At a campaign rally on Thursday in Georgia, Democratic nominee for President Kamala Harris said that she and current US President Joe Biden are “working around the clock” to secure a hostage deal and ceasefire in Gaza. That same day, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that the US was “rushing” arms shipments to Israel.

Since her ascension to the top of the Democratic presidential ticket, Kamala Harris has tried to appear sympathetic to the Palestinian cause while reaffirming her strong commitment to the state of Israel, two contradictory stances that cannot possibly exist in the same place at the same time.

Through their actions, Harris and the rest of the Democratic party have shown which of those two stances they back up with action and which is only empty rhetoric. According to the report, the US has been increasing weapon shipments to Israel since July and August was the second busiest month for US weapon shipments since October.

The report notes that the weapons are ostensibly to help Israel respond to attacks by Hezbollah in Lebanon and a potential attack by Iran, but as antiwar.com points out, they are also being used to slaughter Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

As president, Biden has the power to unilaterally end weapon shipments to Israel under the Leahy Law, which forbids weapon transfers that may be used to violate human rights.

“There’s been The New York Times reports of Joe Biden behind closed doors cussing Netanyahu to his staff. And that doesn’t mean anything. It’s much like the talk of ‘oh, ceasefire now’ at the convention,” explained the Left is Dead podcast host James Carey on Sputnik’s The Critical Hour. “Okay, well, what’s one thing that could facilitate that? Probably the major world power that’s sending off the arms to Israel that fuels these things. It’s our F-16s and F-15s flying over the West Bank and Lebanon. These are our planes supplied with our bombs." 

“All we’re going to get is more harsh language and more empty demands for a ceasefire because, obviously, the Democratic Party is not willing to acknowledge the very clear thing to everybody who’s watching that without the US supplying Israel, a ceasefire would be much easier because [Israel would] have to do it.”

While Biden and Harris allegedly work to secure a ceasefire, the Israelis have greatly increased their operations in the occupied West Bank, tearing up streets and bulldozing monuments under the guise of counter-terror operations. At least 12 Palestinians have been killed in the Jenin refugee camp, including 83-year-old Tawfiq Ahmad Younis Qandil, who was shot by an Israeli sniper as he stepped outside of his home. His family said he was going to get groceries. 

“I think we're seeing the right wing of Israel sort of look to shift their genocidal kind of war to both areas. And you're seeing now Israeli ministers talking about, ‘oh, well, we're going to have to evacuate people from the villages in the West Bank,’” Carey explained. “And you know how it works there. Do you get to come back? When do you get to come back? And chances are, to answer both those questions, is never.” 

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said that Israel would use the same tactics it is using in Gaza in the West Bank. “We must deal with the threat just as we deal with the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza, including the temporary evacuation of Palestinian residents and whatever steps are required,” he wrote.

On Saturday, Israel cut off all water, internet and electricity to Jenin.

“It's just, much like Gaza, flatten it. Destroy whatever you can, and make sure that there's nothing to even come back to,” Carey explained, describing the Israeli plan.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240901/us-rushing-weapons-to-israel-reveals-lie-of-harris-working-towards-ceasefire-1119976756.html

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FOI document releases show that behind the press releases and statements of concern, lie the facts of the Australian Government’s knowing support for some of the gravest human rights crimes of the century.

Israel continues to use its fleet of F35-I Adir fighter-bomber aircraft, with Australian parts and components, in its illegal assaults on Gaza and elsewhere.

The F35 is far more than a cutting-edge aircraft. Its capacity as an instrument of destruction and death is enhanced by being integrated into a complex intelligence technology that captures and processes data from many sources, including the aircraft themselves, and provides the pilot with intelligence of extraordinary breadth and detail.

The system is controlled by the US, but its predilection to assisting Israel and giving it more leeway than other countries, has seen it allow Israel to modify the aircraft for use independently of the standard F-35’s Automated Logistics Information System backend cyber support infrastructure.

On 19 February, Times of Israel reported the IDF published data on the activities of the Israel Air Force throughout the “war” with Hamas in Gaza. It stated Israeli aircraft attacked more than 31,000 targets, using 31,000 bombs, in “all the arenas”, with about 29,000 in the Gaza Strip and approximately 26,000 carried out using fighter jets.

