A couple of thousand pro-Palestinian activists rallied against Israel in Melbourne on Sunday, defying police’s and local authorities’ requests to cancel their event due to raging bushfires in the Australian summer.
The anti-Israel protest came less than a month after the Bondi Beach attack at a Chanukah event in Sydney, and as hundreds of Iranian protesters were being killed by security forces of the Islamic Republic on the streets of Iran.
Sunday’s event, in which attendees slammed the government’s invitation for Israeli President Isaac Herzog to visit Australia, included chants such as ‘From the river to the sea’ and ‘Long live the intifada,” went ahead despite a request by Melbourne Mayor Nick Reece and the police to nix the event due to the fires raging throughout Victoria state.
“We can close a city—300,000 of us closed the [Sydney Harbour] Bridge,” Nasser Mashni, president of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, said at the rally, the first since Dec. 14’s Bondi Beach terrorist attack. “We can shut down a city, a bridge, a town, wherever it might be, because we are the people.”
A Victorian government spokesperson had said that no one should protest this weekend.
“If you are going to come into the city to whip up hate and division, you will be dealt with by police,” a spokesperson told the Herald Sun.
Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Bob Hill previously stated that “now is not the right time for protests” due to the force being busy with the wildfires.
“Common sense and respect for other people in need should mean any planned protest does not go ahead. ... With Australia’s Jewish community still hurting after the tragedy at Bondi, and Victoria fighting catastrophic fires, to proceed with these protests would be selfish, divisive and offensive,” he said.
Jeremy Leibler, president of the Zionist Federation of Australia, told JNS Sunday, “On the same day Victorians are fighting bushfires and the world is watching Iranians risk their lives against a brutal regime, these activists chose another rally. It’s becoming harder to pretend this is about helping Palestinians and not about demonizing Israel and keeping Jewish Australians on edge.”
“The decision by Free Palestine Melbourne to proceed with today’s protest, despite explicit requests from Victoria Police and the Lord Mayor during a serious bushfire emergency, reflects gross insensitivity and a troubling disregard for public safety and civic responsibility,” Colin Rubenstein, executive director of the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC), said in a statement sent to JNS.
“At a time when emergency services are stretched protecting lives and property, deliberately diverting police resources for a political demonstration is both irresponsible and deeply concerning,” he continued.
“If these protestors truly cared about human rights, they would instead be rallying in solidarity with the brave Iranian men and women, who are risking their lives to demand basic dignity and rights from the clutches of the Islamic regime,” Rubenstein said.
