5 December 2024 – for immediate release
Vote Palestine Wills – a coalition of community organisations led by Free Palestine Melbourne – will launch its 2025 election campaign by handing out flyers on Saturday 7 December 2024, 11am outside Coburg Library.
“We are not aligned with any political party,” said Wills resident Amal Ibrahim of Free Palestine Melbourne. “What we want is a Federal MP who will represent the Wills’ community’s deep sympathy for and solidarity with the Palestinians.”
“What we want is a Federal MP who will represent the Wills’ community’s deep sympathy for and solidarity with the Palestinians.”
The decision to run a community-based election campaign was taken following recent comments by Peter Khalil, the Labor Member for Wills, disparaging the Palestine solidarity movement in the Australian Financial Review, and his refusal to attend a public forum hosted by Free Palestine Melbourne on Justice for Palestine and Australian Foreign Policy in September.
“Wills is one of the most progressive, multicultural and pro-Palestinian electorates in Australia and yet we have an MP who has consistently flaunted his contempt for the community by vilifying Palestine activists in the corporate media, refusing to address the public on the issue of Palestine, and even downplaying the Gaza genocide by falsely claiming that photos of wounded children are manipulated,” said Ms Ibrahim.
One of the targets of the campaign will be Wills’ large Muslim community, who make up 10.3% of its population.
“The purpose of Vote Palestine Wills will be to educate the voters of Wills so that they understand where their candidates really stand on the issue of Palestine.”
“Most Muslims in Wills don’t realise that Mr Khalil has made a career out of supporting and working for pro-Israeli institutions and interests for the past twenty years,” said Mohammed Yousef, a community activist. “The purpose of Vote Palestine Wills will be to educate the voters of Wills so that they understand where their candidates really stand on the issue of Palestine.”
In 2022, Labor won Wills with 58.6% of the two-party preferred vote. Vote Palestine Wills believes that it can whittle away this margin through a program of community engagement and education.
“This is how democracy is supposed to work,” said Mr Yousef. “People disengage from the electoral process when politicians fail to represent or engage with them. We want to empower our communities so that they will elect an MP who will stand with the Palestinians in Canberra.”
For more information or comment, contact:
Michael Shaik: 0431 573 368
Mohammed Yousef: 0494 308 486