More than 100 people protested outside the Convention Centre where a former Israeli major general Doron Almog, a war criminal, was the keynote speaker.
The protest was organised Friends of Palestine WA and Students for Palestine.
Almog narrowly escaped arrest at London’s Heathrow Airport in September 2005, after a warrant had been issued for alleged breaches of the Geneva Convention.
Almog’s war crimes included the demolition of 59 homes in Gaza — an act of collective punishment — and the murder of Palestinian civilians while he was a senior commander in the Israeli Defense Forces.
Rawan Arraf, Executive Director at the Australian Centre for International Justice, said: “The war crimes allegations against Almog are serious and credible.
“The infamous and unlawful air strike in the densely populated al-Daraj neighbourhood in 2002 was the first time Israel dropped a 1 tonne bomb in Gaza in an extrajudicial assassination, which killed 14 civilians, including eight children, and injured 150 more.
“It was condemned the world over, even by then US President George W. Bush.”
Almog escaped justice by fleeing Britain.
The United Israel Appeal raises funds for Jewish settlers in illegally occupied Palestinian land.
Meanwhile, over the past five months, Israel has killed 30,000 Palestinians and injured 70,000. Israel’s blockade of vital food aid has left many thousands on the brink of starvation.
The protest also condemned the Australian government and other Western powers’ complicity in Israel’s crimes.
Protesters demanded that military exports to Israel end; diplomatic ties are cut and trade sanctions are imposed on apartheid Israel.
They also called for the restoration of aid to UNRWA, and an end to the genocide.