A Tale of Two Women

Julie Bisuop

One American and one Australian. Nikki Haley is the current US Ambassador to the UN. Julie Bishop is the current Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs. These two women have taken it upon themselves to not only support genocidal operations by Israel against unarmed Palestinian civil society but also to champion the cause of the Jewish State no matter what.

I find this inhumane and complicit endorsement of crimes against humanity perplexing. Especially when you know that we, the Palestinian people, have never done either the United States of America nor the Australian Federation any harm. Not in deeds. Not in words. Not even in thought.

Have I become a mysoginist all of a sudden? Not in the least. I hold all women in the highest esteem. However these two politicians, who happen to be women, must be singled out for dishonesty, for bias and for their support for what can only be described as genocide on the killing fields of Palestine. Their wilful dismissal or maybe ignorance of what is actually going on in Palestine and to the Palestinians under the suffocating Israeli occupation is astounding.

Woman number 1 Nikki Haley, speaking at an AIPAC meeting last year pointed to her stilettos, saying, “these heels are not a fashion statement, these heels are to be used to kick very hard any opponents of Israel.”

Let’s now take last Monday and Ms Haley’s response to the cold-blooded murder of yet another 62 Palestinian demonstrators at the buffer zone between Israel and Gaza when she blamed the Palestinian victims and lauded the Israeli perpetrators. Claiming that Israel acted with a ‘measured’ response she said to the UN Security Council, and I quote, “No country in this chamber would act with more restraint than Israel has.”

Ms Haley, is killing a further 62 unarmed Palestinian civilians by sniper fire a ‘measured’ response? And does killing Palestinian children with poisonous gas bring peace and stability to the area?

The situation in Gaza was not born of a reaction to a march that presented any threat to the lives of the Israeli snipers. It was born out of some tactical advice given by Arnon Sofer, Professor of Demographics at the Haifa University, to Ariel Sharon, the then Prime Minister of Israel, way back in 2004 when Professor Sofer advised him to withdraw from Gaza but close the gates to the strip and throw away the key. Here are Professor Sofer’s exact words.

“When 2.5 million people live in a closed off Gaza, it’s going to be a human catastrophe. Those people will be even bigger animals than they are today, with the aid of an insane fundamentalist Islam. The pressure at the border will be awful. It’s going to be a terrible war. So, if we want to remain alive, we will have to kill and kill and kill. All day, every day.”

This, Ms Haley, is pre-mediated genocide.

Professor Sofer went on,

“The only thing that concerns me is how to ensure that the boys and men who are going to have to do the killing will be able to return home to their families and be normal human beings.”

It will not surprise you to hear that when the UN Human Rights Council voted on a proposal to establish a transparent and independent commission of enquiry on what happened in Gaza Ms Haley voted ‘no’.

Enough of Ms Haley.

Ms Julie Bishop is Minister of Foreign Affairs in Australia and a potential leader of the Liberal Party which means she could eventually become Prime Minister. Ms Bishop is well-known for her firm stand against us Palestinians and for her equally firm support of Israel. This is Ms Bishop’s reaction to the slaughter in Gaza.

“We recognise that Israel has legitimate security concerns and needs to protect its population, and we call on Israel to be proportionate in its response and refrain from excessive use of force. Australia urges Palestinian protesters to refrain from violence and attempting to enter into Israeli territory during the March of Return.”

Ms Bishop, First, Israel has no declared borders because the Greater Israel project is still unfolding. Second, would you consider sling shots and home-made fireworks constitute the kind of violence that requires a ‘shoot to kill’ military strategy? And is the killing of 112 Palestinian demonstrators and the maiming of a further 7000 the way forward to peace?

Do you also think it is fair and decent to follow Ms Haley’s lead and vote ‘no’ to an independent commission of enquiry? If, as you seem to believe, Israel is maintaining its right to defend itself, then why not allow the enquiry to come to that conclusion?

Jafar M Ramini is a Palestinian writer and political analyst, based in London, presently in Perth, Western Australia. He was born in Jenin in 1943 and was five years old when he and his family had to flee the terror of the Urgun and Stern gangs. Justice for the people of Palestine is a life-long commitment.

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