What the hell did Israel and its supporters expect when Palestinians rose up and attacked it, after enduring a never-ending catalogue of crimes by this fabulously weaponised apartheid regime?
We could all see the conflagration coming, just like the experts in Libya who warned repeatedly that the Derna dams could not contain floodwaters. When the floods did come the dams crumbled and a 2m-high wall of water hit the 90,000 people, sweeping entire neighbourhoods into the sea.
Similarly, the floodwaters of 75 years of Palestinian pent-up rage and despair burst over Israel. The government of Israel, and its supporters, are directly responsible for the appalling violence meted out to Israelis and for the unfolding genocide in Gaza, which Israel describes as ‘mowing the lawn’!
As Nelson Mandela said, ‘It is always the oppressor, not the oppressed who determines the form of the struggle’. Palestinian civil society urged the non-violent campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel, but this initiative was ignored by the US and its morally decrepit supporters. The authorities are determined to silence the voice of Palestine by banning protests and ordering the Sydney Opera House and Parliament House to emblazon themselves in the colours of the Israeli flag.
We have been attacked for speaking for Palestine, our car damaged and last night, the Palestinian flag was ripped from my bicycle. Byron Friends of Palestine express our sincere condolences to our Jewish community and hope they will join hands with us in helping to secure a one, truly democratic state, where Jews and Palestinians can live together in peace, as equals, like they did, before the foundation of the Israeli state in 1948.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
