A state that denies rights to millions of people and systemically discriminates against a fifth of its citizens cannot be considered a true democracy. The Israeli military is standing idly by while hundreds of settlers go on a rampage, freely killing and injuring Palestinians, burning down their homes and destroying their property.
Full speech
Senator STEELE-JOHN (Western Australia) (13:54): The Greens are deeply concerned about the current situation in Israel. While hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens go out on the streets to protest the undemocratic measures being taken by the new government in relation to the judiciary, the blood spilt in recent weeks in Jenin, Jerusalem, Nablus, Jericho and other places in the West Bank, reaching a peak of mass violence in Hadera, remind us all that there can be no democracy while there is also occupation and inequality. A state that denies rights to millions of people and systemically discriminates against a fifth of its citizens cannot be considered a true democracy. The Israeli military is standing idly by while hundreds of settlers go on a rampage, freely killing and injuring Palestinians, burning down their homes and destroying their property. Only six Israeli settlers have been arrested despite the availability of video evidence of their egregious human rights abuses, and now the Israeli government is turning its police on its own citizens.
The new changes in Israeli policy must be called out for what they are: the de facto annexation of the occupied Palestinian territory and a subversion of any pretence of Israel’s democracy. The Greens always rejected and condemned the promotion of violence, whether perpetrated by a state organisation or individual. While recognising the right of the Palestinian people to resist Israeli occupation in accordance with international law, we also recognise that the rise of far-right extremism in the state of Israel has contributed to an expansion of the occupied territories. The Greens are calling on the Australian government to immediately end all engagement and trade with the Israeli military and be clear in its condemnation of the Israeli— (Time expired)