A Royal Commission to Discover the Obvious
For many Australians, the Israel–Palestine conflict was once viewed through a balanced or cautious lens. Since the Gaza war, that position has shifted decisively. What has unfolded has forced a reassessment that is no longer theoretical or abstract, but moral and unavoidable.
Anyone who can watch month after month of hospitals being bombed, children starved, and entire cities flattened — and remain unmoved — is beyond understanding. It has also fundamentally changed how many now view the role of the United States in this conflict.
When Russian missiles strike Ukrainian apartment blocks, they destroy a handful of units.
When Israeli bombs strike Gaza, entire buildings are erased.
This has not been a war fought between soldiers.
It has been a campaign carried out against civilians.
Israel’s influence over U.S. policy has long been difficult to comprehend. What is now equally disturbing is how the same influence appears to shape Australian policy — quietly, without public consent, and without meaningful debate.
Australians can see what Israel was doing before the Gaza war and what it has continued to do since: forcing Palestinians off their own land. Yet too many remain silent, allowing unelected actors to determine Australia’s foreign policy.
We now seem to require a Royal Commission to establish what the rest of the world already understands.
That is not a sign of caution or sophistication.
It is a sign of political complacency — and national embarrassment.
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