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Joined 4 years ago
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Cake day: February 20th, 2021

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  • When human shields are used, the attacking party must take into account the risk to civilians. 191 Indiscriminate or disproportionate harm to civilians remains unlawful and the civilian population can never be targeted.

    So, from this I understand that every time Israel makes an accusation of “human shields”, it’s a direct admission of guilt of war crimes in that they are knowingly targeting civilians.










  • Yeah nah, that’s not the way. Sure people can get away with it, but it’s really not eliminating the hazards.

    There’s a bunch of non-obvious hazards which exist around cutting into containers which have held fuels, including but not limited to:

    • An empty propane container could have an gas+air mixture inside it in proportions which could explode.
    • Any liquid residue in an empty fuel container can be vapourised by the heat of the cutting, creating a fuel+air mix which can spontaneously explode from the pressure and heat, even without sparks (think: diesel engine principle but instead of a 0.25L cylinder it’s a 200L cylinder).
    • An empty gas canister can be contaminated with heavier oils/waxes that could build up over the years of refilling cycles, creating the same hazard as noted for empty liquid fuel containers.

    Methods to reduce the hazard include:

    • Thoroughly washing the inside of the container before cutting (access can be difficult though).
    • Filling with water and cutting while full of water. (Container musn’t be sealed, and the cutting method must be safe to use in a wet environment, and further hazards such as introducing oxygen into the container need to be considered).








  • Excerpt from the communiqué:

    […] Specifically, this Communiqué analyses Australian government policy and the actions of individual members of the Australian Parliament to show that the Australian government and its most senior officials have both failed to prevent or respond to the genocide committed by Israel against Palestinians in Gaza and been complicit in the carrying out of this genocide in a manner which falls squarely within Article 25 (3)© and/or (d) of the Rome Statute of the ICC. The evidence compiled herein amounts to a reasonable basis for the OTP to conduct an investigation into such conduct of Australian nationals, and to seek the authorisation of the Pre-Trial Chamber for the same, alternatively, to consider the contents of this Communiqué in the context of the OTP’s ongoing investigation into the Situation in the State of Palestine.

    Following 7 October 2023, when Palestinian militant groups led by Hamas attacked Israeli settlements and military installations, killing 1,200 Israeli civilians and military personnel while capturing over 250 individuals, Israel launched a devastatingly violent campaign against Palestinians in Gaza. Over 27,000 Palestinians have since been killed, and more than 1.7 million people in Gaza have been internally displaced. The Gaza coastal strip has been blockaded by the Israeli military, leading to food scarcity, sanitation concerns, the spread of communicable diseases, and widespread despair. Communications have regularly been cut, and the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) have instituted a devastating bombing campaign that has almost completely destroyed Gaza’s residential stock, places of worship, food outlets, cultural institutions, and educational facilities. Concurrently with this material destruction, officials of the Israeli government and military have increasingly voiced their intention to “wipe out” Palestinians living in Gaza and have explicitly employed genocidal rhetoric consistently and publicly. As this Communiqué highlights, a wide range of respected scholarly and legal sources have determined that such circumstances amount to genocide.

    Since 7 October 2023, the Australian government and individual government Ministers and political figures, such as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Defence Minister Richard Marles, and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, have provided explicit political, rhetorical, moral, military, and material support for Israel’s genocidal attack, despite their indisputable knowledge of the extent of the violent attacks. These actors have sought to provide political cover for Israel in international forums, justifying Israel’s bombing campaign as a legitimate right to self-defence that it does not, in fact, enjoy, and refusing to take any action that may positively contribute to stopping the genocidal campaign in Gaza. The Australian government, and its individual members, has, moreover, taken actions that further aggravate the ongoing genocide in Palestine through its cessation of funding for vital aid and humanitarian support. […]

    The rest of the document makes for a well-referenced timeline on the actions by various Australian political figures in relation the the recent Israel-Palestine conflict.