- The Guardian
- Issue #2121
The poster police attempted to seize. Amon Qwaider of Friends of Palestine is speaking, Hiba the MC for rally is standing to the right. Photo: Richard Titelius
As war continues to cast its deathly and destructive shadow over Palestine and now Lebanon, Friends of Palestine WA called for a rally to maintain the rage and help put pressure on our governments and the media to act in meaningful ways and tell the truth about why the slaughter continues and there is no ceasefire.
MC for the event was Hiba from Friends of Palestine who said the relentless genocide continues in Gaza because of international inaction. “Our grief is delayed but not our anger,” said Hiba of the struggle of her people. Nick Everett of Friends Of Palestine WA spoke of the large new banner they brought to the rally. It reads
“ISRAEL KILLS KIDS – HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE,” to emphasise the large number of Palestinian children who have been killed by the actions of Israel. Nick said that at the last rally the police had tried three times to take away the banner. They tried to seize it again at this rally.
Amon Qwaider of FOPWA who has lost immediate family in Gaza during the Israeli genocide said that a new year has begun of hunger, pain, and humiliation – when will the killing satisfy the anger of the Israelis? They have used every means of death and destruction on the Palestinian people. They have ethnically cleansed every area of Palestine – the entire landscape of Palestine has been changed. Two thirds of all buildings have been destroyed. A tent is considered a luxury.
Anna Copeland a law professor from Murdoch University spoke about the right to protest in Australia, especially as it has become framed by the events between Israel and the Palestinian people. The right to protest in Australia has had a lot of pushback recently. It needs defending.
Layla from Students for Palestine who has family in Lebanon said her family was in the centre of Beirut when it was bombed, and had suffered damage to their home. There have been more than 3,000 attacks by Israel on Lebanon in the last few months. Layla also recounted the massacres that had occurred at the hands of the Israeli proxy, Phalange, in the two refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila in 1982 which killed over 3,000 refugees. We are all Lebanese and we are not powerless if we can get help. Layla was in tears.
Nasser, a Palestinian law student, pointed out that Israel is seeking to create a greater Israel out of six Arab states including Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, and Syria.
Hiba said, “Palestine is an open wound – but it is also our saviour as it will enable the world to see our reality.” The final speaker was Janet Parker, of Jews for Palestine who recalled the appointment of Jillian Segal in July as a special envoy to combat anti-Semitism. Parker pushed back against Segal’s inclusion of all pro-Palestinian events as anti-semitism. More recently Jillian Segal has said there should be no cease fire until all Israeli hostages are released, which matches the rhetoric coming out of the State of Israel at the moment. Parker has also said there have been reports of children turning up at hospitals in Gaza with single gun shot wounds in the head – most likely from snipers as they would not have been from cross fire. Parker made the point that the State of Israel does not speak for all Jews in the world and called for the cancelling of all military, political, and economic ties with Israel by the Australian government.
The Communist Party of Australia supports calls by the rally for the cancelling of all military, political, and economic ties with Israel until there is a cease fire.