“Every day, Israel puts between 35 and 39 F-35Is into the air,” according to US General Donald Carpenter, who is director of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program Office in Virginia USA. This was revealed at the Military Aviation Logistics & Maintenance 2024 session on 10 April in Chicago.

In July, Israel used its F-35I-Adir’s to strike Yemen’s Hodeidah port, a strike which Human Rights Watch described on 19 August as “a possible war crime”. It said the strikes “were an apparently unlawful indiscriminate or disproportionate attack on civilians that could have a long-term impact on millions of Yemenis who rely on the port for food and humanitarian aid”.

This followed Lebanon’s permanent mission to the United Nations submitting a formal complaint against Israel for actions it considered to be a “breach upon all United Nations resolutions that require Israel to stop its violations of Lebanon’s sovereignty and end its occupation of Lebanese lands, including Resolution 1701 (2006)”.

Given the dubious legality and impacts on civilians of these Israeli attacks, where does this put Australia, given its role as a critical component supplier for the F-35?

Australian government is ‘all in’

In June, Hugh Jeffrey, Deputy Secretary Strategy, Policy, and Industry at the Department of Defence, told Senate Estimates components for the F-35s are “all exported to a central repository in the United States”, for unchecked redistribution to other countries, including Israel.

Currently Israel has priority for the program’s supplies, giving rise to the likelihood, or at least a glaring risk, that the parts it supplies will be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international law and international humanitarian law.

A Forbes defence writer confirmed late in 2023 that, “The American assistance aid also included quickly sending a tranche of spares to Israel to support the increased operational tempo the (F-35) Adirs are seeing.” That is, spares from the central repository to which Australia contributes.

Support also for F-35 intelligence role

Australia’s collaboration extends beyond the F-35s’ mechanical parts and components, to also include the data gathering and processing that is critical to the successful operation of the F-35s as shown in the plane’s documentation.

“An Electronic Warfare system is only as good as the data library from which it draws its information,” states Australian Defence Business Review. “To this end, dedicated data reprogramming laboratories have been established by the US, partner nations, and FMS [Foreign Military Sale] customers to generate mission data files.”

Australia operates one of these F-35 data reprogramming laboratories. According to Australia’s JSF Program Manager, Air Vice Marshal Leigh Gordon, Australia has teamed with two other non-US “five-eyes” JSF program partners to establish the Australia Canada UK Reprogramming Lab. The three nations share common geo-political and strategic interests, and are generally subject to similar US export and security requirements.

It is disingenuous for the Australian Government to claim it is not involved in supplying weapons to Israel when Australia is a level 3 partner in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter global program with its associated intelligence sharing, when the real destinations of permitted exports are officially ignored, and when Australian companies produce and export integral parts of the F-35 global Joint Strike Fighter supply chain.

The government’s talking heads are not convincing anybody with their evasive statements, from initial blanket denials, through to now insisting that Australia is not supplying Israel with whole weapons systems. They know there is abundant evidence that Australia supplies essential F-35 parts and components without which the F-35 can’t fly. An F-35 that can’t fly can’t massacre civilians, but the parts we make and supply can give it precisely that capability.

The question is whether fundamental morality and common humanity will be permitted to take their necessary priority over military alliances and geopolitical strategies, as the United Nations Charter envisages.

The Australian Government must explain to the electorate exactly how it determines that being a reliable partner in the F-35 JSF program warrants complicity in genocide, and why those “reasons” carry sufficient weight to outweigh Australia’s commitment to international law and the right to life of Palestinian civilians and their children.

DFAT cannot say they didn’t know

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade provides advice to Defence on foreign affairs implications of complex — as opposed to “routine” — export applications, as well as whether Defence meets Australia’s obligations under the Arms Trade Treaty and other international instruments.

A comprehensive FOI request of Defence by Declassified Australia on 3 July for documents relating to the 20 June statement by UN experts, “States and companies must end arms transfers to Israel immediately or risk responsibility for the violations”, was responded to with: “no documents exist”.

