On September 22, 2025, the crisis in Gaza cast a long shadow across the globe, igniting not only outrage but also a profound reckoning with the legacy of Western intervention in the Middle East. In Sydney, pro-Palestine rallies drew crowds carrying placards and flags, their voices echoing a message that has grown louder with each passing day of the conflict: the suffering of Gaza’s people is intimately linked to the historic pain of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. Both, speakers insisted, are victims of colonial occupation and ongoing oppression—a parallel that has energized a movement reaching far beyond Australia’s shores.
But these protests, as reported by Pearls and Irritations, have evolved. What began as a condemnation of Israel’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank now encompasses a broader critique, targeting what many see as a US and Western imperialist agenda stretching across Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, and Türkiye. This, protesters argue, is not merely Israel acting in self-defense, as official rhetoric suggests, but part of a systematic plan to dominate and control the region—a plan allegedly endorsed, armed, and diplomatically shielded by the West.
The scale of devastation in Gaza is staggering. According to the latest Ministry of Health figures cited by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), more than 64,000 people have been killed, including 20,000 children. The true death toll is likely higher, with countless victims still buried beneath the rubble of shattered homes, hospitals, and schools. MSF describes the situation bluntly: "Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and doing so with absolute impunity." There is, they say, no safe place left in Gaza. Entire families have been wiped out while seeking shelter, health workers slain as they cared for the wounded, and journalists targeted for simply bearing witness.
High-intensity weapons—some sold to Israel by US and European governments—have been unleashed on densely populated urban neighborhoods. The result: devastating injuries, scenes of carnage, and a healthcare system all but destroyed. As MSF reports, Israeli authorities have systematically targeted Gaza’s hospitals, raiding medical facilities and endangering the lives of staff and patients. The few hospitals still operating are overwhelmed and desperately undersupplied. More than 1,500 health workers have been killed, including 13 of MSF’s own colleagues. Dr. Mohammed Obeid, an MSF orthopaedic surgeon, has been detained by Israel since October 2024. Each loss, MSF stresses, is a blow not just to families but to Gaza’s besieged health system.
The crisis extends beyond direct attacks. Israeli authorities, MSF contends, have imposed a total siege on Gaza, choking off fuel, water, food, and medical supplies. The result is famine. A recent survey at MSF clinics found that 25 percent of pregnant or breastfeeding women were malnourished, increasing the risk of stillbirth, miscarriage, and premature birth. The policy, MSF charges, amounts to collective punishment and starvation by design.
Yet, as the violence rages, the political narrative outside Gaza is shifting. According to The Cradle, Washington’s foreign policy now “empowers Israel and dismantles Arab sovereignty across West Asia,” enabling what some describe as a Zionist project to annex Gaza, then move on to the West Bank, Lebanon, and Jordan—mirroring a long-standing vision of Greater Israel stretching from the Nile to the Euphrates. Israel, the article claims, acts “without constraint, restraint or accountability,” emboldened by US support and further backed by European nations such as France.
Australia, too, has come under scrutiny. According to The Guardian, more than 75 Australian companies contribute to the F-35 fighter jet program, with over 700 critical parts manufactured in Victoria alone as of August 15, 2025. These jets, supplied to Israel, are reportedly used in bombing campaigns across the Middle East. For many at Australia’s weekly anti-war rallies, this is evidence that the country is complicit in the machinery of destruction. The wars in the region, they argue, are no longer viewed as responses to terrorism or human rights abuses, but as opportunities for market expansion by colonialist interests.
The historical roots of this conflict run deep. Protesters and commentators alike point to a continuum stretching from the 1917 British Balfour Declaration, which laid the groundwork for a Jewish homeland in Palestine, to what is now dubbed the 2025 Trump Gaza Riviera statement—a reference to proposals for redeveloping Gaza’s coastline in the wake of mass displacement. As Jonathan Cook notes, “Modern Zionism is a continuation of Western colonialism—the use of violence to subdue and dominate other populations, chiefly to control their resources—but with the benefit of a ‘moral’ cover story.”
Arab leaders of the past, such as Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser, saw Israel as a Western outpost designed to fragment Arab unity and thwart regional control over vital resources like oil. Today, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stands at the United Nations, presenting what critics call the “Greater Israel” project—a vision that, if realized, would see Israel occupying not just all of historic Palestine, but also Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Iraq, and even parts of Saudi Arabia and Türkiye.
Why, protesters ask, does the US continue to sell weapons to Arab states at record levels? Why do Australian manufacturers supply parts for jets used to bomb civilians? For many, these are not rhetorical questions but urgent indictments of a Western-dominated order that places economic and strategic interests above human rights and international law.
The weakness and division of current Arab leadership, critics argue, has only emboldened Israel and its allies. Netanyahu’s government has begun executing its plans in Gaza, while the US pursues its own agenda in southern Lebanon—reportedly seeking to dismantle 27 Lebanese villages along the border and transform them into a Gulf-run, Zionist-controlled economic zone. Behind this, activists warn, lies a deeper motive: control over Lebanon’s offshore gas fields, as well as those off the coasts of Syria and Gaza.
These developments, say rally organizers and commentators, reaffirm that Western imperialist and colonialist hegemony in the Middle East is not a relic of the past but a living, evolving force. The result is a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza—one marked by mass death, the destruction of entire communities, and famine imposed as a weapon of war. As the world watches, the question remains: will the international community confront these realities, or will the cycle of violence and impunity continue unchecked?
For those on the ground in Gaza and for protesters thousands of miles away, the stakes could not be higher. Each day brings new losses, but also renewed calls for justice, accountability, and an end to the machinery of war that has defined the region for generations.
