http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/anthony-albanese-condemns-israels-bombardme...Anthony Albanese condemns Israel’s bombardment of Gaza
THE AUSTRALIAN AUGUST 01, 2014 1:57PM
Smoke billows from buildings following an Israeli air strike in Rafah. Source: AFP
ANTHONY Albanese has joined left-wing Labor backbenchers in condemning Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip as “collective punishment” in breach of international law.
The remarks by Mr Albanese, a leader of the ALP’s left faction, came a day after Labor’s leadership team of Bill Shorten and Tanya Plibersek released a measured statement that declined to prejudge Israeli involvement in the shelling of a school sheltering Palestinian refugees.
More than two-dozen Labor Left MPs have already joined Greens and independent parliamentarians to sign a petition condemning Israeli action in the Gaza Strip, describing the “collective punishment” as “a war crime”.
Ceasefire a reprieve from Gaza violence
Mr Albanese, speaking before a 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire was announced this morning, said the Israeli campaign amounted to “collective punishment” and was “completely unacceptable”.
“What we saw this week the bombing of a school where people essentially had gone to seek refuge. That is unacceptable,” he told the Nine Network
“It is unacceptable for Hamas to fire rockets into Israel, but the collective punishment is against all the rules of engagement and Israel must stop these actions.
“At the moment we are seeing a child killed every hour in Gaza.”
The Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 lists “collective punishment” as a war crime.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott, asked today if he deplored Israeli actions, said: “I deplore the indiscriminate rain of missiles from Gaza on to Israel. I deplore any actions that result in civilians deaths, and obviously we’ve seen far too much of that over the last few weeks.”
Government frontbencher Christopher Pyne, who returned from Israel yesterday, said Israelis were understandably fearful of Hamas rocket fire and underground tunnels.
“That doesn’t mean that Israel’s response is acceptable and the deaths of civilians, particularly children, but any civilian, is one of great tragedy,” he said.
“When I was in Israel there was a ceasefire that Hamas instantaneously broke. You have to understand from Israel’s point of perspective it’s a very, very difficult situation.”
Bill Shorten and Tanya Plibersek, in a joint statement, yesterday said Labor was “appalled by the recent shelling of a UN school in a Gaza refugee camp, and attacks on similar facilities”.
“Labor deplores the abuse of civilian facilities for military purposes, including a Gaza school that was used to hide rockets.
Hamas must stop firing rockets into Israel — more than 2600 so far, and Israel must restrain its response, which has cost far too many civilian lives.”
A petition condemning Israel, spearheaded by Fremantle Labor MP Melissa Parke, this morning recorded the signatures of 54 state and federal MPs, including 30 Labor officials.
“The rockets fired from Gaza are not in any way justified and insofar as they threaten and harm civilians are illegal under international law. However, these imprecise rockets cannot be compared with the broad-scale bombing of Gaza by Israel which has one of the world’s largest military forces,” the petition read.
“Collective punishment is not permitted under the Geneva conventions and is a war crime.”
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