Speakers at Sydney’s pro-Palestine rally have said public outcry against the war in Gaza has pushed the Albanese government to shift its position and back calls for a humanitarian ceasefire, while criticising Labor for not calling for a permanent end to the conflict.
On Wednesday Australia joined 152 other nations in voting in favour of a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza and an immediate and unconditional release of all hostages in an emergency session of the United Nations general assembly. The move followed Australia’s decision in late October to abstain from casting a vote on a similar motion.
“Although it is too little too late, what this shift in the government’s public position shows us is that our collective action is working,” a Wiradjuri student, Ethan Floyd, told the crowd in Sydney.
“We are building pressure on the government and they are feeling that pressure.”
At a separate rally in Sydney’s Prince Alfred Park on Sunday to highlight sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas in the 7 October attacks, the Liberal senator Hollie Hughes said she was “embarassed” by Australia’s vote in favour of a ceasefire.
Hughes told the rally the MeToo movement “wasn’t for all women, not for Jewish or Israeli women”.
The rally organisers, United with Israel, said: “There’s been silence in the face of violence against Israeli women and it’s unacceptable. This rally’s purpose is to stand up for the Israeli women who were killed, raped, abused and kidnapped by Hamas terrorists.”
At Sydney’s pro-Palestinian rally on Sunday, the speakers criticised Labor for not backing a permanent ceasefire as health authorities in Hamas-run Gaza say the death toll from Israel’s offensive is now close to 19,000.
“They called for a temporary ceasefire,” said Assala Sayara, who has been leading the rallies in Sydney, while shaking an olive branch – a symbol of peace – draped in green, red and white ribbons as she spoke. “A genocide is not something that is paused, it is not a movie that you pause … this is a matter of life or death.
“A genocide is only addressed when you call for a permanent ceasefire and an end to Israeli occupation.”
On Friday the Israeli military said its troops had shot and killed three hostages taken by Hamas after mistakenly identifying them as a threat during fighting in Gaza City. An initial investigation by the Israel Defence Forces into the hostage killing suggests all three men were shirtless, with one carrying a makeshift white flag.
While two hostages were hit immediately and fell to the ground, the third managed to escape into a nearby building where, despite pleas in Hebrew, he was also shot and killed, a military official said.
The Australian government’s vote in favour of the UN resolution has garnered criticism from the opposition and the Israeli embassy in Canberra.
Earlier on Sunday the trade minister, Don Farrell, said Australia’s support for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza was the “sensible thing to do” after he was asked on Sky News’ Sunday Agenda whether the decision was “a bit naive” following the 7 October attacks by Hamas in Israel that, according to Israeli officials, killed 1,200 people and took about 240 hostage.
“Right from day one, Australia has condemned the murderous assault by Hamas terrorists in the south of Israel, we’ve continued to support Israel’s right to defend itself but, like most countries around the world, we are concerned about the number of civilian deaths in Gaza as Israel moves further and further into Gaza,” Farrell said.
“It’s an extremely difficult set of circumstances. There are no easy solutions here but the government believed that that was a sensible thing to do in the circumstances.”
The Greens spokesperson for global justice, Mehreen Faruqi, who spoke at Sydney’s rally, also credited pro-Palestine protest attendees as being the force behind the change in Labor’s stance but said protesters around the globe were “not marching for a pause in this bloodshed”.
“The world is marching for a permanent ceasefire, the world is marching for the siege on Gaza to end, the world is marching for a free Palestine,” she said.
• This article was amended on 18 December 2023. A previous version had the wrong surname for Ethan Floyd.
