Violence in Melbourne – Israel/Palestinian Conflict

 

I consider myself lucky. Over the years I have attended many demonstrations and protests from anti-war to union marches to raise the minimum wage for public school teachers. None of these protests turned violent. To see violence in last week's protest in Melbourne between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian’s turn violent was disappointing and unacceptable.  

From the videos and legacy news coverage, the violence came about from only a few protesters. My first thought when any protest turns violent is to blame the police. This is not always the case, however. It was all the Melbourne police could do was to quell the violence. And only a few people were detained and arrested.  

Violence in all demonstrations is unproductive, causing more harm than good for the Cause. When a peaceful protest turns into a riot, and broken windows, damaged buildings and looting occur, public opinion will turn against the Cause, and nothing will be accomplished.  

The Palestine/Israel protests all over the world, people came out in the hundreds of thousands, mostly calling for the end of the bloodshed and a strong call for a ceasefire. To my knowledge, none of these protests were violent except for one: London.  

The UK Home Security Minister made displaying the Palestinian flag illegal including protests on the streets. This became a PR nightmare for the party, where the PM spoke out against this decision and many in parliament called for the secretary’s resignation. She has not resigned, of course, but this reveals how public opinion concerning Israeli war crimes against Gaza is negative and gaining momentum daily.  

When a country is blowing another country into oblivion without any thought of innocent casualties; intentionally destroying hospitals and ambulances, to only justify these actions in glib, tired old cliches, it is not a wonder why most of the planet is outraged.  

I happened on an interview by a major independent journalist and a popular, pro-Israeli pundit. When asked about the ‘rules’ of war, including the Geneva Convention and International law, and the bombing of hospitals and ambulances, she claimed that that rule did not apply when the enemy has their headquarters "hiding” in these hospitals. This is a bold-faced lie. I was surprised the journalist did not press her on this point, asking for the source of this ridiculous claim. To kill a few combatants at the expense of hundreds of innocents in hospitals is a war crime. Period.  

The international law community and the UN have no power over these Zionist warmongers. A vast majority of the planet has come out in the millions to protest these crimes against Gazans and humanity.  

These Zionist warmongers have never had to pay a price for their crimes against the Palestinian people for over 75 years.  

It seems to me is that the political/military arm in Israel is only interested in destroying the Palestinians, moving all of them to the desert, and claiming the entire land. When you study Zionist politics, expansion in the middle east is their primary goal. This will spark WWIII. 

When a little violence was displayed in Melbourne last week about this war, for me it was understandable. Emotions run high in all wars. That said: 

Violence is never the answer.