The 41st weekend of continuous protests across Australia against Israel’s genocidal onslaught against the people of Gaza came on the heels of a July 19 International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling that the illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem are “in violation of international law”.
While human rights activists, legal experts and the Palestine solidarity movement have long recognised this, rich governments, like Australia, give de facto legitimacy to the illegal settlements.
The ICJ ruling gives moral impetus to the protest movement. It also highlights that an ongoing campaign of street demonstrations, industrial action and civil disobedience is necessary to defeat the genocide. Legal action alone is not enough.
Authorities have begun using new forms of repression, including pepper spraying protestors, at the pro-Palestine rally in Naarm/Melbourne, reports Jordan AK.
In previous weeks, police blocked the sound truck and stage at the weekly Palestine rally. In the week before the July 21 protest, police arbitrarily enforced laws around “incitement to hatred” to question local Palestinian activist Hash Tayeh. They said the chant “all Zionists are terrorists” is an example.
Hundreds of people protested outside the Fawkner Police station on July 19 in solidarity with Tayeh. The action was called by Loud Jew Collective and Jews Against Fascism.
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At the July 21 rally, City of Melbourne Council rangers attempted to stop various campaign stalls from “fundraising”, however activists successfully resisted this anti-democratic move.
Thousands took to the streets once again. Chants of “US imperialists: Number one terrorists!”, “Our existence is resistance”, and “The people united will never be defeated” rang out as the banners, placards and flags of political organisations, trade unions and local Palestine solidarity campaign groups, were prominent in the march.
Lloyd Riman spoke about the community picket campaign against Electromold Engineering in Thomastown.
Electromold is a chemical processing facility that holds contacts with Lockheed Martin & Boeing, and whose services are a vital part of the global supply-chains for F-35 joint-strike fighter jets and Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) bombs.
“Electromold boasts that they hold the world's highest surface finishing accreditations, the southern hemisphere's most specialised surface coating manufacturers,” Riman said.
He said that eight JDAM bombs were unleashed on the Al-Mawasi refugee camp last week. Some 80,000 displaced Palestinians were sheltering there, he said.
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“They were ripped apart, blown to pieces, and buried in their tents by eight bombs, each of which have come through Thomastown, Melbourne! That is a damn shame!”
“I hope you're listening, Labor, because the people have stood up where you have failed to do so,” he said.
A loud cry of “Fuck you Albanese” from the crowd was met with roaring applause.
Dr Dana Ibrahim, a Palestinian-Australian environmental researcher, from Khan Younis, read out personal testimony from Dr Shaima Abu Shaban, a psychologist in Gaza who specialises in trauma-therapy for children.
“During the war, we felt fear, we felt hunger, we lost our property ... I used to have the most wonderful children ... I had the most amazing family and siblings, but now I speak to you having lost everything,” the statement said.
“In [one] devastating strike I lost everyone: I lost my parents, along with my brother, my sweet niece, my son who was just 19-years old, my daughter who was only 14.”
“In just one minute, ten's of houses can be bombed and many lives claimed.”
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Dr Shaima's testimony also described Israeli Occupation Force assaults on multiple hospitals, including al-Shifa, and sleeping in a room with the bodies of dead children.
Palestinian organiser Tasnim Sammak spoke about ongoing state violence against populations around the world and the need to form links of solidarity between the Palestinian struggle with the peoples' struggles in countries such as Bangladesh, Kenya, Sudan.
“What is happening in Palestine is a form of state violence,” she said, “but it is a form of settler-colonial violence that is there to exterminate the people of Gaza ... so all of us need to connect the dots between these struggles”.
Sammak also criticised the corporate media for attempting to diminish the atrocities being committed in Gaza through sanitising language.
Thousands also took to the streets in Gadigal Country/Sydney on July 21, reports Peter Boyle. The rally showed that people will not be silenced on the Gaza genocide.
Protesters felt that the latest ruling of the International Court of Justice vindicates the global movement in solidarity with Gaza, even if it was simply “recognising the obvious”.
As the march passed Sydney Town Hall, organisers announced that the following weekend's demonstration will be held outside the Town Hall on Saturday, July 27 at 12 noon, where NSW Labor will be holding its conference.
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Also on Gadigal Country/Sydney, Rachel Evans reported that police arrested Sarah Shaweesh who organised the ongoing protest outside prime minister Anthony Albanese's electorate office in Marrickville. Shaweesh went into the office as a constituent seeking information about visa applications for her family members.
Police attempted to close the picket down, but relented after the protest moved several metres away.
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Chris Jenkins reports from Ngarluma Country/Karratha that 40 people marched through the centre of the town on July 20 demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and a free Palestine.
The event was organised by Pilbara for Palestine (PFP), a grassroots community group formed in response to Israel’s invasion of Gaza last year.
“PFP is still a relatively new group,” Jenkins told Green Left. “Since November last year we’ve held numerous public events in Karratha calling on the Albanese government to take all necessary measures to help bring about an end to Israel’s genocide in Palestine.”
“Karratha is not a large city, but from the start it was clear that people living locally were horrified by the violence happening in Gaza and the West Bank and wanted an outlet to express that,” Jenkins said.
He added that actions “outside of the big metropolitan areas” add to the overall pressure on government.
“We know that our actions in a smaller town like Karratha make a difference and are part of a global campaign of solidarity.”
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Protesters have also targeted the Murdoch-owned Advertiser newspaper in Kaurna Yerta/Adelaide, reports Jordan Ellis.
For four days last week, protesters highlighted the “inaccurate, biased and misleading coverage of the genocide Israel is committing”.
On the second day, the protestors were joined by Ala Mustafa from the Palestinian Australian New Zealand Medical Association.
According to Ellis, “The Advertiser aids the genocide through its uncritical publishing of Zionist propaganda, dehumanising of Palestinians by excluding their stories and voices and often not reporting their deaths, and vilifying the anti-genocide protests”.
More than 80 people attended a Solidarity Concert in Magan-djin/Brisbane on July 20 with Phil Monsour and David Rovics with Kamala Emanuel. The concert was organised by Green Left and Justice for Palestine Magan-djin.
Activists in Boorloo/Perth are promoting protests beginning July 24 outside the Indian Ocean Defence & Security arms trade event.
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