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In the last week, Australia has been host to Israeli war criminals and their supporters. Some 35 Israelis are here as part of the delegation led by Israeli Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom and are attending various functions and forums shamefully attended by our government ministers and members of parliament from both sides of the political spectrum. Only yesterday, our Prime Minister rushed to an Australia Israel Leadership Forum luncheon in Sydney where he was guest speaker, despite having just returned from an overseas trip. He said that “Australia’s new era of political partisanship could hardly have had a more convivial start.” Not to be outdone, new opposition leader Tony Abbott said “I’d like to think that nowhere in the world [does Israel] have more stauncher friends than us.”
When almost the whole world is beginning to acknowledge Israel’s war crimes and crimes against humanity, it little behoves Australia to declare its fealty to Israel. The visit is not over yet. On Sunday, Shalom and his delegation will be attending a gala dinner at the Park Hyatt in Melbourne with Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard in attendance. We would like supporters to come and protest from 5.00pm and let them know that while our government representatives may be feting these war criminals and their supporters, the rest of Australia (at least those who know) are disgusted that they have even been allowed into the country. It is barely 12 months ago that Israel bombed Gaza when the 1.5 million population was already on its knees from the crippling sanctions that Israel had imposed 18 months earlier.
In light of all this, Australians for Palestine has written to the Attorney General asking him to investigate the war crimes of Ehud Olmert since he was ultimately responsible as Prime Minister of Israel for the massacres that took place in Gaza recently. He is already facing war crimes charges in other countries and is likely to be arrested if he tries to enter the UK. Copies of the letter were also sent to the Federal Police Commissioner Tony Negus, the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister. A press release was sent to the media last night. Needless to say, there is silence. The letter and press release was posted on our website, but this morning we found ourselves unable to connect to the website. This is being investigated. In the meantime, we will send you the letter and press release and ask you to circulate them and urge you and the people you know to protest to our government and the media.
Australia does not need friends like this. The Rudd government ought to be repairing the damage that was done to our international reputation during the eleven years of John Howard’s rule and not jump in after them. It seems though that Australia is not picking up on the rising chatter in cyberspace and elsewhere that Israel’s history of criminal deeds are soon going to bring it undone.
Sonja Karkar
Editor, Australians for Palestine
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3 December 2009 FOR YOUR URGENT ATTENTION
The Hon Robert McClelland MP
Attorney General
PO Box 6022
Parliament House
CANBERRA ACT 2600
Dear Mr McClelland,
Australians for Palestine brings to your attention the presence in Australia of suspected war criminal Ehud Olmert, former prime minister of Israel between 4 January 2006 and 31 March 2009.
We make the complaint in regard to his liability for the criminal acts carried out during Israel’s “Operation Cast Lead” which was perpetrated against the 1.5 million people in Gaza between 27 December 2008 and 18 January 2009. As you are aware, Division 268 of the Criminal Code Act 1995 applies to persons such as Mr Olmert.
Approximately 1400 Palestinians were killed in that operation – most of them civilians – and the magnitude of the fatalities raises very serious concerns about the way Israel conducted its military operations in Gaza.
The UN-sponsored Goldstone Report uncovered ten instances of Israeli forces directly attacking civilians for which there was no justifiable military objective and in which they must have been aware of the civilian status of those attacked.
Attacks by Israel, which did not distinguish between civilians and combatants, and civilian objects and military objectives are war crimes and may amount to grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention. They may also amount to crimes against humanity. These international crimes are subject to individual criminal liability for those who planned or executed such attacks.
As prime minister at the time, Mr Olmert bears ultimate responsibility for the conduct of Israel’s operation during its assault on Gaza. He no longer holds office and therefore should have no immunity that is relevant to this criminal complaint.
Particular instances of Mr Olmert’s criminal liability We provide details of some of the attacks for which Mr Olmert has primary criminal liability because he ultimately approved the operations by Israeli forces.
1. The attack on the al-Maqadmah Mosque, 3 January 2009:
15 people were killed and 40 seriously injured when a missile struck the mosque while a large number of people had gathered for late afternoon prayers. Goldstone’s UN fact-finding mission found no evidence that the mosque had been used for weapons storage or any military activities by Palestinian armed groups at that or any other time. Even if militants had been gathered among the
worshippers, there was no justification in humanitarian law for bombing the mosque during services.
An affidavit presented to the Goldstone mission by Ismail al-Salawi recounts the bloody chaos he witnessed on arriving at the mosque after his 13-year-old daughter ran towards him screaming that it had been bombed. He found that his grandson Muhammad, 13, his nephews, Hani, 8 and Omar, 27 had been killed. A similar explanation was presented by Ayisha Ibrahim whose husband Abdul Rahman, 46 and son Ra’id were killed in the attack.
