Let’s be clear, Peter Dutton: prosecuting Netanyahu is not anti-Semitism

We live in a world where international politicians and diplomats cannot stop the indiscriminate killing of children and innocent civilians (in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan and many other places). The United Nations is useless, its Security Council is destroyed by the superpower veto exercised by Russia and the United States.

That is why all well-meaning people should welcome the action of the International Criminal Court prosecutor in seeking arrest warrants for Hamas and Israeli leaders. That class does not include Australian opposition leader Peter Dutton, who describes the action as “abhorrent” and “anti-Semitic”.

He no doubt thinks that all the judges of the UN International Court of Justice are also anti-Semitic, given their ruling over the weekend that Israel must end its military attack on Rafah.

As everyone who uses the word should know, antisemitism It means hatred of the Jewish people in general, and is the most vile and destructive form of racial hatred. It is not about condemning the Israeli government’s war policy or tactics. Dutton’s attempt to conflate the two and his call on the Australian government not to support an independent international justice process is shameful.