File:Dr. Peter Slezak at Melbourne protest for Gaza (3206656400).jpg

"We are all Palestinians"

Some excerpts from the speech by Dr. Peter Slezak, an academic philosopher and member of Independent Australian Jewish Voices, outside the State Library in Melbourne:

"We are here to express our solidarity with the people of Gaza. Their desperate plight today comes on top of a catastrophic humanitarian crisis already caused by 2 years of Israeli blockade. And this is on top of sixty years of Palestinian suffering, their dispossession that An Israeli historian [name unclear - ed] has called ethnic cleansing and a brutal military occupation for forty years."

"We have an obligation to turn our moral concern into meaningful action because it is here in the west that the fate of Palestine is decided. We must find ways to counter the barrage of deceit that prevents people from understanding what is going on and reacting to it as human beings. History is being rewritten even as it happens."

"It is a lie that Israel is defending itself. There are no Palestinian F16 jets bombing Israel."

"The assault on Gaza is not a war but a Cowardly act of terrorism. It is perpetrated by the most sophisticated military force against a defenseless population. The casualty figures are sufficient evidence of this crime against humanity. But this is not how it is presented in our media or by our own politicians who endlessly uncritically repeat the official lies of Israeli propaganda. Under the guise of balance the victims are blamed for their suffering and they have no voice and the world stands by doing nothing. "

"It is also a lie, endlessly repeated by our media and politicians, that Hamas does not want to negotiate. The record is clear. Israel has rebuffed serious proposals because it would have to make just concessions to the Palestinians."

"It is also a lie, endlessly repeated by our media and politicians, that Israel had no choice but to launch this assault. Israel had a clear choice. They could have preserved the effective ceasefire that they, the Israelis, violated."

"It is also a lie, perhaps the main lie that is being repeated, that Israel is attacking Gaza to stop rockets. You could learn this from the official website of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On November 4 Israel violated the ceasefire that had held for six months according to the Israeli Defence Force website and the ceasefire was protecting Israeli citizens from rockets, and there are emails from the citizens of Sherdot clearly understand. The official Israeli website shows that Hamas launched missiles in retaliation for Israeli attacks, but on December 27, the very day that Israel launched its savage bombardment the Foreign Ministry changed its website, removing the charts giving the numbers of rockets and mortars fired from Gaza. Off course these charts revealed the near total cessation of rocket fire during the truce and they provide striking evidence of Hamas's good faith and considerable restraint in the face of a blockade."

"The former High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, described the blockade as the destruction of a civilization, and this was before the bombing. That one Israeli military Officer reported in the press yesterday said that it makes Gaza look like it was bombed for years not for weeks....."

"We must ask ourselves how its possible for our own respectable media and our politicians to reverse the truth and portray Israel as the victim....."

"What we are up against is not just the bias but a kind of ignorance, a culpable blameworthy ignorance. Its a kind of psychological aberration or deviance. Its a moral blindness that fails to notice the gross imbalance in suffering. Israeli violence is not disproportionate, it is barbaric."

"I am here today because I share a motivation with many Jews around the world. My 83 year old mother is a survivor of the Nazi concentration camp - Auschwitz. I grew up with her question 'Why didn't anyone help the Jews?', 'Why didn't anyone else care? and why did the world allow it to happen?'. These are the same questions we must ask today about the crimes against Palestinians."

"I am here because the state of Israel does not represent all Jews. If we have learnt the real meaning of the slogan 'Never again' from the Second World War, we can't remain silent when crimes are being committed in our name. We must universalize the tragedy to include others in our moral universe and recognize our shared humanity with the Palestinian. This a lesson from a wonderful and famous Palestinian, Edward Said, who was a great moral hero and a leader."

"Let me wind up with one final remark. The Nazis made Jews wear a yellow Star of David to stigmatize them and persecute them, and I grew up with an immensely moving image of other people, not Jews, like the King of Denmark and other people who showed their humanity by wearing the yellow star to symbolize their solidarity with the Jewish victims of persecution. This is the spirit in which I am wearing a Palestinian badge today and the spirit in which many Jews and others around the world send to the Palestinians."

"....right now we are all Palestinians".

Third Melbourne protest for the Palestinians of Gaza against the brutal attack by Israel - 18 Jan 2009 Organisers estimated 12,000 people marched in the Melbourne Protest against Israel's attack on the Palestinian Gaza territory.