As Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza continues, protesters from across the country converged in Canberra, before the new parliament opened, to demand Labor sanction Israel.
The Israel-United States “aid” agency continues to assassinate children and others trying to secure flour for their families, while Western leaders look away.
According to Al Jazeera, 90% of the population of Gaza has been forcibly displaced, multiple times, and 86% of the strip is under Israeli forced evacuation orders or designated military zones.
Israel dropped thousands of flyers over Deir el-Balah on July 20 telling Palestinians in central Gaza to move south to an area the military has attacked despite it being a “safe zone”.
Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary said the area is densely populated and affected residents would not be able to leave on short notice.
“Palestinians here are refusing to leave and say they are going to stay in their houses because even the areas designated as safe by the Israeli army have been targeted. Palestinians say they have nowhere else to go, and there is no space because most western areas or even al-Mawasi are full of people and tents with no more extra space for expansion. They are left with zero options.”
Meanwhile, the US has sanctioned lawyer Francesca Albanese, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, for her push to stop Israel’s genocide.
At a gathering in Bogota, Colombia, 12 countries out of 30 supported a motion that set measures to implement a UN General Assembly motion mandating member states to push Israel to end its unlawful occupation of Palestine.
The steps include stopping sending weapons to Israel, placing bans on ships transporting such arms and reviewing public contracts for any links to companies benefitting from Israel’s illegal occupation. Colombia has already halted coal exports to Israel in response to Israel’s genocide.
The measures included supporting “universal jurisdiction mandates”, which allow states or international bodies to prosecute serious international crimes, regardless of where they took place.
The Hague Group motion voted for a September deadline to implement a July 2024 International Court of Justice (ICJ) advisory opinion that Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories is unlawful. The Hague Group is confident that more countries will sign on by September 20.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who co-hosted the gathering with South Africa, said the meeting showed that the world is finally moving from condemnation of Israel’s war to collective action to bring it to an end.
“Far too many states have allowed strategic calculations to override our duty. While we may face threats of retribution when we stand up for international law — as South Africa discovered when the US retaliated against its case at the ICJ — the consequences of abdicating our responsibilities will be dire,” Petro wrote in the Guardian on July 8.
“If we fail to act now, we not only betray the Palestinian people, we become complicit in the atrocities committed by Netanyahu’s government.”
He added: “The Palestinian people deserve justice. The moment demands courage. History will judge us harshly if we fail to answer its call.”
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In their trademark approach, the corporate media completely ignored the first of a three-day national convergence at Parliament House, Canberra, on July 20. Thousands of pro-Palestine protesters travelled from as far as Western Australia to demand that Labor impose sanctions on Israel.
Labor continues to deny it sends weapons or parts to Israel. But Peter Cronau and Kellie Tranter, from Declassified Australia, have published leaked documents showing that F-35 parts are being exported.
“Declassified Australia has sighted shipping records detailing goods sent on two recent flights from Sydney to Tel Aviv in Israel. It’s uncertain whether these documents show just two individual shipments, or are a glimpse of a much bigger Australian direct trade of F-35 parts to Israel,” Cronau and Tranter wrote.
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More than 110 Palestine solidarity groups endorsed the convergence, many sending delegations. The rally outside Parliament House on July 20 heard from many, including Palestinian Australian cardiologist Dr Muntaser Musameh; Naarm/Melbourne Palestinian activist Amin Abbas; Janet Parker from Jews for Palestine WA; Shovan Bhattarai from Students for Palestine NSW; Alex Bainbridge from Justice for Palestine Magan-djin; and Amal Nasser from Palestine Action Group Sydney.
“We know the role that our government and other Western governments have played in actively facilitating this holocaust,” Parker said. “We understand that our job is to make demands on our own government, in particular, to sanction Israel, to condemn the action of the Israeli state at every level.”
“Our protests have been significant. Many have observed that 22 months in, the protests to sanction Israel and free Palestine are probably the most sustained we have seen since the Vietnam War.”
However, Parker warned, it is because of this that governments have launched “the most savage attacks on pro-Palestine protesters”.
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“Straight from [Donald] Trump’s playbook, we have Jillian Segal’s report to government that seeks to destroy our solidarity movement in every sphere ... Segal’s report insists that every policy, every practice, in all spheres of public life is premised on the IHRA [International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance] definition of antisemitism. We all know how this definition has been used. It says to criticise Israel is to hate Jews. It completely ignores the ever more prominent voices of anti-Zionist Jews who say ‘To be Jewish is not to be Zionist’.”
Parker said it is not Jews who feel threatened by the Palestinian solidarity movement, but genocide supporters. “Anti-Zionist Jews are committed to rescuing Jewish identity from fascist sociopaths like Netanyahu, who want to drag us to the gates of hell.”
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Canberra’s weekly Palestine rally was joined by more than 100 people on July 19, including many who were in town for the Palestine Convergence. The Palestine Action Group Canberra-organised rally included a performance from protest singer-songwriter David Rovics and Kamala Emanuel.
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Hundreds joined the rally in Magan-djin/Brisbane on July 20, reports David Anthony.
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The weekly rally in Naarm/Melbourne drew thousands, reports Chloe DS. Musician Candace Alisha told Green Left she was there to “stand up for people who can’t stand up for themselves. If you can’t fight, I will fight for you”.
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The planned rally in Boorloo/Perth was postponed due to extreme weather, but on July 21, Unionists for Palestine WA, among others, organised a snap action in the CBD, near the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
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A speak-out was held in Tharawal/Wollongong on July 21 to demand an end to Australia’s complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza, reports Indrek Torilo.
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At the regular “peak hour for peace in Palestine” rally in Djilang/Geelong on July 18, activists held banners and waved Palestinian flags at passing cars, to express their solidarity with Palestinians and their anger at the government’s support for Israel.
A screening of To Kill a War Machine was held in Gadigal Country/Sydney at the Dendy Cinema, Newtown, on July 17. The film combines footage of protest activities conducted by Palestine Action, the British direct action group, with interviews of members and supporters of the group, which has recently been proscribed as a terrorist group by the British government.
To Kill a War Machine captures the grassroots tactics and methods used by the group against the arms industry in Britain.
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