Key Points
- School students across Australia have walked out of class to support Palestine.
- The High Schoolers for Palestine movement said they had a moral duty to speak up for the kids of Gaza.
- They hit back at Premier Chris Minns who urged students to stay in class.
Hundreds of NSW school students skipped class today to show support for Palestine as part of nationwide events.
The organisers of High Schoolers For Palestine encouraged students to walk out of class across Sydney, Wollongong and Byron Bay to show support for the Palestinian cause.
Year 12 student and rally organiser Eva said everyone had a moral duty to stand up for the children of Gaza, urging for an end to the war as she addressed the crowd on Friday afternoon.
"We're not going to stand for this," she said, as she called for an end to bombing in Gaza.
"High school students in Gaza right now can't go to school, can't get an education.
"As students, we have a moral duty to stand up for Palestine."
Nora hit back at NSW Premier Chris Minns who had been discouraging students from attending the event and advising them to focus on their education. Both state Education Minister Prue Car and federal Education Minister Jason Clare echoed the calls.
"I'd ask him to take his own damn advice," she told the crowd.
"Get educated Chris Minns.
"We are standing for the children of Gaza who are being slaughtered in their thousands, where schools have been shut down."
School students urge for the killing of children in Gaza to stop, with more than 40 per cent of those killed in the Gaza Strip being children, according to Palestinian health authorities. Source: AAP / Dan Himbrechts
"You want a revolution on your terms and I am with you all the way," she said.
Sydney students skipped class to attend a Pro-Palestinian demonstration. Source: AAP / Dan Himbrechts
Year 12 student, rally speaker and granddaughter of ' Jaseena said she joined the protest "to use my voice for those children in Gaza who are not able to pursue their education, and whose basic human rights have been stolen from them".
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin described the protest as "the latest stunt by hardened anti-Israel activists to advance their propaganda campaign".
"We are deeply concerned for the welfare of Jewish students and teachers and what awaits them when their peers, filled with racist slogans and violent chants, return to their classrooms," he said.
Students call for end to Hamas-Israel war in Melbourne and Adelaide
The Sydney rally is one in a series of national student strikes for Palestinians.
and staged a sit-in at a major shopping centre in Melbourne on Thursday in support of Palestine.
In Adelaide, pupils held a demonstration at Parliament House.
There have been many pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli rallies across the nation since 7 October, when Hamas militants crossed into southern Israel from Gaza.
The militants killed more than 1,200 Israelis and took about 240 people hostage, according to the Israeli government.
Retaliatory strikes by Israel have resulted in the deaths of an estimated 14,000 people, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health authority.
At least 1.6 million Palestinians have been displaced, with many sheltering at UN-run schools while others stay with host families or in hospitals.
Organisers of Friday's school protest are calling on Israel to end the occupation of all Palestinian territories, a source of increasing tensions and violence before the 7 October attack.
Gaza native Riyad Aladassi has made the same demand as his hunger strike continues ahead of a solidarity vigil at the Port of Melbourne on Friday afternoon.
The nurse claims to have consumed only water over the past two weeks and suggests his hunger strike won't end unless his demands are met.
"If my people don't eat, I will not eat. Save Gaza first," said Aladassi, who has asked to speak directly with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
