Last Friday November 1st was Palestine National Day and the Australian Palestinian Advocacy Network (APAN), the main organization lobbying for the Palestinian cause in Melbourne had received a $25K grant from the Victorian government  to honour Palestinian culture and heritage in what they said would be a profound act of resilience and resistance. Their supporters were exhorted to come to Federation Square in Melbourne to honour the rich history of Palestine and the unbreakable spirit of the Palestinian people.

I had chosen to visit Federation Square to see if APAN were adhering to the requirement that their event not be political.  Aside from one of the participants proclaiming over a loudspeaker the antisemitic catch-cry ‘Palestine will be free from the river to the sea’ the atmosphere was quite different from what one sees at the weekly protest rallies that have been taking place ever since the atrocities of Oct 7th last year.

I decided to approach some of the attendees to see what they could tell me about the significance of Palestine National Day.

Audio 1

Audio 2

I spoke with a man named Bruce who was manning one of the stalls who said it referred to a day proclaimed in the 1960s and he concurred that the date is supposed to be Nov 15th, but Federation Square had apparently been booked out on that day.  Undaunted I continued my quest to see if anyone attending Palestine National Day could tell me what the day signified.

Audio 3

I pressed on and next spoke with a young man who was clearly incensed by what he has been seeing and experiencing.

Audio 4

With the next person I spoke to I hit the jackpot.

As you just heard I hit the jackpot with the last person with whom I spoke. My point is that pro-Palestinian supporters are largely ignorant of any history that pertains to the Palestinian cause.
This has already been made evident in other situations where pro-Palestine supporters have been questioned about their mantra ‘Palestine will be free from the river to the sea’, inquiring as to what river and sea is alluded to there.
It is patently obvious that pro-Palestine supporters have been fed a diet of propaganda and know very little about the narrative they espouse. I ask myself - what hope have we as Jews to turn things around and counter Jew-hatred if this is the level of ignorance with which we have to deal?