Although it still remains unclear whether advice has been sought by or provided to Defence by DFAT about the risks of exporting F-35 parts and components, FOI documents obtained by Declassified Australia do reveal that DFAT is “on notice”: it has received and has, sitting in its files, numerous important media releases and reports.

A DFAT email of 23 February to the “DM Israel-Gaza Taskforce” has the subject line “FYI: News release – Arms exports to Israel must stop immediately UN experts” provided them with excerpts from the OHCHR, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights report of the same date, from the UN Human Rights Special Procedures Special Rapporteurs:

“All states must ‘ensure respect’ for international humanitarian law by parties to an armed conflict, as required by 1949 Geneva Conventions and customary international law.”

“States must accordingly refrain from transferring any weapon or ammunition or parts for them – if it is to be expected, given the facts or past patterns of behaviour, that they would be used to violate international law.”

It is important to note that in their 23 February news release, the UN experts actually said that states must “do everything reasonably in their power to prevent and stop violations of international humanitarian law by Israel, particularly where a state has influence through its political, military, economic or other relations.”

Another released document, a 20 June email from DFAT’s Assistant Director International Security Law section International law branch to the “Israel Gaza Taskforce” with the subject “OHCHR Report – Israel – Indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks”, attaches the previous day’s OHCHR thematic report on “indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks during the conflict in Gaza (Oct-Dec 23)”. Parts of the email have been redacted under a claim of legal professional privilege.

The 19 June OHCHR thematic report records concerns about Israel’s use of explosive weapons with wide area effects in densely populated areas during the escalation in hostilities in Gaza since 7 October 2023, and whether this complies with international humanitarian law, particularly in relation to the principles of distinction, proportionality and precautions in attack.

The report details six individual incidents from 7 October to 2 December 2023 in the context of the ongoing escalation where, it advises, Israel may have failed to adhere to these principles, leading to high civilian fatalities and injuries and destruction of civilian objects.

It is almost certainly the case that F-35I-Adirs were used in many of these airstrikes. It was reported at the time that they were providing “Close Air Support to troops in Gaza about 200 m away from the target, well inside the danger close radius of 600m, with 2,000 lb GBU-31 JDAM bombs. These kinds of missions are usually performed with smaller weapons, however it seems that the Israeli Air Force is making heavy use of the 2,000 lb JDAM, with few exceptions such as the GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs”.

The last email appearing in the FOI documents released to Declassified Australia, is from the ‘Australian Global Watch Office – Crisis Preparedness and Management Branch’ dated 21 June. It encloses the OHCHR 20 June statement“States and companies must end arms transfers to Israel immediately or risk responsibility for human rights violations: UN experts”.

That statement makes clear that individual companies are also under an obligation to cease all aspects of supply of weapons and equipment to Israel:

“In line with recent calls from the Human Rights Council and the Independent UN experts to States to cease the sale, transfer and diversion of arms, munitions and other military equipment to Israel, arms manufacturers supplying Israel — including BAE Systems, Boeing, Caterpillar, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Oshkosh, Rheinmetall AG, Rolls-Royce Power Systems, RTX, and ThyssenKrupp — should also end transfers, even if they are executed under existing export licenses.”

In a 22 July media release, Defence Minister Richard Marles said: “The Albanese Government is turbocharging export opportunities for Australian Defence Industry through a significant expansion of the Global Supply Chain program.”

There are currently 13 Defence Prime contractors involved in this program: Babcock, BAE Systems, Boeing, Huntington Ingalls Industries, Kongsberg, L3 Harris, Lockheed, Moog, Northrop, Raytheon, Rheinmetall, SAAB, Thales.

Five of these companies operating in Australia are specifically called out by the OHCHR in their 20 June statement. These are BAE Systems, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrupp Grumman and Rheinmetall.

Defence imports from Israel

Almost slipping under the radar, Defence Department presently maintains an import relationship with Israel.

