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We believe in informing the Australian public about our leaders actions, so you can form your own opinions. Here are some sources and references for you to start with. We will be adding to this progressively. If you see something missing or wrong, please write to us at hello@qldjewishcollective.org
Michael Berkman - Greens MP for Maiwar
Can you trust a leader who after massacre of 1200 people, with mass rape, tying families together with wire and setting them on fire - finds the victims at fault for refusing to accept a "deal" that would both reward the perpetrators of the attack and lay the foundations for further attacks, and ultimately a genocide of 7 million Jews.
Arguably, that’s what Qld Greens MP Michael Berkman did in his motion to Qld Parliament on 06/03/2024.
Why should politicians and parties supporting, justifying and encouraging heinous acts of targeted sexual violence and terror get a free pass, just because the targets are not Australian? If these groups are in power, how long will it be before these acts become engrained as the new Australian values, and are perpetrated on us and our loved ones?
There is no excuse: get rid of Berkman.
The full text of Berkman’s motion to the Qld Parliament is linked here . A non-exhaustive extract of problematic elements of the motion is broken down below (direct quotes in italics), which include
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repeating false information supplied by a listed terror entity as facts,
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outright false claims,
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misrepresentation by false equivalence or false context,
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justification for the mass sex crimes, torture and murder of Oct 7 and
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making demands that if instated would undoubtedly set the stage for a second holocaust.
Plus, what he didn't say:
Outside the specific misleading claims and statements detailed below, Berkman ensured his entire presentation was dishonest and partisan, deliberately leaving out the correct context of the Israeli actions. He failed to acknowledge at any point
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the horrific detail and barbarity of the Oct 07 attacks,
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that the Oct 07 attacks were committed by the Government of Gaza,
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that the Gazan military was still pouring incessant rocket fire into Israeli towns,
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that the Gazan military are embedded in the very schools, mosques, and other public infrastructure that he decries Israel for attacking, and
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that the Gazan Government and their supporters Hezbollah, The Houthi, The Islamic Republic of Iran and others hold explicitly genocidal stated goals with respect to Israelis.
Repeating the claims of a listed terror entity as fact.
“more than 30,400 people have been killed, over 72,000 wounded”
“…we know that more than 30,400 people have been killed and that somewhere between 58 and 70 per cent of those people are women and children. Over 72,000 have been wounded…”
These numbers were supplied by the perpetrators of the Oct 7 massacres that, as the Government of Gaza, control all state services and information. The primary purpose of these numbers is to demonise Israel. The inaccuracy was subsequently acknowledged even by the UN. Untangling the UN’s Gaza Fatality Data | The Washington Institute
“100 Palestinians were killed and over 700 injured in a stampede last week just trying to access aid trucks near Gaza while Israeli troops opened fire”
Again, the casualty figures and causes cited by Berkman are unedited and unverified numbers supplied by the listed terror entity Hamas, that is the Government of Gaza. Berkman knows this. It is terrorist propaganda designed to hurt Israel. Less than 10 casualties were caused by Israeli gunfire.
What Everyone Needs to Know About Hamas’ Lie About Gaza Aid Stampede | AJC
Misrepresentation by context that Israel refused a ceasefire
“Israel has refused to agree to a ceasefire and continues to threaten invasion of the Rafah region…” (twice)
In this context, the statement is a lie.
There are any number of ceasefires that had been proposed by Hamas. Its impossible to know which ones Berkman was referring to, but they were all effectively Israeli surrender. What is known is that every ceasefire that Hamas indicated it would support involved Israel withdrawing before significant hostages were released, required massively disproportionate numbers of Palestinian criminals to be released from Israeli jails (often at ratio of 10 to 1), would allow Hamas to almost immediately commence rearming through now-open borders, and would ensure Hamas retained the capacity to repeat Oct 07 (which it has publicly vowed to do). No proposal from Hamas has been remotely reasonable, nor allowed surety as to the identity and wellbeing of the Israeli hostages. There was no mechanism to stop Hamas simply breaking any given deal once it had re-grouped as a fighting force, while continuing to rape and torture unacknowledged and/or unmonitored hostages throughout.
