The global outcry from the streets against Israel’s starvation genocide in Gaza continues to grow, pushing some Western governments to wring their hands — a sign the Palestine movement is starting to exert some power.
In between its killing “pause” for 10 hours each day in parts of central and northern Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) kill and injure more desperate and unarmed people, including those sheltering in tents in so-called “safe zones”.
Just last week, 43 people died of starvation. However, the IDF and Israeli foreign ministry deny Gazans are starving, blaming Hamas and the United Nations for people not receiving aid,
Data from the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories shows that an average of 71 trucks entered the Gaza Strip each day over the past month. Seventy-one trucks are meant to feed 2.1 million people.
According to the July 25 Israeli media outlet Haaretz, trucks unload in large piles in remote military zones, “where the gates open for just 15 minutes a day, according to a random schedule”.
Meanwhile the Benjamin Netanyahu government has discussed a plan by Israeli defence minister Israel Katz to push the whole population into a “humanitarian city”, to be built on the ruins of Rafah.
“The plan is essentially to move all civilian Gazans south, to a large tent city in Rafah, where they will have hospitals and plenty of food,” a source told Haaretz. “How did the prime minister put it? Give them Ben & Jerry’s, for all I care,” the source said.
The government plans to screen 600,000 residents, primarily from the al-Muwasi area, before moving them into the camps. To supposedly eliminate Hamas, Israel is not ruling out running the compound.
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Meanwhile, France, home to Europe’s largest Jewish and Muslim communities, said it will support a separate Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly meeting in September. Israel and the United States have blasted France, and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has ruled out following France’s lead, with his foreign minister saying Australia is only a “middle power” and therefore does not hold much political weight, an excuse Labor did not use over Ukraine.
Albanese said on July 25 that “the situation in Gaza has gone beyond the world’s worst fears”, but it did not commit to sanction Israel or stop the arms trade. Peter Moss, from the Labor Friends of Palestine, told the ABC that 81 Labor branches had passed a motion calling for sanctions against Israel in recent weeks.
Protests in Gadigal Country/Sydney and Naarm/Melbourne were bigger than previous weeks on July 27.
Isaac Nellists reports from Gadigal Country/Sydney that more than 5000 people protested through the CBD, while banging pots and pans. They demanded Labor immediately sanction Israel and stop the two-way arms trade.
Speakers included Palestinian student Raneem Emad; Yasmin Johnson from Students for Palestine; former Greens candidate Hannah Thomas; and a speaker from the defend Mary Kostakidis campaign. Organisers announced a “March for humanity: Save Gaza” protest over the Sydney Harbour Bridge on August 3.
Thousands also rallied in Naarm/Melbourne on the same day, also banging pots and pans to express their anger at the forced famine in Gaza. Adam Bremner reports that heavy rain did not deter people. Speakers included Palestinian activist Nour Salman; community activist Samim Moslih; Greens activist Angelic Panopoulos; Tamil refugee Rathy Barthlote; and Ohad Korminsky from the Jewish Council of Australia.
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Salman expressed her disgust at the lack of action and empty words of the Albanese government. Panopoulos criticised Albanese for sanctioning Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi for holding a sign in parliament that read: “Gaza is starving. Words won’t feed them. Sanction Israel”, while Labor refuses to sanction genocide.
The highlight was a performance of a song by a young Palestinian child, asking to be allowed to simply play.
The crowd marched down Swanston Street, ending at the National Gallery of Victoria, which protesters criticised for hosting gala dinners for Zionists while people starve in Gaza.
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Kaat DeMaere reports that Central West for Palestine organised well-attended protests outside both of National MP Andrew Gees’s offices in Orange and Bathurst on July 24 to demand that Labor immediately demand the permanent lifting of Israel’s blockade on Gaza and pressure Israel to allow full and unrestricted humanitarian aid. They also demanded Australia immediately suspension of all military cooperation and the arms trade with Israel.
“We are here because children and their families in Gaza are starving to death”, DeMaere said. “We are here because, this morning the official number of deaths from malnutrition in Gaza reached 110 — 80 of these deaths were children.
“We are here because the inaction of our elected officials is allowing this to happen. This is not a famine — it is a man-made, military siege. It is genocide by starvation.”
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Activists started a community picket outside Bisalloy Steel in Tharawal/Wollongong on July 27 and have managed to stop workers from entering for multiple shifts.
Bisalloy Steel produces tempered steel used for armoured vehicles and tanks used by Israel to commit its genocide in Gaza. This is the latest of many pickets outside the Bisalloy Steel factory since the genocide began.
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Markela Panegyres reports that a crowd of up to 400 rallied in Kaurna Yerta/Adelaide on Sunday to protest the siege and ongoing genocide of Gaza.
Speakers included a representative from Academics for Palestine South Australia, who highlighted the repression of free speech and Palestine solidarity in universities. Australia Friends of Palestine Association (AFOPA) deputy chairperson Mike Khizam demanded action, not words, from the Albanese government, and called for sanctions on Israel.
AFOPA chairperson Christa Christaki encouraged the crowd to support journalist Mary Kostakidis outside the Federal Court on July 29. Kostakidis faces a Federal Court case filed by the Zionist Federation of Australia, aiming to silence her for speaking out against Israel’s genocide.
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Activists protested outside the Department of Foreign Affairs in Boorloo/Perth over the weekend.
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Justice for Palestine held an organising meeting in Magan-djin/Brisbane on July 23 to plan actions for the Boycott Caltex campaign, including one on August 23. More than 60 people attended a solidarity concert featuring Ministry of Culture (David Rovics and Kamala Emanuel) and Phil Monsour, on July 24, organised by Green Left and Justice for Palestine.
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