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