ONE of the placards in evidence at the rally against genocide in Sydney last Sunday declared something along the lines of: ‘There’s only one Albanese I respect: Francesca.’

The acknowledgement of the Italian le­­g­al expert serving admirably as the UN’s spe­­cial rapporteur on the Israeli-occupied territories for more than three years, who is excluded from those territories and sanctioned by the US for daring to speak truth to power, contrasts with opinions about Au­­s­­tralian Prime Minister Anthony Alba­n­ese (no relation) who has consciously been as mealy-mouthed in his response to the genocide in Gaza as any other Western leader.

Hardly anyone is impressed by his tiff with his Israeli counterpart after the rabidly anti-humanitarian Benjamin Netan­yahu accused the Australian PM of promoting antisemitism by holding out the pros­­pect of recognising a Palestinian state, after the government in Canberra sensibly denied a visa to Simcha Rothman, one of the many fascist members of the Knesset under Netanyahu.

Australia has also held out the hollow prospect of recognising a Palestinian state when the UN General Assembly convenes next month, alongside a small bunch of European states such as France and Britain. If it comes,........

© Dawn