A new poll has found that a majority of people agree with the recent UN Commission, that Israel is conducting a genocide, and that the Australian government must impose greater sanctions on Israel.
The poll was commissioned by APAN, conducted by YouGov, has a sample of 1501 people and a margin of error of 2.43.
The key findings of the poll include:
- 58% of people agree that there is a genocide happening in Gaza,
- 57% agree that Australia should impose sanctions on Israel over Gaza like those imposed on Russia,
- 69% agree that Israel should stop its attack on Gaza,
- 56% agree that Israel is systemically and intentionally starving Palestinians in Gaza.
- 58% support Australia stopping all arms trade and agreements with Israel over their actions in Gaza.
- 56% agree that Australians should have the freedom to peacefully oppose Israel’s actions in Gaza without being attacked or penalised.
In all these questions, there is limited opposition (14-22%) to any of these statements.
Nasser Mashni, APAN President, said these findings show that people in Australia are way out ahead of its leaders. They can see Israel is conducting a genocide, they want strong sanctions on Israel and think people should have the freedom to stand with Palestine.
“Australians have spent the past 2 years bombarded with Israeli horrors on their handsets. . They overwhelmingly agree with Palestinians, the UN and every Human Rights organisation on earth: Israel is committing a genocide. Australians are disgusted by the live streamed genocide and our governments failure to act.
“People know that when there’s a genocide, the Australian government has an obligation to act. They also know that the media in Australia needs to be better at accurately reporting on the evidence that they see come straight from people and fellow journalists in Gaza.
”The polling is clear, Australians want more action from our government, we need to impose sanctions on Israel like those currently in place on Russia.
“People also support people being able to have the freedom to speak out, and to actively oppose the actions of Israel, without being attacked and penalised. Anti-Palestinian racism has seen so many people lose their jobs, their educational funding or be silenced for speaking out in favour of Palestine, and people want these attacks to stop.
“There’s strong support across the political spectrum in every demographic, overwhelmingly identifying Israel’s actions as genocide and calling for sanctions and for people to stand with Palestine,” said Mashni.