On August 3, 2025, Sydneysiders made Australia proud on a global stage. Some hundred thousand people spontaneously marched on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, one of the most important icons in the country, demanding an end to the brutal genocide and ethnic cleansing being carried out by Israel against Palestinians in Gaza. One of the largest anti-war protests in Australia, the demonstration was triggered by the images of emaciated bodies of young children, as they bear the brunt of a famine orchestrated by the Netanyahu government.

This highly impressive show of people power in Sydney will, hopefully, force the Albanese government to stop supporting Israel in fulfilling its genocidal aims in Gaza. It is also expected that this will pressurise the Jewish state (with a democratic facade) to behave responsibly and humanely—instead of, as it were, competing with the deadly acts of Hitler against the Jews in the Second World War.

More importantly, the good Aussies have sent a strong message to everyone in the Asia Pacific region and beyond. It is to rise up, to voice their concerns against what they have been seeing on their television and on their smartphones every day. It does not matter what nationality, ethnicity, religion or ideology we belong to—everyone will suffer when basic human values are crushed with impunity, as Israel has done in Gaza.

Lots of people around the world are indeed heartbroken by the constant stream of horrible images posted from Gaza. The terrible atrocities would have been even more visible had Israel allowed the international media to report from the war zone. The fact that the media has been blocked from the Gaza Strip says a lot about what Israel is up to as a brutal occupier.

Now is the time for all of us to stand up for our universal and basic human rights. Because humanity has been hijacked and attacked in Gaza right now, in the long term, long after Palestinian wounds have been healed, we will likely suffer one way or another.

A self-inflicted war

It has been repeated millions of times in the global media that Israel had the right to defend itself after Hamas’ brutal attack on October 7, 2023. Yes, Hamas would see it as their act of self-defence against a deadly occupying power—but the cruel attack against innocent Israeli citizens was wrong. To date, a Nepali man is still in Hamas captivity, and his poor family in Nepal doesn’t have a clue about whether he is dead or alive.

The way the Israeli government has responded to Hamas atrocities has, however, been highly disproportionate and utterly cruel, with little regard for the lives of innocent Palestinians. Israelis have had no moral quandary about dropping 2000-pound bombs in densely populated areas, including hospitals, schools, churches and mosques.

According to the United Nations and several international human rights groups, including two reputed Israeli human rights organisations, Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Once a victim of genocide, Israel is now repeating the same, even though Palestinians or Arabs were not the ones who killed millions of Jews in gas chambers.

Even after so much death and destruction in the Gaza Strip, Israel has not achieved its stated goals of defeating Hamas and returning all hostages. Hamas recruits are apparently on the rise instead. Israel has only managed to isolate itself from the global community and define itself as the world’s number one pariah state. Many responsible Israelis are worried by this. Jews across the world are worried too, because crimes against humanity have been committed in their name, in the pretext of their freedom and security.

Eroding moral high ground

What has been equally shocking is the terrible action and inaction of Israel’s traditional allies, not least the United States of America, the United Kingdom, the European Union and Australia. They have not adequately pressured their ally to change its behaviour and act more responsibly and humanely. Worse still, they have provided financial support as well as arms and ammunition, many of which have indeed been used to kill innocent Palestinians.

This complicity of the Western powers could have great consequences for the entire world, both in the short and long term. These so-called democracies have been caught red-handed; they have seriously lost face; they have lost their moral high ground.

What happens to the concept of the rule-based international order when countries like the US and the UK themselves oppose, vilify and marginalise international bodies like the United Nations and the International Criminal Court to provide impunity to their theocratic friend? Who is going to trust them and listen to them when some other powers violate the sovereignty of another nation or different ethnic groups anywhere on earth? Are we trying to reverse human civilisation and head back to the law of the jungle, as indicated by William Golding’s famous novel published in 1954, Lord of the Flies?

This was the concern raised by the tens of thousands of university students across the US last year. Those young people feared what might be coming as a result of Israeli and American action and how this could jeopardise their future, and the future of humanity overall.

The Gaza war has exposed how corrupt and morally bankrupt the US and Western politics have become. One must read American Professor John Mearsheimer and John Walt’s The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy (2007) to get a sense of how influential Israeli Jews have effectively bought American politicians so that they would continue to support, and provide immunity to, the Jewish state, no matter what it did.

Conclusion

I was outraged when Russia invaded Ukraine with an overwhelming force in February 2022. I thought the US and Europe were right to help Ukraine defend itself. I thought it was the right thing to do; Ukrainians had every right to their statehood, to their freedom and dignity.

It is still my view on Ukraine, of course. But the Gaza war has exposed the double standards of the US and other Western powers. They have failed to apply the same standards to Israel because it’s their ally. But this kind of blind support is hurting the state of Israel itself, as well as the moral standing of Western countries.

Perhaps some of Israel’s allies are waking up to this reality. Therefore, France, Canada, Britain and possibly Australia have planned, albeit conditionally, to recognise the state of Palestine. This has a lot to do, of course, with the growing frustration and anger of the citizens of their countries, including many Jews. So, it’s time to follow the path of Sydneysiders and march for Palestinian freedom, for universal human rights, for a rule-based international order whenever and wherever we can.