Gaza City, once home to 1 million people, is being turned into a “field of rubble”, as Israel pursues its genocidal plans to displace or kill people who are determined to stay.
According to the Gaza’s Government Media Office, the Israeli army is also using “explosive robots” in residential areas to forcibly displace Palestinians. This is the first stage of Israel’s declared new offensive on Gaza City.
Ismail al-Thawabta told that the Israeli military had detonated more than 80 such devices over the past three weeks, describing it as a “scorched-earth policy”. However, he said on August 31 more than 1 million Palestinians in Gaza City and the north of the enclave “refuse to submit to the policy of forced displacement and ethnic cleansing”.
Israel’s military is also carrying out raids and arrests across the illegally occupied West Bank, with incidents reported in Bethlehem, Hebron, Nablus and Ramallah. Palestinians, while receiving protection from the Israel Defense Forces. Al Jazeera reported more than 1000 Israeli settler attacks have been recorded in the occupied West Bank this year.
That is not deterring the — the largest maritime mission bringing together more than 50 ships and delegations from at least 44 countries.
The first convoy of dozens of small civilian vessels carrying activists, humanitarians, doctors, seafarers and humanitarian supplies departed from Barcelona on August 31 to meet up in Tunisia with a second wave on September 4.
Meanwhile, the Labor government is refusing to sanction Israel and maintains the two-war arms trade. It recently denied having anything to do with the $900 million contract with announced in February last year.
Peter Boyle reports that thousands marched peacefully on Gadigal Country/Sydney on August 31, calling for sanctions on Israel and an end to the arms trade. They came out in good numbers for the Stop the Genocide, Stand up to Racism and Fascism rally, despite media and official warnings to stay away from the city. At the racist so-called March for Australia rally down the road, speakers pushed their racist divide and rule poison, including that immigration is responsible for housing shortages and unemployment.
“They stand for division and fear. We stand for justice and freedom. And the fact that you came out today matters,” First Nations activist Ethan Floyd told the rally.
, a unionist from the National Tertiary Education Union at the University of Sydney, told the rally that standing up for Palestine means standing against “the politics of the far right”.
“If you want to know what that politics means for the people who live under it, then look no further than the experience of so many Aboriginal people in this country … As the horrifying genocide in Gaza intensifies, it’s obvious to even the mainstream media that the March for Australia rallies around the country are about one thing: white supremacism.
“The organisers have been caught saying it openly: protecting Australian culture means protecting European culture, which means protecting white culture. It’s the same foul identity politics and ethnic supremacism that is being genocidally played out by Israel against Palestinians under our very eyes.”
Michelle Berkon spoke from , as did a Palestinian Australian activist from Wollongong Friends of Palestine, who urged people to join the on September 21–22.
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In Naarm/Melbourne between 3000–4000 joined the “Pro-Palestine, anti-fascist” rally, a combination of the weekly Palestine rally and a counter-protest called against the racist anti-immigration “March for Australia” in Naarm/Melbourne on August 31. It was organised by .
Jordan AK reports that First Nations, refugee, Jewish, Black and Palestinian community speakers addressed the rally. Refugee rights activist Aran Mylvaganam told the crowd that racism is useful for the major parties: “Blaming migrants distracts from their inability to deliver higher wages, affordable housing and decent services. It keeps the bosses happy, while workers are told to blame each other.”
Jacob Andrewartha reports that the Palestine protest marched towards Flinders Street to protest the far right.However, after police blocked the rally at Collins Street, the protest split into two 鶹ӳ, with one marching towards Victorian Parliament House, while the other part marched towards the far-right protest.
The far-right racist protest, which numbered about 5000, intimidated the pro-Palestine protest and others trying to get home. The racists also attacked Camp Sovereignty, which was established by Krautungalung Elder Robbie Thorpe. has called for a full investigation. Video appears to show known neo-Nazi leader Thomas Sewell being among the attackers.
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