More than two months since Israel refused to enter stage two of an agreed ceasefire with Hamas, the streets continue to demand Israel be stopped from continuing its genocide in Gaza. Al Nakba was marked across the world over March 15-18, including with around half a million people on the streets in London.
The mass pressure is beginning to work. Apologists for Israel’s war of “self-defence” are beginning to change their line on Israel's genocidal war.
The Financial Times on May 6 criticised Israel’s plan to fully occupy Gaza, while driving Palestinians into “ever-narrowing pockets of the shattered strip” under the headline “The west’s shameful silence on Gaza”. It also condemned the United States and European countries “that tout Israel as an ally”, adding, “They should be ashamed of their silence, and stop enabling Netanyahu to act with impunity”. It accused the West of being complicit in making Gaza “uninhabitable”, an illusion to genocide.
The Economist on May 8 declared: “The war in Gaza must end”. It said supporters of Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to divide Gaza into three, with American mercenaries guarding the divided strip, “is unlikely to free the hostages who remain imprisoned in Gaza” and will “bring further agony for Gazans”.
“The only people who benefit from continuing the war are Mr Netanyahu, who keeps his coalition intact, and his far-right allies, who dream of emptying Gaza and rebuilding Jewish settlements there,” it said. “Food should not be used as a weapon,” it said, adding “It is past time for a lasting ceasefire. Donald Trump should demand that Mr Netanyahu agrees to one, in exchange for the release of all hostages. No other leader can compel him.”
The conservative Independent said on May 10 that the “deafening silence on Gaza” must end, adding: “It is time to speak up”.
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It said Israel was responsible for no aid passing to Gaza since March and that US President Trump had “emboldened” Netanyahu. It said “Shockingly, the response from the international community was muted” and accused Britain of failing to speak out “against this counterproductive and literally aimless move, as well as the devastating humanitarian catastrophe that it caused”.
“It is time for the world to wake up to what is happening and to demand an end to the suffering of the Palestinians trapped in the enclave,” it said.
Of course, the streets have been demanding an end to the genocide and for justice for Palestine for 19 months, in the biggest single international solidarity movement seen in decades. It been the media establishment, covering for pro-Israel govenrments, that has waited 19 months to speak up.
As Jonathan Cook said in Middle East Eye on May 16: “We had gone in less than a week from the word ‘genocide’ being taboo in relation to Gaza to it becoming almost mainstream.”
Why are they doing this now? Cook suggests a combination of it being harder to sell genocide with President Donald Trump at the helm in the US and the fact that Israel’s genocide is “reaching its endpoint”.
“Parts of the media and political class know mass death in Gaza cannot be obscured for much longer, not even after Israel has barred foreign journalists from the enclave and murdered most of the Palestinian journalists trying to record the genocide.
“Cynical political and media actors are trying to get in their excuses before it is too late to show remorse.”
Cook said that with Israel about to take direct charge of Gaza again — the cover story of a “war”, the need to eliminate Hamas, of civilian casualties as “collateral damage” — “Israel’s responsibility for the genocide will be incontestable too, as will the West’s active collusion”.
But we cannot forget, too, that the streets have played a pivotal role in forcing the conservative media to change its approach.
We have away to go, however, as rallies across Australia pointed to a still complicit Labor government.
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Heavy rain did not deter about 1000 people from rallying at Sydney Town Hall, on Gadigal Country, on May 15, to mark 77 years of Nakba and demand an end to Israel’s genocide in Gaza, reports Isaac Nellist.
Palestinian student Raneem Emad, whose grandparents were victims of the Nakba, told the rally: “Seventy-seven years since the Nakba … we have watched the evolution of the Israeli occupation upon the bodies and the blood of more and more Palestinian children. It is hard not to feel like every day is another Nakba.”
Other speakers included Palestine Action Group organisers Amal Nasser and Damien Ridgeway, Greens Newtown MP Jenny Leong, a Nakba survivor and a representative from Students for Palestine.
Protesters then marched through the CBD to Pitt Street Mall where a Palestinian-Australian surgeon from the Palestinian Australian New Zealand Medical Association, who spent time working in hospitals in Gaza during the genocide, addressed the crowd.
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Pro-Palestine activists protested at the office of Federal Labor member for Richmond, Justine Elliott, in Tweed Heads South, on May 15, to mark al Nakba, reports Susan Price.
Three activists, including a participant in the 2024 Gaza Freedom Flotilla, climbed onto the roof of Elliott’s office to unfurl a banner, saying: “Let Gaza’s children live: No weapons for genocide!” The three occupied the rooftop, supported on the ground by about 40 protesters including members of Northern Rivers Friends of Palestine.
According to The Echo, after climbing down from the roof, the three were arrested by NSW police and charged with trespassing. They were released on bail and will appear in local court on June 16.
The activists say Elliott has refused to meet with them for 18 months, despite repeated requests. They want her to meet with them to explain her continued silence about Israel’s genocide in Gaza, especially in light of the International Court of Justice ruling.
Activist Subhi Awad said: “Justine Elliot must look us in the eye and explain her complicity. We are here for one reason: to let the children of Gaza live.”
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Community members rallied outside Labor MP Luke Gosling’s office in Garramilla/Darwin on May 15 to commemorate the Nakba and condemn Labor’s complicity in the genocide, reports Stephen W Enciso.
Since October 7, 2023, Gosling has refused to meet with Muslim constituents calling for a ceasefire. He remains in support of the military-industrial complex, despite Australia exporting lethal arms to Israel.
“Like other Labor politicians, he has stood and watched the genocide happen and tried to wash his hands of complicity in genocide,” said a spokesperson from Palestine Action Group Garramilla.
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More than 200 students at the University of Sydney (USyd) voted to reject the Universities Australia (UA) definition of antisemitism at a Student General Meeting (SGM) convened by the Student Representative Council (SRC) on May 14.
The UA definition, adopted by nearly all 39 Australian universities, states that criticism of Israel can be antisemitic “when it calls for the elimination of the State of Israel”. It has been opposed by by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Jewish Council of Australia and the National Tertiary Education Union, among others.
Students voted to support a single democratic, secular state across all of historic Palestine, from the river to the sea, and against USyd’s restrictions on the right to protest and free speech.
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The Uniting Church in Australia said on May 16 it had been wrong not to condemn the genocide in Gaza and Israel’s attacks in the Occupied West Bank before now. Reverend Charissa Suli said: “To remain silent about the disproportionate suffering and long-standing oppression faced by Palestinians would be to deny the truth of what we see, and can never give us a just peace.
“Lasting peace can only be found through the dismantling of occupation, self-determination, and the full restoration of dignity and security to every person in the Holy Land.”
The Uniting Church demanded that Labor end all weapons exports to Israel, impose sanctions on Israeli settlers, support the International Court of Justice in its measures to prevent genocide and demand an immediate ceasefire and the uninhibited flow of humanitarian aid.
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