Israel, with the backing of the United States, is continuing its genocidal war on Gaza, as resistance continues inside Palestine, Lebanon and Iran. Resistance is also continuing across the globe, including in Australia as people demanded a ceasefire in the 55th consecutive week of protests.
Israel’s siege of northern Gaza, especially around Jabalya, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, is now in its third week. Schools, hospitals and civilians, including women and children, and journalists, are being targetted.
Gaza’s Ministry of Health said at least 800 people have died in this offensive. All medical and civil defence workers have been killed, injured, arrested or forced out, while 100–200,000 trapped civilians remain.
“Genocide is unfolding in northern Gaza in its clearest form, in full view of the world,” the Palestinian Authority’s Foreign Ministry said on October 20.
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on October 27 that “widespread devastation and deprivation” meant that more than 60,000 people have been forced to flee — again.
His spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said Israel was refusing repeated efforts to deliver humanitarian supplies essential to survival — food, medicine and shelter. “The postponement of the final phase of the polio vaccination campaign in northern Gaza is putting the lives of thousands of children at risk,” Dujarric said.
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While the Central Intelligence Agency and Mossad have restarted ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, Israel continues to bomb southern Lebanon and carry out “limited strikes” on Iran. It means the US has agreed to Israel widening the war, endangering even more people’s lives and devastating infrastructure and the ecology.
The US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned Tehran not to respond, saying “Iran should not make the mistake of responding to Israel’s strikes, which should mark the end of this exchange.”
A New York Times report said Israel had attacked the Parchin military base, on the outskirts of Tehran, where the International Atomic Energy Agency has accused Iran of conducting tests of high explosives that could trigger a nuclear weapon.
Meanwhile, a new report by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UNESCWA) on the impact of Israel’s war on Palestine said that the Palestinian economy has been so devastated it would not be able to rebuild with humanitarian aid alone.
Gaza War: Expected socioeconomic impacts on the State of Palestine said that the Gazan economy had been set back more than 69 years — more than three generations.
According to Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh, director of the Palestine Museum of Natural History and the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability at Bethlehem University, Israel and the US hope that “dumping 10 times the amount of bombs on Gaza and Lebanon as done in Dresden, Berlin, Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II will result in surrender”.
“This is delusional”, he said, “because they are dealing with resistance forces and, like in Vietnam or Algeria, no matter the destruction, resistance will not give up”.
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Protesters in Gadigal Country/Sydney marched for the 55th consecutive week in a row, reports Peter Boyle.
Wendy Bacon, veteran anti-war activist and independent journalist, told the crowd she remembered “marching through these same streets during the Vietnam War, chanting: ‘1, 2, 3, 4, we don't want your f***king war!’” “Today, we are doing the same,” she said.
Bacon also condemned recent attempts to suppress anti-war protests on university campuses. “Students have played a historic role in many movements,” she said, voicing her dismay that The Saturday Paper had effectively joined the conservative media in its campaign to suppress political freedom on campuses.
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Isaac Nellist reports that Palestine and environment activists gathered at Jubilee Park on October 26 for a practice run kayaking and waving Palestine flags ahead of the Palestine flotilla at the people’s blockade of the world’s largest coal port in Muloobinba/Newcastle in November.
Activists chanted “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “Stop arming Israel” as they paddled in the harbour.
Activists from City of Sydney for Palestine rallied outside Sydney Town Hall on October 28 to pressure the council to follow through on its June vote disclose ties to companies committing human rights violations, particularly those complicit in Israel's genocide in Gaza.
“They were given 3 months and now that time is up, they are taking action to backtrack on their promise,” organisers said.
“It's up to us to show them we are not fools and we won't wait around forever while Israel continues to indiscriminately murder hundreds of thousands of Palestinian, Lebanese and Iranian people.”
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Thousands of people marched for Palestine in Naarm/Melbourne for the 55th consecutive rally on October 27, reports Chloe DS.
