In a stunning diplomatic coup, the remaining living Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza have finally been released, marking an important step towards de-escalating the Middle East’s interminable conflict.
And who do we have to thank? None other than President Donald J. Trump, the deal-maker extraordinaire.
Fresh off his return to the White House – or perhaps pulling strings from the shadows – Trump’s no-nonsense approach brokered a ceasefire that even the remnants of the Biden-Harris debacle can’t fathom. By leveraging his relationships with Arab leaders and applying unyielding pressure on Qatar’s Hamas financiers, Trump has achieved what endless UN resolutions and virtue-signalling summits failed to do – the safe return of the innocent hostages snatched on that fateful October day in 2023.
Yet, amid the celebrations in Tel Aviv and sighs of relief worldwide, a bizarre chorus of dissent echoes from Australia. Australia’s pro-Palestinian activists, the perennial marchers with their keffiyehs and chants of, ‘From the river to the sea!’ are enraged.
Instead of welcoming the hostages’ freedom and the nascent peace deal, they’re decrying it as a ‘betrayal’ of the Palestinian cause. Ludicrous doesn’t begin to cover it.
Social media is ablaze with accusations that the agreement legitimises Israel’s ‘occupation’, ignoring the fact that it includes provisions for Gaza’s reconstruction and limited self-governance. One prominent Sydney activist even tweeted that true justice demands ‘no deals with imperialists’, as if prolonging suffering advances their agenda.
This reaction lays bare the ugly truth. For many in the leftist pro-Palestinian crowd, the cause was never about peace. It’s a performative crusade against the West.
This performative nonsense is fuelled by intersectional ideology (where intersectionality effectively means the characteristics of everyone except white men) and paints Israel as the eternal oppressor while Hamas is regarded as the romantic revolutionaries. But peace threatens the narrative of the Queers for Palestine and other naïve activists who have no idea of what they are talking about. Rightly, many commentators still offer to fund one-way tickets to Gaza for these hypocrites.
Trump’s peace deal and the release of the hostages robs these professional protesters of the moral high ground they’ve built on selective outrage. Remember the silence when Hamas executed dissenters or used civilians as shields? Or the glee at anti-Semitic spikes post-October 7? I recall a movie years ago where the protester was screaming, ‘Free Nelson Mandela!’ as a passerby yells back, ‘They did that already!’
These clowns are far worse. Rather than just being stupid, they are perpetuating hate and antisemitism while giving a free kick to proscribed terrorist groups.
Trump’s intervention reminds us that realpolitik trumps (pun intended) empty slogans. Australians should applaud this breakthrough, not sabotage it with imported radicalism. If pro-Palestinian groups truly cared for Gaza’s people, they’d support deals that end the bloodshed. But it was never about that.
Instead, their tantrums expose a movement more invested in perpetual conflict than Palestinian prosperity. Time to call it what it is. It’s not advocacy, but agitation.
If the protests continue from this point on, then it’s also time to send these professional protesters the bill.
Dr Michael de Percy @FlaneurPolitiq is the Spectator Australia’s Canberra Press Gallery Correspondent. If you would like to support his writing, or read more of Michael, please visit his website.