2. The attack on the houses of Ateya al-Samouni and Wa’el al-
Samouni in Zeytoun, 4 & 5 January 2009:
Ateya Samouni was shot dead by Israeli ground forces when he stepped forward with hands raised and holding his ID and Israeli driving licence. Soldiers opened gunfire inside the room where about 20 family members were gathered. Several people were injured including four-year-old Ahmad. The soldiers refused to allow the injured out of the area so that they could seek medical attention in Gaza and in the early hours of the morning, Ahmad died.
A further 21 family members were killed and 19 injured when missiles launched from Apache helicopters attacked Wa’el al-Samouni’s house. The dead include Saleh-al-Samouni’s father, Talal Helmi al –Samouni, his mother, Rahma Muhammad al-Samouni and his two-year-old daughter Azza. Also killed were:
Ismaeil Ibrahim (male, 16); Ishaq Ibrahim (male, 14); Maha Muhammad (female, 20); Muhammad Hilmi Talal (the six-yearold son of Maha); Hanan Khamis Sa’di (female, 36); Huda Naiel (female, 17); Rezqa Muhammad Mahmoud (female, 56); Safaa Sobhi (female, 24); al-Moa’tasim Bilah Muhammad (male, 6 months); Hamdi Maher (male, 24); Rashad Helmi (male, 42); Nassar Ibrahim Hilmi (male, 6).
3. The attack on the al-Daya family house, 6 January 2009:
22 members of the al-Daya family in Zeitoun were killed when a projectile fired from an F-16 aircraft hit their house. Twelve of those killed were children under 10. Israeli armed forces had reached Zeitoun three days earlier and rumours began circulating that a house in the neighbourhood would be bombed, but the al-Daya family said that they had received no warning prior to the bombing.
Although Israel says that this was an “operational error”, its target being a neighbouring house with stored weapons, no neighbouring house was destroyed at any time after the bombing of the al-Daya house.
4. Attacks on infrastructure:
Attacks were also carried out on the foundations of civilian life in Gaza. Industrial infrastructure was destroyed so badly that it had dire consequences for food production, water installations, sewage treatment and housing. In one instance, the only flour mill in the whole of Gaza (situated in el-Bader) was hit by a series of air strikes on 9 January 2009 after several false warnings issued on
previous days. The intention was clearly to disable the factory and its productive capacity and was not justified by military necessity. This amounts to a war crime.
Further, Mr Olmert has liability as a secondary party to the killings and/or he is liable for conspiracy to murder.
What Ehud Olmert said during the course of the offensive Only a few days into Israel’s Operation Cast Lead, Mr Olmert said “The Gaza offensive has begun and will not end…. until our goals are reached, we are continuing according to the plan.”
Olmert upped the stakes further when he told President Shimon Peres on 30 December that the operation was “the first of several stages approved by the security cabinet.”
On 5 June, he told Russian president Dmitry Medvedev that “Israel could not stop its military activity before it reaches the goals it has set.”
By 11 January in the public part of the regular weekly cabinet meetings, he said that Israel was “getting close to achieving the goals it set for itself,” but that “more patience, determination and effort are still demanded. He gave no time frame but said that Israel “must not miss out, at the last moment, on what has been achieved through an unprecedented national effort.”
PO Box 2099, Hawthorn Vic 3122 • Ph: 03 9818 5080 • Fax: 03 9818 5009
Website: http://www.australiansforpalestine.com/
• Email: info@australiansforpalestine.
On 12 January, the Associated Press reported that Olmert, addressing an audience in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, said that he had succeeded in getting US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice to abstain on a resolution calling for a halt to the fighting in Gaza, a resolution which she helped draft. Israel’s offensive continued for another six days.
A case to answer
From the selected cases described, the conduct of the Israeli armed forces constitutes grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention in respect of wilful killings and wilfully causing great suffering to protected persons. Olmert’s own reported announcements and actions indicate a leader who had no intention of ending the operation quickly despite the largest death toll of
Palestinians – more than 200 – in a single day when Israel first attacked.
Australia’s obligations
We would like to draw your attention to Australia’s obligations as one of the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions to ensure Israel’s compliance with the Geneva Conventions (Article 1) and to hold perpetrators responsible for grave breaches to account (Article 146)
It is our belief that lack of accountability for war crimes and other grave human rights violations compromise the promotion of respect for human rights and the rule of law. Without accountability, there will be no serious prospect for peace in the Middle East. Only through justice will the human rights and security of the Palestinian people be realised.
We believe that Australia needs to send a strong signal to Israel that those responsible for gross violations of human rights law and grave breaches of humanitarian law will be held to account. We, therefore, urge you to consent to a case for prosecution against Ehud Olmert for war crimes.
Yours sincerely,
Sonja Karkar
Co-convener
Australians for Palestine
cc The Prime Minister of Australia, The Hon Kevin Rudd MP
cc The Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, The Hon Julia Gillard MP
cc Commissioner Tony Negus APM, Australian Federal Police
PO Box 2099, Hawthorn Vic 3122 • Ph: 03 9818 5080 • Fax: 03 9818 5009
Website: www.australiansforpalestine.com • Email: info@australiansforpalestine
December 4, 2009 Posted by Elias
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