‘The tide is shifting': Massive Australian protest over Gaza crisis seen as a sign of growing global alarm

CNN

3 days ago

When Australia wants to put on a show, it turns to the sweeping expanse of Sydney Harbour, home to the Opera House and the iconic bridge that connects the city with its northern suburbs.
So, when organizers of usually small pro-Palestinian protests held every two weeks since Israel's 2023 invasion of Gaza detected a shift in community attitudes towards the grinding conflict – at home and abroad – they chose the bridge to make a global statement.
'We thought that the kind of bold and somewhat audacious idea that we were going to march over Sydney Harbour Bridge would capture the imaginations of everyone out there who was horrified by what we were seeing,' said protest organizer Josh Lees, from the Palestinian Action Group.
The group had been emboldened by artists making pro-Palestinian statements at Glastonbury and the victory of Democratic New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, who received backing from some of the city's Jewish population despite his criticism of Israel.
'We felt it here in Australia, too,' said Lee, adding that the 'real uptick in horror and anger' had translated into pledges of support from church groups, unions and members of parliament representing 'a much broader section of society' than had previously engaged in the group's protests.
Last Sunday, at least 90,000 people marched across the Sydney Harbour Bridge clutching umbrellas, signs and flags, lashed by cold winds and heavy rain, according to police estimates. Organizers put the figure at closer to 300,000. That so many people braved the elements for the hastily organized event – conceived just seven days before – suggests that Australians want their government to act, Lees said.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Tuesday she wasn't surprised about the scale of the turnout.
'I think the distress of Australians on what we are seeing unfolding in Gaza, the catastrophic humanitarian situation, the deaths of women and children, the withholding of aid, I anticipated that we would see marches of this scale,' she told ABC Radio National.
'They do reflect the broad Australian community's horror at what is going on in the Middle East, and the desire for peace and a ceasefire, which is what the government is seeking.'
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's Labor government is under increasing pressure to join other US allies, the United Kingdom, France and Canada, in pledging formal recognition of a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September.
Albanese and senior ministers have in recent weeks laid the groundwork for a public announcement saying it's a matter of 'when, not if.'
Wong said Tuesday talks are being held with the international community ahead of the UNGA, as she underscored the urgency of the situation.
'There is a risk there will be no Palestine left to recognize if the international community don't move to create that pathway to a two-state solution,' she said.
The US now stands increasingly alone from many of its closest Western allies on the issue of recognizing a Palestinian state and has condemned the moves by the UK, France and Canada. Recognition by Australia would add to that isolation.
Calling for recognition of Palestinian statehood wasn't on the list of four demands submitted by the Palestinian Action Group before Sunday's march.
'What we marched for on Sunday, and what we've been protesting for two years, is not recognition of a non-existent Palestinian state that Israel is in the process of wiping out,' said Lees. 'What we are demanding is that the Australian government sanction Israel and stop the two-way arms trade with Israel.' The group also called for aid to be allowed into Gaza, an immediate ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal.
The Australian government says it hasn't supplied weapons or ammunition to Israel during the latest Gaza war or for at least the past five years. However, Australian businesses are part of a supply chain that provides parts for F-35s, the type of fighter jet that Israel uses to bomb Gaza.
'Australian industry contributes components and parts, but the Australian Government does not have a direct bilateral arrangement with the Government of Israel in relation to the F-35 program,' a defense ministry spokesperson said. The F-35 supply chain is centrally coordinated by Lockheed Martin and the US government, the spokesperson added.
'Once they go to the United States, Australia has no control over them,' said Ian Parmeter, Research Scholar and Middle East Expert at the ANU Centre of Arab and Islamic Studies in Canberra. 'The Australian government could refuse export permits for these components, but the contribution we make to the manufacture of F-35s would almost certainly be picked up elsewhere without any trouble.'
To date, Australia has sanctioned two far-right Israeli ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, for inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, in a joint move with Canada, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom in June. It previously sanctioned individuals over their involvement in settler violence in the West Bank.
