Supporters of Palestine rallied in several cities on the day marking Al-Naksa (the setback) on June 7.
Al-Naksa refers to the 1967 Six-Day War, during which Israel defeated combined Arab armies and captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza Strip, Syrian Golan Heights and the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula.
The crowd in Gadigal Country/Sydney heard from Australian Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) activists Zack Schofield, Juliet Lamont, Anny Mokotow and Gemma Bean O’Toole. Ibrahim “Bob” Mouammar, Jann Alhafny and Yasmine Johnson also spoke.
Alhafny, who was hospitalised after the NSW Police assault at the February 9 protest against Israeli President Herzog, demanded that NSW Premier Chris Minns resign over his anti-protest laws and actions.
Mouammar, who has participated in nearly three years of Palestine actions waving Palestine flags and drumming, related his recent harassment by NSW Police while working in Double Bay. He was wearing a keffiyeh and had entered a Bunnings store. “This was terrible for me, but this is nothing compared to what people in Gaza experience every day.”
Schofield reminded the crowd that “nearly 10,000 Palestinian prisoners remain in torture camps, conditions similar to or worse than Ktzi’ot Prison”.
“Australia continues to support Israel materially and politically, including supplying F-35 parts, steel alloys, political backing at the United Nations and explosives used in attacks on civilians in Palestine, Lebanon and Iran, with potential targeting of Egypt, Turkey and Jordan.
“We have to keep resisting Minns on Palestine and issues like Waterloo, where they’re displacing public housing tenants.”
Lamont said the movement has to “keep targeting weapons companies in Australia”, getting the Israeli ambassador removed and forcing the government to be accountable. “We need to end all support to Israel — including non-military aid, like food and air conditioning.”
Mokotow, a member of Jews Against the Occupation ’48, said her experience as part of a non-Zionist family meant that she had “long been aware of Israel’s project to draw the world into its xenophobic, Machiavellian and megalomaniac perspectives”.
“I have seen how our government, regardless of party politics, has become hostage to the Zionist agenda, how politicians have been literally bought and wedded to Zionist ideology and how aspects of our civil society and cultural heritage are being prescribed by Zionist thuggery.”
O’Toole relayed a moving incident of solidarity on the Israeli warship, where flotilla participants were being tortured, where they had a chance to join in prayer with Muslim friends. “It was led by a kind man who had a green rifle light fixed on his forehead the whole time.”
Palestine Action Group Sydney is planing a rally outside the NSW Labor Conference on July 4.
The Naksa Day rally in Naarm/Melbourne drew about 1000 protesters to the State Library, reports Jordan Shukri AK Armaou-Massoud.
Speakers included Gunai Mara Elder Uncle Robbie Thorpe, Neve O’Connor from the Global Sumud Flotilla, Greens MLC Anasina Gray-Barberio and Palestinian Adnan Mansour from the Free Marwan Barghouti campaign.
O’Connor said after Israel’s illegal interception of the flotilla, she and others were sexually assaulted, brutalised and injected with unknown substances. She said part of the reason for the GSF was to shed a spotlight on Israel’s severe treatment of Palestinians every day “without the social currency and protection coming from the Global North”.
O’Connor said that while the GSF activists had been freed from Israel’s prison, “10,000 Palestinians, including 400 children are still languishing in jail”.
She criticised the federal Labor government for its lack of interest in how the GSF activists were treated by the Israel Defense Forces. “I returned to a government that did not care … despite physical assault and sexual humiliation.”
Thorpe, who has taken the crown to court over the genocide of First Nations people, condemned Australia’s military and diplomatic support for Israel. He said Israel is only able to carry out its genocide because of its alliances with Western imperialist nations, such as the United States, Britain and Australia. “[Australia] is complicit in what’s going on over there.”
Carine Visschers reports from Gimuy/Cairns that a vigil in solidarity with Palestinians was held on June 6. Since October 2023, people have gathered to show their support for Palestine under the lit tree, on the esplanade, every other Friday, without fail, in support of the Palestinian people in Gaza and West Bank.
