Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | 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 the Middle East.

This Friday, 29 November, marks the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. This year is a significant commemoration. It is not a moment of despair, nor a moment to bow our heads in defeat in the face of endless slaughter. Instead, we mark a seismic shift in the global narrative on Palestine. Today, the Palestinian flag flies in all corners of the world. Millions have marched all year, have agitated, have organised boycotts and have chanted for Palestinian freedom. The movement for a free Palestine is growing.

In attempting to erase the indigenous people of Palestine, all Israel and the United States have achieved through their genocide is the permanence of Palestinian existence.

Despite Palestinians being maligned and dehumanised by racist politicians and media for decades, including in this country, the world is rising with the Palestinian people. Justice and truth go hand in hand. People in this country and around the world see the truth of Israel. They see it for the genocidal apartheid state that it is. They see it as a settler, colonial project built on violent racial supremacy. That is why more and more people are protesting and boycotting and chanting. That is why all the malicious attempts in this parliament and from the legacy media to distract and deflect are not working. None of your tactics to cover up for a genocide, to cover up for Israel's crimes, are working. The ICC arrest warrants are proof of that. The ICC has flushed out everyone in here who has spoken and worked to undermine every effort to hold Israel to account for this genocide.

To those in this parliament and in state parliaments across the country, I call on you to sense this global shift, understand that you can't stop it, understand that attempts to shut down criticism of Israel won't stop justice from prevailing and understand that you are on the side of savagery. Justice will prevail, and Palestine will be free.

Question agreed to.