Sydney University academics pursued for speaking out against Gaza atrocities (michaelwest.com.au)

submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by maniacalmanicmania@aussie.zone to c/australianpolitics@aussie.zone

22 comments fedilink hide all child comments

A few Zionist colleagues of mine at the University of Sydney are currently trying to take me and fellow staff member John Keane to the Human Rights Commission for racial vilification, because we have dared to oppose this genocide. It’s classic ‘lawfare’, and it’s based on the baseless and absurd argument that when we say ‘Zionists’, we actually – so they tell us – mean ‘Jews’. We are, they claim, toxic antisemites.

If that’s what they thought, they could have come to my office at the university to talk about it. I would have bought them coffee, and made it clear just how far from the truth this is. Instead, they went direct to the Human Rights Commission, making a complaint that miraculously turned up on the front page of The Australian before it had even been acknowledged by the AHRC itself.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] Joshi@aussie.zone 19 points 1 month ago

I am answering here assuming you are commenting on good faith. Please give me the same courtesy.

The fact is that the Israeli government chose to respond to actions of a few dozen people by occupying a nation and routinely killing masses of civilians including the bombing of hospitals and schools.

The initial attacks were abhorrent and arguably justified a strong response against the perpetrators, it is difficult for many of us to understand how you can justify punishing an entire nation for the actions of a few dozen people, it is this that draws claims of genocide

The civilian death toll in Gaza is now estimated at more than 180,000. Any argument that this is a proportionate and appropriate response must be either ignorant or in bad faith.

I am happy to respond if you disagree or want to challenge my response here.

[-] Eyekaytee@aussie.zone -5 points 1 month ago

The fact is that the Israeli government chose to respond to actions of a few dozen people

You know the hamas charter explicitly outlines their desire to wipe israel off the map, from the river to the sea? remember? and they were elected by the Palestinian people who btw still poll numbers for Hamas that the greens dream of getting

You quote “a few dozen people”, it’s clear where your thought process lies and i’m not sure we’re living in the same reality, especially after witnessing the actions of “a few dozen” taliban for the last 20 years

i’m not discussing this further, i don’t have enough interest in this

[-] Joshi@aussie.zone 13 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Certainly there is a justification for a strong response against Hamas. What you need to grapple with is that the response has been against the entire Palestinian population and has caused an enormous death toll of civilian non-combatants.

If I may take your example of the Taliban, a clearly reprehensible organisation. It would not be appropriate for opponents of the Taliban to indiscriminately attack the civilian population of Afghanistan in much the same way that it is not appropriate for the IDF to target the civilian population of Palestine using the crimes of Hamas as justification. Indeed during the Afghanistan war the US and allies took precautions to target fighters and minimise civilian deaths and were rightly criticised when they failed.

Over 10 years of the War in Afghanistan the civilian death toll in Afghanistan was most years less than 4000, in Palestine the civilian death toll is 40 times that in 1 year.

There is no double standard here, no one is saying Israel shouldn't have responded in a proportionate way to the initial Hamas attacks but what Israel is doing is targeting the civilian population in response to the (admittedly reprehensible) actions of, yes, a few dozen people.

I am genuinely interested in hearing your response here, please don't take this as a personal attack but I hope you understand my perspective here.

[+] Seagoon_@aussie.zone -6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

The fact is that the Israeli government chose to respond to actions of a few dozen people by occupying a nation and routinely killing masses of civilians including the bombing of hospitals and schools.

LIAR

The attacks began early on 7 October with a barrage of at least 4,300 rockets launched into Israel[31][32][33] and vehicle-transported and powered paraglider incursions into Israel.[34][35] Hamas fighters breached the Gaza–Israel barrier, attacking military bases and massacring civilians in 21 communities, including Be'eri, Kfar Aza, Nir Oz, Netiv Haasara, and Alumim. According to an IDF report that revised the estimate on the number of attackers 6,000 Gazans breached the border in 119 locations into Israel, including 3,800 from the "elite Nukhba forces" and 2,200 civilians and other militants.

Hamas attack comprised six thousands of terrorists, many of whom live streamed the joy and pride they took in raping, torturing and murdering

and Hamas in Gaza comprised many tens of thousands of terrorists

[-] DropBear@theblower.au 10 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Meanwhile, back in the real world @Seagoon_
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11-21/icc-issues-arrest-warrant-for-benjamin-netanyahu/104633044

The fact is that the vast majority of death, destruction and terror in the region have been inflicted by Israel and its Zionist progenitors. Zionists were the original middle-east terrorists and remain the most depraved.
@Joshi

#Zionism
#Palestine
#Israel
#genocide
#WarCrimes
#CrimesAgainstHumanity
#terrorism

[-] Joshi@aussie.zone 9 points 1 month ago

Again. I am answering in good faith assuming you will do the same.

I am perfectly willing to concede that I may have understated the size of the initial attacks and for the sake of argument I will concede your claim that there are 10s of thousands of Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

The issue at stake here is that at least 180,000 civilians have been killed to say nothing of the injuries and other traumas. The IDF has deliberately targeted civilian populations who had nothing to do with the attacks.

Again, I may not be opposed to a proportionate response but to killing hundreds of thousands in response to what you claim was a crime of 6000 people is not proportionate, it is brutal and unnecessary and likely to be counterproductive to any hopes of reducing violence from either side in the future.

Do you have a position on this specially? Do you deny the death toll, or do you assume that all 180,000 killed were terrorists?

I am genuinely interested in your response.