Lavinia Moore (SA) thanks Senators Moore and Rhiannon for their speeches on Palestine in the Australian Parliament 28Jun12 June 28, 2012

To Senators Moore and Rhiannon,

I am writing to you with regard to the speeches you recently made in the Australian parliament.

Senator Moore,

I commend you for raising the issue of arbitrary arrest and administrative detention practices carried out by the state of Israel.

It has been known for decades that Israel has continued to behave in ways that are not only discriminatory and unjust but are also crimes under international law.

It is a crime to destroy homes, places of worship, places of business farms, water wells, schools, hospitals…. It becomes a war crime or a crime against humanity when the intention of the destroyers is to cleanse the land of unwanted inhabitants.

Milosevic, Mladic and Karadzic were indicted for crimes that were related to their attempts to create a “Greater Serbia”, by ridding the land of “others”.

Seemingly small events like smashing up a few rooms in one house, or arresting one man are misleadingly represented as minor infringements of a person’s rights, if admitted to be such at all. They don’t seem to be connected to words such as Crimes against humanity” or ‘war crimes’.

In this case, they clearly are. The agenda of the State of Israel has been clear from the start. Those who seek a “Greater Israel” are no different from other belligerent states that have sought to expand their territory by stealing land belonging to others.

One way to achieve this “peacefully” is to empty the land of people, by demolishing their homes and villages, and/or by making life so unbearable and so fraught with danger that they “choose’ to leave.

Well done! And thanks for raising the issue of Ridha Khaled.

Senator Rhiannon,

Thanks for your indefatigable struggle to persuade ordinary Australians to understand that human rights start at the doorstep of their own homes. At the local schools and libraries. And the local council chambers.

In state and federal governments where we, the individual citizens- are symbolically present through our representatives, the words and actions of people like you represent our voices and our actions.

It is an understatement to say that Palestinians have had it tough.

What frustrates me is that our “leaders” on the whole seem to blindly choose alliances up and beyond the point at which they refuse to see dangerous truths.( those things which they think it is better not to know) And even more dangerous lies. (ditto!)

I thank you for choosing not to be like that even when I know that, at times, you have been denigrated for your honourable stance.

To both of you a big thank you.


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