Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong has dropped the diplomatic equivalent of a mic drop, declaring she believes the Australian women who claim they were sexually assaulted and beaten by Israeli soldiers after their humanitarian flotilla to Gaza was intercepted. Speaking at Senate estimates, Wong called the treatment of the 11 Australians “unacceptable” and the allegations “distressing,” adding that her “principled position is to always believe women when allegations of sexual assault are made.”
The women in question were part of the Global Sumud Flotilla, a flotilla that set sail from Mediterranean ports with the radical idea of delivering food, medicine, and baby formula to Gaza - a place currently under a blockade that Israel insists is purely for security purposes, but which aid groups describe as collective punishment. Israeli naval forces intercepted the boats, detained the unarmed civilians, and deported them. Some of those detained say the experience included beatings, rape, and a variety of other indignities that tend to make one question the whole “humanitarian” label.
Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi got specific, detailing allegations from one participant, Juliet Lamont, who says she was “sexually assaulted and beaten, cable tied and had so much water thrown in her face that at one point she thought she was going to drown.” Lamont also alleges “they wrenched my trousers and underwear down and I was raped by one of the soldiers.” Another participant, Neve O’Connor, says she was “abused, physically beaten and sexually humiliated,” including having “my hands pinned behind my back while being repeatedly kneed in the spine, kneed in the thighs.” A third, Violet CoCo, claims she was “held at gunpoint, stripped of her clothes and pushed into a shipping container where she was beaten, kicked and sexually assaulted before being thrown into a prison yard.” Israel has denied all allegations, calling the flotilla “organised for provocation rather than humanitarian concern” and labeling the participants “well-known agitators.”
When Faruqi asked Wong point-blank, “Do you believe these women?” Wong replied, “My principled position is to always believe women when allegations of sexual assault are made.” She later added, “You should believe, and I believe, women who come forward with these assertions.” Wong also confirmed her office is in direct contact with some of the women, but declined to go into further detail, perhaps sensibly avoiding a public he-said-she-said with a foreign government.
Three of the flotilla participants, including Lamont, held a press conference at Parliament House on Thursday, requesting meetings with Wong and the Prime Minister. Lamont expressed gratitude that Wong believes them, but noted, “I think the extension of that is she needs to meet with us, she needs to hear our testimony and she needs to sanction Israel. What other country would be allowed to rape and torture 11 ordinary citizens from this country and get away from it?”
On the broader Australia-Israel relationship, Wong clarified she does not consider Israel an “ally,” because “we don’t have an alliance. We have alliance partners.” She described the current period as “one of the most challenging times” in the bilateral relationship, citing Australia’s opposition to many actions of the Netanyahu government, including violence in Gaza, illegal settlements in the West Bank, the killing of Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom and her colleagues, the refusal to allow Australian diplomats access to Palestine, damage to Australian war graves in Gaza, and the alleged mistreatment of Australian citizens. “This is a pattern of behaviour,” Wong said, “which makes it difficult … unless the pattern of behaviour changes, it is very difficult to see the relationship changing.”