Latest / The Front / The ‘fantasy’ behind Palestine protests

Transcript

The ‘fantasy’ behind Palestine protests · The Front

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm christanaming it.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: It's Monday, October thirteenth, twenty twenty five. Climate Change and
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Energy Minister Chris Bowen wants China and India to invest
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: in Australia's renewable energy rollout. He says that's because they're
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: two of the biggest carbon emitters in the world and
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Australia's efforts are unlikely to move the dial on emissions
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: reductions without their input. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: join US President Donald Trump and other world leaders at
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: a signing ceremony for the Middle East Peace Steel in
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Egypt on Monday. Trump is expected to arrive in Jerusalem
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: to a hero's welcome. He'll address Israel's parliament and visit
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: the Western Wall as the nation prepares to welcome home
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: at least twenty living hostages taken captive during the October
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: seven attacks by Hamas in twenty twenty three, or is
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: alive right now. At the Australian dot Com dot a U,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: members of Australia's Jewish community gathered to remember Israelis killed
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: and captured by her Maas over the weekend. That's as
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: thousands of pro Palestine activists marched through the streets of
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: Australia's biggest cities. But as the gunfire quiets in the
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: Middle East, the question becomes what are they marching for?
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: That's today's episode. In Gaza City on Saturday, there was
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: an unfamiliar quiet. For only the second time in more
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: than two years, a ceasefire was in effect, and as
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: Palestinians streamed back into the northern parts of the Gaza Strip,
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: there was hope that, thanks to a historic peace deal
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: between Israel and Hermas, it would stick. But around fifteen
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: thousand kilometers away in Sydney, thousands gathered to protest. At
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: a rally in Melbourne, Senator Lydia Thorpe made a stunning declaration.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: Parlament have the Huppine I am not then to make plan.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: And in Brisbane organizers urged hundreds to escalate their demonstration efforts.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: The Sydney march, organized by the Palestine Action Group, proceeded
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: despite a ruling by the New South Wales Court of
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: Appeals that a planned march from Hyde Park to the
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: Opera House was a public safety risk. Cam the Peace
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: Plan agreed to by Israel and Hamas has seen Israel's
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: defense force drawback significantly in the Gaza Strip and Palestinians
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: able to return home this weekend. That is ostensibly what
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: pro Palestine groups have been demonstrating for over the past
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: two years. So why did these marches in Sydney, Melbourne
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: and Brisbane go ahead on Sunday?
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: I think Christian that these marches have almost become institutionalized
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: and ritualized to a degree.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: Cameron Stewart is the Australian's chief international correspondent.
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: And they're morphed from calling for a cease fire, which
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: of course they were calling for, and now as cease
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: far has been delivered, they're not particularly comfortable with that.
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: A lot of the more activist rump of the pro
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: Palestinian movement, which a lot of those were the ones
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: we did see marching this weekend, really have a far
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: broader agenda and that is really they just don't want
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: Israel to exist. I think that is really the only
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: summary you can have.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: A ceasefire is not peace.
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: A cease fire does not unbury the dead. They want
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: a peace plan that gives complete sovereignty to a Palestinian state,
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: a whole lot of conditions which Israel would never accept,
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: and part of their agenda is to try to persuade
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: countries to agree with their concept that a genocide has
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: been committed in Gaza. They really want a whole series
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: of conditions that simply are just not going to be
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: met by Western countries. And so they're sort of living
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: in a bit of a fantasy world to a degree,
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: and it's a world that's not the reality of the
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: Middle East. The Middle East is so complex, it is
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: so difficult to make any sort of successful peace deal
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: or resolution. And I think it's quite ironic that after
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: calling for a cease fire for so long, there is
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: a cease fire now. And this is a cease fire
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: which overwhelmingly benefits the Palestinian people of Gaza. It stops
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: the bombs, it lets in third aid, it has an
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: interiant government that is neither harmus nor Israel. It's overwhelmingly
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: in their favors. And here we are, We've actually got
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: one which, fingers crossed on all sides, will succeed. And
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: yet it has been criticized rather than celebrated.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: Is the pro Palestine movement splintering? Do you think into
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: one group who believe their goal has been achieved and
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: that this peace deal is what they wanted, and those
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: with more extreme views.
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: Since the October seven massacre, we've had two types of
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: Palestinian protesters. One of the ones I call Mum and
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: Dad protesters. They're the ones who came along to protest
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: the very high Seville and death toll in Gaza ant
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: Corp for a ceasefire. Now that group no longer has
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: a reason to march. The other half of the protesters
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: were what I call the more activist rump, and they're
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: the ones who are calling for the eradication of israel
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: trants from the river to the sea, coining Israeli genocidal state,
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: et cetera, et cetera. I mean, these are activist demands
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: that are extreme and we're completely unrealistic. But that is
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: the group we are seeing on the streets now. And
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: these activists are generally incredibly unpleasant, and I think that
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: the vast majority of Australians, I really think Middle Australia
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: are a sick of it and be quite revolted by it.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: In the wake of their court loss, organizers of Sunday's
