Australia witnessed a powerful wave of mass mobilisation on Sunday in support of the people of Gaza, drawing widespread attention and contrasting responses from within Australia and from Israeli officials.
The New South Wales Police announced that an estimated 90,000 demonstrators took to the streets in a massive march calling for an end to Israel’s war on Gaza and condemning the systematic starvation policy being imposed on the besieged Palestinian population.
Peter McKenna, the Acting Police Commissioner of New South Wales, stated that the protest gathered approximately 90,000 people and described it as the largest crowd ever witnessed on Sydney’s iconic Harbour Bridge.
However, local media quoted organisers claiming the number of demonstrators ranged between 200,000 and 300,000, with thousands more joining pro-Palestinian protests in Melbourne.
Protesters displayed banners listing the names of Palestinian children martyred in Gaza. Large crowds also marched to the U.S. Consulate in Sydney, calling for an end to Washington’s complicity in the ongoing Israeli aggression.
The scene of protestors crossing Sydney Harbour Bridge was described as awe-inspiring, especially as participants braved heavy rain and strong winds to demonstrate against Israeli military operations and to draw urgent attention to the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Aid Response and Political Reactions
In response to the domestic impact of the march, the Australian Government pledged, on Monday morning (local time), to provide additional humanitarian aid for women and children in Gaza—a move that followed just one day after the large-scale protest.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced an additional AU$20 million (approx. US$13 million) in humanitarian aid for Gaza. This raises Australia’s total pledges to over AU$130 million in support of civilians in Gaza and Lebanon since October 2023.
Meanwhile, reactions from Israeli officials were of an entirely different tone.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid attacked the Australian protest, with Sa’ar posting in English on the platform X, accusing what he called the “twisted alliance between radical leftists and Islamic fundamentalism” of dragging the West “to the margins of history.”
Lapid went further, vilifying the Sydney protesters and accusing them of “marching under the flags of the Taliban and al-Qaeda”—a baseless and inflammatory claim aimed at delegitimising widespread public support for Palestine.
Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth focused its coverage on some demonstrators holding placards depicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as Adolf Hitler, alongside others carrying signs that read:
- “From the river to the sea”
- “Israel kills children in Gaza”
The protest also echoed chants such as:
- “Stop the genocide”
- “We are all Palestinians”
Many were seen wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh, a powerful symbol of solidarity and resistance.
