The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American single-seat, single-engine, supersonic stealth strike fighter. It is a multirole combat aircraft designed for both air superiority and strike missions, it also has electronic warfare and intelligence gathering capability1.
The Royal Australian Air Force has obtained 72 F35s and these are primarily based at Williamtown air base near Newcastle, with some being operated from Tindal air base in the Northern Territory. Numerous parts for the aircraft are also manufactured in Australia2.
Ever since the genocide in Gaza commenced after the Hamas attack on Israel, the federal government has long denied breaching international law by exporting weapons to Israel. However, denial is no longer credible3.
While sending most manufactured parts to a pool of parts in Europe and the US, leaked documents show F-35 parts are being exported directly to Israel by sneaking some into cargo on commercial flights4.
Foreign Minister, Penny Wong stated, in Parliament House: “We are not supplying weapons or ammunition to Israel … As part of the global F-35 supply chain, we are supplying components and parts that are non-lethal in nature5.
I used to have some respect for Penny Wong. She seemed to have a modicum of calm that many politicians lack, a semblance of knowledge that few politicians have and a lack of the bullshit that so many politicians seem to have in spades. However, after this, respecting her is not even vaguely possible. The only lethal part of an F35 aircraft is, in some variants, a 25mm rotary cannon6.
Other than that, there are no ‘lethal’ parts to an F35 aircraft. All its weapons are either in internal weapons bays, on the wingtips, or on pylons under the wings and these are loaded onto the aircraft by ground crew1. The delivery of ‘non-lethal’ parts to Israel allows their F35s to continue operations against civilians on the ground in their tents, homes, schools and hospitals. To use this as an excuse to continue supporting Israel in its genocide in Gaza is at best disingenuous or indicates that Penny Wong is either an idiot herself, or takes the rest of the Australian population for idiots.
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-35_Lightning_II
- https://djsir.vic.gov.au/made-in-victoria/about/manufacturing-case-studies/from-moorabbin-to-space-how-the-f-35-is-taking-victoria-to-the-world
- https://michaelwest.com.au/australia-sells-weapons-parts-directly-to-israel/
- https://declassifiedaus.org/2025/07/11/revealed-australia-has-exported-f-35-fighter-jet-parts-directly-to-israel/
- https://theshot.net.au/uncategorized/a-comprehensive-list-of-the-non-lethal-parts-of-my-big-death-plane/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GAU-12_Equalizer#GAU-22/A
“To use this as an excuse to continue supporting Israel in its genocide in Gaza is at best disingenuous or indicates that Penny Wong is either an idiot herself, or takes the rest of the Australian population for idiots.”
It’s the latter. She used to be, as you say, almost a model politician. But the ALP’s need for enduring power has seen them say and do the most ridiculous things. And then expect us to support them.
Do they think we are stupid, indeed!
As to my query about the non-Royal Australian Army, seems it’s simply because that’s the way it evolved and not a single one of our Army commanders thought it was an anomaly worth persuing.
There’s much more to it but David Hartshorn summarised succinctly on an ADF Community site:
“The RAN and RAAF don’t have corps. Some, but not all army corps have a royal prefix, but not the parent army organisation. Like anything that’s how the services evolved.”
…pursuing
why the fuck are we even friends with israhell in the first place?. it couldn’t simply be that they, just like Australia, are a white ethno european derived invading settler colonialist occupation? could it? they are certainly NO democracy. Geez, wasn’t Labor in (or near) the vanguard against apartheid SA?
We are sure dragging our feet re recognition of Palestine etc, (presumably lest we incur the displeasure of uncle sam*), whilst we were pretty hot to trot and defund UNRWA, the instant the IOF came out with it’s bogus unfounded declaration (with zero evidence) that UNRWA was Hamas and we ceased funding IMMEDIATELY.
And why the fuck do western media (and govts) blithely accept IOF bollocks at face value and barely/rarely apologise or even accept they were duped when the bollocks is exposed as bollocks …. time & time & time & time & time again. Saw an interesting placard t’other day “you think it started on 7 oct, because bbc wont show seasons 1 2 & 3”
and of course my particular favourite. “know what also DIED in GAZA? the MYTH of western HUMANITY and DEMOCRACY”
* and oh, wouldn’t that be a terrible terrible thing 😀 **
** first time i’ve used a footnote in almost 50 years …. and not expecting it to be graded 🙂
Israel’s FAR closer to a democracy than the maggot-riddled USA Clive, although like Trump and his Supreme Court sycophants, Netanyahu has followed their lead by attacking the rule of law. Unlike typical Americans though – let’s not forget that 90M of these deadshits couldn’t be bothered voting in the last election – Israelis understand the slippery slope of right wing “judicial reform” and have protested in their multitudes. Hapless/mindless Hamas fwits then gave Netanyahu breathing space from troubles at home and an excuse to obliterate Palestine. Their murderous actions have “legitimised” (in Netanyahu’s mind and the minds of other Jewish extremists and their supporters around the world) Israel’s annexation of Paletinian lands and the ongoing mistreatment of its people.