Palestine Action Group’s (PAG) rally on Sunday April 7 marked six months of Israel’s current attack on Gaza, and was the twenty-sixth consecutive week of protest in Sydney. The rally renewed its weekly calls for a permanent ceasefire, to end the occupation of Palestine, and to stop the siege on and starvation of Gaza.
Palestinian activists Jana Fayyad and Dalia Qasem co-chaired the rally, focusing on recent events of the siege and massacre at Al-Shifa hospital and the targeted killing of seven World Central Kitchen workers, including the Australian Lalzawmi “Zomi” Frankcom.
Qasem decried Israel’s attack on the World Central Kitchen convoy, but claimed “it came as no surprise” given the continued targeting of civilians and children, mosques, journalists, aid workers, hospitals – crimes that breach international humanitarian law. She called Anthony Albanese a “coward” and a “puppet for the Israeli war machine,” pointing out that the drone that killed Zomi Frankcom was a Hermes 450 drone manufactured by Elbit Systems, who Australia signed a $917 billion contract with in February.
The first speaker was 15-year old Tala, who introduced herself as “the daughter of refugees, granddaughter of Nakba survivors, and niece of prisoners and resistance fighters”.
She proudly wore the thobe of her grandmother who was expelled from her village at 5-years old during the 1948 Nakba, offering a reminder that attempts to erase Palestinians have failed, and that their voices will continue to grow stronger.
Fayyad led chants of “Glory, glory to our martyrs. All are children, sons and daughters” and “Land back, liberation. No more occupation”.
Fayyad condemned the recent siege on Al-Shifa hospital and killing of over 400 Gazans, which has been “labelled one of Palestine’s most horrific and biggest massacres in the 76-year long occupation of Palestine.” She recalled the devastating accounts of piles of bodies found mutilated and burned, bodies that had been bulldozed, and women being violated in front of their families.
Despite the evidence, she outlined that Israel’s official story is that zero civilians were killed, as part of their ongoing tactic to target the healthcare system of Gaza and “to destroy any form or location or sense of refuge, shelter and healing in times of massacres”.
Fayyad praised the countries and people who have joined the global intifada, honouring Yemen for defending the Red Sea from Zionist trade, saluting South Africa for taking Israel to the International Court of Justice for crimes of genocide, and celebrated Lebanon as their “brothers and sisters in resistance and resilience”.
James Godfrey of Free Gaza Australia and the Freedom Flotilla Coalition spoke about the 5,500 tonnes of aid for Gaza about to leave Istanbul, alongside hundreds of human rights observers from multiple countries to ensure the safe arrival of the aid and all participants. The Freedom Flotilla Coalition has been sailing for 13 years and responding to calls from civil society in Gaza, “resisting and challenging Israel’s illegal and barbaric maritime blockade”.
Godfrey expressed that “allowing Israel to control deliveries of humanitarian aid is like letting fox [guard] the hen house,” and that “when governments are failing, we respond by sailing.”
Godfrey called for the crowd to follow and to donate to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition for their emergency mission. “We deploy our bodies and international privileges to take non-violent direct action and, temporarily, we struggle alongside Palestinians.”
Palestine Action Group will hold their twenty-seventh weekly protest next Sunday, April 14 at 1:30pm in Hyde Park North.
