On Sunday 29 September, the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) calls on every Australian to rise in unwavering solidarity with Palestinians for a National Day of Action for Gaza.
With the one-year anniversary of Israel’s genocide in Gaza approaching, the National Day of Action will feature rallies in every major city and many regional centres across the continent, and will kick off a month of powerful action to demand justice for Palestine.
The brutal reality faced by the people of Gaza is stark – a year of relentless violence that Palestinians, along with leading international bodies, human rights groups, legal experts and civil society agree constitutes genocide.
During the past 12 months, Israel’s Occupation Forces have killed more than 41,534 Palestinians and wounded more than 96,092 people, many of them in ways that will alter the course of the rest of their lives.
Thousands of Palestinians are buried under rubble and have not yet been identified, and the indirect death toll resulting from Israel’s relentless violence, and its health implications, has been conservatively estimated at approximately 186,000 Palestinians – eight per cent of Gaza’s population.
Palestinians themselves have, with unwavering courage, documented and livestreamed to the world Israel’s genocide, which has been carried out brazenly and in broad daylight.
This genocide has been characterised by systematic killings and a spate of brutal massacres, bombings of civilian infrastructure and residential areas, the targeting of UN, humanitarian, medical workers and journalists, manufactured starvation of the population and the arbitrary detention and torture of Palestinians in Israeli prison camps.
On this continent, the past year has also been characterised by attempts across the political establishment, media, in workplaces and cultural organisations to smear, demonise and silence those who have spoken out against Israel’s genocide.
With 12 months having now passed since the beginning of these horrors in Gaza, and with Israel escalating its violence across the West Bank as it attempts to consolidate its illegal occupation, as well as in Lebanon, people of good conscience across the continent will stand together to say, “Enough.”
Australia has dragged its feet in committing to decisive action to prevent Israel’s genocide in Gaza for one year now. The time for inaction has long passed.
As a signatory to the Genocide Convention and self-declared champion of international law and human rights, Australia has a moral and legal obligation to act decisively against these atrocities.
Australia’s movement for Palestinian justice demands that our government take the following actions:
- Sanction Israeli officials: Impose immediate, targeted sanctions on individuals complicit in these crimes against humanity.
- End all support for Israel: Sever all economic, military, and diplomatic ties with Israel – no more complicity in genocide.
- Cut off arms supplies: Immediately halt all arms agreements and transfers that enable Israel to wage its genocide against the Palestinian people.
- Stop charities funding of Israel’s occupation: Revoke the DGR status of any Australian charities that support or benefit from Israel’s illegal settlements.
- Hold Israel accountable: Proactively support investigations into Israeli war crimes and cooperate fully with international judicial bodies.
- Uphold Palestinian rights: Respect international law and recognise the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination.
For more information on the National Day of Action for Gaza, and the Month of Action for Gaza, visit www.apan.org.au.
Comments attributed to APAN President Nasser Mashni:
“For one long and agonising year, we have witnessed the relentless horror of Israel’s calculated effort to erase the people of Palestine.
“The evidence of Israel’s genocide in Gaza is indisputable, yet Australia has dragged its feet in responding decisively and in alignment with its international legal obligations.
“On the solemn anniversary of the beginning of this latest iteration of Israeli genocide, people of good conscience across this continent will come together to demand that the Australian Government act with integrity and immediacy to help put an end to Israel’s brutality, state-sanctioned terrorism and impunity.
“We cannot wait for Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people to be complete to call it what it is or to act decisively to prevent it. Australia must act now.”