Schoolchildren who skipped school to protest Israel’s war against Hamas have praised the terror network and called for Israel’s eradication.
Nearly 1,000 students left school on Thursday to express their support for the people of Palestine.
But alarming anti-Semitic comments from some schoolchildren present have come to light.
A 16-year-old at the Melbourne meeting said Hamas – responsible for the October 7 attacks that killed 1,200 innocent people – is “doing a good job” and that Israel “should not exist”.
Nearly 1,000 Melbourne students attended a pro-Palestine rally (above) in the city’s CBD on Thursday
“I don’t really think it’s important to stay in school when these things really matter,” she said The Australian.
‘I think [Hamas] do a good job. I think they should stand up and protect Palestine.
“After what they did to my brothers and sisters, I don’t think so [Israel] should really exist.
“They don’t deserve a place in humanity.”
Students from the Free Palestine Melbourne event marched from Flinders Street Station to the Melbourne Central Shopping Centre, where protesters climbed statues and called for an end to Israeli airstrikes on Gaza.
The Israeli government declared war on Hamas after the October 7 attacks, which also saw the kidnapping and hostage of more than 200 civilians in Gaza.
The Health Ministry of Hamas, which forcibly took control of Gaza in 2007, claims the Palestinian death toll has surpassed 13,000 since the conflict began.
“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,” said another girl, also 16 years old.
‘Of course Hamas is a group… that went against Israel. But what do you ultimately expect when you are subjected to 75 years of occupation, 75 years of murder, 75 years of genocide?’
Students from the Free Palestine Melbourne event marched from Flinders Street Station to the Melbourne Central Shopping Center where protesters climbed statues and called for an end to Israeli airstrikes on Gaza
The students (some above) defended their right to skip school and protest global issues
The comments reflected concerns from Victoria’s Jewish community, which feared the protest would incite anti-Semitism.
An open letter to the Victorian government urged it to stop the protest.
“Most students in Victorian schools will not have a direct connection or comprehensive understanding of the attacks on Israel and the war in Gaza,” it said.
Other students at the protest were not so black and white in their assessment of the war.
“Both Israel and Palestine should exist,” said a 14-year-old boy.
“I feel like there’s a real need in our community for everyone to get involved.”
A 14-year-old girl said: “What Hamas did was clearly not okay.”
“But cutting off their water supply and all their food supplies, and bombing and killing thousands of children, that’s not okay. [either].
‘I think that Israel should of course exist. I just think Palestine should be free.”
Students from the Free Palestine Melbourne event marched from Flinders Street Station to the Melbourne Central Shopping Center
A protester holds up a sign that reads Palestinian genocide
A protester holds up a sign that reads ‘silence is violence’
Students also defended their right to skip school and protest global issues on Thursday.
‘[Our teachers] said they support us, we have our own voice so we can use it,” one person shared A current issue.
A mother who took her year 11 daughter out of school to attend the protest believes it was more productive than sitting in a classroom.
“I think it’s important to do that, to have [a] more universal vision, and not just focusing on education,” she said.
Anti-Defamation Commission chairman Dr Dvir Abramovich questioned why the Victorian government or Melbourne City Council did not stop the protest, which he said was using children as “political pawns”.
“It is a sad day when children are being exploited, weaponized and brainwashed to advance a dangerous and divisive agenda,” he said.
However, his comments were shot down by an attendee who found his position patronizing.
The crowd of students sang for Palestine to be free
The chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission, Dr. Dvir Abramovich, claimed that the students who attended the protest were ‘political pawns’ (in photo a student speaks at the rally)
Similar rallies in support of Palestine are planned in Sydney and Wollongong on Friday
“They call us political pawns, as if we have no right to take a political position,” she said.
On Wednesday, the Israeli cabinet approved a four-day ceasefire in Gaza in exchange for fifty hostages, women and children, held by Hamas.
The first group of thirteen hostages will be released on Friday afternoon after Israel and Hamas finally agreed on which prisoners should be released first.
The four-day ceasefire will take effect at 7 a.m. on Friday and nine hours later the first group of women and children kidnapped by Hamas gunmen on October 7 will be released, a Qatar Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Thursday .
However, protesters in Melbourne said the agreement was “not enough”.
“We came out today, people left the school en masse, to say that business as usual cannot continue if the Palestinians are being slaughtered by the thousands,” a demonstrator told the demonstrators using a megaphone.
“We know that a ceasefire or a temporary pause on this atrocity is not enough.
“We don’t fight, so there can be six hours in a day when Palestinians can’t be killed. We fight so that no Palestinian is ever killed again.”
Students at the protest (above) marched from Flinders Street Station to the Melbourne Central Shopping Centre
On Friday, rallies similar to the Melbourne event (above) are planned in support of Palestine in Sydney and Wollongong
Similar rallies in support of Palestine are planned in Sydney and Wollongong on Friday.
New South Wales Education Minister Prue Car urged students to skip the events, saying: “We understand people are passionate about a range of things, but you have to be at school.”
The student protests were inspired by similar events abroad, including the US, UK and Canada.