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An organiser of Tuesday’s pro-Palestinian protest in Melbourne, Tasnim Mahmoud Sammak, has spoken on radio saying her group only wants to advocate for Israel to end its occupation of Palestine.
While Melbourne’s pro-Palestine rally was peaceful, Sydney’s demonstration on the steps of the Opera House has been criticised by several politicians because some protesters yelled antisemitic chants.
3AW host Neil Mitchell also took issue with one Melbourne protester holding aloft a photo of a Hezbollah leader.
Here’s some of their exchange, edited for length and clarity.
Mitchell: Are you aware that some of the people who are at the protest were carrying photographs of him to pay tribute to [Hezbollah secretary-general] Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah?
Sammak: Yes, I’m aware of that.
Mitchell: You accept he is a terrorist?
Sammak: So our protest has particular demands and it’s anti-occupation, and it’s against the siege on Gaza. We want the 15-year siege to end. But of course, all kinds of people from the Middle East join these protests. This is a time of war. And it’s an escalated time of tension. Everybody’s upset.
Mitchell: I understand that, but does your group support Hezbollah?
Sammak: No, of course not. Hezbollah has committed its own war crimes in Syria.
The Australian-Palestinian activist also told 3AW she “absolutely” did not support antisemitic chants heard at other rallies. She said her group expected a big crowd in Melbourne on Sunday and her own family in Gaza had suffered under Israeli occupation.
“In 2018, one of my cousins – who was 14-years old – participated in the Great March of Return … He was shot with a sniper and he was killed. So this is an ongoing situation,” she said.
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