Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN)
IPAN Patrons: Emeritus Professor Ian Lowe AO & Kellie Tranter Lawyer & Human Rights Activist
MEDIA RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 7 February 2025
Trump’s Gaza ‘final solution’? Australia must categorically reject this.
- Trump is putting the US out of line with the post WW2, UN international legal system.
- Australia must not stay aligned with this US government which doesn’t care at all for international law or Palestinian lives.
- Australia must urgently review its relationship with the US, and give notice to withdraw from AUKUS and the Force Posture Agreement, which sees a permanent rotation of US marines in Darwin.
‘The Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN) is horrified by the proposal by United States President Donald Trump to “take over” Gaza, but equally stunned by the relative silence of the Australian Prime Minister on the proposal, and alarmed by the support from Opposition Leader Peter Dutton for the Trump presidency’, stated IPAN spokesperson Ms Kathryn Kelly.
‘President Trump’s plan to relocate Gazans to other countries and to take over the land and turn it into the ‘Riviera of the Middle East’ cannot simply be dismissed as offhand comments’, stated Ms Kelly.
‘The displacement of a whole people group from their lands would be in direct violation of the United Nations and International law and would constitute a crime against humanity’, stated Ms Kelly.
‘President Trump’s questioning of why Gazans would want to live in Gaza represents the height of hypocrisy – given that the situation of Gaza being “unliveable” (in Trumps word’s) has been caused by bombs provided by the U.S., dropped by Israeli jets (with parts made in Australia)’, stated Ms Kelly.
‘It’s time the Australian Government stood firmly with the post WW2 International system through the United Nations and condemns this criminal plan’, stated Ms Kelly
‘Prime Minister Anthony Albanese must categorically state Australia’s commitment to a Palestinian State and advise President Trump that there is absolutely no place for his proposal for the removal of the people of Gaza’, said Ms Kelly.
President Trump has also suspended US funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and USAID programs supporting Palestinian communities. ‘This aid is critical to the provision of lifesaving aid to the nearly two million Gazans, many who are desperate to find enough food, water, shelter and medical aid just to survive’, stated Ms Kelly.
‘President Trump is putting the US completely out of alignment with international conventions and laws – and out of step with Australian foreign policy’, stated Ms Kelly.
‘It has never been clearer that Australia must reduce its dependence on the US., and give notice to withdraw from the AUKUS Agreement and the Force Posture Agreement which sees a permanent rotation of US marines in Darwin’, stated Ms Kelly.
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For Media Interviews: Ms Kathryn Kelly 0417 269 984 – TBC
Media Liaison: Jonathan Pilbrow 0403 611 815
Bio: Kathryn Kelly is a former federal public servant who worked largely in the environment and Aboriginal affairs portfolios. She visited Gaza and the West Bank in 2002 and 2003 and then founded the ‘Australians for Justice and Peace in Palestine’ organisation in Canberra in 2003. Kathryn was a member of the IPAN National Coordinating Committee as an ACT rep, (2013-2023). Kathryn was also a founding co-convenor of
the Alliance Against Political Prosecutors until recently, advocating for the truth tellers/whistleblowers.