Twelve months after Israel launched its brutal war on Palestine, 300 people took their anti-war message to federal parliament on October 8, calling on Labor to end its support for genocide.
The protest outside, and media conference inside, was part of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network’s month of action for Gaza. It was endorsed by 27 pro-Palestine organisations, cultural groups and two political parties.
Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung independent Victorian Senator Lidia Thorpe told the media conference the major parties are “complicit in the genocide we have been watching live in the last 12 months” and that they “have lied to everyone, saying they’re not arming the Israeli government”.
Western Australia Senator Fatima Payman said the government did not have the courage to call out Israel’s genocide, adding: “We need sanctions and we need to impose an end to trade deals with Israel.”
Dr Bushra Othman, a Palestinian-Australian surgeon who was recently volunteering at Shahuda Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al Balah, Gaza, told the media: “It became clear our main role was to bear witness to the cruel injustice, oppression and horrific crimes against the Palestinians.
“I felt hopeless watching patients die on the floor because of a complete lack of basic medications and fluids.”
She said the world must not “turn a blind eye while hospitals are bombed, children are displaced and entire families are obliterated. The people of Gaza are not just headlines; they are not numbers; they are precious lives.”
Vivienne Porzsolt, a founder of Jews against the Occupation ’48, said the Israel lobby claims to speak for all Jews in Australia and the world, but it does not. “There have always been Jewish opponents to Zionism, and we protest the actions of the state of Israel.”
NSW Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi said more than 100,000 people, according to the Lancet, have been massacred. “In what world do you think blowing up 20,000 children is self defence? Palestinians have a right to fight back.”
Dr Ola Aldassi, Dr Musameh Muntaser, Tamara Asmar, Sara Saleh, Diana Abdel-Rahman, Leah House, Diana Abdel-Rahman OAM and Olivia Serougi were also present.
Outside parliament, protesters heard from three generations of Palestinian activist Assala Sayara’s family, including Rafeqa Mahmoud, her teyta (grandmother) and her niece, Palestinian poet Elina Sayara, who read one of her poems. Mahmoud spoke about the resistance to Israel’s occupation since the 1948 Al Nakba, and led the crowd in an Arabic song of defiance.
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Leah House, program manager for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women’s Access to Justice Program at Ngambri/Ngunnawal Women’s Legal Centre, applauded Indigenous resistance “in all its forms”.
Sheikh Wesam Charkawi, co-convener of the Muslim Vote campaign, called on Labor to “do to Israel what you did to Russia over Ukraine — apply sanctions”. He also called for the Israeli ambassador to be expelled.
Labiba Abdellatif, from Wollongong Friends of Palestine, said: “Albanese tells us to not pick a side. But he has picked a side and that is genocide.”
Subhi Awad, a Palestinian-Australian from the Northern Rivers and We Vote For Palestine campaign group, said the campaign was gearing up for the federal elections, asking candidates to sign a pledge for Palestine. “Elected representatives cannot hide from our movement,” Awad said.
Mark Goudkamp, from Teachers 4 Palestine NSW, called out the double standards: “Labor has rejected 75% of Palestinian requests for asylum, from October 7 last year to September 11. Only 1300 people have made it to safety here.”
He said that 80% of Ukrainian refugees were accepted in 2022 and 98% of Iraqi requests for asylum after the war on Iraq. “We call on the government to accept more Palestinian refugees, stop creating more refugees by fuelling Israel’s genocide and grant the permanent visas to Palestinian refugees already here.”
Palestinian poet Elina Sayarah, lawyer Musa Hijazi, anti-Zionist Jewish teacher Yehuda Aharon, James Godfrey from Free Gaza Australia, Markela Panegyres from Trade Unionists for Palestine, cellist Antonio Aguilar, Anhar Kareem, from the Islamic Women’s Welfare Association Youth Committee, and Adam Adelpour from Stop the War on Palestine, concluded the event.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese moved a 15-part motion reiterating the government’s “unequivocal condemnation of Hamas’ terror attacks on Israel”, called for the “immediate and unconditional release of all remaining hostages” and called on Iran to “cease its destabilising action”, but said nothing about Israel’s carnage or concrete actions Australia could take to stop the war.
The Liberals had their own motion, which included that “Israel shares the same liberal democratic values as Australia and other western nations and affirm[s] that Israel’s battle is a battle fought against the enemies of civilised people everywhere”.
The Greens abstained on Labor’s motion, while Independent MPs Andrew Wilkie, Helen Haines, Zali Steggell, Kate Chaney, Zoe Daniel, Monique Ryan, Sophie Scamps, Alegra Spender and Kylie Tink all voted for it. It was carried 85 to 54.
[Rachel Evans is a Pro-Palestine activist in Gadigal Country/Sydney.]