The fight for international justice
This includes substantial reports on Israel's occupation of Gaza and the West Bank and the crimes of Palestinian terrorists in Israel. He's in Australia to talk about his book "Righting Wrongs."
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ABC News
12 minutes ago
- ABC News
Wurundjeri elder Aunty Joy to attend Melbourne Storm NRL match despite ongoing issues with board
Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung elder Aunty Joy Murphy Wandin has said she will attend Thursday night's Melbourne Storm home game despite ongoing concerns with the club's board. The Storm announced this week that an Acknowledgement of Country would be held prior to their match with the Brisbane Broncos, marking the NRL's Indigenous Round. The club also apologised to Aunty Joy for the cancellation of a Welcome to Country before to the Storm's Anzac Day match, where the Wurundjeri elder had been at the stadium to perform. Ahead of Thursday's match, Aunty Joy said she would attend in support of players, staff and community, despite a resolution not being reached with the club's board after Anzac Day. "This is about the board, not the game. This is about setting a standard not just for Melbourne Storm but across all sporting codes," Aunty Joy said. "I will always stand strong beside community and as a leader take responsibility to care for those who hurt badly." Melbourne said at the time that the club's "board had not approved for it to be held on Anzac Day". The cancellation came hours after Bunurong and Gunditjmara man Uncle Mark Brown was booed and heckled by members of the crowd at the dawn service at Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance. The Storm said its decision was not related to the booing earlier in the day, but Aunty Joy said she was told it was. Aunty Joy said Wurundjeri people wanted to continue their association with the Melbourne Storm, but highlighted they "cannot safely undertake formal ceremonies" due to one board member's reported links with lobby group Advance Australia. "I carry a deep responsibility to community and will not compromise my integrity as a proud Aboriginal woman and community elder," she said. "We cannot support an organisation that has associations with any group that incites racial vilification and division. "We are willing to continue to work with Melbourne Storm to address the deep community concerns but cannot endorse any official functions or cultural work until measures are put in place to ensure cultural respect and safety for all." Wurundjeri woman and Djirri Djirri dancer Ky-Ya Nicholson was due to perform at the Anzac Day game before the Welcome to Country was cancelled. In a statement, she said Djirri Djirri would not associate with the club "until there is meaningful change at board level". "Our decision to end our long-standing relationship with Melbourne Storm comes as a result of the disrespect shown towards Aunty Joy on Anzac Day, which was a lost opportunity to honour her veteran father and First Peoples servicemen and women who fought alongside Australian soldiers," Nicholson said. "We as a community feel very disrespected by the actions of Melbourne Storm's board, as a Welcome to Country ceremony is a tradition of unity and goodwill. Which has been completely disregarded, this shows their tokenistic approach and lack of understanding to this symbol of unity."
ABC News
12 minutes ago
- ABC News
CSIRO could be facing hundreds more job cuts this year, union warns
There are fears hundreds more Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) jobs could be axed this year, the union has warned. The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) issued a statement on Thursday morning saying that Australia's national science agency was enduring its "biggest job cuts in a decade". Last year, 440 positions were slashed, and the CPSU said "approximately 200 contract jobs were left to expire, with hundreds more cuts expected to be made to research units later this year". The union said it had made a submission to the Economic Reform Roundtable, warning the nation's capacity for productivity and innovation was being "actively undermined". The union is calling for the federal government to intervene to prevent further proposed cuts. CSIRO Staff Association section secretary Susan Tonks said there was a "clear disconnect between the government's talk about boosting productivity and their failure to support the very institution that helps deliver it". "But deep job cuts at the CSIRO are directly undermining Australia's ability to innovate, compete and grow. And this will continue to be the case as long as this government sits on its hands while hundreds of staff at the CSIRO are shown the door with little to no explanation. "If this government is serious about productivity, it must step in, stop the cuts, and back our country's peak science institution." The CSIRO has been contacted for comment. Ms Tonks said concern among staff was high. "If you're looking at the May budget papers and the workshops … there's workshops coming up to assess what science will be done, and what research will continue in September," she said. "And looking at all the numbers and everything that's coming up, it's looking highly likely that there will be similar numbers [to last year's cuts] coming across the research portfolio. "There's still assessments to be done, but given what we've just come out of, the anxiety and the concern and anger from staff is high." She said it was "hard to say" which areas within the CSIRO would be targeted. "But I think everything's going to be looked at," she said. "Looking at recent conversations with staff in preparation for some of those that are going to go through, there's quotes like, 'We need to be simpler as an organisation, we need to exit some areas and do fewer things better.'" She said it was "unsettling" for staff who had already been through recent changes, and warned some might not remain at the CSIRO if uncertainty lingered. "It's worth noting, public investment in research and development is what delivers innovation, it increases productivity," Ms Tonks said. "The CSIRO's been behind some of the most important scientific innovations that we've had in Australia. "We need to make sure that we back it."
