A teenager has been quoted sharing her support for terrorist organisation Hamas at a Melbourne school strike in support of Palestine.
Speaking to The Australian, the 16-year-old said she believed Hamas was doing a “good job” and said it wasn’t important to “stay in school when matters like this really matter”.
“I think (Hamas) are doing a good job. I think they should stand up and protect … Palestine,” she said.
“After what they’re putting my brothers and sisters through, I don’t think (Israel) should really exist.”
The student, who was not named, was one of about 500 attendees who attended the rally in Melbourne’s CBD on Thursday.
A Victoria Police spokesman said the group were compliant with police directions and there were no arrests.
Students who attended the rally rebelled against pleas from politicians asking students to remain in class.
“We are high school students and we understand the truth so why doesn’t everyone else?” one student said in an address to the crowd of teenagers.
“There shouldn’t be a reason for us to be here today,” she said, in what appeared to be a deliberate response to politicians and media personalities who demanded they stay at school.
“We’re here today to show solidarity with Palestinians, especially the children, the ones just like us but these children might not even make it to adulthood, and it won’t be abnormal like it is here.”
Sydney students urged to stay in class
Politicians across the divide have also urged students not to skip class ahead of a similar school strike planned in Sydney.
Education Minister Jason Clare said the best way for school students to change the world was “go to school” ahead of the second day of student protests.
He said schoolchildren “should be at school in school hours” and his state and territory counterparts had the same view.
“The important thing for students is that school is on. If you want to change the world, go to school,” he told Channel 7.
“Education is the most powerful cause for good in this world. That is where you learn.
“If you want to protest, do it on the weekend.”
His panelmate, Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said social harmony was “very important in schools”.
“I’m very worried about the activists and their influence on schoolkids via social media,” she said.
“I am not blaming the kids, there is some poisonous stuff circulating … pushed towards our schoolchildren, and it is causing some of the problems that we are seeing.”
NSW Education Minister Prue Car has told students they should not be “skipping school” for protesting.
“We understand that people feel passionately about a range of things, but you need to be at school,” she said.
Speaking to 2GB on Thursday, she also urged university students promoting the strike on social media to “stay in their lane”.
“They’re outside schools handing out things to school students, many of whom are in their first term of year 12. They’ve got important things to focus on,” she said.
NSW Premier Chris Minns made on Wednesday said: “If you want to change the world, get an education and this is precisely why we have a world class public education system.”
“We want young kids to be fully educated to be knowledgeable about the world to form their own views when they graduate from school.
“To make school the enemy why striking against it, I think sends the wrong message about education.”
The rally has been inspired by similar walkouts at schools in other countries including the US, UK and Canada.
Event organiser Ivy, who played a part in the establishment of School Students for Palestine, said the walkout was a way for students to be heard.
“Schools talk about politics all the time but on this issue we are silenced,” she said.
“We are walking out because there’s genocide happening right now and we have to take action.”
It’s a move that has sparked concern in the Jewish community, who penned an open letter to the state government claiming that the move could cause anti-Semitic behaviour, also stating the naivety of those likely to take part.
“Most students in Victorian schools will not have a direct connection or a comprehensive (if any) understanding of the attacks on Israel and war in Gaza,” the letter said.
The rally took began on the steps of Flinders Street Station.
A similar protest is also planned for Thursday in Adelaide at Parliament House.
One of the thousands of the petitioners who signed the letter asked parents to think of the dangers before supporting their child’s decision to protest.
”My message to fellow parents is please think really hard about whether you want your child exposed to violence, vandalism and graffiti with a group of people that you don’t know,” they told 9 News.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said she expected students to stay in school on Thursday but that living in a democratic society included the right to protest.
“We live in a democracy,” she said.
“Being able to come together and hold a rally, a peaceful rally, depending on the issue that you’re concerned about or the issue that you’re exercised about, that’s a fundamental principle of our democracy that must not and should not change.”
Real Schools chief executive Adam Voigt told the Today show the planned walkouts had put schools and its administrations in an awkward position.
“It is a tricky issue for them to handle and to handle sensitively and with respect to the way that families are feeling,” he said.
“The good part is from an operational point of view schools are well equipped. These are the people who switched to remote learning and did it really successfully.
“They are trying to manage the people part of it and trying also to encourage their young people to be safe and I can understand that. “Tensions are high and schools are really trying to lean into their moral obligation at the moment.”
The scheduled strikes have also been widely criticised by Jewish community groups.
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co chief executive Alex Ryvchin feared the strike would alienate Jewish student.
“This will cause incredible emotional harm to Jewish students,” he said.
“Seeing their classmates chant slogans, march and wave placards that are hostile to their community, that ignore or deny the trauma of the October 7 atrocities, and which demonise their ancestral home will cause permanent damage to cohesion in classrooms.
“Jewish students and teachers will never feel safe and accepted among colleagues and peers that participate in these actions.”
Anti-Defamation Commission chairman Dvir Abramovich said the demonstrations were a “dangerous call to arms (that) will only inflame an already antagonistic environment”.
“When Jewish parents send their children to school, there is an expectation that they will not be placed in a dangerous environment where they might be isolated or attacked for who they are,” he said.
“In a climate of escalating anti-Semitism and a growing rhetoric of intolerance and radicalisation, words and images do matter.”
