Assange dad attacks US and Israel for ‘stain that will remain through history’

Julian Assange’s father has criticised the US and Israel’s war on Gaza in an address to hundreds of protesters in Melbourne’s CBD for a pro-Palestine rally on Sunday.

Julian Assange’s father John Shipton. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Luis Enrique Ascui

Julian Assange’s father has criticised the US and Israel’s war on Gaza in an address to hundreds of protesters in Melbourne’s CBD for a pro-Palestine rally on Sunday.

Protesters could be seen waving Palestinian flags and holding signs stating “Release UNRWA funds Penny Wong” and “Boycott apartheid Israel” as they met outside the State Library of Victoria to take part in the march organised by Free Palestine Melbourne, the group behind weekly pro-Palestine rallies in Melbourne.

The Australian Assange Campaign was also involved in Sunday’s event, having called on its followers to “protest for Assange as part of the Protest for Palestine”.

Mr Assange’s father, John Shipton, told the crowd that offences committed against children in the war in Gaza “cannot be forgiven”.

“What has been committed in Gaza can never, ever be undone,” he said. “It’s a stain that will remain through history and (be) repeated over and over again.”

Mr Shipton said the US and its allies had tried to destroy Islamic civilisation over the past 30 years “one invasion after the other” and cited research by Gideon Polya that found the US had directly caused six or seven million deaths and destroyed 7½ countries.

“Let’s name them: Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, Libya, Syria,” he said.

“Wrecked, ruined countries.”

Islamic Council of Victoria president Adel Salman. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Valeriu Campan

Adel Salman, president of the Islamic Council of Victoria, also addressed the crowd and accused Israel of being a “criminal, barbaric state”.

He said Western nations including Australia had been Israel’s “accomplices and allies”.

“The way that they have facilitated, encouraged and not done anything meaningful to stop the genocide that is unfolding before our eyes – shame,” Mr Salman said, to which the crowd responded with a cry of “shame”.

Mr Salman said Western nations were “not alone in their hypocrisy … The Arab nations are as complicit in the genocide and the oppression of the Palestinians, and this goes back well before October 7.”

Following speeches, the protesters began to march down Swanston St, chanting a mix of “free, free Palestine”, “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, “ceasefire now” and “free Julian Assange”.

Mohammad Abassi, 23, attended the rally holding a “Free Julian Assange” poster but said he was also there to call for an end to the war in Gaza.

“For all the men, women and children, both sides, doesn’t matter,” he said. “Just stop the war, stop killing people.”