On Sunday 24 August more than 250,000 people took to the streets across Australia, in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Canberra, and beyond, in one of the largest coordinated protests in our nation’s history from every background, age group, and walk of life demanding justice for the people of Gaza and an end to the genocide unfolding before our eyes.
The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC) stands in full solidarity with this mass mobilisation and issues its strongest call yet to the Australian Government: the time for statements and symbolism is over. The time for action is now.
What we are witnessing in Gaza is arguably the greatest atrocity since World War II — a slow, deliberate, and brutal genocide. Likely well over 100,000 killed, most of them women and children. Entire neighbourhoods turned to rubble.
Famine and forced displacement used as weapons of war. And still, our government refuses to act with the moral clarity and political courage this moment demands.
This weekend, the Australian people showed that they are far ahead of their government. They have had enough of equivocation, enough of cowardice, enough of complicity. The government cannot hide behind words any longer. If it fails to act now, it will be remembered as an enabler of this genocide.
AFIC calls on the Australian Government to immediately:
- Impose full sanctions on the State of Israel across all sectors: economic, military, sporting, cultural, and academic
- Recall the Australian ambassador from Tel Aviv and expel the Israeli ambassador from Canberra
- Withdraw Australia from any part of the global supply chain that provides weapons, parts, or logistical support used in this genocide
- Publicly support international efforts to hold Israeli officials accountable for war crimes and crimes against humanity
- Immediately and unconditionally recognise the State of Palestine
These are the minimum expectations of a government that claims to uphold international law, human rights, and the rule of law. They are also the will of the people as this weekend’s marches made undeniably clear.
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