposed comprehensive sanctions and have extended them in the years since. Here is the racist double standard that calls out some crimes against humanity while allowing genocide in Gaza to go unpunished. Despite pleas for years and the mounting death toll, Labor has time and again refused to impose comprehensive sanctions on our trade relationship with Israel. Narrow sanctions against a few individuals do not cut it when the murderous apparatus of the Israeli state and its military are hell-bent on the root-and-branch destruction of Palestinian people. A refusal to call this genocide what it is does not cut it when Palestinians continue to be murdered long after the so-called ceasefire. What a farce.

It breaks my heart that anyone in power could read all of the stories in this report—of torture, of sexual abuse, of children killed while playing together—and then stay passive. How can we see Israel's allies in this parliament, Labor, the Liberals and One Nation, as anything but apologists for child killers? Here is, very simply, what I'm asking the Albanese Labor government to do for the children of Palestine: end the arms trade between Australia and Israel, put comprehensive trade sanctions against Israel and call a genocide for what it is: a genocide.

David Shoebridge (NSW, Australian Greens) | Link to this | Hansard source

The independent UN commission of inquiry into the violent occupation of Palestinian territory by the Israeli government has now made this damning report into the killing of children. Palestinian children, the UN has found, have been deliberately targeted, including post-ceasefire, with the Israeli Defence Forces intending to destroy the existence of Palestinians in Gaza. The report details how more than 20,000—20,179—children have been killed. More than 44,000 children in addition to that have been injured, and the report details the brutality of the IDF and the Israeli occupation in Gaza and the West Bank. Children have experienced torture and inhumane and degrading treatment, including sexual and gender based violence, and Israel has been targeting critical infrastructure through large-yield bombs. Schools, orphanages and healthcare facilities have all been targeted and destroyed by Israel through large-yield bombs.

Some of the examples are just so appalling that it's hard to imagine how Israel has escaped widespread global sanctions, but here are some. In January 2024, five-year-old Hind Rajab was killed alongside the rest of her family of seven in a family car, and the IDF deliberately obstructed rescue attempts, despite knowing that there were seriously injured children in the car. In January 2024, a member of the IDF with a sniper rifle shot a 15-year-old boy three times. He was waving a white cloth as his family attempted to evacuate a building in Khan Younis. The conclusion is that the last two shots were likely meant to ensure that the boy—the 15-year old boy with a white flag—was dead. His 20-year-old brother was also killed while rushing to the body of his brother.

Three times Senator Wong was given the opportunity to explain why, in light of these findings, Australia has not imposed a two-way arms trade embargo. Three times Senator Wong was asked, 'Why won't Australia impose the same sanctions on Israel as we imposed on Russia for their illegal war?' and three times Senator Wong failed to even mention the two-way arms trade and failed to even mention the details in the UN report. Her silence and her refusal spoke volumes. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.