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Dozens of protesters were escorted out of Parliament House in Canberra amid a protest over Israel’s treatment of activists detained while en route to Gaza.
Some 400 activists were detained by Israeli authorities last week, including 11 Australians, after attempting to break Israel’s naval blockade of the Mediterranean enclave.
However, the detainees’ treatment made headlines after Israel’s national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir released video of himself taunting activists who were on their knees with their heads on the floor.
The actions of Mr Ben-Gvir, a far-right member of Israel’s government, were widely condemned by Israeli authorities, Australia, and international partners, including New Zealand and Canada.
Some activists have also made allegations of sexual and physical abuse – allegations Israel denies.
On Tuesday, dozens of activists assumed the same kneeling position in the Great Hall at Parliament House in Canberra shortly before noon.
Images of the group show them surrounded by Australian Federal Police protective services who escorted several of them from the hall, the main landing for the parliament building.
The group included three of the activists who participated in the Gaza flotilla, including Rising Tide’s Zack Schofield, Ethan Floyd, and Surya McEwen.
Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi said the group brought to parliament “just some of the truth of the brutality Israel inflicted on Global Sumud Flotilla participants while they were illegally imprisoned in Israel”.
“Following their action today, these silent, peaceful protesters were thrown out of parliament with a 12-month ban,” she said in a statement.
“It says everything that these protesters have been given 12-month bans from parliament for disrupting ‘decorum’, while the Labor government has taken no real action to end the genocide or hold Israel to account for the abhorrent mistreatment of Australian citizens on a peaceful mission to deliver aid to Gaza.
“People must be able to protest peacefully in the people’s house without being thrown out or punished.
“The Prime Minister must confront the truth of Israel’s depravity, meet the flotilla activists, listen to their ordeal, and then take action by holding Israel accountable.”
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