Thousands of people in Sydney have held a protest to demand Israel withdraw from Gaza and allow aid into the Strip.

Council of the City of Sydney

Israel and Iran have agreed a ceasefire after a twelve day conflict. Meanwhile, Israel strikes in Gaza continue with the humanitarian crisis deepening.

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Tens of thousands of people marched across Sydney Harbour Bridge in a major protest against Israel’s military actions in Gaza, demanding immediate humanitarian aid access and a withdrawal of Israeli forces. The event, described as unprecedented in scale, reflects a significant rise in public support for the pro-Palestinian cause in Australia.

Political leaders, including Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, have expressed growing criticism of Israel’s actions and signaled support for recognizing Palestinian statehood. Despite Australia’s role in supplying parts for military equipment used by Israel, public and political pressure is mounting for a policy shift, aligning Australia with a broader global trend of increasing opposition to the war in Gaza.

Analysis: Australia now strongly opposes Israel’s war on Gaza

Tens of thousands of people in Sydney have held a protest against Israel's war on Gaza. Crowds marched across Sydney Harbour Bridge which was closed for about five hours. Organisers are demanding all humanitarian aid be immediately allowed into Gaza and for the Israeli military to withdraw from the Strip. Sarah Clark was at the protest. There were thousands or have been thousands of people who've marched across from the Sydney Central Business District across the Sydney Harbour Bridge in this pro-Palestinian rally dubbed the March for Humanity. And their demands are simple, that they want the end to starvation, malnutrition, disease in Gaza and an end to Israel's war on Gaza. The protest organisers initially thought around 50,000 people might attend. It's hard to tell from where we were because the media were kept at the very front of the pack and there was a very, very heavy police presence. Now they're trying to disperse people now at both ends of the bridge. So the rally's now come to an end. The bridge is still closed but certainly a huge number of people braved the rain, came out the rain. It's been bucketing all day here in Sydney to attend this rally. There has been an increasing support from public interest and support from the public over recent weeks and months for the pro-Palestinian cause and an end to Israel's war on Gaza. There's also been a movement from a federal government front. There's been a lot more sympathy and a lot more people within the federal government, the Labor government, speaking out against Israel's actions in Gaza. We also had the Foreign Minister Penny Wong. She spoke on Wednesday this week, or last week I should say. She signed a statement, 14 other countries, demanding for the next day after scenario for Gaza. So the reconstruction of Gaza and for Hamas not to be part of any Palestinian government. And the Prime Minister has also said, Anthony Albanese, that it's not a matter of if but when the federal government will announce its support for recognition of Palestinian statehood. And we expect that to happen in the lead up to the UN General Assembly, which is attending, or I should say happening, in September in New York. Anthony Lowenstein joins us from Sydney now. He's an independent journalist and author of The Palestine Laboratory. That's a book on the Israeli arms and surveillance industry. Thanks very much for being with us here. I understand that you were also at that protest. Can you just talk first of all about the turnout and just give a sense of what it was like? I've never seen a turnout like this in Sydney. It was, the exact figures are unclear, but I would guess it was at least 100,000 people as far as the eye could see. And what was so interesting and revealing about these kinds of protests, which was similar to what I'm seeing in the US and Europe now, is that the people who are protesting the genocide in Gaza are not the people who normally protest. People who are so outraged, not just by what Israel is doing in Gaza, but also the Australian government's complicity. Australia, for many, many years, but including since October 7, I've worked with an organisation called Declassified Australia, and we've covered this extensively. Australia is part of the global supply chain for the F-35 fighter jet, which Israel is using over Gaza every day. And the parts that are amongst those parts in the plane are partly coming from Australia. A lot of Australians are aware of this. We are deeply complicit and people are angry and they're frustrated that our government is doing little more than talk at this point. What does that tell us, this huge turnout and more and more people getting involved in the movement? What does that tell us about where Australia is at when it comes to opposing the war in Gaza? And I guess, what sort of pressure is that putting on the government to change? It really, I think, fits very much into a global trend that often people who blindly support Israel say that they are the most moral position. I mean, in fact, that's always been a nonsense argument. You can't support occupation. And I speak as someone, I spoke at the rally today, and I spoke as an Australian. I'm also a German, but I'm also a Jew. And I'm outraged by what Israel is doing in my name and growing numbers of Jews around the world are speaking out and feeling the same way. And that ties into the broader picture. And public opinion polls in the last six, 12 months in the US, Europe, UK, and my country, Australia, show that, in fact, the majority of people of the public oppose what