World condemns Israel’s genocide in Gaza as protests mark 77 years of Nakba

May 19, 2025

Issue

Regular protests against Israel’s genocide in Gaza around the world have helped force the corporate media to cover the atrocities. Photo: Zebedee Parkes

More than two months since Israel refused to enter stage two of an agreed ceasefire with Hamas, the streets continue to demand Israel be stopped from continuing its genocide in Gaza. Al Nakba was marked across the world over May 15–18, including with about half a million people on the streets in London, Britain.

The mass pressure is beginning to work. Apologists for Israel’s war of “self-defence” are beginning to change their line on Israel’s genocidal war.

on May 6 criticised Israel’s plan to fully occupy Gaza, while driving Palestinians into “ever-narrowing pockets of the shattered strip” under the headline “The west’s shameful silence on Gaza”. It also condemned the United States and European countries “that tout Israel as an ally”, adding, “They should be ashamed of their silence, and stop enabling Netanyahu to act with impunity”. It accused the West of being complicit in making Gaza “uninhabitable”, an allusion to genocide.

on May 8 declared: “The war in Gaza must end”. It said supporters of Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to divide Gaza into three, with American mercenaries guarding the divided strip, “is unlikely to free the hostages who remain imprisoned in Gaza” and will “bring further agony for Gazans”.

“The only people who benefit from continuing the war are Mr Netanyahu, who keeps his coalition intact, and his far-right allies, who dream of emptying Gaza and rebuilding Jewish settlements there,” it said. “Food should not be used as a weapon,” it said, adding “It is past time for a lasting ceasefire. Donald Trump should demand that Mr Netanyahu agrees to one, in exchange for the release of all hostages. No other leader can compel him.”

The conservative said on May 10 that the “deafening silence on Gaza” must end, adding: “It is time to speak up”.

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Half-a-million people protesting Israel’s genocide in Gaza at a rally in London, Britain, on May 18. Photo: Jeremy Corbyn/X

It said Israel was responsible for no aid reaching Gaza since March, and that US President Trump had “emboldened” Netanyahu. It said “Shockingly, the response from the international community was muted” and accused Britain of failing to speak out “against this counterproductive and literally aimless move, as well as the devastating humanitarian catastrophe that it caused”.

“It is time for the world to wake up to what is happening and to demand an end to the suffering of the Palestinians trapped in the enclave,” it said.

Of course, the streets have been demanding an end to the genocide and for justice for Palestine for 19 months, in the biggest single international solidarity movement seen in decades. It has been the media establishment, covering for pro-Israel governments, that has waited 19 months to speak up.

As on May 16: “We had gone in less than a week from the word ‘genocide’ being taboo in relation to Gaza to it becoming almost mainstream.”

Why are they doing this now? Cook suggests a combination of it being harder to sell genocide with President Donald Trump at the helm in the US and the fact that Israel’s genocide is “reaching its endpoint”.

“Parts of the media and political class know mass death in Gaza cannot be obscured for much longer, not even after Israel has barred foreign journalists from the enclave and murdered most of the Palestinian journalists trying to record the genocide.

“Cynical political and media actors are trying to get in their excuses before it is too late to show remorse.”

Cook said that with Israel about to take direct charge of Gaza again — the cover story of a “war”, the need to eliminate Hamas, of civilian casualties as “collateral damage” — “Israel’s responsibility for the genocide will be incontestable too, as will the West’s active collusion”.

But we cannot forget, too, that the streets have played a pivotal role in forcing the conservative media to change its approach.

We have a way to go, however, as rallies across Australia pointed to a still-complicit Labor government.

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More than 1000 people join the Nakba rally in Gadigal Country/Sydney. Photo: Zebedee Parkes

Heavy rain did not deter about 1000 people from rallying at Sydney Town Hall, on Gadigal Country, on May 15, to mark 77 years of Nakba and demand an end to Israel’s genocide in Gaza, reports Isaac Nellist.

Palestinian student Raneem Emad, whose grandparents were victims of the Nakba, told the rally: “Seventy-seven years since the Nakba … we have watched the evolution of the Israeli occupation upon the bodies and the blood of more and more Palestinian children. It is hard not to feel like every day is another Nakba.”

Other speakers included Palestine Action Group organisers Amal Nasser and Damien Ridgeway, Greens Newtown MP Jenny Leong, a Nakba survivor and a representative from Students for Palestine.

Protesters then marched through the CBD to Pitt Street Mall, where a Palestinian Australian surgeon from the Palestinian Australian New Zealand Medical Association, who spent time working in hospitals in Gaza during the genocide, addressed the crowd.

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Pro-Palestine activists protest at the office of Federal Labor member for Richmond Justine Elliott in Tweed Heads South, on May 15. Photo: Gwilym Summers

Pro-Palestine activists protested at the office of Federal Labor member for Richmond, Justine Elliott, in Tweed Heads South, on May 15, to mark al Nakba, reports Susan Price.

Three activists, including a participant in the 2024 Gaza Freedom Flotilla, climbed onto the roof of Elliott’s office to unfurl a banner, saying: “Let Gaza’s children live: No weapons for genocide!” The three occupied the rooftop, supported on the ground by about 40 protesters, including members of Northern Rivers Friends of Palestine.

