Husic Calls Gaza March a ‘Wake-Up Call’ as Assange, Foster Join 90,000 on Harbour Bridge

Labor’s Muslim industry minister, Ed Husic, called the 90,000-strong march across Sydney’s iconic Harbour Bridge a “wake-up call” for the nation.

Husic attended the Aug. 3 march with an assortment of left-leaning causes and high-profile identities, including the recently released Julian Assange, former Socceroos captain and activist Craig Foster, and Indigenous actor Meyne Wyatt.

“I think people in particular believe it’s just not right … to treat kids in the way that they’ve been treated in Gaza,” Husic told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Aug. 4 a day after.

“It offends our values as people, and so people turned up in large numbers.

“I think Australian politics has underestimated how strongly Australians feel about this issue.”

Husic said the crowd had the usual supporters of the cause, but also “a lot of middle Australia.”

“It was a tremendous example of peaceful assembly, of people coming out in force to let governments know how deeply they feel and how much they want governments to act on the concerns that they have, triggered by horrific images that we’ve seen out of Gaza.”

Adam Johnson, the New South Wales (NSW) Police Central Metropolitan Region commander, welcomed the “the cooperation of the crowd and how well everyone worked together.”

A total of 1,000 police attended the march with no arrests or charges.

While the official number of attendees was listed at 90,000, Husic and others have estimated numbers could have been higher.

One supporter estimated as many as 270,000 attendees, though that number could not be confirmed.

Flagging Issues

A sea of Palestinian flags were held, alongside occasional Aboriginal flags and calls for the end of Australia.

In one instance, which was filmed and broadcast, a hooded and masked attendee set fire to the Australian flag—the burning of which is not a specific criminal offence under Australian law.

Some attendees flew both the black and white version of the Islamist shahada flag on the bridge.

The Arabic writing on the flag translates to, “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.”

The black version of the flag has been flown by terrorist groups including ISIS and Al-Qaeda, while the white version is favoured by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Australia has designated Hamas as a terrorist organisation & banned displaying terrorist symbols.

Yet the Hamas flag, the flags of Islamic State and the Taliban Jihad were flown freely in Sydney today in the name of humanity. @nswpolice @AusFedPolice how was this allowed? pic.twitter.com/QsMmzsMrrv

— Andi Csontos (@AndiC1) August 3, 2025

The event was also attended by journalist Anthony Loewenstein, Greens founder Bob Brown, writer Randa Abdel-Fattah, Paul Keating of the Maritime Union, Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore, and Amnesty International representative Mohammed Duar.

In footage of the event, parts of the crowd broke into a chant of “intifada.”

The First Intifada is the name given to a series of Palestinian attacks on Israelis that claimed around 200 lives.

One protester, in an image shared online by the Australian Jewish Association, held up a sign that read: “Abolish Israel, abolish Australia, land back.”

Photos of Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei were also paraded, at one time directly behind Bob Brown and Assange.

The Epoch Times contacted the organisers, the Palestine Action Group for comment, but did not receive one in time for publication.

Australia Pledges $20 Million

A day after, the Australian Labor government announced an extra $20 million in aid to Gaza. Australia’s total aid spend in Gaza and Lebanon since the start of the Israel-Hamas war now sits on $130 million.

“Australia will continue to work with the international community to call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the release of hostages and a two-state solution—the only path to enduring peace and security for the Israeli and Palestinian peoples,” Wong said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has condemned the situation in Gaza involving civilians, but has said he will not support a Palestinian state until Hamas ceases hostilities.

Jewish Board Says Australian Icon Should Not Be Centre of Division

In response to the event, the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies remarked that Sydney had been “paralysed” by the bridge demonstration.

“At a time of strained social cohesion, an iconic Australian symbol and key arterial road should not be used to bring a divisive foreign conflict onto our streets,” the group said in a statement.

“We pray for the wellbeing of all innocent civilians affected by the conflict in Gaza and implore Hamas to immediately put an end to all suffering by releasing the hostages and laying down its arms.”

The Israel-Hamas war started after the Hamas terror group infiltrated Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, slaughtering more than 1,200 Israelis and mixed nationals and taking more than 250 hostages.

An estimated 24 live Israeli hostages remain in Gaza, as well as around 35 who are assumed dead.

The board expressed heartbreak that the plight of two young hostages, Rom Braslavski and Evyatar David—recently filmed starving and being made to dig his own grave by his Hamas captors—would not be raised.

“Hamas could end all suffering today by releasing the hostages and laying down its weapons,” the group said.