City of Canterbury-Bankstown Votes to Fly Palestinian Flag

Canterbury-Bankstown Decides to Raise Palestinian Flag

October 25, 2023 TruthUSA

A motion was put forward by a Labor councillor to fly the flag at a local government administration building and park.

The City of Canterbury-Bankstown in Sydney’s southwest will fly the Palestinian flag at two locations until a “cease fire” is declared in the Hamas-run Gaza.

Councillor Karl Saleh, representing the Australian Labor Party, moved a motion “supporting peace in Gaza and Palestine” on Oct. 24.

The local government voted to fly the Palestinian flag at the Campsie administration building and a local community park in Bankstown—an area with a higher proportion of Middle-Eastern migrants.

In a motion (pdf) to Council, Cr Saleh moved: “That Council raise the Palestinian flag in support of the Palestinian people at both Bankstown’s Paul Keating park and Campsie Administration building until a cease-fire is declared in the current humanitarian disaster unfolding in Gaza.”

The Canterbury-Bankstown Council also voted to dedicate a space at a local park for the community to lay wreaths and flowers.

In addition, the motion provided support for the community to gather peacefully at Council public parks to “demonstrate their views in support of the Palestinian people”.

Not the ‘Australia We knew’

Responding to the move, the Australian Jewish Association (AJA) said “this is not the Australia we knew.”

“This is an area of Sydney where Muslims celebrated in the streets following the Hamas slaughter of Jewish civilians on Oct. 7,” the AJA said on X.

Meanwhile, Randwick Council in Sydney’s eastern suburbs has canned plans to fly the Palestinian flag on top of its Town Hall.

In an emergency general meeting on Oct. 23, Councillor Daniel Rosenfeld from the Liberal Party moved a motion (pdf) so that local authorities “do not fly the Palestinian flag on 29 November 2023 as it was passed at the June meeting to do so.”

“I consider the business to be of great urgency given the current war in Israel and the escalating rallying within Australia by pro-Palestinian people,” Cr. Rosenfeld said.