Woke tropes informing Australia’s Gaza response

Families of Israeli hostages visit the Ohel Chabad (November 13, 2023)

ACT Senator David Pocock wrote about Australia’s response to the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza recently. The next day, Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong reinstated $6 million in funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).

Staff at UNRWA had allegedly assisted Hamas in their brutal attacks on unsuspecting and innocent Israeli civilians. In response, the Australian government ‘paused’ funding to UNRWA. UNRWA’s response was to sack those allegedly involved, and after a period of seven weeks, the Australian government has decided to reinstate the funding.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Woke tropes informing Australia’s Gaza response.

Woke tropes informing Australia’s Gaza response
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ACT Senator David Pocock wrote about Australia’s response to the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza recently. The next day, Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong reinstated $6 million in funding to the United Nations Relief… pic.twitter.com/DekL4ymC7p

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) March 16, 2024

My Letter to Senator David Pocock re: Aid to Gaza

Senator David Pocock

On 14th March 2024, Senator David Pocock wrote an article in The Guardian, a left-leaning newspaper, about Australia's role in the ongoing Gaza conflict perpetrated by the proscribed terrorist organisation, Hamas.

His article was entitled, 'The crisis in Gaza is a diplomatic test for Australia. We must do better as a country'.

I agree. We must ensure that Australian taxpayers' money does not go to an organisation that allegedly employed Hamas insiders who helped with the attack on innocent and unsuspecting Israelis on 7th October 2023.

Below is my email to Senator Pocock.

Dear Senator Pocock,

I note in your article in The Guardian on 14th March 2024 you state that you have received many emails from people in the ACT about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza created by the proscribed terrorist organisation, Hamas. You also state that Australians 'expect our government to show leadership and stand up for what is right'.

As an Australian who spent some 15 years of my life in service to my country, what is right is to ensure that terrorists are not funded by Australian taxpayers.

If you left the bubble of the ACT, a jurisdiction that is out of touch with the majority of taxpayers in Australia, you would know that what is right is to ensure the safety of the Australian people.

Your article in The Guardian is misguided. If the people who write to you are so concerned about what is happening in Gaza, perhaps you should direct them to RedR and the humanitarian roster they manage on behalf of DFAT. You might also consider that Australian taxpayers would be more comfortable sending medical supplies and related products to Gaza, rather than cash that has allegedly been used by UNRWA and its staff to support the proscribed terrorist organisation, Hamas.

If you truly support Territorians, you might also like to condemn the pro-terrorist and anti-colonial vandalism that was targeted at the Vietnam War Memorial and the Captain Cook Memorial this week. Without the sacrifice of Australian service personnel, your function and indeed your ability to write such partisan articles in a left-leaning newspaper would not exist.

I urge you to reconsider the importance of your position that has materialised as a result of the Australian electoral system. In this regard, you do not just represent the ACT. You have a responsibility to represent Australia's interests, not to how you and others feel about the tragedy that the Palestinian Authority's elected representatives perpetrated on 7th October 2023.

Yours faithfully,

Dr Michael de Percy.

Our spy laws are out of date (again)

This is not the first time our spy laws have been inadequate

This is not the first time in ASIO’s history that those who wish to harm our nation could not be charged because no law was broken.

Following the Petrov affair in 1954, when the head of Soviet spy operations in Australia defected and blew the lid on traitorous Australian communists, the Royal Commission into Espionage did not recommend anyone for prosecution despite evidence to the contrary.

Writing in the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall had this to say:

Our spy laws are woefully out of date, argues Michael de Percy. Reading his article, it becomes painfully clear that while our politicians are busy drafting millions of pages of legislation to control the lives of ordinary Australian citizens, they spend practically no time at all devising ways to protect this nation from traitors and spies. Indeed, the last time anyone tried to update the policy framework, it was so poorly done that it effectively protected China’s interests and instead actively sought out conservatives and geopolitical allies. We saw this very clearly when the first victims of the garbage foreign interference laws were former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, UK former MEP and commentator Nigel Farage, and the CPAC team. And yet here we are, hearing that a real threat to Australia is going to remain anonymous and walk away unpunished.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Our spy laws are out of date (again).

Our spy laws are out of date (again)
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This is not the first time in ASIO’s history that those who wish to harm our nation could not be charged because no law was broken.

Following the Petrov affair in 1954, when the head of Soviet spy operations in Australia defected… pic.twitter.com/XBBEFqaSC8

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) March 13, 2024