Thousands brave Sydney heatwave conditions to demand ceasefire in Gaza in week 15 of protests | Aust

Thousands brave Sydney heatwave conditions to demand ceasefire in Gaza in week 15 of protests

Activists take aim at Penny Wong and Anthony Albanese and say they will ‘continue to chant for a liberated Palestine’

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Widad Waqqad, 20, has been attending demonstrations for Palestine since she was a young girl. This Sunday was no different as she joined hundreds of others in Sydney’s Hyde Park despite the 34C heat.

Sunday marked the 15th pro-Palestine rally in Sydney since 7 October, with thousands gathering in demonstrations across the country demanding a ceasefire in Gaza. When Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October, it killed about 1,200 people and abducted some 250 others. Since then, more than 24,000 Palestinians have been killed, including thousands of children, in Israeli bombardments.

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Widad and her mother, Abeer, are Palestinian and have family living in the West Bank, including Abeer’s sister. Abeer said it was “tragic [and] heartbreaking” to see what was happening, although she was thankful her family were safe.

“What’s going on there is wrong, regardless of who it is, so even if we weren’t Palestinian we would still be supporting this cause,” Widad said.

Sunday’s rally in Sydney was moved from its usual location to a more shaded area but the heatwave conditions did not stop people from attending, with many donning Palestinian keffiyehs and raising signs and flags to show their support.

One of the rally’s organisers, Damian Ridgwell, called on the Australian government to “unconditionally come out and demand Israel cease the killing”.

“If you want the killing to end, demand the killers to stop their bombing,” he said. “It is totally inadequate to make out as if this is a conflict between two equal sides … Stop calling it self-defence, it is a genocide that is happening in Gaza.”

Organisers took aim at the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, for her visit to Israel, where she met the foreign minister, Israel Katz, and the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, among others.

Wong has backed steps towards a ceasefire but said this could not be “one-sided”. She reportedly told Katz that the Australian people had “strong concerns about the civilian death toll and the dire humanitarian situation” and wanted “a just and enduring peace that enables both Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security”.

The Palestinian activist Assala Sayara described Wong’s visit to the region as “tokenistic” and only serving the interests of politicians, rather than affected communities.

Sayara said organisers were “not stopping” and planned to continue their protests as the new year begins.

“We are in pain, but we cannot sit with that pain,” she said. “We will channel this pain and use it for our strength to mobilise, to campaign, to name and shame and to continue to chant for a liberated Palestine.

“The occupation isn’t only within the borders of Palestine, the effect of the occupation goes beyond those borders and we see it through the families that have siblings or parents or relatives in Gaza or the whole of Palestine, we see it in the pain of them wanting to go back home but because of the Israeli occupation they’re [not able to].”

Protesters at Sunday’s rally also called for the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, to support South Africa’s case against Israel at the international court of justice. South Africa has brought a case to the ICJ accusing Israel of committing genocide in its military response to the 7 October Hamas attack.

Albanese has previously suggested court cases will not help achieve peace between Israel and Palestine, and said Australia did not “intend to be a participant in the process” brought by South Africa. He said the Australian government would instead focus on “a political solution” based on “a pathway to security and peace and prosperity in the region”.

Nick Teane, who attended Sunday’s rally and lives in Albanese’s seat of Grayndler, said if he could say one thing to Albanese it would be: “Stand up for your principles.”

“He was one of the prime movers for the Parliamentary Friends of Palestine and he can’t bring himself to say to America, ‘Stop it.’ He hasn’t got the courage,” he said.

“I’m very angry,” he said. “I’m middle class, I’m well-off and lucky and I’ve had a great life … but I can’t stand seeing things getting worse and worse and worse.

“On the one hand we support Ukraine against the Russian invasion but we don’t support the Palestinians against the Israeli invasion – complete double standard.”

Jackie and Neil Dand, also longtime supporters of the Palestinian cause, have travelled from Windsor to Hyde Park for the last 14 demonstrations.

Their message to the government is simple: “Listen to the people.”

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