AFOPA Condemns Adelaide's Advertiser Over Israel Bias
THE ADVERTISER CONDEMNED OVER ISRAEL BIAS
Responding to the latest attack by The Advertiser on pro-Palestine protests in Adelaide, the Australian Friends of Palestine Association (AFOPA), condemns the continued biased reporting by the newspaper as little better than propaganda for Israel. The Advertiser today in an article titled “Ban Placards of Hatred” and an editorial titled “Signs of Hate Have No Place on Our Streets”, continues to depict solidarity with Palestine to be motivated by hatred and antisemitism, rather than outrage at a genocide being conducted by the state of Israel.
The Advertiser is focussed on placards carried at a rally rather than the message and the sentiments of the protesters devastated by seven months of slaughter in the Gaza Strip. These are not extremist placards; genocide is the reality. AFOPA rejects the Premier's contention quoted in The Advertiser, that the posters held by people at the rally are extremist. AFOPA is also incredulous that The Advertiser seems more concerned about the depiction of a dead infant rather than the actual death of 15,000 murdered babies and children in Gaza.
The more than 2,000 people who attended the latest Adelaide Palestine Solidarity rally continue to come out in their thousands to demand justice for Palestinians and an immediate permanent ceasefire in Gaza. These parents, grandparents and children understand that they have a responsibility to demand an immediate and permanent end to a genocide deemed "plausible" by the International Court of Justice.
Contrary to The Advertiser’s continued emphasis on Hamas as the cause of the war, the horror in Gaza is a consequence of 76 years of savage oppression of the Palestinian people by Israel, 57 years of a brutal military occupation, and a 17-year inhumane siege on Gaza by the apartheid state of Israel. Supporters of Palestine regard our government as complicit in enabling Israel's brutal occupation of the Palestinian people and for failing to meaningfully oppose and condemn the current genocide in Gaza. It is in this sense that politicians are depicted on posters at rallies as having blood on their hands.
The contention of The Advertiser and quoted Jewish leaders, that hearing critical views of Israel makes Jewish people feel unsafe, simply provides a basis for censoring free speech in this crisis. The clear intent is to deflect attention away from the reality of the over 35,000 murdered Palestinians, over 80,000 wounded, and the deliberate starvation of 2 million people. These protests are not protesting against any section of Australian society. It is action in response to the oppression, occupation and genocide of an entire people by a foreign state.
These consistently peaceful protests have brought people together, as they have all over the world, to demand that their government ends its complicity with an apartheid state. The only violence seen in Adelaide in relation to pro-Palestine activism, has been the three violent attacks on the Adelaide University Gaza Solidarity student encampment by Zionist sympathisers. There have been no arrests for violent behaviour, and no violent intent.
The Advertiser article prominently features a photograph of a banner reading "From the River to the Sea Palestine Will be Free” and carries a statement again alleging the slogan is genocidal. This is untrue. The phrase is a vision for peace where all people regardless of race or religion have equal rights, equal freedoms, and equal obligations. It encompasses the principles of democracy, equality and unity from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. The alternative is the current reality, an apartheid state, that privileges Jewish people over non-Jews in every aspect of life.
The dehumanisation and vilification of Palestinians and the pro-Palestine movement by Israel is reinforced in the local context by the regular and extensive platform given to Australian Zionist groups in The Advertiser, while at the same time demonising the ever-growing pro-Palestine movement.
The Advertiser’s perspective runs contrary to the sentiments of the majority of Australians and completely misrepresents a growing worldwide movement that stands for an end to genocide and a desire for peace.