With Australian soldiers returning from fighting alongside Israeli forces, it's questionable if the Labor Government will investigate possible war crimes, writes Bilal Cleland.
WHILE WE HAVE long discriminated against First Nations people, we have been open to those who look like “us”, White European colonists, being somewhat too accepting of backgrounds.
We saw the fruits of this with Arthur Calwell’s desire to bring in blond blue-eyed European migrants post-war and his removal of brown Malays.
One result was the local idolisation of Poglavnik Pavelic by immigrant supporters of and participants in the barbaric Ustasha of wartime Croatia, exposed by Yugoslav organisations in Australia.
This led to investigations of some of the more rabid anti-communist organisations composed largely of European immigrants.
During the 1972 Federal Election campaign, a pamphlet was handed out by anti-Ustasha campaigners showing PM Billy McMahan meeting with the Liberal Party Migrant Advisory Committee in Canberra. It contained some notorious Nazi empire remnants.
Getting rid of non-Whites
On the other hand, the grave injustices done to non-Europeans who fought for us and manned our merchant vessels throughout the Second World War condemn us.
A famous example of the racism of our policy was illustrated by Samsuddin Bin Katib, an Indonesian who had been in Broome since 1937. He was working on a pearling lugger until the war.
Bin Katib first enlisted in the Australian Navy, then volunteered as a commando. Undertaking extremely hazardous action, he spent 199 days behind Japanese lines and gained non-commissioned rank. Then he became involved in a wage reduction dispute with the Pearlers’ Association.
As founder and president of the Indonesian-Malay Association, a type of pearling workers union, Bin Katib was selected for deportation as a troublemaker in February 1948.
Calwell prevaricated after intervention by the Seamen’s Union but Bin Katib was eventually deported.
Thousands of Malays, including those with White Australian wives and families, were thrown out.
White war criminals okay?
As Mark Aarons in Sanctuary: Nazi Fugitives in Australia explains, by 1948 the governments of the United States of America and Great Britain secretly agreed to end their efforts to bring the practitioners of Nazi terror to justice.
Loyal Australia followed suit as usual.
Aarons details the careers of several major players in the Australian anti-communist political scene and how they hid their criminal pasts.
His research and subsequent public disquiet led to a review in June 1986 of material relating to the entry of suspected war criminals into Australia by Mr Andrew Menzies, a retired senior public servant.
Menzies found it was likely that a significant number of war criminals entered Australia and many were still here.
A government response to Menzies' report stated:
“However, as Mr Menzies has found, their entry was achieved in the circumstances of the urgency and intensity of our post-war immigration program.”
A secret list of 70 names was passed to the Government. Several unsuccessful prosecutions followed. It made us a bit of a laughing stock.
As the Los Angeles Times remarked:
‘Perhaps it is Australia’s origin as a penal colony that has made its people willing to overlook the past. Or maybe it is the continent’s distance from the horrors of World War II Europe. But after unsuccessful efforts in the early 1990s to put three war crimes suspects on trial, Australia gave up trying.’
A new batch of miscreants
Now we are about to be faced with up to 1,000 Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) Australian soldiers returning from the Gaza genocide.
France and South Africa have already announced that returnees will be investigated and if warranted, prosecuted for their activities.
In South Africa's case, the Government has threatened to prosecute citizens or strip their citizenship for merely joining the IDF, even if they're not personally accused of any wrongdoing in the war.
France announced that any French-Israeli citizen engaged in war crimes in Gaza will face prosecution after videos of soldiers abusing Palestinians appeared.
On 20 December 2023, the Australian Centre for International Justice (which has a very impressive advisory board) wrote to the Minister for Home Affairs, the Attorney-General and the Australian Federal Police Commissioner regarding Australian citizens currently engaged in hostilities in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Australia is required under international law ‘to investigate and prosecute Australian nationals for involvement in potential war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and torture as codified in Divisions 268 and 274 of the Commonwealth Criminal Code’.
Failure to do so would be a breach of our national obligation.
The letter continues:
... it appears that the Australian Government has failed to provide any public statements advising of the risks involved, particularly the legal risks, including the risk of individual criminal liability, for those Australians participating in the conflict as members of the IDF.
Whilst we note that there is no prohibition on Australian citizens from fighting in the armed forces of the government of a foreign country, the reported guidance from the Department of Home Affairs does not warn individuals that their actions could constitute criminal offences under Australian law, which could result in the initiation of criminal proceedings against them...
The British have already copped out.
The UK Parliament website states:
‘Section 4 of the Foreign Enlistment Act 1870 makes it an offence for a British subject to enlist in the military of a foreign state at war with another foreign state with which the UK is at peace.’
But this does not apply to fighting terrorists or civil war.
According to the Washington Post:
‘About 10,000 people living in the United States have reported for Israeli military duty after receiving draft notices.’
Given the heavily Zionist nature of the current Biden Administration, no action can be expected.
It is quite likely, given the alliance between corporate media, the conservative opposition and the Israeli lobby, that any indication of movement against this new batch of possible war criminals would be met by hysteria like that of those supporting the 1975 coup.
Such bravery from this risk-averse Labor Administration is unlikely.
Bilal Cleland is a retired secondary teacher and was Secretary of the Islamic Council of Victoria, Chairman of the Muslim Welfare Board Victoria and Secretary of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils. You can follow Bilal on Twitter @BilalCleland.
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