Anthony Albanese attended free Palestine rally, footage reveals
Archival footage has revealed Anthony Albanese in attendance at a pro-Palestine rally held in Sydney, years before he became prime minister.
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Archival footage of Anthony Albanese attending a pro-Palestinian protest has emerged as Jewish leaders question why he has not yet visited Israel.
The prime minister, captured in archival footage from earlier in his parliamentary career, is seen protesting the “occupation” of Palestine by Israel, according to archival footage obtained by Sky News.
In the video, Mr Albanese is seen protesting in Martin Place, condemning the actions of the Israeli military as he stands next to a sign reading “ Stop the Israeli slaughter, free Palestine now”.
“The response of Israel has been to meet children throwing rocks with helicopters, with tanks and with missiles,” Mr Albanese said in the clip.
The prime minister did denounce the pro-Palestinian protest held recently at the Sydney Opera House as “horrific” and that it “shouldn’t have gone ahead”, but on Wednesday Mr Albanese
refused calls to answer French president Emmanuel Macron rallying cry for the world’s nations to join forces and fight against Hamas.
“Our priority has been getting people in Israel but also in Gaza, who want to leave and are Australian citizens, out,” Mr Albanese said amid his US tour.
“We’ve also continued to emphasis the importance of humanitarian support for people in Gaza,.”
”I continue to emphasis that Australia’s position is for the protection of innocent lives, we mourn as a nation every innocent life which has been lost in the conflict, whether it be Israeli or Palestinian.”
Mr Albanese confirmed on Tuesday he had yet to speak with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu since Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, and had no plans to visit Israel unalike other western leaders including British PM Rishi Sunak and US president Joe Biden.
Australian Jewish Association president David Adler criticised Mr Albanese over the move, claiming a trip to visit Israel would have been “well received” by Australia’s Jewish community.
“He’s on a trip (to the US) at the moment, we would have liked to see him go via Israel to show solidarity at this time … there has yet to be a senior Australian representative to make that gesture,” Mr Adler said.
“It should be the prime minister as the leader of the country … the trip should have been arranged, he is in the northern hemisphere anyway and showing solidarity would have been well-received.”
Mr Adler also urged the Albanese government to wind back its plan to provide $32.2m in aid to Palestinian territories in the current financial year, or put checks in place to be certain Hamas was not taking a cut.
“Some countries have stopped their funding as a result of what Hamas has done,” Mr Adler said.
“We call on the Australian government to cease funding Palestinian territories until the appropriate controls are put in place to ensure it is used for good, humanitarian purposes.”
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