The crowd heard from a speakers including Aziz Nabulsi, Palestinian-Bosnian community activist and co-founder Gaza Endurance, Lebanese engineer Hassan Chami and United Workers Union leader Caterina Cinanni.
A large contingent of healthcare workers marched signs that read: “Politics may be complicated but humanity and compassion are not” and “How many people have to die for you to wake up?”.
Palestinian organiser and rally MC Nour Salman told the crowd: “We are here, week in, week out, because the genocide has not ended, Palestinians are still being massacred on mass, Lebanese people are being massacred, Syrians are being massacred, Iran is being attacked, the people are in danger.”
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Cinanni spoke about the building links between the Palestine and union movements.
“Health workers, nurses, doctors, carers, education workers, teachers, education assistants, students, community and aid workers, food workers … have been murdered and displaced in this war,” she said.
“This is why this is union business. This is why this is a union issue, because at the heart of it, this is about human rights.”
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Hundreds protested Israel’s escalating genocide at a community rally in Dandenong, Victoria on October 26, reports Chloe DS.
Rathy Barthlote, Tamil refugee and co-founder of Refugee Women Action for Visa Equality, expressed solidarity with Palestinians and other refugees who have fled genocides and sought asylum in Australia.
“No more war!” she said. “We will not stand silently by, while there is terrible human destruction, manufacturing of weapons and using military exhibitions to warn vulnerable countries..."
Barthlote called for permanent visas for the more than 9000 refugees suffering on temporary visas.
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Palestinian activist Reem Yunis spoke about uniting struggles. “We stand with the Tamils, the people who fight for refugees, the people who fight for justice for Aboriginal people,” she said.
Mariota Spens, a Scottish-Australian artist and activist with the Refugee Action Collective accused Australia of “holding hands with Israel” as it committed genocide in Gaza.
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Priya Reddy spoke about the campaign to stop weapons manufacturing at the Electromold factory in Thomastown, which provides crucial parts for F-35 fighter jets used by Israel to bomb Gaza.
“Electromold supplies Lockheed Martin, Boeing, BAE Systems and more with parts used in the manufacturing of F-35 fighter jets and JDAM bombs [which] are being used to commit genocide and mass destruction in Palestine.”
Multiple anti-weapons campaign groups have organised a joint forum in Coburg, Naarm/Melbourne on October 29 to inform the community “how their taxes are linked to the weapons trade and what we can do to change it,” she said.
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The Palestinian Community of Western Australia organised a “Run for Palestine” in Boorloo/Perth on October 26 to raise money for Olive Kids, reports Alex Salmon.
Olive Kids provides financial support and medical and educational assistance to Palestinian children.
Several hundred people rallied at the Friends of Palestine rally, also in Boorloo on October 27, titled “Never Again means Never Again for Anyone”.
On the same day, the Christian Zionists held a rally, promoting the theme “Never Again is Now”, ostensibly to promote anti-Semitism.
However, as Jews for Palestine said, many of the groups and individuals speaking at it, including the Liberal Party and the Australian Christian Lobby, hold views which are the very opposite of inclusion and cohesion.
Janet Parker, one of the rally chairs and a representing Jews for Palestine WA, said: “This is a critical time where the Israeli state is making every effort to ‘finish the job’ and free up Palestine for Israeli settlers. We must continue to resist the genocide.”
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Hundreds rallied in Magan-djin/Brisbane on the eve of the Queensland election to hear from young Palestinians speaking out against Israel’s genocide, reports Alex Bainbridge.
Speakers at the October 25 rally also pointed to the complicity of the then Queensland Labor government on the genocide and advocated people vote for pro-Palestine/anti-genocide candidates.
The rally marched from Post Office Square to the centre of the Queen Street Mall for a speak-out among evening shoppers. Phil Monsour from Justice for Palestine Magan-djin pointed out that the government and establishment institutions, including the media, are complicit in the genocide.
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