As Arab and Jewish communities in Australia watch Israel prepare to embark on a ground offensive in Gaza they are both fearful and determined to help in any way they can.
For some, the response is humanitarian, supporting volunteer efforts in the Middle East or helping to organise and fund repatriation flights.
For others, the focus is on making their voices heard and pressuring the Australian government to do everything it can to limit the loss of life and help citizens still in Israel and Palestine.
Palestinian Australian Khalil Elmobayed, a 63-year-old Melbourne engineer, has criticised the federal government’s efforts to repatriate his wife trapped in Gaza.
Elmobayed says Hanaa arrived three days before the hostilities broke out to visit her ailing mother. She is sheltering with her sister and other family members near the Rafah border crossing – the only exit to the blockaded enclave.
“They are living martyrs and they can get killed by Israeli strikes anytime,” he says.
“We’re getting wrong messages from [the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade] and she is being exposed to danger because of those messages. They’re telling her just go to the crossing and it will be open soon … she went there and it was closed. It is destroyed.”
The crossing has been hit at least four times by Israeli forces, according to Egyptian authorities.
Dfat has said it is doing all it can to help repatriate 46 Australian citizens stuck in Gaza but “the Australian government’s ability to provide assistance in Gaza remains extremely limited”.
Palestinian, Arabic and other communities in Australia who are unable to send aid to Gaza have turned their focus to political action, calling for the Australian government to pressure Israel into showing restraint in the short term, and ultimately for liberation for the Palestinian people.
Amal Naser, a Palestine Action Group organiser, says protests across the county are “essentially to demonstrate people power”.
Tens of thousands gathered at rallies across Sydney and Melbourne last weekend after politicians and police warned the public not to attend. More protests and marches are planned for this weekend. Organisers have called for an “end to the massacre” in Gaza while condemning the antisemitic chants of some people who attended the first protest at the Opera House almost two weeks ago.
“Getting people out on the streets has been easy,” Naser says. But she says where there was once longstanding support for Labor among the Arab diaspora, “we are realising they are not going to support our communities at the end of the day”.
This week, two federal Labor ministers – both Muslims – did speak out, saying Palestinians were being “collectively punished for Hamas’s barbarism”. Twelve NSW Labor MPs signed a letter publicly declaring support for Palestine and calling on all involved to follow international law.
On Friday, a community protest against the Israeli occupation tried to disrupt the satellite surveillance facility Pine Gap near Alice Springs which is jointly run by the United States and Australian militaries and shares intelligence with allies.
One protester, Gem, said: “As a nurse, as a Jew, and as a human being, I cannot remain silent … Pine Gap is a symbol of Australia’s cowardly refusal to take a stance” against what she said was an unfolding genocide.
Organisations like the Jewish National Fund of Australia and United Israel Appeal, as well as local synagogues, have also come together to fundraise for humanitarian aid.
Peter Wertheim, co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), met passengers on the first flight of Australian expats flown back to Australia from Israel.
“It was a really emotional experience, families being united, hearing first-hand stories of what they went through,” he says.
“We are a numerically small community [but we are] very close-knit. Everyone’s got family and friends over there and … through those connections you know what they’re going through. And of course there’s absolute outrage.”
The ECAJ have launched an online campaign #SetThemFree to bring attention to the Israeli civilians held as hostages by Hamas. It is demanding their immediate release.
The website shares the names and faces of each hostage “to ensure that their stories remain at the forefront of our community’s minds and of the public consciousness”.
“There’s all sorts of feelings out there. Emotions are running high,” Werheim says. “But they’re being channelled into people wanting to do something constructive.”
Yoni Kalfus is co-owner of Israeli bakery Shuk in Bondi. His business partner Ariel Hefer is now in Israel helping volunteer efforts run out of Haachim, a restaurant in Tel Aviv.
But in Australia, he says mobilising the community is vital.
“Everybody is contacting friends in the US, wealthy businessmen in Europe, trying to get people to safety outside of Israel,” Kalfus says. “Some people with money are actually paying for hundreds of flights. Some extremely wealthy businessmen that have private jets are donating their jets and cargo planes. We want to do the best we can for our people. But we also want suffering to end, because war is never good for anyone.”
Arabic and allied writers, poets, comedians and academics in Australia have also taken to Twitter and Instagram with resources on how to support the people of Palestine – including writing emails to local parliamentarians.
Bridget Raffal and Leila Khazma, of Where’s Nick Wine Bar in Sydney, are hosting a lunch next week to fundraise for medical aid to be sent to Gaza.
“We’ve both been feeling really heartbroken and powerless,” Raffal says. “About the asymmetry of power and the lack of security, a million kids under siege with nowhere to go, it just feels so unfair.”
So they decided to host an event focused on food and community. “Aside from offering solace to people who need it and who feel isolated and powerless, we’d like to humanise what is happening.”