According to the��, after climbing down from the roof, the three were arrested by NSW police and charged with trespassing. They were released on bail and will appear in local court on June 16.

The activists say Elliott has refused to meet with them for 18 months, despite repeated requests. They want her to meet with them to explain her continued silence about Israel’s genocide in Gaza, especially in light of the International Court of Justice ruling.

Activist Subhi Awad said: “Justine Elliot must look us in the eye and explain her complicity. We are here for one reason: to let the children of Gaza live.”

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Pro-Palestine protesters outside the office of MP Luke Gosling, May 15. Photo: Stephen W Enciso

Community members rallied outside Labor MP Luke Gosling’s office in Garramilla/Darwin on May 15 to commemorate the Nakba and condemn Labor’s complicity in the genocide, reports Stephen W Enciso.

Since October 7, 2023, Gosling has refused to meet with Muslim constituents calling for a ceasefire. He remains in support of the military-industrial complex, despite Australia exporting lethal arms to Israel.

“Like other Labor politicians, he has stood and watched the genocide happen and tried to wash his hands of complicity in genocide,” said a spokesperson from Palestine Action Group Garramilla.

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Noura Mansour speaking at the Naarm/Melbourne rally on May 18. Photo: Jordan AK

In Naarm/Melbourne, a massive crowd of about 30,0000 people assembled for a joint rally co-organised by the Palestine solidarity movement and Eelam Tamil activist groups, as protesters commemorated the 77th Nakba Day and the 16th Mullivaikkal Remembrance Day anniversaries.

The rally featured a 6-kilometre walk, from the State Library to St. Kilda Beach, stopping for speeches at Princes Bridge and the US Consulate.

The rally was chaired by Palestinian organiser Noura Mansour and Australia Palestine Advocacy Network president Nasser Mashni, and featured speeches from Yasmin Poole, Rathy Barthlote, Uncle Gary Foley, Robbie Thorpe, Ihab Alazhari, Mai Saif and Thamilini Thavachelvan.

Mansour told the audience: “No Palestinian you will ever meet has not been impacted by the Zionist settler-colonial project. Be it the 6 million refugees who are denied the right to return to their homes, the 2 million who live in their ancestral land discriminated against by over 70 laws inside Israel, the 3 million Palestinians who live under apartheid, checkpoints, walls and military occupation in the West Bank and Jerusalem, or the 2 million Gazans experiencing horrific crimes against humanity.”

Gunai Mara Elder Uncle Robbie Thorpe and Gumbaynggirr activist Uncle Gary Foley expressed support and solidarity between Aboriginal and Palestinian struggles.

Thorpe also condemned the imperialist backers of Israel. “It’s places like the United States, United Kingdom and [Australia] that Israel gets its power from.”

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Naarm/Melbourne. Photo: Jordan AK

Barthlote and Thavachekval spoke about the atrocities committed on Mullivaikkal Day — when tens of thousands of Eelam Tamils were massacred by the Sri Lankan army at Mullivaikal, in May 2009.

Describing the interconnections and parallels between the Tamil and Palestinian genocides, Thavachekval said: “The struggle of Palestinians and Eelam Tamils share painful parallels. Both are rooted in British colonialism, which gave power to oppressive regimes.”

Barthlote’s speech echoed this theme. “Two peoples, one struggle. When we speak about Tamil Eelam and Palestine, we are speaking about one crime: the crime of erasure, of miliary occupation. The same powers that armed Sri Lanka arm Israel.”

They also drew attention to the many Tamil refugees living in limbo due to Australia’s cruel visa policies.

Barthlote said: “Let the walk today not be symbolic, let it be a promise to not be silent ... to take action.”

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Student General Assembly, University of Sydney, May 14. Photo: Students Against War

More than 200 students at the University of Sydney (USyd) voted to reject the Universities Australia (UA) definition of antisemitism at a Student General Meeting convened by the Student Representative Council on May 14.

The UA definition, adopted by nearly all 39 Australian universities, states that criticism of Israel can be antisemitic “when it calls for the elimination of the State of Israel”. It has been opposed by by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Jewish Council of Australia and the National Tertiary Education Union, among others.

Students voted to support a single democratic, secular state across all of historic Palestine, from the river to the sea, and against USyd’s restrictions on the right to protest and free speech.

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Leichhardt Uniting Church committed to standing with Palestine in December 2023. Photo: Leichhardt Uniting Church

The said on May 16 it had been wrong not to condemn the genocide in Gaza and Israel’s attacks in the Occupied West Bank before now. Reverend Charissa Suli said: “To remain silent about the disproportionate suffering and long-standing oppression faced by Palestinians would be to deny the truth of what we see, and can never give us a just peace.

“Lasting peace can only be found through the dismantling of occupation, self-determination, and the full restoration of dignity and security to every person in the Holy Land.”

The Uniting Church demanded that Labor end all weapons exports to Israel, impose sanctions on Israeli settlers, support the International Court of Justice in its measures to prevent genocide and demand an immediate ceasefire and the uninhibited flow of humanitarian aid.