Tensions rise over rallies, vigils for Mideast unrest
Protesters have marched in solidarity with Palestinians in Sydney as Australia’s Jewish community mourns the victims of renewed conflict in Israel.
More than 700 Israelis are dead, and thousands more wounded, after Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas launched attacks on Saturday, sparking condemnation from Australia’s political leaders.
Videos of the offensive show the abduction of children and elderly women by militants, as well as the naked body of a woman being paraded through the streets before being spat on.
Israel has retaliated, striking housing blocks, a mosque and the homes of Hamas officials in Gaza, in one of the bloodiest days in its history.
More than 400 people have been killed, including 20 children.
A pro-Palestine rally was held in Sydney on Monday evening and follows other events held to support the violence.
Police arrested a well-known member of Sydney’s Jewish community for holding an Israeli flag.
A vigil for Israeli victims will be held in Melbourne.
In Sydney’s south-west, a Muslim preacher told a crowd gathered in Lakemba on Sunday night, the attacks were an act of resistance.
“I’m smiling and I’m happy,” he said.
“I’m elated, it’s a day of courage, it’s a day of pride, it’s a day of victory. This is the day we’ve been waiting for.”
Police are investigating after footage emerged showing people shooting red and green fireworks out of a ute along a main road in neighbouring suburb Greenacre.
Passengers in the car waved a Palestinian flag in celebration, as the car horn was blown.
Alex Ryvchin
Executive Council of Australian Jewry spokesman Alex Ryvchin condemned the rally as “sickening”.
“It’s truly devastating and sickening to see such inhumanity in our midst,” he told reporters in Sydney.
“I place the blame at their leaders, at the clerics that incite them, that tell them that this is okay … they need to be held to account for this.”
Australian Palestine Advocacy Network president Nasser Mashni has said the action was in response to an escalation of attacks from Israel.
“Israel hasn’t been defending itself, it’s been waging war on Palestinians each and every day for decades,” Mr Mashni said in a statement.
The vigil paying tribute to the killed Israelis will be held at a synagogue in Melbourne on Monday evening.
The Sydney Opera House and other landmarks in Melbourne and Adelaide will be lit up in Israel’s national colours of blue and white.
Brisbane’s Story Bridge was lit in solidarity with Israel on Sunday night.
Australia is urging people not to travel to Gaza or areas near its border, and is advising people in Israel and occupied Palestinian territories to exercise a high degree of caution.
Hamas’ operation came a day after the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, a surprise attack by Egypt and Syria in 1973.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the attacks should not be praised.
“There’s nothing to celebrate by the murder of innocent civilians going about their day,” he told Nine’s Today show.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong labelled the attacks “abhorrent”.
“We unequivocally condemn the indiscriminate targeting of civilians and the taking of hostages,” Senator Wong said at Melbourne Airport on Monday.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said the coalition “utterly condemns the unprovoked and abhorrent attack by militant Hamas on Israel”.
The video is a shocking indictment of NSW police. If they didn’t want disturbance of peace, they shouldn’t have given permission for the pro-Palestinian demonstration, most especially on the occasion of paying respect to the Israeli dead. The Jewish community of Sydney were denied access to what was an occasion designed for them, requested by police beforehand not to come.
How can this be? What sort of wrong-headedness does this show? Disgusting.
SHAME SHAME SHAME !! Sydney Police shame on you!
It’s not enough for the leaders of our country to make motherhood politically correct statements of the events in Israel. They need to forcefully express their abhorrence at the cold blooded murder of civilians in their home, at bus stops, in cars, the murder of party goers, rape, dismemberment, abduction – stop the pleasantness of appeasing the inhumane activities of the terrorists and spell out to the world what these “people” have done.