Protests Across Australia As Penny Wong Despairs ‘Continued Retaliation’ In Middle East | Australian foreign policy

As Palestinian and Jewish groups prepare to mark the first anniversary of the events that sparked the current conflict between Israel and Gaza, the Australian government has once again condemned the escalating cycle of violence in the Middle East and called for a ceasefire fires in Gaza and Lebanon repeated.

“We have seen so much violence in the Middle East,” Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Sunday.

“The constant escalation, the constant retaliation, that constant cycle of violence, ultimately will not bring peace and will not bring security.”

From Gaza, Hamas – banned as a terrorist organization by the Australian government – ​​launched an attack on Israeli territory on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 200 hostages, according to Israeli authorities.

The attack sparked an Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip that has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians in the months since, according to local health officials. More than 11,000 children have been murdered in Gaza.

The conflict recently spread to southern Lebanon, with the Israeli army launching airstrikes over the northern border in response to rockets fired into Israel by Hezbollah. More than 700 people have been killed in Lebanon.

The Israeli army said on Saturday it had killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike on Friday. But the attacks have been criticized as indiscriminate and unlawful: the use of bunker bombs on densely populated civilian areas in Beirut has killed hundreds of non-combatants, according to the Lebanese government.

On Sunday, the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network held a National Day of Action for Gaza, organizing rallies across the country.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered Sunday at the state library in Melbourne and Sydney Town Hall, and in smaller towns and villages, to protest the escalation of the conflict.

Protests were also planned for Canberra, Adelaide, Perth, Hobart, Darwin, Port Macquarie, Warrnambool, Cairns and the Gold Coast.

In Melbourne, thousands marched through the middle of the city, flying the flags of Palestine and Lebanon. Some waved Hezbollah flags and carried photos of Nasrallah.

In Sydney, the Town Hall Square was filled as demonstrators chanted “from Lebanon to Palestine, occupation is a crime”.

The president of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, Nasser Mashni, condemned the “relentless horror” of the conflict in Gaza.

Australia had a moral and legal obligation to act decisively against atrocities against civilians, he said.

Jewish communities will hold events to mark the anniversary of the October 7 attack, which Zionist Federation of Australia CEO Alon Cassuto said brought with it a huge burden of grief and despair.

“As a community, we will come together to mourn the greatest loss of Jewish lives in a single day since the Holocaust and, as we have done every day since October 7, call for the release of the remaining 101 hostages from Hamas captivity. ” he said.

“Despite the deep sadness and the enormity of hostility, anti-Semitism and fragmentation of social cohesion in Australia since October 7, the Jewish community has never been stronger, resilient and united.”

The federation is urging people to light a candle for the fallen on October 7 and “speak their names” – reciting the names and telling the stories of those killed in the Hamas attacks .

Addressing the UN General Assembly, Wong condemned the “entrenched violence” that led to a worsening of the conflict.

“Brutal, humiliating conflict that breeds hatred and division; pushing peace into the invisible distance; and drag neighbors into an endless, reflexive cycle of blame and retaliation.”

In a subsequent television interview, Wong said Australia remained committed to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and urged a negotiated ceasefire.

“The continued retaliation … will bring no peace and no security. “That is why Australia and others, including the United States and Britain, have called for a ceasefire in Lebanon and for diplomacy to resolve this,” she said. .

“Because we have seen so many people, so many people are dying.”

– with AAP, Reuters