Hyde Park turned into a sea of red yesterday as thousands of supporters of Palestine wore the colour to protest the war in Gaza and the ongoing denial of humanitarian aid by Israel.
The rally came as reports emerged of the massacre of dozens of starving Palestinians attending a centre for food aid being coordinated by a new US-Israeli distribution point in Rafah, with eyewitnesses claiming civilians were ambushed by the army, which shot into the crowd, killing 32 and wounding over 200.
Josh Lees, the co-chair of the Palestine Action Group (PAG), demanding the withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from Gaza and condemned the Israeli government’s barrage over the last 600 days, and ongoing starvation campaign.
“We will fight for the freedom and dignity and lives of the Palestinian people for justice, for their rights to live in peace, to live in equality, to live in a country that does not subjugate, oppress, bomb, murder, rape and starve them and their children,” Lees told those assembled near Hyde Park’s fountain in the city centre.
He later added: “Albanese, who now 600 days too late, says that a bit of what Israel is doing is an ‘outrage’ in his words. And by that he means the mass starvation of the population of Gaza.”
Palestine Action Group chair Josh Lees speaks out against Israel’s campaign in Gaza and the West Bank. Photo: Orlando Sagar
Jens Laerke, a United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs spokesperson, warned on Friday 100 per cent of Gaza’s 2.1 million population are at risk of famine, calling it the “hungriest place on Earth”.
According to Gaza’s government media office more than 61,700, Palestinians have been killed by the IDF, but tens of thousands remain missing under the rubble and are presumed dead. In Israel 1,139 people were killed in the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023, and more than 200 hostages were taken, of which Israel and Hamas continue to negotiate the release of.
Lees spoke out against leaders of the West and their involvement in providing munitions to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s campaign to ‘clear’ Gaza.
“Your words mean nothing unless today you put sanctions on Israel and you campaign for the rest of the world to do likewise,” he said. “It’s still the case that the bombs of Israel raining down on the Palestinians are made in America, made in Australia, made in Germany, made in France, made in the UK.”
While the federal government has not made any specific mention to stop cooperation with Israel, 82 per cent of Australians believe the deliberate stalling of aid into Gaza is unjust.
Chrisanta Muli, the acting chief executive of Oxfam Australia, said: “Australians want their government to take a stronger stance to halt the devastating destruction of Gaza and its people. They are clearly saying, ‘The status quo is unacceptable’.”
Two protestors with drums used during the “Free, free, free Palestine” chants. Photo: Orlando Sagar
Ayla, an 11-year old school girl wearing a keffiyeh around her head, also spoke to the rally.
“We live in a time where no one should be hungry, yet children starve under your rule,” she said, addressing the government.
“We live in a time where war is avoidable yet you stole the weapons and bought the silence.
“There is no chosen people of God. There is only those who should uphold the covenant and those who betray it.”
Denouncing Israeli forces’ denial of aid to Palestinians facing malnutrition, disease and trauma, Lees also praised the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, a fleet of ships carrying aid, into Gazan ports.
“There has been for a long time now, constant attempts by this group called the Gaza Freedom Flotilla to bring aid to Gaza,” he added. “And this has been an effort which has been constantly attacked and bombed by Israel as ships try to arrive in Gaza bringing aid.
“They really need the eyes of the world to be on them because we all know that Israel is going to be up to every dirty and violent trick to try and stop that boat making it into Gaza.”
Ayla posing with a sign. Photo: Orlando Sagar
Ayla addressing the large crowd. Photo: Orlando Sagar
It was reported this morning that a Gaza Freedom Flotilla boat named the ‘Madleen’ set sail from Italy, carrying activists such as Greta Thumberg along with aid.
Mehreen Faruqi, the Greens Deputy Leader and NSW senator, compared Australia’s embedded colonial history to that of contemporary Israel.
“White Australia has never acknowledged the brutal colonial foundation of this country, and that is exactly what is happening in Israel,” she told the crowd. “Both colonial settler states that keep dehumanising, killing and oppressing the people that they invaded.”
The senator added: “Words don’t stop bombs, words don’t stop killing and words don’t stop mass starvation, we need action.
“We will not give the Albanese government a moment of peace.”
To applause, she promised that she and her party would do more to ensure the freedom of Palestinians.
Protestors holding up a sign condemning Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Photo: Orlando Sagar
“I also promise you that the Greens and I will fight harder in parliament and on the streets with you,” she said.
“We will fight harder and we will not stop until Palestine is free from the river to the sea.”
Lees said the right to protest was “under attack” in NSW, also mentioning PAG’s upcoming legal case against the state government which will be held at the Supreme Court of New South Wales later this month. It comes after laws were enacted earlier in the year to crackdown on antisemitism, giving police the ability to limit protests near places of worship.
Jumana Bayeh, an associate professor in the Faculty of Arts at Macquarie University, recited the names of lives lost and raised the case of Hossam Shabat, a 23-year old Palestinian war correspondent for Al Jazeera, who was killed in an Israeli attack earlier this year.
“He should’ve lived a much better life. Born in 2001, his short years were spent, in what many have described as an open-air prison,” Bayeh said.
Three women holding hands in front of St James Station. Photo: Orlando Sagar
“We witness the disgraceful Labor government return to power with a mandate never before seen, and yet, continues to shrug their shoulders at this genocide.
“After 19 months, I’m not sure why I am even rehearsing any of this, why any of us keep talking about what is blatantly being displayed by an army committing a genocide.
“The carnage in Gaza, the West Bank and to a lesser extent Lebanon, is about the loss of so many lives, but it is also about the loss of whole life worlds for us people from these regions.”
The rally ended with a march around the Sydney CBD.
Main image of protestors marching through Market Street by Orlando Sagar.
