‘Gained’t be silent’: Hundreds protest Israeli president’s Australia go to – Worldwide Dispatch

Demonstrators danger arrest in the event that they be part of a pro-Palestine march from Sydney City Corridor to New South Wales Parliament.

Palestine supporters have turned out throughout Australia to oppose a go to by Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who’s within the nation to commemorate victims of final 12 months’s Bondi Seaside bloodbath.

Hundreds of individuals demonstrated in a sq. in Sydney’s enterprise district on Monday, with extra protests deliberate in cities and cities throughout the nation within the night.

Demonstrators danger arrest in the event that they be part of a protest march late on Monday, organised by the Palestine Motion Group from Sydney City Corridor to New South Wales Parliament, which falls in an space authorities have designated as a particular protected space throughout Herzog’s go to.

Palestine Motion Group failed in a authorized ‌problem in a Sydney court docket on Monday towards the restrictions positioned on the demonstration.

“We’re hoping we gained’t have to make use of any powers, as a result of we’ve been liaising very carefully with the protest organisers,” Peter McKenna, New South Wales assistant police commissioner, advised 9 Information on Monday.

Herzog speaks at Bondi Seaside

The Israeli president started his four-day go to to Australia at Sydney’s Bondi Seaside, the place he laid a wreath at a memorial for the victims of the December assault, which killed 15 folks at a Hanukkah celebration. He additionally met survivors and the households of these killed.

“This was additionally an assault ‌on all Australians,” Herzog mentioned on the web site of the assault. “They attacked the values that our democracies treasure, the sanctity of human life, the liberty of faith, tolerance, dignity and respect.”

“I’m right here to specific solidarity, friendship, and love,” he added in feedback to reporters.

Along with Sydney, the place 3,000 police personnel had been to be deployed, Herzog additionally plans to go to Melbourne and the nationwide capital, Canberra, earlier than he returns to Israel on Thursday.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had urged folks to respect the solemn nature of Herzog’s go to, saying the Israeli president had “come right here in goodwill”.

Herzog alleged the protests towards his go to had been makes an attempt to “undermine and delegitimise” Israel’s proper to exist.

However activists mentioned the Israeli chief, whom a United Nations fee of inquiry has discovered to be chargeable for inciting genocide towards Palestinians, shouldn’t be proof against protests.

“President Herzog has unleashed immense struggling on Palestinians in Gaza for over two years – openly and with complete impunity,” mentioned Amnesty Worldwide’s Australia chapter. “Welcoming President Herzog as an official visitor undermines Australia’s dedication to accountability and justice. We can not stay silent.”

One protester, 30-year-old Jackson Elliott from Sydney, mentioned, “The Bondi bloodbath was horrible, however from our Australian management there’s been no ⁠acknowledgement of the Palestinian folks and the Gazans.”

“Herzog has dodged all of the questions concerning the occupation and says this go to is about Australia and Israeli relations, however he’s complicit,” mentioned Elliott.

The Jewish Council of Australia, a vocal critic of the Israeli authorities, launched an open letter on Monday signed by greater than 1,000 Jewish Australian ‌lecturers and neighborhood leaders, urging Albanese to rescind Herzog’s invitation.

In September, the UN’s Impartial Worldwide Fee of Inquiry discovered that Herzog “incited the fee of genocide” by saying all Palestinians – “a complete nation” – had been chargeable for the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led assaults on southern Israel.

Since these assaults, Israel’s genocidal struggle on Gaza has killed greater than 72,000 Palestinians, with tens of hundreds of our bodies nonetheless believed to be trapped below the rubble and uncounted.

Regardless of a United States-brokered “ceasefire” agreed in October final 12 months, Israel has killed greater than 500 Palestinians and continues to impose restrictions on the entry of support into Gaza.