In contrast, Israel had offered proposals that it deemed acceptable, even those that leave Hamas intact. One example from Feb 25 is below. All have been rejected by Hamas.
Hamas ceasefire proposal details | Reuters
An Israel-Hamas cease-fire deal is being discussed in Paris : NPR
Hamas Rejects Biden’s Hostage Deal—Again - WSJ
Israel-Gaza updates: Israel says it agrees to cease-fire, hostage release - ABC News (go.com)
Repeating terrorist propaganda and ascribing a false motivation to Israel
“The bombardment and invasions of Gaza since 7 October are a continuation of this project of de-Palestinianisation. The objective is not to destroy Hamas but to destroy Palestine”
The Israeli objective has been made clear from the beginning. From the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs website “Israel is seeking to secure the release of the infants, children, women, and men being held as hostages in Gaza, and to deny Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza the capacity to continue attacking its citizens and territory as they have explicitly vowed to do.”
There is nothing inconsistent with this statement and any of Israel’s actions in Gaza. Berkman is simply repeating Hamas supporters’ talking points and is running cover for the Gazan Government, which still held well over 130 hostages at the time of his motion including Kfir Bibas who had recently turned 1 year old.
Hamas-Israel Conflict 2023: Frequently Asked Questions Ministry of Foreign Affairs (www.gov.il)
Outright false claims.
A false claim that Israel is committing a genocide.
“…the unfolding genocide in Palestine...”
The claim that a genocide was being carried out by Israel made by Michael Berkman and almost every other Greens MP was not made by the ICJ, or any reputable body. It is commonly misrepresented in reporting, but the claim is simply not factual. https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-international-court-of-justice-never-said-it/?_gl=1
A false claim of collective punishment.
“…There can be no remaining doubt that Israel is undertaking the collective punishment of Palestinian citizens…”
Israel’s operations are intended to prevent Hamas from ever committing again massacres like that of October 7, and by no means do they seek to punish the people of Gaza. Civilians are tragically put in harm’s way as a result of the fact that Hamas’s military assets and militants are located within and underneath civilian infrastructure and that Hamas uses civilians as human shields as a matter of strategy.
Tragically, all hostilities have a collective impact on the civilian population. But accusing Israel of “collective punishment” is libel. The party guilty of the suffering of civilians in Gaza is Hamas, who in its words and actions demonstrates its willingness to sacrifice Palestinian civilians for its genocidal agenda.
Hamas-Israel Conflict 2023: Frequently Asked Questions Ministry of Foreign Affairs (www.gov.il)
Misrepresentation by False Equivalence
“...the release of all hostages and political prisoners...”
There is no equivalence between civilians captured from their homes, including infants as young as 9 months, and Palestinians in Israeli jails. The jailed Palestinians are held for planning or executing criminal or terror offences, in many cases murder. In the case of so called “administrative detention”, the practice is only applied to terror suspects, with legal limits on how long an individual can be held before being charged. The Israeli government does not hold hostages.
For example:
Released Israeli Hostage: Four-year-old Abigail Edan, an Israeli-American girl who was released on November 26, witnessed her parents being murdered by Gazan soldiers before being kidnapped.
Palestinian Released Prisoners: at least 55 percent of the 117 prisoners released during the first three days of the temporary truce between Israel and Hamas had been held for violent crimes, including 10 for attempted murder, 13 for inflicting serious bodily harm, 19 for placing a bomb or throwing an incendiary device, seven for shooting at people, and five for assault.
One of the female prisoners released is Misoun Mussa, who was sentenced to 15 years for stabbing an Israeli soldier in Jerusalem in 2015.
Another is Marah Bakeer, who was arrested in October 2015 when she was 16 after stabbing an Israeli Border Police officer.
Asra Jabas, a Palestinian from East Jerusalem, blew up a gas cylinder at a checkpoint near the Israeli settlement of Ma’ale Adumim in 2015, wounding an Israeli police officer.
Another prisoner released was Nurhan Awad, who was 17 when she was sentenced to 13 and a half years in prison in 2016 for attempting to stab passersby with a pair of scissors with her cousin, Hadil Award, who was shot dead during the 2015 attack.
