In a major speech in New York last week, Sanders highlighted the plight of the Palestinian people and criticised the hardline Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for using disproportionate force in response to the provocation by the ruling Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. While declaring himself as "100 per cent pro-Israel", he especially focused on Israel's siege of Gaza and imposition of appalling living conditions on the tiny Strip's 1.8 million Palestinians.

He stressed that in Gaza unemployment stood around 40 per cent and that there is a landscape of "decimated houses, decimated health care, decimated schools". He stated that "the United States and the rest of the world have got to work together to help the Palestinian people".

In doing so, Sanders essentially reflected the shifting global opinion in support of the Palestinians' cause and joined a chorus of American and world leaders, from former US President Jimmy Carter to South African Bishop Desmond Tutu and the late Nelson Mandela to Pope Francis and Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom in this respect.

All these leaders have called for an end to Israel's inhumane and apartheid policy attitudes and actions towards the Palestinians and have strongly supported the internationally backed two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with an independent Palestinian state along the lines of the 1967 borders.

Sweden and the Vatican have officially recognised the state of Palestine, and the British, French and Spanish parliaments have passed resolutions, although non-binding, in support of a similar recognition.

Most of the 135 countries that backed UN General Assembly Resolution 67/19 to elevate Palestine to a non-member observer state in 2012 have now recognised the Palestinian state. Not only has the Palestinian flag been hoisted at the UN, but Palestine has also joined many UN organisations. This has been accompanied by a growing campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions – something that the European Union has at least partially supported.

Israel has remained defiant in the face of all these developments. Netanyahu has made it clear that under his watch there will be no Palestinian state. He has all along emphasised the importance of negotiating with the Palestinian Authority, but only on the basis of "peace for peace", not peace for land. He has done everything possible to undermine any chance of a united Palestinian leadership by continuously treating Hamas as a "terrorist organisation", along with all those Palestinians who either out of frustration or no hope for the future have resorted to individual acts of resistance against the Israelis, especially over the past 12 months.

As a result, 29 Israelis and about 200 Palestinians have lost their lives. The Israeli security forces have an order to shoot on sight any Palestinian who engages in violent acts of resistance, as seen by Israeli troops killing point blank a pregnant Palestinian woman and an injured Palestinian. While the Israeli government has labelled such actions an aberration, they appear to be part of a deliberate policy. No Israeli soldier as a result of internal investigation has been punished for his or her acts of atrocities.

As far as the Israeli government is concerned, all Palestinians are either potential or actual terrorists, and deserve to be treated as such. It has taken advantage of the turmoil in the Arab world and the failure of the Arab countries to pay more than lip service to the Palestinian cause to continue its illegal settlement expansion in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and to tighten its hold on the territories in such a way that no viable Palestinian state could ever come into existence.

It has not been able to destroy Hamas in several major military onslaughts on Gaza since 2008, but has killed hundreds of innocent Palestinians, including many children, and inflicted massive property and means of livelihood destruction by indiscriminate bombings.

It is this situation that has driven a man of conscience, integrity and honesty such as Sanders to finally publicly voice his concerns and lambast the US and its allies for remaining indifferent to the plight of the Palestinian people. The Israeli lobby and its supporters in the West may succeed in drowning out Sanders' voice, but he has now challenged the efficacy of America's position and that of its allies.

One of the Western governments that has stood shoulder to shoulder with Israel, the US and a handful of other supporters of Israel – some of them as tiny as the Marshall Islands – is that of Australia. Although the Australian Labor Party has increasingly edged in the direction of joining the shifting world of opinion, the Liberal and National Coalition government has stood steadfast in its commitment to the state of Israel.

It has ignored all the authoritative rulings by the International Court of Justice on the illegality of Israel's occupation and settlement activities under international law. Such wilful oversight has certainly played into the hands of extremist groups. Isn't it time for the Turnbull government to get on the right side of history and join the international condemnation of Israel's behaviour.

Amin Saikal is Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Public Policy Fellow and Director of the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies (the Middle East and Central Asia) at the Australian National University.