The Sydney Marathon proved, once again, we are the majority

It was an uplifting day. Anti-genocide protestors were buoyed by support from runners at the Sydney Marathon. Judith Treanor from Jews Against the Occupation ’48 reports.

It’s not often I’m driven to write something positive but having just returned from today’s protest at the Sydney Marathon, I felt I had to record what turned out to be an unexpectedly joyous event.

Obviously, the reason we felt the need to organise a protest on the day of the marathon was anything but joyous.

In Gaza there is still an ongoing genocide.

In the West Bank, Israeli settlers and soldiers are committing daily crimes against Palestinians in an effort to make their existence unliveable.

It was against this background that there was an outcry of shock and disgust when Michael West Media revealed last Tuesday that a group of 40 Israelis, including IDF soldiers, and others with direct links to the military, had come to Sydney to participate in our beautiful harbour city’s marathon.

Unbeknown to most of us, this is the third year the Shalva team has waltzed through Immigration and joined tens of thousands of runners in the Sydney Marathon.

Social media ablaze, legacy media asleep

This year, however, thanks to the work of Yaakov Aharon and Nick Hanna, their presence – and the backgrounds of some of those taking part – spread like proverbial wildfire across social media.

Worth noting that, as of last night, the only so-called legacy media outlet to touch the story was the Sydney Morning Herald, with the extraordinary headline: “Israeli veterans’ visit attracts controversy as calls grow for investigation into Zomi Frankcom killing.”

Note the word veterans. This isn’t fucking Anzac Day.

For days, social media was awash with questions. How had this been allowed to happen? Would there be a protest?

There was considerable reluctance to act. There were valid concerns about possible false flags, a repeat of the police violence we saw during the Herzog protests on February 9, and the inevitable accusations of antisemitism providing NSW Premier Chris Minns with yet another excuse to curb our civil liberties and, at this rate, allow the CSG to carry weapons at the local supermarket.

You get the drift.

Public reaction and the protest movement

Some suggested the other runners should boycott the marathon. An honourable sentiment, but an unrealistic ask of tens of thousands of people who had trained for months, travelled from around the world and, in many cases, raised substantial amounts for charity.

Instead, concerned citizens sent letters in their droves to Immigration Minister Tony Burke asking him to refuse visas. Letters also went to the Sydney Marathon organisers and sponsors.

But ultimately, when institutions fail to act, people do.

As late as Friday night, Stop War on Palestine, Jews Against the Occupation ’48 and the Coalition of Women for Justice and Peace put plans in place for a protest along the College Street section of the marathon.

Within hours, social media promotion was spreading far and wide and by the time Sunday morning rolled around it seemed evident this was going to be a big protest.

I admit I was nervous arriving at Hyde Park this morning for the protest.

The protestors

This was the same day March for Australia was holding its “right to be racist” rally at Belmore Park. Even before I reached the protest, my keffiyeh attracted a comment of disgust while I stood in a café queue waiting for coffee.

But by 10am there was a sea of Palestinian flags along College Street. The chanting was already in full swing.

“From the river to the sea, IDF to the ICC.” “No IDF on our streets.” “Arrest, arrest the IDF.”

Then came the speeches.

Louisa, co-founder of the Coalition of Women for Justice and Peace, and BDS Australia co-founder Cathy Peters spoke of the need for international law to be applied equally to all – without exception or special treatment. Palestinian-Australian Wollongong resident Safaa Rayan then brought the horror of Gaza painfully close to home as she spoke of members of her own family killed by the IDF, including her cousin.

Fellow Jews Against the Occupation ’48 member Yaakov Aharon, who was instrumental in exposing the story of the Israeli runners, spoke about some of the Israelis who had travelled to Sydney.

The IDF

Among them Oriyan Avni, running in memory of her brother Yochai Avni, a canine handler at the notorious Ofer Prison who was killed in 2024. 

That job description takes on a rather different meaning in the context of Israeli prisons. Yaakov reminded us of reports by the United Nations and human rights organisations documenting the use of dogs to attack and terrorise Palestinian detainees, including accounts of sexual violence involving dogs.

While Avni’s family portrayed him as a kind man without an enemy in the world, Yaakov pointed to Palestinian reports describing him very differently – as a torturer known to prisoners at Ofer. 

His alleged killer, Ibrahim Mansour had been held in Israeli administrative detention before being released in April 2024. 

Then Dr Thienminh Dinh, who had travelled from Brisbane especially for the rally, spoke.

She had worked as an emergency physician in Gaza twice and had also been in Lebanon earlier this year. Just when you think you can no longer be shocked by what has been inflicted upon the people of Gaza, someone who has been there stands in front of you and tells you about a little 9 year old girl she treated who had lost three limbs.

So how on earth can I describe this day as uplifting?

Because of what happened next.

The runners

Hundreds of Palestine supporters lined the barriers along College Street, flags flying, cheering on marathon runners who by then had been running for four or five hours. Many runners were draped in Palestinian flags.

Others waved them or wore keffiyehs.

 

But it was the sheer number of ordinary runners who showed their solidarity that took us by surprise. They clapped us as they ran past. They raised fists and peace signs. They filmed us. They reached across the barriers for high fives.

They shouted “Free Palestine!” And we cheered them even harder.

Across the road, a marathon cheerleader began waving her pompoms in time with our chants and grinning over at us.

For a while it became this beautiful exchange of energy: their solidarity made us chant louder and longer, and our chanting seemed to give exhausted runners the energy to keep going.

It was one of those moments you wanted to freeze. And it wasn’t only happening in Hyde Park.

Along the route

Further along the marathon route, activists from Eastern Suburbs for Palestine had gathered at Anzac Parade. Their experience included more abuse from Zionists – placards ripped from hands and thrown to the ground, swearing and hostility.

But they also reported countless high fives, fists in the air, peace signs, cries of “Free Palestine” and expressions of thanks from runners who had come to Sydney from all over the world.

There was only one conclusion I could reach after today.

We are not the fringe.

Those who stand for peace, justice and the rights of an oppressed people are far greater in number than those who would have us believe supporting Palestine is somehow an extremist position. 

It was impossible not to think back to the March for Humanity in August last year – the last time the Sydney Harbour Bridge was closed before today. Back then, tens of thousands of us had to fight the NSW Government all the way to the Supreme Court for the right to walk across it for Gaza. Today, the bridge was closed again, this time for the marathon.

And even while running a gruelling 42 kilometres across that same bridge and through the city, so many people took a few seconds to show their solidarity with Palestine.

March for Australia in contrast

Perhaps the most striking contrast of all was happening only a short distance away.

At Belmore Park, just over 300 people had gathered for March for Australia, where speakers railed against immigration and the crowd reportedly cheered calls for “remigration”.

Along the marathon route was a rather different Sydney.

Tens of thousands of runners from Australia and around the world streamed through our gloriously multicultural city. No, every runner wasn’t running for Palestine. But the spontaneous solidarity we witnessed was impossible to miss.

A year ago, the March for Humanity showed us something about where ordinary Australians stand. Today, quite unexpectedly, the Sydney Marathon gave us another glimpse.

We are not the fringe. We are the majority.

Comedian’s visa sabotaged, war crimes suspects cheered through