One year of genocide, 52 weeks of Palestine rallies in Sydney

After much media scrutiny and police intervention, Palestine Action Group’s weekly Sunday protest went ahead, marking one year of Israel’s genocide on Palestine. 

There was a notably large police presence around the city. At the protest itself, police lined the entrances and exits of Hyde Park, with several riot squad vehicles parked nearby. The mounted unit were also out in force, with many officers on horseback. Additionally, helicopters above could be heard during the speeches.

Police messages in English, Arabic and Farsi were also placed on large notice boards which read, “The Hezbollah flag, symbols and portraits of Hassan Nasrallah should not be displayed at the public assembly as this may amount to a criminal offence.” This message was also posted on the NSW Police Force’s social media, prior to the planned October 7 vigil.

Jana Fayyad, a Palestinian activist, member of Palestine Action Group and co-chair, began the rally by noting the connections between the fight for Palestinian liberation and the fight for First Nations justice “in this colony”. 

Uncle Dave Bell then gave an Acknowledgement of Country, linking the genocides of Palestinians and First Nations peoples here in so-called Australia. 

Lizzie Jarrett, Gumbaynggirr, Bundjalung, and Dunghutti activist, was the first speaker. Jarrett began by saying, “I’d like to thank the fucking cops, for taking us on and making sure that we are relevant”. 

Jarrett called for Albanese to step down due to his hypocrisy around Palestine given his past activism for the cause, and condemned the police action around the Hezbollah flag, saying that the Australian flag is “more terrorist than that of Hezbollah”. She then read a poem written by her son addressed to Palestine, and concluded with: “We will not stop. Until Palestine, Lebanon [and] Blak Australia are free”.

Raneem, a law student and Palestinian-Australian from Gaza appealed to the crowd, asking: “How do we summarise the last 365 days? What horror do I recap?”

She spoke of seeing footage of a man in the Nuseirat refugee camp “carrying an arm… no body or corpse” before sharing the story of a 77-year-old relative in Gaza who had their visa denied because they have “no income”. 

Raneem concluded by saying that “the people of Gaza are not numbers” and that she is “exhausted from watching [her] family members killed”. Despite the international community showing “concern and calls for restraint”, Raneem stated that she “comes back every day stronger and angrier than the day before”.

Fayyad then addressed the media outlets present at the protest to “get a quick snippet to add to their reporting”, asking how many of their colleagues need to die before they care.

“We have become our own media, we are showing the atrocities…we are speaking for the voiceless,” Fayyad added.

As for the “disgraceful, so-called leaders and politicians…the butchers of Gaza”, Fayyad said that “we will never forget how you cheapened Palestinian blood and marginalised our community and funded Israel.”

Lebanese-Australian Tom Thoby called for attendees to educate themselves on all the countries complicit in genocide, and argued that he was “sick of hearing that somehow everything started on the 7th of October”. 

Thoby then said, “allow me to remember the hostages…here in this country, in the US that are beholden to Zionist lobby”, and called out “Arab states that act as petrol stations” while civilians continue to be killed.

Thoby concluded, “I am heartbroken, I am mourning the dead, and echo the voices of my Lebanese brothers and sisters who stand before the world saying, we will remain.”

The protest’s second chair then called out the “lies” of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, stating that Netanyahu is dragging out of the war to avoid corruption charges within Israel. 

Palestine Action Group organiser, Amal Naser spoke next, mocking the media by saying: “Good morning! We’ve been marching for 51 weeks, now you [have] come.” She then led the chant, “every time the media lies, another child in Gaza dies.” 

Naser spoke to the ongoing escalation of Israel’s attacks on Gaza, and now Lebanon: “Every time we thought it couldn’t get worse, Israel proved it can…Twelve months in, there is no sign Israel will slow down.”

Naser called out the wider world media networks for “target[ting] [the] mass movement of people rather than Israel” and noted that media coverage looked to “manufacture lies about our movement.”

She concluded by saying the movement toward liberation “does not stop or start at the Palestinian people” and urged attendees to continue action by “block[ing] supply chains and protest[ing] on the streets.”

Fayyad then noted the speed of atrocities in Lebanon as “intentional” and adding to the demoralisation, a year on from the genocide in Gaza. 

“What has been called Israel’s right to defence has resulted in 12 months of slaughter,” she continued.

The protest’s second chair spoke to the lack of compassion from the global community after the escalation of Israel’s genocide, including the “shameful demonisation” of the Palestine solidarity movement, reiterating twelve months worth of calls for a ceasefire.

As the final speaker, Palestine Action Group organiser Josh Lees elaborated on the building of a mass movement which is strengthened by “people who rise up against a racist, imperialist system”.

Before the procession through the CBD began, Fayyad urged attendees to “not interact with hecklers” as well as the cops. She also invited people to attend the October 7 vigil commemorating the lives lost in Israel’s genocide at Town Hall from 5:30 pm.