Israel is doing. So our politicians, whether they're conservative or more progressive, and most countries don't have progressive governments these days, are fundamentally out of step with what people want. It's not just a question of the people demanding a shift. They're saying, we are watching a live stream genocide, the first in history, and we're so frustrated and angry and outraged that our governments continue to support it. So it shows a massive shift. And finally, it reminds me, I was a bit too young to be too involved in this, but it certainly reminds me of what people have told me of the global shift from the 1980s of the movement against apartheid South Africa. And it took decades and decades to get to the point where, by the mid to late 1980s, much of the civilised world was fundamentally against apartheid in South Africa. And in 1994, that regime ended. The Australian Prime Minister, Antony Albanese, has started discussions around Australia recognising a Palestinian state. But can you just give us an idea of the pushback against that happening? What sort of risk does Albanese face if he were to do that? Within his own party, very little. I mean, the Labour Party, that's the party that he leads, overwhelmingly supports. It's actually in their party platform to back a Palestinian state and a two-state solution. I mean, certainly in the general public, there is support for recognising some kind of Palestinian entity. Personally speaking, I'm pretty sceptical about what that would actually mean and what that would change on the ground in Palestine, in Gaza, in the West Bank, that what exactly is being recognised, who runs that entity, and that Israel essentially is not going to be pressured enough to change its behaviour by simply recognising a state, whether it's the UK or Canada or Australia. But within Australia, the pushback, I would argue, is not that strong. Pro-Israel forces are opposed to it. The more conservative political forces certainly don't agree with it. But within Albanese's party, there's pretty much overwhelming backing. I think a lot of people in the public are worried that it is really, in some ways, a token effort to say, what exactly are we recognising here? Are we recognising that Israel's occupation ends? Because when Israel and, frankly, the Western states say the only Palestinian state they may theoretically support is a demilitarised state, which should be a non-starter by definition, because that means that Israel controls all the land, sea and air borders. But, look, this is an issue, obviously, which is a live one, and I think a lot of Australians and Westerners and people in general, including in the Arab-Muslim world, are outraged that our governments, including much in the Arab world, I might say, are not doing nearly enough beyond words. You alluded to this earlier, but many of the countries that are condemning what Israel is doing, especially with the starvation of tens of thousands of people there, but they're also arming Israel at the same time. Can you just explain that and what you make of those two opposing forces? I've spent over a decade investigating the Israeli arms trade, so both weapons and surveillance tech that Israel is selling to huge amounts of nations around the world, so-called battle tests, or as I call it, the Palestine Laboratory. But a lot of countries also sell weapons to Israel. As I said, Australia has been providing F-35 weapons parts for a number of years, including since October 7. The Canadians are providing weapons and ammunition, as are the Brits, as are many European states. Of course, the Americans and Germans certainly are. So on the one hand, one cannot condemn mass slaughter, but also arm the perpetrator. I mean, it's an absurd contradiction, and people see that hypocrisy. They see it and they're articulating it, whether it's the protest today in Sydney or what I see around the world, where I see protests in London or elsewhere, in the US, in the UK and Europe, and people are saying, you cannot back the abuser and somehow ask them to be nicer when you're still funding them. I mean, it just doesn't make sense. And people see that hypocrisy loud and clear. Yeah, the scenes of starvation really have resonated right around the world. But have you seen a shift within Israel? You know, I often get this question about the Israeli public, and obviously we're talking here, I guess, your questions about the Israeli Jewish public. The sad reality is that, of course, there are Israeli Jews who are opposed to what's going on. You see them, Al Jazeera has talked to them, they feature them, they hold up signs of starving children in Gaza, not by any means ignoring them, but they are a tiny, tiny minority. And as I've said for a long time, Israel really has become a society which embraces a kind of genocide mania, where there is majority support, according to public opinion polls just a few months ago within Israel, the Jewish population, of ethnically cleansing Palestinians, removing them from Gaza. And in the Israeli Jewish press, pictures of starvation either don't exist, or they are mocked. And the Israeli media is not barred from showing those images, that is a choice. And I think what we have seen, as we've seen other nations that massively embrace the most extreme policies, I come back to apartheid South Africa, but there are others, without massive external pressure, the situation will not change from within, it just won't. Antony, as always, really, really good to get your thoughts on all of this. Antony Lowenstein for us from Sydney. Thank you.

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Analysis: Australia now strongly opposes Israel’s war on Gaza

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