Palestinian supporters have a whole year to protest the war in Gaza. So why did they choose October 7?
On the second anniversary of the war between Hamas and Israel, Palestinian supporters are promoting a demonstration and religious gathering in Western Sydney under the slogan: Glory to our Martyrs.
What is essentially a celebration of the war will be seen by many Australians, Jews and non-Jews alike, as an unnecessarily provocative act.
On Tuesday morning, one of the organisers complained of the civilian deaths in Gaza over the past two years, without acknowledging the war was initiated by Hamas, the Palestinian-elected organisation that still clings to power in the devastated strip of land.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“Today, we stand to remember the martyrs, we face the genocide, and celebrate the unwavering resistance of a people on their land since 1947,” said organiser Amer al-Wahwah.
Tuesday was not the day for demonstrations, Anthony Albanese said. NSW Premier Chris Minns said the timing was “shockingly insensitive”.
Billboard protest
The powerful sense of victimhood and defiance among Australian Palestinians and their supporters was displayed elsewhere. In Melbourne, the painting of “Glory to Hamas” on a blank inner-city suburb billboard shocked a city used to anti-Israel protests on an industrial scale. In the adjacent suburb of Fitzroy, someone wrote: “Oct 7, Do it again.”
In the NSW Supreme court, proponents of a planned pro-Palestinian protest at the Sydney Opera House on Sunday declared they would seek a legal determination that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians. The case is being taken so seriously it has been expedited to the Court of Appeal for an immediate hearing Wednesday morning.
One of the would-be organisers of the Opera House gathering complained on Tuesday morning, in an interview on the ABC, that Australia suffers from “anti-Palestinian racism” - an insult towards a nation that has accepted Gazan refugees, spent millions on aid to Gaza and recognised Palestine, a state that does not exist.
Among the protesters’ complaints is that the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Penny Wong have not classified Greta Thunberg and other activists detained by the Israel Navy trying to reach Gaza on boats as hostages. The Prime Minister, they imply, is a hypocrite for seeking the release of Jews imprisoned by Hamas while failing to make diplomatic protests on behalf of six Australians who tried to break the naval blockade.
Inevitable and predictable
These maximalist positions help explain why the conflict is so intractable. The most visible and active supporters of the Palestinian cause in Australia have aligned themselves with Hamas, a militarised Islamist movement that has opposed a peace treaty since its foundation.
Hamas’ October 7 invasion of Israel, and killing of some 1200 people, is portrayed by its supporters in Australia and elsewhere, as a legitimate act of rebellion met with a massacre of innocent Palestinian lives.
Palestinian protestors do not cry for dead Jews, and Jews return the favour. None but the most extreme Israelis celebrate the death of Palestinians, while using the word “glory” to celebrate dead Palestinians implies they are victims of a worthy war.
Mr Albanese is no ally of Israel’s, but even he acknowledges the Jewish state was entitled under international law to wage a war of retribution upon Hamas. The death of civilians - and far more Palestinians have died than Israelis - is not fair, but was an inevitable and predictable consequence of a war Israel did not begin or seek.
On Tuesday, Australian Jews quietly mourned the men, women and children killed and taken away two years ago. In Sydney, secular Jews held up photos of hostages at Bondi beach, a centre of the city’s Jewish community. A larger gathering is planned for Sunday afternoon. The location has been kept secret, even from Jewish leaders, to reduce the risk of attacks or counter-protests.
Service at the synagogue
At the Central Synagogue nearby, the congregation gathered at 9.30am to mark the beginning of the Festival of Tabernacles, which commemorates the Jews’ expulsion from Egypt. Prayers were recited for the estimated 20 hostages alive in Gaza. Some congregants shared stories about where they were on October 7.
Among those present was Paul Rubenstein, a Sydney lawyer who was in Israel the day of the invasion. Over the past two years he has watched as his community has become fearful in its own homeland as ancient hatreds transplanted from overseas have erupted into open hostility and violence.
In an incident that illustrates the febrile atmosphere around the anniversary, on Friday morning the police arrested a man who allegedly brandished a gun at a synagogue in Cremorne, a Sydney harbourside suburb, although he may have made a hand gesture.
Asked if he had a message for his fellow Australians, Mr Rubenstein implored them to remember the origin of the bloodshed.
“Don’t forget what happened on October 7 because that seems to be what’s happened,” he said. “This is not just about the Jewish community. That it’s so abhorrent to the values that we hold dear somehow seems to have been completely lost on many in Australia.”
