On Tuesday October, 15 Palestine Action Group held an emergency rally outside Town Hall following the Al-Aqsa Hospital massacre, where Palestinians were burnt alive in their tents.
There was a notably large police presence, with police lined up past the steps of Town Hall leading to the rally.
Patriotic music preceded the rally, which began with chants, led by co-chair Amal Naser, such as “From Lebanon to Palestine, resistance is not a crime” and “Albanese you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide”.
Naser began by speaking to the horrific images and footage from the Al-Aqsa Hospital massacre, highlighting that this massacre “wasn’t the first, and won’t be the last”, as “this is the horror…and terror of the Zionist regime.” She then highlighted Israel’s advancement into, and bombing of, Lebanon, noting that Israel was attempting to cause “sectarian division in Lebanon [in an] attempt to incite a civil war”.
Palestinian activist Malik Albadawi spoke first. He stated that “each life lost [in Palestine] represents a story, a dream and a future”, and called on the crowd to honour and remember Shaaban Al-Dalou, a 19 year-old engineering student who was burnt alive in the massacre. He then went on to highlight Israel’s “disregard for human life and blatant violation of international law”, and put forward that the “world has shamelessly watched as these atrocities unfold”.
Co-chair of the rally Josh Lees noted the increased presence of NSW police at all Palestine protests, stating that “authorities…[are] trying harder to clamp down on Palestine activism”. He also spoke to the increasing policing of university campuses, commenting on the arrests of activists at Western Sydney University in the past week.
Ahmad Abadla, a Palestinian activist from the Palestine Justice Movement, connected the struggle for Palestinian liberation to the struggle for First Nations justice here in so-called Australia. He commented on the negative message of the word “radical” by authorities as “opposed to our normal way of life”, and noted that the “road to justice and liberation is getting harder and more brutal”.
Calling on the rally participants to “decolonise [their] mind,” Abadla ended by asserting that “there can never be peace without justice…there can never be justice…without liberation and there can never be liberation without the eradication of Zionism.”
Raneem Emad, a Palestinian from Gaza and law student, elaborated on her ongoing experience of feeling speechless: “I don’t know what to say today, I didn’t know what to say yesterday when we saw tents on fire… children burning”.
Emad followed this by reassuring the crowd that “it is hard not to feel overwhelmed” especially as this was not the first time that tents were set alight, referring to a massacre in Rafah in May of this year.
She then reiterated that these protests are not “useless” and that “condolences” by politicians and the government have never saved lives. Emad stated that “in that fire in Deir El Balah, we saw international law burn to the ground again” and that it was the international community’s silence that “poured the gasoline on my people and Israel set it alight.”
“At the bare minimum they do not deserve to be burnt alive… and [deserve to] bury their loved ones as whole bodies,” she said.
Lees then spoke about how talks of ceasefire discourse is a “sham” given that the US is providing the “green light” to Israel and is also “sending US troops to the region… to protect Israel”.
Rula Khanafani, Palestinian activist, began by saying that this “live holocaust” is “beyond what the nervous system is able to comprehend.”
Khanafani spoke to the resilience of the people of the Jabalia camp who chose to stay “when roads were open to the south…knowing that they will be dying in the most horrific ways.” She also said that they moved their tents to the hospital courtyard “thinking they’ll be safe” but instead “the world is telling us that it’s time for Palestinians to wither away”.
Kunafani noted that any talk of an Israeli Left is a “myth, except for a few voices here and there” before stating that “there is no peace with Zionism”. She concluded by sending a message to Israel that “no amount of bombs will kill a nation that seeks liberation”.
Naser led chants including “Gaza will free us all, Zionism will fall” and “1, 2, 3, 4, open the prison doors, 5, 6, 7, 8 Gaza we will liberate” before handing over to final speaker and activist Damian Ridgewall.
Ridgewall began by addressing the images from the fire at Al-Aqsa Hospital saying that he is “constantly horrified by a world that allows these acts of terrorism” and continues to fund and arm Israel.
“Israel is a terrorist state, we have been chanting it every week…we are not saying this to try and heighten Israel’s crimes,” he continued.
Ridgewall argued that “if you had any doubt, the actions of these last 24 hours prove it” and reminded attendees that the state of Israel was “born out of acts of terrorism against the Palestinian people”.
Turning his attention to the war in Lebanon, Ridgewall condemned the US President Joe Biden’s commitment to further support of Israel if it “struggles in [its] war on Lebanon”. He demanded that governments take action to hold Israel to account, stating that they remain “part of a system that profits from these injustices”.
Lees concluded by saying that the Palestine solidarity movement will remain “steadfast.. defiant…and hopeful” before urging everyone to attend the weekly Sunday protests.
The rally ended with a march on the footpath and around the block.
The Palestine Action Group will be holding their weekly protest at 1pm on Sunday October 20 at Hyde Park North.