But whatever Australia does in response is likely nowhere near enough to pressure Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu to end the conflict, which his security cabinet agreed to extend Thursday with the occupation of Gaza City.
'Frankly, the one person who has leverage over Netanyahu is (US President Donald) Trump,' said Kenneth Roth, former Human Rights Watch executive director and visiting professor at Princeton University's School of Public and International Affairs. 'He alone could condition the arms sales and military aid on an end to the mass atrocity being committed in Gaza,' Roth told public broadcaster ABC Tuesday.
Parmeter said Trump is prepared to disagree with Netanyahu, but 'whether he's prepared to rein in Netanyahu and make him stop the war in Gaza, to go to a ceasefire, and to essentially allow as much aid to flow as is needed, is very hard to say.'
They may be thousands of miles away but the conflict in Gaza has been deeply felt by members of Australia's Muslim and Jewish communities.
Reports of both antisemitism and Islamophobia have surged in Australia since October 2023, according to the offices of two separate envoys appointed to address the issue.
Last month, antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal presented a sweeping plan to combat what she said was a 'wave of hate.' It included education campaigns, police and immigration reforms, and penalties for public institutions, particularly universities, who fail to act
At the time, the government said it would consider the recommendations, as critics pointed to their potential threat to free speech in a country that values freedom of expression.
The size of Sunday's march was considered by some a victory over attempts to silence criticism of Israel. Days before the event, New South Wales Police tried to block the march in the Supreme Court on the grounds of public safety, after similar objections from state authorities.
The bid failed when a judge ruled that, on balance, the prosocial nature of the event and experience of the organizers meant that banning it would not make it any safer, as thousands would still likely turn up.
Police warnings of a crowd crush didn't eventuate, though there were so many people on the bridge that at one stage officers issued text messages and orders from loudspeakers on helicopters telling protestors to stop and walk back towards the city.
Perceptions of the event ranged from a soul-restoring display of public compassion to a misguided attempt to wade into a complex debate with a cast of Hamas sympathizers.
'Obviously, we don't politically support Hamas,' said Lees, of the Palestinian Action Group.
Australian media reflected the opposing views in vastly different front-page treatments. Alongside an image of a woman in a headscarf, The West Australian's headline read: 'Bloody chaos: Baby dolls smeared in fake blood and Aussie flag burned as wild protests become our norm.'
The same day, the Sydney Morning Herald, owned by a rival media group, ran an image of crowds on the bridge with the headline, 'Sydney says 'enough'.''
The march was noticed from Israel where Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar urged Australians to 'wake up!'
'The distorted alliance between the radical Left and fundamentalist Islam is sadly dragging the West toward the sidelines of history,' he wrote on X with an image of a protester holding a photo of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
In a statement, the Australian Iranian Community Alliance also pointed to the photo and other imagery at the march and asked whether participants were 'truly part of a movement seeking peace, or inadvertently amplifying forces opposed to it?'
Co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Peter Wertheim noted in a letter to The Australian newspaper that none of the protesters called for the release of Israeli hostages.
The day before the march, images of two emaciated Israeli hostages were released by the group, including video of one who said he was digging his own grave.
'If people want to see Israeli hostages return, then they should also be fighting to end this genocide and for Israel to get out of Gaza,' said Lees.
After the march, the Australian government committed an extra 20 million Australian dollars ($13 million) in aid to Gaza, taking the total to 130 million Australian dollars ($84 million) since October 2023, but it stopped short of granting any of the other demands.
Hoping to build on the momentum, Lees says the group's planning a nationwide event on August 24.
'I think we have, by holding this like immense demonstration on Sunday, helped to inspire people around the world to see that the tide is shifting, that masses of people now have seen through all of the kind of pro-Israel lies and propaganda that we've been bombarded with for so long, and are prepared and willing to stand up in bigger numbers than ever before to try to stop this genocide.'