#FreePalestine is a new regular video series from New Matilda. You can subscribe to our Youtube channel here. Fresh interviews drop regularly.
One of Australia’s most renowned Jewish pro-Palestinian activists has taken aim at Australia’s Jewish community for its ongoing support of the Israeli assault on Gaza, which has so far claimed the lives of almost 20,000 Palestinians, with children accounting for almost half of those killed.
Dr Peter Slezak is a retired Associate Professor of Philosophy with the University of NSW. He’s also a long-time activist for Palestinian rights, and spent considerable time in both Gaza and the West Bank.
The video discussion is the first in a New Matilda series called #FreePalestine.
Israel’s assault on Gaza followed an October 7 attack by Hamas and other Palestinian groups on multiple Israeli settlements that border the Gaza strip.
In a wide-ranging discussion over more than an hour, Dr Slezak discussed:
- An assault he was subjected to in Sydney recently, by a young Jewish man angry at his advocacy for Palestinian rights;
- Attempts by some in the Australian Jewish community to distract attention away from the slaughter in Gaza, including claims that the protest slogan ‘From the river to the sea’ is anti-Semitic and calls for the destruction of Israel;
- Israeli propaganda, and it’s use to justice the attempted genocide of Palestinians.
New Matilda will release the second in the #FreePalestine series in the coming days.
You can follow New Matilda’s Youtube channel here. The series is also available to watch on Facebook here; and Twitter here.
The second video in the #FreePalestine series, an in-depth interview with prominent Australian Palestinian activist Nasser Mashni, is due out on Sunday, December 17.