A group called Stand for Palestine Australia announced it would hold a “Glory to Our Martyrs” rally on October 7 – the anniversary of the horrifying Hamas terrorist attack that launched the Gaza war – in the western Sydney suburb of Bankstown.
New South Wales (NSW) Premier Chris Minns said he was appalled by the “terrible timing” of the event.
“Terrible timing, shockingly insensitive,” Minns said in a radio interview on Tuesday. “We understand that there is concern about innocent Palestinian civilians in Gaza, but to do it … on 7th, seems like they are glorifying the actions of these Hamas terrorists, and not the circumstance of those that are living in Gaza.”
Minns appeared to be missing the point that for pro-Hamas activists, October 7 is exactly the right “timing” for a martyrdom celebration. Stand for Palestine Australia posted a video statement from Palestinian activist lawyer Ramia Abdo Sultan arguing that Australia has not paid sufficient attention to the Palestinian cause, despite protests staged by Palestinians and their supporters in Sydney and Melbourne almost every weekend since the war began.
“Our own prime minister in Australia has decided to completely disregard the thousands of Palestinians that have died over the past two years,” Sultan charged.
For his part, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese meekly suggested that obnoxious pro-Hamas demonstrations on October 7 could undermine public sympathy for the “Palestinian cause.” Australia is one of the countries that unilaterally recognized a “Palestinian state” last month.
Albanese drew the line at some particularly offensive graffiti spotted in Melbourne on Tuesday, including “Glory to Hamas,” “Free Palestine,” “Glory to the Martyrs,” and “Oct. 7, Do It Again.”
Israeli Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sharren Haskel was astounded that the Australian government would tolerate pro-Hamas propaganda on the second anniversary of “the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust”:
“The terrorist propaganda defacing a Melbourne billboard on the anniversary of the October 7 murders is abhorrent. The people responsible must face the full force of the law. The AFP (Australian Federal Police) will work with Victorian Police to bring them to justice,” Albanese said on Tuesday.
Former federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg, a leader in the Jewish community, accused the administrations of Albanese and Victoria Premier Jacinta Allan of indulging antisemitism and showing a pronounced lack of sympathy for the feelings of the Australian Jewish community on the anniversary of the October 7 atrocities.
“We have Australians openly supporting terrorism on Melbourne’s streets. These extremists do it because they are allowed to get away with it. Prime minister and premier, do something now,” Frydenberg said.
“Whatever you think you have done, it’s not enough, and it’s clearly not working. Stop the violence. Stop the hate. Save our state and save our country from this descent into darkness. We, Victorians and Australians, deserve better,” he said.
The line for pro-Hamas marches in Australia might be drawn at the famed Sydney Opera House, which was the scene of a nauseating celebration of the October 7 massacre a few days after it happened. The Jewish community was outraged when police sent them a message advising Jews to stay off the streets of Sydney, lest their appearance anger the pro-Hamas marchers.
NSW Police are attempting to block an outfit called the Palestine Action Group (PAG) from holding a protest at the Sydney Opera House on Sunday. Premier Minns said he thought the police were making “the right call.”
“They’ve done it on safety grounds and you know the police are in a very difficult position here. They’re tasked with keeping a big city like Sydney safe for everybody that wants to use it,” he said on Tuesday.
“The number of people that could attend a protest like that is very difficult to quantify, but it could be in the thousands and you’d have to appreciate that it’s on a narrow peninsula and if they get this wrong and there’s safety, security, a crowd crush issue then obviously all fingers will be pointed at the police, so I back them 100 per cent on this,” he said.
The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies warned that the Jewish community would feel the same “unrest and fear” it felt after the opera house rally on October 9, 2023.
PAG organizer Damian Ridgwell rejected those concerns, insisting the group would fight in court for its right to hold a “peaceful and safe” demonstration at the Sydney Opera House.
“Israel is committing a genocide, because it highlights why it’s so urgent and imperative that the community’s right to demonstrate against that genocide be upheld,” he said.
“Our demonstration will be a mass peaceful gathering of people who are rejecting war and occupation, rejecting the racism and the genocide of the Israeli state and upholding the rights of the Palestinian people,” he said.
PAG’s legal representatives said on Tuesday they would not only press for the right to hold their protest, but would ask the court of appeals convening on Wednesday to formally declare Israel guilty of genocide.
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