Login
iscover
Australian advocacy organisations have called on the Australian Defence Force to withdraw from the world’s largest international maritime warfare exercise, Rim of the Pacific.
To continue reading the rest of this article, please log in.
Create free account to get unlimited news articles and more!
ActionAid Australia, the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, and the Australian Centre for International Justice are encouraging an exit from the US-led military training exercise due to the participation of Israel Defense Forces in Hawaii from 26 June to 2 August.
In addition, environmental activists are also opposing the exercise due to alleged destruction of ecosystems, islands, and atolls left uninhabitable by military exercises.
In 2022, Australia sent around 1,600 personnel and multiple ships and aircraft to take part in the last Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) Exercise to foster multinational cooperation and trust, leverage interoperability, and achieve respective national objectives.
“As the Israeli government’s war in Gaza continues to subject innocent civilians to relentless bombing, violence, and extreme shortages of food and water, Australia must cease military cooperation with Israel and end Australia’s involvement in the crisis in Gaza,” according to a statement from ActionAid.
“Minister (Penny) Wong has repeatedly called for a ceasefire in Gaza and called the cost of this conflict ‘catastrophic’, and what is occurring in Gaza ‘horrific’. But Minister (Richard) Marles’ willingness to have Australian troops train in cooperation with the Israeli government, supporting it to ‘achieve its national objectives’, compromises the strength of this message.
“For months, our organisations have called on the government to end any and all military cooperation with the Israeli government, and to champion calls for a ceasefire.”
The Palestinian militant group Hamas originally launched armed incursions into southern Israel in October last year, killing more than 1,100 people and taking hostages back into the Gaza Strip.
The advocacy organisations included a list of demands to the Australian government, such as the immediate suspension of all military aid, assistance, and cooperation with Israel, call for an immediate, permanent, and unconditional ceasefire in Gaza, and action to ensure that Israel acts in accordance with International Humanitarian Law.
“We continue to be deeply concerned by Australia’s supply of parts for the F-35 stealth fighter-bomber, which Israel is using in its bombardment of the Gaza Strip,” the ActionAid statement said.
“In the Netherlands, a court has ordered the government to stop shipping F-35 parts to Israel. A similar case is underway in Denmark. Nothing from Australia should be used for bombardment, death or destruction in Gaza.
“Australia must do all it can to prevent further harm to the nearly 2 million people in Gaza living through this conflict, through actions, not just words. We continue to stand in solidarity with Palestinian civilians, civil society organisations and trade unions in the occupied Palestinian territories facing violence and occupation.”
“It is deeply concerning that the Australian government is continuing military cooperation with the Israeli Defense Forces as though its business as usual by allowing the IDF to participate in this joint military exercise,” ActionAid executive director Michelle Higelin said.
