AFOPA Chairperson's End of Year Message

End of year message from AFOPA Chairperson, Christa Christaki, with update on activities and 2022-23 annual report

Dear APOPA members and supporters

We are sending you this last newsletter of 2023 with heavy hearts, but with deep gratitude to all of you who have stood with us at AFOPA.  Your steadfast support has given us strength and hope during this most difficult of times. Words will never be able to express how grateful we are for your solidarity.

Since the cataclysmic events of October, we have been overwhelmed by your kindness and generosity. Thank you for your emails, phone calls, orders, visits to the Palestine Centre for Peace, donations and offers of volunteer and professional services. On some days when we were running on empty, you kept us going.

Thank you to the members who have renewed your membership and those who have joined us as members and subscribers. With the help of our wonderful volunteers, online orders have finally been able to be fulfilled. We still haven’t managed to answer all the thousands of emails and offers of assistance received. We will, and hope you understand.

We have been inspired by the mobilisation of so many people at rallies, and the activation of a multitude of initiatives from the grassroots. Palestinian, Muslim and Arab groups, human rights organisations, unionists, doctors, nurses, university and high school students and ordinary Australians from all walks of life, have mobilised and organised in an enormous show of support for the people of Gaza. We will continue to build on this extraordinary momentum.

While the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza continues to wreak death and destruction on the Palestinian people, Australia's leaders continue to lack the moral courage to reassess Australia’s relationship with the apartheid state of Israel. This is shameful and intolerable.

In solidarity with the people of Gaza, Palestinian leaders of Christian denominations came together in Bethlehem and made a unanimous decision to cancel public Christmas celebrations. The Church of the Nativity, famous for its grotto marking the location where Christians believe Jesus was born, normally bustling with thousands of people, is empty. A short walk away, the Evangelical Lutheran Church has placed the baby Jesus wrapped in a keffiyeh in the centre of broken cement to symbolise children being pulled from the rubble.

Many of us are not feeling the Christmas or holiday spirit this year. Many of you have told us that your Christmas will be muted and that your thoughts will be with the people of Gaza. Please take care of yourselves and your loved ones. And never lose hope.

As millions of people who are taking to the streets around the world are demonstrating, it is we, the People, who will force change. In this we remain tireless and resolute. Together, we will amplify the voices of Palestinians for justice and a free Palestine.  

Christa Christaki

Chairperson

December 2023

Update on AFOPA activities since the August 2023 AGM

Annual Report 2022-23

AFOPA letters on the catastrophe in Gaza to South Australian Politicians

AFOPA continues to write letters regularly to South Australian and Australian politicians on the catastrophe and genocide in Gaza perpetrated by the state of Israel

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Letter to Senator Wong, Senator for South Australia (ALP) and Australia’s Foreign Minister

From website of the Australian Parliament

10 December, 2023

Dear Minister Wong,

The Australian Friends of Palestine Association (AFOPA) requests an urgent meeting with you to discuss Australia’s current position and actions regarding the crisis in Palestine and Israel.

We have a large and diverse supporter base, which is distressed and troubled by the disconnect between the Australian Government’s position on the current crisis in Gaza, and that of the Australian people who are showing unprecedented support for Palestinian human rights…

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Letter to Senator Birmingham, Senator for South Australia (Liberal) and Leader of the Opposition in the Senate

From website of the Australian Parliament

12 December 2023

Dear Senator Birmingham,

We recently became aware that you are leading a cross-party delegation to Israel, funded by the Australia Israel and Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC). This decision is deplorable and unconscionable and leaves us in no doubt that the tour is aimed solely at ensuring that Australian policy is unashamedly biased towards Israel and reinforces Israel’s propaganda…

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Letter to the Lord Mayor of Adelaide, Dr Jane Lomax-Smith AM

From website of the Adelaide City Council

Dear Lord Mayor,

I am writing to express the dismay of the Australian Friends of Palestine Association (AFOPA) in relation to the Adelaide City Council’s recent decision to not light up the Adelaide Town Hall in the Palestinian colours, as you did for Israel..

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Letter to all South Australian state parliamentarians on the “Israel Motion” passed in the South Australian Parliament in October 2023

From Wikipedia

28 November

Dear South Australian MPs and MLCs, Parliament of South Australia,

I write as Chairperson of the Australian Friends of Palestine Association (AFOPA) in relation to the recent passage of the Israel motion in both houses of the South Australian Parliament. We and our members are very disturbed by the introduction and passage of the motion…

This Christmas, shop with a purpose!

Miko Peled Talks Palestine in Adelaide

The Australian Friends of Palestine Association, Adelaide Sisters Association and Islamic Society of South Australia present:

TALKING PALESTINE with Miko Peled!

Supported by By Glimmer Of Hope and Health Workers 4 Palestine

Recording of a presentation by Miko Peled at the Al Salam Community Centre in Adelaide on 12 December 2023

Miko Peled is an author, human rights activist and international speaker born and raised in Jerusalem. He is considered by many to be one of the clearest Israeli voices calling for justice in Palestine, support of the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, (BDS) and the creation of a single democracy with equal rights in all of historic Palestine. You have most likely seen Miko’s videos and interviews which have gone viral online as well as his book “The General’s Son: Journey of an Israeli In Palestine”.

Go to recording on Facebook here (approx 52 mins)

AFOPA’s Mike Khizam introducing Miko Peled

At very short notice of the event, 170 people turned up to listen to Miko Peled in Adelaide on 12 December 2023

NEW ROY MORGAN POLL ON GAZA WAR

Almost half of Australians (49%) say the Australian Government should ‘not take sides’ in the current crisis in Israel & Gaza

Now 49% of Australians say the Australian Government should ‘not take sides’ in the current crisis in Israel and Gaza according to a special Roy Morgan online survey conducted in conjunction with the Islamic Society of South Australia with a cross-section of 1,006 Australians aged 18+ from Thursday November 16 – Monday November 20, 2023

FULL REPORT HERE

Key findings of the survey are:

• Nearly two-fifths (39%) of Australians say the Australian Government is ‘favouring the Israelis’ compared to only 10% who say the Australian Government is ‘favouring the Palestinians’;

• A large majority of 80% of Australians say Hamas should return the Israeli hostages unconditionally;

• A clear majority (57%) of Australians say the Australian Government should increase pressure on Israel to allow for immediate humanitarian assistance to enter Gaza;

• Two-fifths (40%) of Australians say the Israeli army should withdraw their armed forces from Gaza immediately while 33% say they should not and 27% don’t know;

• If the 27% of Australians saying ‘don’t know’ to this question are excluded, a majority of 55% of the remainder say the Israeli army should withdraw their armed forces from Gaza immediately – up 4% from a special Roy Morgan SMS Poll conducted in early November, compared to 45% (down 4%) that say the Israeli army should not.

FULL REPORT HERE