 a couple of months ago, she's the senator. Me here today is my friend and colleague from New South Wales Parliament, Jenny Leong, who is like me and I acknowledge the sovereign owners of the lands that we gathered on, the Gadigal people, and pay my respects to elders past and present. For 200 First Nations people have been targeted by violent colonialism, by theft, by disposition. And I particularly want to acknowledge the harm and hurt that they have been put through over the last some months as conservative forces, as they always do, have run a campaign of fear, racism, and division. For truth-telling, the struggle for treaties, the struggle for self-determination goes on. First Nations elders, activists, and leaders is formidable. And we are here in solidarity with them today. Always one sense of sorrow, sadness, and a very heavy heart for the innocent civilians who have lost their lives in Gaza and Israel. My thoughts are with those who are mourning the loss of their loved ones. My thoughts are with those who are living the brutal savagery of the war in Gaza, perpetrated by the Israeli government. To make it clear, no civilian should be the target of the violence of war. That much is obvious, that much we have said before. Yet we are asked again and again if we condemn civilian deaths. What an offensive and abhorrent assumption that we wouldn't. Palestinians, Palestinians know better than most the violence of oppression, of occupation. They have lived under Israeli occupation for 75 years. That there is no place for any kind of racism, discrimination, anti-Semitism, or Islamophobia. You know what else we know and what else I know is the importance of telling the truth. I also know the harsh consequences of telling the truth, but that will not stop me from telling it exactly. And let me say this, I will not. I will never apologize for demanding an end to occupation, the oppression, and the crime of apartheid. The truth is this, the atrocities being committed by Israel are war crimes. The definition of collective punishment that Palestinians have borne for decades now. This is not new. This is not new. In Gaza civilians are on the precipice of annihilation because the blockade means that they have literally nowhere to go as they have been cut off from water, from electricity, and from other essential supplies. And as Israel continues its deadly bombing of civilians in Gaza, the fate of hundreds of thousands remains uncertain in the besieged strip. Millions, that's right. Israeli missiles have now been raining down for days on apartment buildings, homes, mosques, refugee camps, and there has been so much harm done to hospitals and schools as well. Health authorities in Gaza said on Friday that around 1900 Palestinians have been killed and another 7,700 wounded by Israeli strikes that have turned entire buildings and more than half of those who have been killed are women and children. Disgusting. People in Gaza are being forced to flee to the south of this open air prison as Israeli strikes continue to rain down. There is absolutely no safe place for them, nowhere to go. Yet, disgracefully, the New South Wales police and the New South Wales government have made shameful attempts to silence us to stop us from coming together to shine a light on the worsening crisis in Gaza. Any attempt to silence us is an unjustifiable abuse of political power. To speak up, we have a right to protest, we have a right to assembly. So thank you so much everyone for being here in unity and its supporters and allies. Have a right to be here like we are today and any other day. And we will not surrender this right, we will not surrender this right to protest. The truth is this, my friends, the truth is this. The erasure of Palestinian suffering is a long-standing policy for both major parties in Australia. The bipartisan consensus on supporting Israel's bombing of Gaza and painting it as defence is neither surprising, sadly nor new. This enables and empowers Israel to continue the oppression of Palestinians with impunity. And that is an utter disgrace. Our government continues to shield the apartheid state of Israel from all accountability. We gather here to tell them that we see through their lies, we see through their hypocrisy which landmarks were lit up in the colours of the Palestinian flag when in 2014 Israel carpet bombed civilians from one end of the besieged Gaza Strip to the other with 2,000 of the Palestinian flag when civilians are being killed right now by Israeli bombing. With this dehumanisation of Palestinians we gather here today in solidarity with Palestinians who have lived through brutal occupation and oppression for 75 years. It's all Nakba every day for them. That's the situation. Finally the truth is this, Israel has signalled the genocide of Gaza. It is there for everyone to see. This horror is unfolding and political leaders of so-called civilised western countries who portray themselves as human right advocates are completely silent. They can see justice for everyone but not for Palestinians. They should hang their heads in shame forever. Born to say, I do want to say to all of you here today, to Palestinians here and around the world, some of us have the courage to speak out, some of us have the courage to turn up to rallies, some of us have the courage to demand justice for Palestine. So remember, you are not alone and there will come a time when there will be peace and when that time comes history will not look back kindly on this colonial government supporting another. To prevail there has to be justice, there has to be justice for Palestine and that means there has to be an end to the siege and blockade of Gaza. To the illegal occupation of Palestine, there must be freedom for Palestinians.