Chilling words of Aussie schoolkid at Melbourne rally: Hamas ‘doing good job’
The 16-year-old, one of hundreds of students who walked out of class to attend a Palestinian rally in Melbourne, declared ‘I don’t think (Israel) should really exist’
It may have only been uttered by a teenager who ditched school for a protest in Melbourne, but the declaration Hamas was “doing a good job” and Israel “shouldn’t exist” speaks to the wave of anti-Semitism that Jewish leaders say is sweeping the world since the terrorist attacks of October 7.
The 16-year-old girl, who was one of the hundreds of students who walked out of class to attend a pro-Palestinian rally on Thursday, said the borders of Israel should not exist. “I don’t really think it’s important to stay in school when matters like this really matter,” she told The Australian.
“I think (Hamas) are doing a good job. I think they should stand up and protect … Palestine.
“After what they’re putting my brothers and sisters through, I don’t think (Israel) should really exist.”
A fellow 16-year-old said she felt it was important to “talk about the people who can’t speak for themselves”. “There are people in Palestine who are dying, who are suffering and we have the opportunity in this country to say something and do something,” she said.
“Of course Hamas is a group … that went against Israel. But at the end of the day what do you expect when you are subjected to 75 years of occupation, 75 years of killing, 75 years of genocide?”
About 500 protesters, mostly school-aged children along with adults and parents, gathered on the steps of Flinders Street Station to call for an end to the war in Gaza. The group shouted “Free Free Palestine” and “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, a chant viewed by members of the Jewish community as a call to destroy Israel. Anti-Defamation Commission chairman Dvir Abramovich said the rally should have never gone ahead.
“Before our very eyes we see a generation of anti-Jewish bigots rise, and the ripple effects of this vilification will be felt for many years to come,” he said.
“Free Palestine Melbourne has taken a leaf of out of the Hamas playbook in weaponising and exploiting children and using them as human shields to promote their ugly and divisive agenda.”
Dr Abramovich said Jewish students would pay the price “when their classmates return after absorbing the anti-Israel venom”. “They will feel contempt for their Jewish classmates and violence and harassment may follow,” he said.
The gathering comes after Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton attended the reopening of the Melbourne Holocaust Museum on Wednesday in a sign of solidarity with the Jewish community.
“As the conflict continues, antiSemitism is on the rise. But we will not let it find so much as a foothold here. Australia will always denounce it and reject it utterly, just as we do all forms of racism and prejudice,” the Prime Minister said. “My government is acting to make it clear there is no place in Australia for symbols that glorify the horrors of the Holocaust. And there is no place for those who seek to profit from the trade in these evil symbols, or use them to promote their hatred.”
Some students at the protest turned up in their school uniform, while others donned traditional Palestinian scarfs and held signs that read “No Nazis ever again” and “Stop Israel’s genocide”.
Mathew, 17, another student who skipped class, said he attended the rally as he believed young people’s voices had been silenced in schools.
“I think we should have some kind of agreement and that the Palestinians need to be more recognised, especially in the Western world,” he said.
“I think Israel’s just hungry for land, more land. There should (be) no fighting in Israel or Palestine.”
A Palestinian activist and educator addressed the crowd at the start of the rally alongside her husband and two children.
“We want to make it clear that also young people have a voice in this situation,” she said “When mass atrocities are happening around the world …. (young people) will have an opinion.”
“Are we brainwashed?” the Palestinian activist asked the crowd.
“No!” the students screamed.
At one point the protesters sat on the ground of a main intersection and blocked cars and trams. The students also made their way inside Melbourne Central shopping centre before dispersing at the State Library of Victoria.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan earlier this week said she expected every student to be at school on Thursday.
“The best place to learn, the best place to understand, the best place to strive for a more peaceful community is by being in school, learning from history and getting the tools and skills to be part of a better future,” Ms Allan said.
Education Minister Jason Clare said “when school is on, students should be at school”.
“The key thing is if you want to change the world, get an education and that means going to school,” Mr Clare told Nine’s Today Show.
The main protest ended shortly after 3pm, with a small group opting to continue marching to state parliament.
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