Pro-Palestine Australians protest after week of tension with Israel | World News

Thousands of Australians protested in support of Palestine on Sunday, two weeks after the country announced it would recognise a Palestinian state. 

More than 40 protests took place across the country, according to Palestine Action Group, an Australian organisation.

The group said around 350,000 people attended rallies nationwide, although police have estimated lower numbers in some cities.

Organiser Josh Lees in Sydney said the protesters were marching to “demand an end to this genocide in Gaza and to demand that our government sanction Israel“.

A group representing Australia’s Jewish community, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said the rallies created “an unsafe environment and shouldn’t be happening”.

In the last week, Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched more personal attacks against Australia’s Anthony Albanese.

“I think his record is forever tarnished by the weakness that he showed in the face of [these] Hamas terrorist monsters,” he said on Wednesday, after earlier describing Mr Albanese as “a weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia’s Jews.”

Mr Albanese said he did not “take these things personally” and that he treated the leaders of other countries with respect.

His government’s decision to formally recognise the Palestinian state in September, made on 11 August, came after tens of thousands of Australians marched over Sydney’s iconic Harbour Bridge in support of Palestine.