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

Today is the National Day of Action for Palestine. Last year, during this time in Ramadan, I couldn't stop thinking about Palestine. Every moment—fasting, breaking my fast, sleeping, waking, working—Palestine was on my mind. I kept wondering: how could things possibly get any worse? The genocide was live streamed for the world to see. It wasn't hidden. I don't think I will ever be able to forget the horrific images of children being bombed, being snipered and being starved to death. And what was our government's response? Best case, we saw the mildest of criticism, always framed in Israel's right to defend itself. Some government MPs even travelled to Israel to meet with war criminals and watch the destruction firsthand. I hope this election marks the end of their time in parliament.

So here we are in another Ramadan. The brief respite Palestinians had was destroyed when Israel broke the ceasefire, although we know that there never really was a ceasefire. Then came the criminal act of cutting off life-saving aid, tightening the noose around the neck of some of the most vulnerable people on earth, followed by the resumed slaughter of hundreds of men, women and children. In just a few days, refugee camps and hospitals were being bombed once again. The settler colonial state continues its attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, seizing more land to expand its apartheid settlements. Just this week Hamdan Ballal, the Palestinian co-director of Oscar winning film No Other Land, was abducted and assaulted by settlers.

So this Ramadan I am wiser. I know that there is no red line for Labor when it comes to Palestine. There are no limits to their inhumanity and their cowardice. There are no limits to their shamelessness, hypocrisy and double standards when it comes to protecting the apartheid State of Israel. They ruthlessly pursue anyone who dares to criticise Israel or challenge their narrative. They drove Senator Payman out of their party. They withdrew artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino from the Venice Biennale. Academic Randa Abdel-Fattah faces relentless targeting. The level of impunity they provide Israel and its partner the US was there for all to see when neither our Prime Minister nor our foreign minister could bring themselves to even denounce Trump's plan to literally ethnically cleanse Gaza and take it over. We know you have double standards. When Russia commits war crimes, you uphold international law and standards. But, when Israel does the same, there is complete and utter silence.

I do not know what else I can say to convince you to act. There are at least 50,000 dead, likely closer to 200,000, mostly women and children. If that's not enough, I don't know what will be. So I will say this. These are the final words of a 23-year-old Al Jazeera journalist, Hossam Shabat. Of course Israel and their bootlicker friends in the conservative media claim that Shabat was a fighter, something the Committee to Protect Journalists called unsubstantiated. It is a well-known tactic of Israel to cover their tracks of murdering journalists to try and cut off the coverage of the genocide. Shabat's final message was this:

If you're reading this, it means I have been killed—most likely targeted—by the Israeli occupation forces. When this all began, I was only 21 years old—a college student with dreams like anyone else. For past 18 months, I have dedicated every moment of my life to my people. I documented the horrors in northern Gaza minute by minute, determined to show the world the truth they tried to bury. I slept on pavements, in schools, in tents—anywhere I could. Each day was a battle for survival. I endured hunger for months, yet I never left my people's side.

…   …   …

I ask you now: do not stop speaking about Gaza. Do not let the world look away. Keep fighting, keep telling our stories—until Palestine is free.

The Greens and I will keep fighting. We will keep speaking out about Palestine. We will never be silenced.