Debunking the False Equivalency Between Israeli Hostages and Palestinian Prisoners | AJC
“We would never endorse the bombing of a Brisbane hospital to target one terrorist hiding inside, so why do political leaders, including the Labor Party, continue to endorse this in Palestine?”
There is no equivalence between bombing a Brisbane hospital to target a single terrorist, and the targeting of a hospital which is being used as a military base by the Army of a Government. It’s been documented so widely for so many years it is not reasonably deniable. A recent example is the raid on the Al Shifa hospital that netted over 700 Gazan fighters, with zero civilian deaths. IDF ends Shifa Hospital raid, says it killed 200 terror operatives, arrested 500 more | The Times of Israel
Sowing doubt on verified facts
“Israel continues to justify attacks on key infrastructure including schools, hospitals, and places of worship, by claiming that Hamas leaders are using these places for cover.”
This is not simply an “Israeli claim”. There is no reasonable doubt that the Gazan Government uses civilian infrastructure for cover. It has been documented in every single engagement Israel has had with Gaza since 2007. Documentation is rife, and due to the nature of the 2023/2024 conflict more egregious use of these facilities was exposed than ever, including the Hamas data centre found under (& powered by) the UNRWA headquarters, implausibly without the knowledge of the UN, and the Al Shifa hospital where over 700 operatives were netted.
Berkman treating this as merely an Israeli “claim” is deliberately deceptive and aids Hamas by delegitimizing Israeli combat doctrine.
Justification of the Oct 07 attacks
“we must be clear that this war did not start on 7 October last year”
Berkman is providing an excuse for the attacks by attempting to put them in an historical context. This is dishonest. The attack was by a state army, targeting peaceful communities, in a surprise attack. There was widespread government-planned murder, pack rape of men, women and children, death by rape, death by rape with objects, dismemberment of families in front of each other, families bound together with wire and set on fire. Approximately 1200 people were murdered, and another 5,000 maimed.
Moreover, it was committed by the state army of a territory that Israel had withdrawn from completely, supported financially, supplied with electricity and water, and often provided work visas, despite repeated rocket fire and terror attacks since 2006.
A more appropriate historical context would be to reference the 1929 Hebron riots, before Israel was established, where scores of Jews belonging to the 3,000 year old Hebron community were massacred under very similar levels of barbarity.
Calling for conditions that will ensure the destruction of the Jewish state.
“immediately withdraw public support and funding for companies involved in the manufacture and supply of weapons to the State of Israel, including Ferra.”
“It also calls for an end to the state of Israel's illegal occupation of Palestinian territories” (twice)
The above two calls are precursors to the destruction of Israel and a second holocaust.
The “Palestinian Territories” as defined by the Greens include all areas commonly known as the West Bank (including East Jerusalem and the Old City) and Gaza.
It is generally unspoken but taken as granted that any Palestinian state must be “judenrein” – completely free of Jews. Given the cited territories assumed boundaries, and its judenrein status, by default Berkman is also endorsing the historically recent ethnic cleansing of Jews who lived in
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The Old City of Jerusalem – an almost uninterrupted place of Jewish residency for 3000 years, with a Jewish majority in Jerusalem from the 1880s until 1948;
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Kfar Etzion – a township constructed in the 1920’s on purchased land, with all residents bar 2 executed after their surrender to Arab forces in 1948;
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Hebron – a documented, continuous 3000 year old Jewish community, destroyed during the Arab massacres in 1929
and many, many other communities (Jews owned approximately 5% of the West Bank & Gaza prior to 1948) that were “cleansed” shortly before or during the Israeli War of Independence.
The two conditions above (and the Greens intent is a global boycott of arms sales to Israel, not just Australian) will create a situation where Israel has no means to defend itself, while its new neighbour (freely armed by its supporters through open borders and now ethnically cleansed of Jews with the approval of Michael Berkman) can launch a truly genocidal war. It’s Oct 07, but with 7 million victims, and there is no reasonable expectation it would not occur.
