Jordon Steele-John (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

The State of Israel's non-compliance with the International Court of Justice is evident in the blocking of aid into Gaza and the Australian government must take action to compel the State of Israel to comply with orders of the ICJ and allow aid into all parts of Gaza at the scale needed.

The matter of urgency put forward by the Australian Greens calls on the Senate to acknowledge the State of Israel's noncompliance with the orders of the International Court of Justice as evidenced in the continued blocking of aid provision to Gaza. Human Rights Watch has told the world, clearly, as have so many international aid organisations—and it's clear from the lived experience of Gazans on the ground—that the State of Israel continues to use starvation as a weapon of war. If we want more evidence of this we need look no further than the reality of the horror of children literally wasting before our eyes right now in Gaza.

On the issue of the State of Israel's noncompliance with the orders of the International Court of Justice, who said clearly that the State of Israel must allow aid to reach the innocent civilians of Gaza—the children of Gaza who need food now. We need look no further than the reality that in the three weeks after the order of the court, less aid was delivered to the north of Gaza than in the three weeks leading up to the order of the court.

As we sit here today, as a direct result of the policies of the State of Israel over 30,000 Palestinians are dead, millions have been displaced and starvation, disease and dehydration continue not only to be the everyday reality of the people of Gaza but the explicit policy of the State of Israel, wielded as a weapon of war. It is vital that Australia takes action to compel the State of Israel to comply with the orders of the ICJ and allow aid into all parts of Gaza at the scale it is desperately needed.

Overnight, the United Nations Security Council passed a motion that reiterated a demand that all parties comply with their obligations under international law. The motion, uniting much of the world, expressed deep concerns about the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza and emphasised the urgent need to expand the flow of humanitarian assistance and to reinforce the protection of civilians in the Gaza Strip.

The Greens are calling on the Senate today and we urge all members of this place to vote to implore the Australian government to do all it can to promote a permanent, ongoing ceasefire in Gaza and to get urgent humanitarian aid to all who need it in Gaza.

Australia needs to play an active, engaged and constructive role in the creation of a lasting and just peace for Palestinians and Israelis. The Australian government must stop exporting arms to Israel. The Australian government must sanction the Prime Minister of the State of Israel and his war cabinet for the war crimes, crimes against humanity and, arguably, crimes of genocide which are the explicit policies of his cabinet and his government. And Australia must join with South Africa in supporting their genocide case against the State of Israel at the ICJ. The time is now for the Australian government to join with the Australian community, to discover the courage that lives within the Australian community, and to bring that courage into being, to champion it and its humanity in the spaces that we occupy on the global stage.