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: protest in Sydney said their case has significant implications for
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: protest laws across Australia, and they've called for legislative reform
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: to protect their right to demonstrate. The thing is, they've
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: never been stopped, and the Albanese Labor government has largely
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: supported freedom of assembly. But as threats of burning Parliament
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: in support of the cause are banded about, is the
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: political response adequate.
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: I think there's a lot more pressure now on politicians
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: and the police to restrict these protests in a way
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: that of course in normal Australian society, no one wants
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: protests restricted. But I've really got to say that some
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: of the pro Palestinian organizers would have only themselves to
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: blame if there is a curtailing of their freedom. For example,
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: they of course wanted to march on Sunday to the
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: Opera House, and that was a symbolic attempt to remind
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: people of that disgraceful protest on October the nine, twenty
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: twenty three, two days after the October seven massacre, where
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: of course Jews were villified and flags were burnt in
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: front of the Opera House. Now that was a provocative
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: thing to ask to have that protest on Sunday go
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: to the opera house. But I think that does show
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: the dark intent and the dark heart of some of
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: the pro Palestinian activists. So if they are accorded less
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: freedom in the future, they only have themselves to blame,
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: I think.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: On Friday, the head of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: told British TV host Piers Morgan the October seven attacks
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: were an act of resistance. Twelve hundred Israelis were killed
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: in the twenty twenty three assault and two hundred and
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: fifty one civilians and soldiers were taken hostage by Homas militants.
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: I'm not going to call it an acted terrors would
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: you call it? I'm going to call it part of
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: the Palatinian resistance. The Zionist experiment failed in ethnically cleansing
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: and extinguishing all of the Palestinians, and the Palestinians for
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: an oppressor pieces when the oppressed isn't resisting, when they're silent.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: What do you make of this conflation of what is
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: essentially a death cult in Hamas with the Palestinian people
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: they've oppressed for almost twenty years. What does that do
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: to an already fraught discourse about this conflict.
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: Well, it's just an incredibly vicious interpretation really of what
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: was a horrific terrorist attack on twelve hundred Israelis. It's
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: almost beyond the pale to not call that a terrorist attack.
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: I mean, basically by saying it's an active resistance effectively
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: justifies it. I mean, this is the problem. You've got
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: absolutely not even a sceric of objectivity or frankly humanity
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: in that sort of comment. It's very hard starting point
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: to even talk sense and logic to these sort of
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: groups when that's where they're coming from. And of course
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: that really does fuel antisemitism in Australia. It basically says
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: this laughter of Jews is justified if there's a political
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: motivation behind it. I mean, that's of course disgraceful thing
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: to say, and very sadly, in the last two years
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: we have seen over and over how this has bled
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: into attacks, abuse, the burning of synagogue's, general harassment of
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: Australia's Jewish community. They are words that literally do lead
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: to anti Semitism and so they should be condemned.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: Coming up. Australia's Jewish community remembers October seven gatherings of
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: a different kind took place across Australia on Sunday as
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: the Jewish community came together to remember those lost in
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: the October seven attacks, and.
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: Stuart I went to one on Sunday morning in the
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: Melbourne suburb of Corfield. Hundreds of Jewish people turned up,
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: wrapping Israeli flags around themselves and singing songs, having prayers.
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: And it was interesting Christian because I've gone to a
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: lot of these protests on both sides of the last
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: two years. But the first Jewish gathering where everyone was happy,
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: people were crying. They were crying with happiness and hope
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: and anticipation that the hostages were going to finally be
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: brought home, that the war was over, hopefully permanently, but
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: the guns had fallen silent. There was really a happy
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: tone to it, and that's just so vastly different to
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: all of the other protests that I've been to. And
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: it was very dignified, very polite. There was no abuse
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: of politicians. There was just gratitude in a way that
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: Donald Trump, Benjamin et Yahou and international community had helped
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: us forge this peace deal. It was a very peaceful
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: and respectful occasion.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: How is Australia's Jewish community feeling. Knowing these demonstrations are
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: taking place on or so close to the two year
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: anniversary of the October seven attacks, a.
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: Lot of the Jewish community was horrified that specific protests
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: were actually planned and occurred on October seven. And you know,
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: for the Jewish community, people I've spoken to, they just say, look,
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: it's more of the same, It's what they've experienced over
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: the past two years. And the indignity of having that done,
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: I think was just very in sensors. To be fair,
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: the numbers, thankfully were not very big at these protests.
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: It's not like, you know, thousands and thousands of people
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: turned out, so clearly that message was heard by a
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: lot of people and they didn't turn up. But nevertheless
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: the activists again didn't care, and they just went ahead
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: and did the protests.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: Cameron Stewart is The Australian's chief international correspondent. You can
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: read the latest from the Middle East and around the
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: world at the Australian dot com dot au