On Saturday 2nd March, over 100 people gathered in Katoomba to rally against Israel’s war on Gaza. Organised by the community action group, Mountains for Palestine, participants heard from a number of speakers covering various aspects of the conflict, as well as recent local actions aimed at protecting Palestinian life and rights in Gaza.
Proceedings began with the rally co-ordinator, Aaisha, providing an acknowledgment of country.
Minute’s silence
A minute’s silence was then held. As a preamble, Jenna from Mountains for Palestine explained that a minute’s silence was being observed “for all martyrs lost due to Israel’s occupation and genocide in Palestine.”
Recognition was also given to 25-year-old Aaron Bushnell, an active member of the US military, who died on 25th February after setting himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington D.C. Immediately prior to this act, he said he was protesting against “what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers” and declared that he “will no longer be complicit in genocide.”
Motions on Gaza endorsed by council
Following the minute’s silence, Brent Hoare, Greens councillor with the Blue Mountains City Council (BMCC), gave an address which focused on two motions on Gaza which were endorsed by BMCC last Tueday night. One motion was submitted by Greens councillors, while the other was submitted by Labor councillors.1
BMCC now joins at least 9 other councils across NSW and Victoria who have passed motions condemning Israel’s genocide and calling for an immediate ceasefire.
Brent was particularly critical of the Labor government’s inaction around this issue. In particular, he said that the Labor government needed to ban all shipments of arms and arms components to Israel immediately. The government has claimed that no arms have been exported from Australia to Israel during the last 5 years. However, despite the government’s denial, evidence to the contrary has come to light despite the secrecy surrounding defence exports.
Brent also stated that Labor’s lack of action in the face of Israel’s genocide needed to be repudiated. Electors could do this by “not giving them a primary vote at any level of government, federal, state or local.” The same applies to Liberal and National Party politicians who have shamelessly backed Israel’s war on Gaza throughout the last 5 months.
White privilege and overcoming silence
The next speaker to address the rally was Caradene. Inspired by the work of Layla Saad, Caradene spoke about white feminism and its shortcomings.2 Many women, she observed, while courageously outspoken on issues such as climate change, were often silent when it came to the crimes and oppression committed by colonial settler societies and analogous social systems. “We need to give up the privilege of benefitting from these systems”, she said. In order to support those oppressed such as the Palestinians, “the first step is to stop being silent and stop being fragile. We must speak up and out together.”
Australia’s complicity
Rachael, also a member of Mountains for Palestine, was the next to speak. Her focus was on Australia’s complicity in Israel’s genocide.
She reported that an attempt by Senator Steele-John (Greens) to put a motion before the Senate calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza had been blocked by both Labor and Coalition senators.
Another example of Australia’s lamentable record on Gaza was the Labor government’s suspension of funding to UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). The decision to suspend funding was based upon Israeli allegations that a dozen employees of UNWRA, which employs around 13,000 Palestinians in Gaza, had some involvement, unspecified, in the attacks by Hamas on 7th October 2023. This decision was taken in circumstances where malnutrition and starvation are now widespread among Gaza’s 2.3 million population, including the beseiged enclave’s 335,000 children.3
As reported in the media, former New Zealand PM, Helen Clark, weighed in on the issue and described the decision as “completely disproportionate” and “a very, very harsh, collective punishment of the Gazan people”. She urged Australia and other western nations to reinstate UNRWA funding immediately.4
Rachael said that despite claims to the contrary, information obtained under Freedom of Information Act 1982 from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, showed that $13 million in sales associated with the category ‘arms and ammunition’, had been supplied to Israel over the last five years.5
It was noted that Australia had approved over 300 ‘defence export permits’ to Israel since 2017. However, the details related to these permits remain secret for ‘national security’ reasons. A legal challenge launched in Australia’s high court in November 2023 by Palestinian and human rights organisations is seeking to shed light on Australia’s shadowy defence trade.
Given Australia’s complicity, Rachael closed her speech by saying that we must all work together to hold our political decision makers “accountable for betraying humanity.”
U.S. complicity
The final speech to the rally was given by Jon Atkins, a member of the Marrickville Peace Group and now a resident of Wentworth Falls, having moved from Marrickville to the Blue Mountains towards the end of last year.
Jon provided up-to-date information on Israel’s genocide, including the death toll, the maiming, the malnutrition and starvation, and the destruction by Israel of Gaza’s agricultural and fishing industries.
Reference was also made to the latest atrocity committed by the Israeli Defence Forces, namely the indiscriminate shooting of Palestinian civilians surrounding a food convoy in northern Gaza last Thursday. Early reports indicate that over 100 Palestinians were killed and many hundred’s injured.6
As well, mention was made of the Labor government’s failure to call upon the Biden administration to end its complicity with Israel’s genocide and stop its massive shipments of arms to that country. It was argued that conveying such a message was crucial, since Israel could only sustain its brutal war on Gaza with the help of U.S. war planes, munitions and weaponry.
Song
The final presentation to the rally was given by Linda who sang a song about her determination to confront Israel’s genocide against the advice of some who were worried about its traumatic impact. In response Linda said “I need to look at it. We have to look at it.” Or to paraphrase Bertrand Russell, our task is to bear witness to these terrible crimes and to unite humanity on the side of justice .7
Despite the rain, rally participants later marched along Katoomba’s main street to the Carrington Gardens.
Audio files of each of the presentations and available transcripts can be accessed below.
Notes
1. The motion submitted by Greens’ councillors can be accessed here.
2. Layla Saad, Me and White Supremacy – How to Recognise Your Privilege, Combat Racism and Change the World, Quercus, 2019.
3. Refugees International, ‘Civilians are in Crisis in Gaza – Donors Must Restore Funds for UNRWA’, Feb 3, 2024.
4. Helen Clark quoted in Daniel Hurst, ‘Former New Zealand PM urges Australia and west to reinstate UNRWA funding to avoid ‘catastrophic’ impact on Palestinians’, The Guardian, Jan 29, 2024. Also refer to the interview with Helen Clark on New Zealand’s 1News service in early February 2024.
5. Daniel Hurst and Sarah Basford Canales, ‘Australian arms and ammunition exports to Israel totalled $13m over past five years, data reveals’, The Guardian, Nov 29, 2023. Also refer to Marcus Hellyer and Ben Stevens, ‘Demystifying Australia’s defence exports’, The Strategist, Mar 3, 2023.
6. Refugees International, ‘Statement on Mass Killing at Gaza Aid Distribution’, Feb 29, 2024.
7. “We are not judges. We are witnesses. Our task is to make mankind bear witness to these terrible crimes and to unite humanity on the side of justice in Vietnam”, Bertrand Russell’s opening remarks to the second session of the International War Crimes Tribunal on Vietnam, November 1967.