EDITORIAL: Provocative rallies set back Palestinian cause

Two years on from the horrors of October 7, 2023, and at last there is a fleck of optimism in the air that we are nearing the end of this dreadful chapter in the Middle East’s blood-soaked history.

Whether that optimism is realised, or flames out yet again, is up to Hamas.

Israel has agreed to the terms of a US-brokered peace deal under which it would cease its bombardment of Gaza, and allow the process of recovery to begin.

In return, Hamas would release the remaining 48 hostages, only 20 of whom are believed to be still alive, and give up power and disarm.

It is a deal that is clearly in the best interests of the Palestinian people. It would release them from their suffering, and allow them to reclaim their lives from the destruction and displacement which has become their everyday reality.

That the deal is not yet finalised speaks volumes about Hamas’ motivation. It is not motivated by the cause of the Palestinian people — an estimated 67,000 of whom have been killed as a result of Hamas’ actions — but by a maniacal hunger to annihilate the state of Israel.

Still, despite the unresolved questions, it appears the region is closer to a ceasefire now than at any point in the past two years which have brought unimaginable suffering to the people of both Israel and Palestine.

If Hamas agree to the terms of the ceasefire, the remaining hostages could be back in Israel within days; the survivors freed from two years of wretched captivity, the bodies of the dead returned to their families.

So the world waits on tenterhooks to know if an end is in sight to this grinding war.

In the meantime, the corrosive impacts of Hamas’ campaign of violence and hatred continue to play out here in Australia.

Radical anti-Israel groups are planning protests in Western Sydney to coincide with Tuesday’s anniversary. They claim to be celebrating Palestinian “resistance”. In reality, these ghouls are celebrating an atrocity. They are celebrating the murder of 1200 people.

Yet more protests are planned for the coming weekend in most major cities. Disturbingly, there are plans for anti-Israel activists to take their march back to the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House.

What has for decades been one of our most loved national symbols is now tainted with the obscenity of naked anti-Semitism.

The object of demonstrations like this is not to call for the liberation of Palestine. It is to spread fear among Jewish Australians, to send them the message that they are not safe in this country.

Anthony Albanese is right when he says these tone deaf and deliberately provocative rallies do nothing to further the cause of the Palestinian people.

“I think that for people who engage and want to support. . . the Palestinian cause, it will not advance it. It will set it back in terms of support here in Australia,” the Prime Minister said.

If these people do care for the plight of Palestinian people, they should be calling on Hamas to end this war.

Responsibility for the editorial comment is taken by Editor-in-Chief Christopher Dore.