Chris Deeble, Deputy Secretary of the Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group, explained to Senate Estimates in June this year, the quirks of the Israeli export trade to Australia:

“Most of the work that we’re doing with Israeli companies to support our capability is in the land domain and we have a number of projects that are in flight today in which we use Israeli technology. We do so because they provide world leading and world class capability and we want to ensure that our soldiers, sailors and aviators get the best capability.”

He went on: “The nature of the technology could be the Spike LR2 missile which provides high lethality on the battlefield, anti-tank weapons, the turret for the land 400 phase 3 infantry fighting vehicle is made by a company called Elbit.”

Our defence manufacturing capabilities are integrated with those of Israel. We depend on Israeli technology to give us “optimum” defence benefits.

The problem is that we’re supporting the Israeli war machine in general terms and more specifically that we are necessarily sharing military technology and information with Israel that they undoubtedly integrate into their war machine.

In June this year, Hugh Jeffrey, Deputy Secretary Strategy, Policy, and Industry at the Department of Defence, explained how some of the Israel exports to Australia may occur:

“These are collaborative industrial activities, so that if something is being manufactured in Israel for the ADF, it might be using, require the export of an Australian sourced component for assembly in the destination country or if it is a piece of capability that’s in use, by the ADF, it may require an export permit to be returned to the destination country for repair or overhaul and then returned to Australia.”

In other words, through our multinational collaboration, we’re tied to Israel in much the same way as we’re tied to the US and UK.

Economic collaboration

Following July’s International Court of Justice ruling, which found Israel’s occupation of Palestine was “unlawful”, the development NGO “Global Justice Now” instructed UK barrister, Sam Fowles, to provide legal advice on whether the UK, and individuals within government, may have breached international law supporting Israel’s activities.

In an excerpt from that advice he prepared, Fowles points out that, “It is probable, for example, that UK has agreed preferential trade conditions with Israel which can benefit goods and services made in the Occupied Territories. Given that the Occupied Territories are increasingly integrated into Israel’s economy, there is a real possibility that goods and services which purport to be made in Israel are connected to the Occupied Territories.

“There are, for example, reports of companies which conduct business in the Occupied Territories then move the products into Israel before export, 40 or products sold on the international market based on technologies developed to facilitate or tested in the Occupation.”

The 2024 Defence Industry Development Strategy launched on 29 February – nearly a month after the 26 January 2024 ICJ ruling (which found that Israel was plausibly committing genocide in Gaza), says:

‘The Australian Government provides a range of support to Australian defence industry for exports, including through the Team Defence Australia Program, GSC Program, the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) and Export Finance Australia.

“Where possible, the Australian Government advocates on behalf of Australian defence industry, alongside Australian Defence Attaches at Posts, Austrade and Export Finance Australia. This ensures potential Australian defence industry exporters are given every opportunity to expand their market access or gain access to new markets.”

With all of the advice received from UN experts still sitting in DFAT’s files, it’s disturbing this trade relationship is flourishing.

In the end

Contrary to the situation in the Global South, there is a significant disjunction in the Western world between the approaches of countries and their representatives on the one hand, and the views of their citizens on the other.

With live reporting from the ground and widespread circulation of horrifying images and videos from across Palestine, the immense moral failure of the Western nations — not only in permitting the Israeli genocide, but also politically and materially supporting its commencement and facilitating its continuation — is blindingly obvious and morally abhorrent to informed citizens over the entire Western world.

The United States is patently the most culpable supporter of the genocide, indulging and arming Israel, and both directly or indirectly supporting its breaches of international law, including specific findings of the International Court of justice, all while spruiking its self-appointed role as the proponent, supporter, and enforcer of its so-called “international rules-based order”.

Australia’s political support for, and military and economic collaboration with, Israel, both directly and via the United States as its client state, renders it complicit in the war crimes and crimes against humanity that are daily being documented.

Inevitably, there will come a time of reckoning for the perpetrators of the most appalling crimes against humanity so far this century, and Australia should not be surprised if its collaboration leads it to a seat in the dock.

Republished fro DECLASSIFIED AUSTRALIA, September 03, 2024

https://johnmenadue.com/australias-collaboration-with-israels-genocide/

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.