ABC News
12 minutes ago
- ABC News
The ABC is granted access to a Kerem Shalam aid site Israel says it is using to feed Gaza
Through one gate and over a dirt road, an opening in the massive fence line appeared. A couple of Israeli soldiers manned the barricade, with a water cooler perched behind them on a concrete block. As the convoy passed beyond the security, something of a no-man's-land emerged ahead of another 18-foot fence. This was the first couple of metres inside Gaza — the part of the war-ravaged strip Israel wants the world to see, far away from the utter devastation of what were sprawling towns and cities 22 months ago. Among the mounds of dirt and rubbish, with the occasional stray dog roaming around, a few dozen large trucks appeared in the distance. Some had bullet holes in the windscreen, evidence of the chaos further inside the strip. Many were still fully laden with pallets bearing the flags of donors — Jordan, the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the European Union. Driving along the dirt road, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Home Command SUVs kicked up dust. At first, it was brown and beige. Occasionally, it turned white as the vehicles drove over piles of flour spilt from sacks that had fallen off the trucks. The road had clearly been churned up from heavy traffic. But it smoothed out as the convoy, which included social media influencers, approached a large fenced-off clearing. That area was the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing. Despite repeated requests, it was the first time the ABC had gained access to Gaza with the IDF since the start of the war — opportunities semi-regularly offered to other international media outlets, particularly from the US. There is no denying that such "embeds", as they are called, are highly choreographed and controlled. But the trip was also an opportunity to gain access to a site Israel is using to prosecute its case it is trying to feed the population of Gaza — an argument the humanitarian community, and world leaders, argue is full of holes. Israel has not allowed international media to independently enter Gaza since the start of the war, and has repeatedly rejected calls to allow access to the strip, arguing it is too dangerous for journalists to operate. The Foreign Press Association (FPA), which represents international media operating in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, is challenging the restrictions in Israel's Supreme Court. Inside the aid depot, the booms of shelling could be heard in the distance. Over the next fence line were the ruins of what was once the city of Rafah — an area totally controlled by the IDF, which had razed it to the ground, with satellite imagery confirming significant earthworks in the area. The aid depot was quite full. Rows and rows of pallets were lined up with everything from tinned tomatoes and beans, to toilet paper and toothpaste. Large bottles of sunflower oil were resting on the ground alongside sacks of flour. Some of the packaging was falling apart, evidence the supplies had been lying there for quite a while. In some corners, there was an odour signifying food had spoiled in the hot summer sun. Israel is using the scenes at Kerem Shalom to push its argument it is letting aid into the strip, but that the United Nations and other humanitarian agencies have not followed through on their part of the deal. One IDF staffer said the military viewed the depot as something of an airline check-in desk. Pallets of food, like suitcases, were brought in and registered, then it was up to baggage handlers to get them to their destination. Israel believes its responsibility for the aid ends the moment it "checks in" the supplies. But the humanitarian community has consistently poured criticism on that, saying it is an example of Israel avoiding its obligations, and that it has been too difficult and too dangerous to make those deliveries. In the week leading up to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to partially ease aid restrictions and allow for so-called "secure corridors" to be established in Gaza, the World Food Programme (WFP) detailed the delays. WFP made 138 requests to Israeli authorities to travel to Kerem Shalom and the northern aid depot near the Zikim crossing, but only 76 of those requests were approved. When the green light was given, WFP said it took up to 46 hours for some of those convoys to make the journey — a long time, considering Gaza is less than 50 kilometres north to south. Israel is right to state that more aid is entering the strip daily, since the partial easing of restrictions in late July. On Tuesday, 300 trucks entered Gaza and another 300 truckloads were picked up for distribution inside the strip. But it is still far fewer trucks making it across the border compared to the figures before October 2023, when the war began. Humanitarian agencies say the situation is so dire across Gaza, after months of Israel's total humanitarian blockade and its decision to cut the UN out of the distribution model, that the current rate of deliveries is a drop in the ocean compared to what is needed. The convoys that are making it through the strip are often swarmed by desperate Palestinians. Local medics said more than 20 were killed in one such incident on Wednesday, while there were another five deaths from starvation. Palestinian health authorities said the death toll from hunger was rapidly approaching 200. The ABC joined the "embed" along with an Israeli media outlet, an Israeli writer and a handful of social media influencers. Israel is accusing the international media of swallowing Hamas propaganda and failing to put the message of places like Kerem Shalom out to the world, and is now employing alternative means of spreading that word. As images of starving Gazan children started dominating headlines across the world, a flurry of social media posts, telling a very different story, also started appearing online. The posts were all filmed inside Gaza — an area that cannot be accessed without the approval of the Israeli military — and showed stockpiles of food and aid waiting to be delivered inside the strip. Each of the posts contained a consistent message defending Israel, taking aim at the United Nations and blaming the group for manufacturing a hunger crisis in Gaza. "United Nations is supposed to deliver this food to the Palestinians in Gaza. But they're not doing that. What they do is blaming Israel of starving the Gaza population," one post from an influencer said. The people posting these updates were not internationally accredited journalists, who, for nearly two years, have been repeatedly denied requests to independently access Gaza to document the war. Instead, the rare trip inside the strip included several pro-Israeli influencers, who in turn delivered coverage that aligned with Israeli military messaging. "The humanitarian aid is sitting in the sun waiting for the UN and international organisations to come and pick it up," the Israeli military posted in a video shot in the same location. The influencer posts had no response from the United Nations, which has repeatedly said its attempts to access the aid being held at border crossings have been impeded and sometimes blocked by Israel, and that Israel has failed to provide secure routes for aid distribution. Several media outlets, including AP and the Wall Street Journal, also visited the site and reported the UN's position. The Israeli military would not provide the ABC with a list of the influencers allowed in and did not respond to questions on whether the influencers were asked to go there by the IDF or the Israeli government. But the practice is well-known inside Israel as Hasbara, a term used to describe pro-Israel advocacy. Last month, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported the Israeli foreign minister was funding a tour of Israel for 16 US social media influencers, encouraging them to create content messages that aligned with Israeli government policy.
