A snap action of more than 50 people outside the ABC offices in Ultimo on May 11 demanded the media cover Israeli attacks on Palestinian communities in Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem.
Speakers criticised the relative silence of the ABC, in particular the attacks by Israeli military forces and Jewish settler groups on Palestinians demonstrating against the forcible eviction of residents from their ancestral homes in East Jerusalem to make way for more Israeli settlements.
Jennine Khalik, a former long-term ABC employee, said: “Journalism is the Fourth Estate, or so we thought. But the ABC and others ignore the crimes of Israel against Palestine.
“I’ve been a journalist for eight years and it is an open secret that editors knock back stories at the behest of the Zionist lobby groups here in Australia. We are outside the ABC today to ask the public broadcaster to report without fear or favor.”
Other speakers condemned Israel’s bombing of Gaza, which killed a number of Palestinians including children.
Everyone was encouraged to join the Nakba Day rally on May 15 at 2pm at Sydney Town Hall. Check your city for other Nakba Day rallies on the same day.