The Albanese government is stirring up Islamophobia to try to demonise the Palestine movement and justify its efforts to keep out Palestinian refugees from Gaza.
Under increasing pressure over its refusal to impose sanctions or even condemn Israel over its genocide, Albanese has resorted to desperate smears against those protesting for Palestine.
Albanese has continually claimed that the protests are responsible for undermining social cohesion.
This has been part of a pattern of attack from the government. Bill Shorten has smeared Greens MPs for attending what he labelled “aggressive demonstrations” outside politicians’ offices over Gaza.
Meanwhile, Peter Dutton has insisted that Labor’s responses to the protests have not been nearly harsh enough.
Last month the Albanese government raised the terror threat level from “possible” to “probable”, with the Prime Minister himself linking this decision to Palestine “actions outside electoral offices” and The Greens’ refusal to “lower the temperature of debate”.
This represents fearmongering and Islamophobia directed against Palestinians and the pro-Palestine movement in Australia.
In contrast to 2022, when the government took months to downgrade the terror threat after a recommendation from ASIO, the threat level was raised almost immediately in response to ASIO’s latest briefing.
ASIO chief Mike Burgess claims, “Anti-authority beliefs are growing; trust in institutions is eroding.”
However, the reason for this is not, as the government puts it, Palestine protesters or The Greens undermining the social fabric of Australian society. It is Israel’s horrifying actions in Gaza and the government’s disgraceful ongoing support for Israel, recently confirmed by the International Court of Justice to be an apartheid state.
Albanese’s attack on the Palestine movement mirrors that of Britain’s recently defeated Tory government.
Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak attempted to conflate the Palestine movement and Muslims with terrorism through his characterisation of university encampments as “extremist” and denouncing slogans like “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” as antisemitic.
Just as the Coalition in Australia has explicitly called for harsher crackdowns on protests, the Tories in the UK labelled the pro-Palestine movement “as un-British as it is undemocratic” to ramp up the police response.
UK Labour leader and now Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, supported these condemnations as necessary to “defend our values”.
Dutton’s attempt to outdo the government has led to him to call for a ban on any refugees from Gaza, claiming “Hamas sympathisers and antisemites” might be able to enter the country because of lax checks.
Independent MP Zali Steggall rightly branded Dutton’s demand as “racist”.
Dutton, deliberately ignoring the extensive security checks conducted by both Israel and Egypt on any Palestinians trying to leave Gaza, is intentionally amplifying this message: Palestinians by their very existence are dangerous and support for resistance against Israel is unacceptable.
But while the Coalition voices open Islamophobia, Labor has been putting it into practice by denying safety and support to Palestinian refugees.
It boasted that of the roughly 10,000 applicants for tourist visas to enable people to escape Gaza, more than 7000 have been denied, usually on the grounds that they were unable to prove they would return home and were likely to apply for refugee status—a right they should have been granted in the first place given they are fleeing genocide and mass destruction of their homes.
The government’s attitude to Palestinians stands in direct contradiction to the swift action taken to provide pathways to Ukrainians, Afghans and Syrians fleeing wars.
Additionally, the government is refusing to provide consular assistance to any Palestinians that do not meet an incredibly narrow definition of “close family” of Australian citizens, limited to their partners, children under 18, and parents. This has meant that of the 2922 visas granted, only about 1300 people have made it to Australia.
It is crucial that the Palestine movement confronts this Islamophobia head on and backs Palestinians’ right to resist Israel, which is recognised under international law as legitimate in the face of foreign occupation.
The real terrorism is Israel’s deliberate targeting of civilians in Gaza through massacres, starvation and the obliteration of housing and basic infrastructure.
By Jack Stubley
