In a television interview on Sunday, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese acknowledged that Israel is committing war crimes against the Palestinians in Gaza. He stated that it is “quite clearly” a “breach of international law to stop food being delivered, which was a decision that Israel made in March.”

Speaking on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s “Insiders” program, Albanese said that the scenes of mass starvation in Gaza “break your heart.” The actions of the Israeli regime, which has barred humanitarian aid from entering the strip, were “indefensible.” The PM made similar comments in a statement he released on Friday.

Albanese’s remarks are an exercise in massive hypocrisy. His Labor government has supported Israel, politically, diplomatically and materially, throughout its genocidal onslaught on Gaza. And Albanese and the government, notwithstanding the handwringing, have not changed that stance one iota.

Instead, the remarks are part of an internationally coordinated shift in rhetoric, not substance, from a number of imperialist powers that have been key backers of Israel.

Australia joined 27 other countries last week issuing a statement that “condemned” Israel’s starvation of the Palestinians, which by that point had claimed more than 100 lives, the majority of them children. The statement similarly denounced Israel’s repeated massacres of aid-seekers, more than 1,000 of whom have been shot dead over the last two months.

But the statement demanded nothing of those who issued it, including countries such as the UK and Germany that have been among the chief arms providers to Israel. It pathetically called for a “ceasefire” to be overseen and led by the US, whose fascistic President Donald Trump has outlined a plan for the complete ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza.

Albanese’s remarks on “Insiders” did not go beyond this pathetic call. His admission that Israel was breaking international law was only elicited by a direct question. And in response to a follow-up, Albanese immediately sought to walk it back.

He said he was “not a lawyer, those things will play out their course.” And the suggestion of some sort of international criminal action was farcical.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other government leaders have been subject to an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC) since November 2024, for crimes against humanity, including the use of starvation against civilians. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) previously found that Israel has a plausible case to answer that it is committing genocide.

While the Israeli government has hysterically denounced these actions as an antisemitic conspiracy, its imperialist allies have refused to uphold the judgements of these international bodies. The Australian Labor Party, like Israel, has questioned the “jurisdiction” of the ICJ. None of the major powers has suggested they will detain Netanyahu or the other Israeli leaders subject to arrest warrants if they have the opportunity.

Evading these legal questions, Albanese instead presented the mass starvation as a “breach of decent humanity and morality.” He presented Israel’s withholding of food largely as a single issue, even a policy failure that risked undermining support for the Zionist regime.

In reality, the starvation of Palestinians has been Israeli policy throughout the genocide, as one component of an attempt to systematically annihilate and displace the Palestinians. In the opening weeks, after the October 7, 2023 Palestinian military operation, Israel instituted a total blockade of the strip, including all foodstuffs and electricity.

As Israeli leaders were comparing the entire Palestinian population to Biblical enemies and “animals,” Labor’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong infamously declared that the decision to withhold all food from the Gazan population was “difficult to judge from afar.”

Israel, moreover, boasted of keeping the Palestinians on “rations” throughout its 16-year siege of the Gaza Strip, which preceded and helped to provoke October 7.

But, in keeping with the imperialist propaganda of the past two years, Albanese claimed that everything had begun with the Palestinian military breakout from Gaza. He declared: “We have to be very clear, Hamas’ actions on October 7 is where the current atrocities began and Hamas can have no role in a future state.” That statement effectively repeated and endorsed all the Israeli justifications for their onslaught.

Albanese obscenely stated that Hamas was not only holding Israelis hostage, but was also “holding Palestinians hostage as well effectively through their failure to engage in any constructive way.” Even Israeli opposition figures, who have supported the assault on Gaza, acknowledge that it is the Netanyahu regime that is determined to prolong the war.

The repeated endorsements of Israel’s lying pretexts underscored the fact that Albanese’s calls for a “ceasefire” are a sham. So too are his references to support for a “two-state solution.” That perspective, always unviable, is completely unreal under conditions where Gaza is literally a pile of rubble.

Albanese received minimal pushback from “Insiders” host David Speers. Several obvious points were not raised.

The most glaring are the implications for the Australian government of Albanese’s admission that Israel is effectively committing war crimes. It is a violation of international law to aid such crimes or the regime perpetrating them. But Australia has and continues to provide such support.

In a report this month, Declassified Australia revealed that, contrary to Albanese’s claims, his government continues to engage in weapons trade with Israel. The article showed that the government and the military had directly exported parts for F-35 fighter jets to Israel, as recently as the beginning of July.

Albanese does not appear to have been questioned or challenged on this damning report by any of the establishment journalists who have interviewed him since it was published.

Such exports are only one element of Australia’s involvement. Of even more significance is its ever-deepening integration with the US military and intelligence apparatus, which has played the chief role in arming Israel and facilitating the genocide. Experts have stated that the joint US-Australian Pine Gap spy base in Central Australia has almost certainly been involved in providing intelligence and targeting information to the Zionist regime.

Domestically, the backing for the Israeli atrocities has taken the form of a massive crackdown on widespread opposition, led by Labor. That has included the passage of sweeping “hate speech” laws, federally and in New South Wales, that potentially criminalise strident condemnations of Zionism.

Albanese appointed a Zionist lobbyist Jillian Segal, who had campaigned for such legislation, as his government’s “Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism.” Earlier this month, Segal released a report demanding an unprecedented police state crackdown.

That would include withholding funding to universities and cultural institutions, policing the media and even deporting people who are deemed to be antisemitic. Segal’s entire report is premised on the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism, which includes among its examples such things as comparing Israel’s present crimes to those of the Nazis.

Labor’s record, and its current actions, expose Albanese’s crocodile tears. They are an attempt to divert mass opposition and to downplay the culpability of his government.