During an Australian tour in support of her new feature documentary Earth’s Greatest Enemy, American investigative journalist and filmmaker Abby Martin met with members of Free Palestine Melbourne at an IPAN event in the city.
A vocal critic of Israel’s genocide, Martin has appeared as a guest on several high-profile programs. Her considerable body of work on Palestine includes the 2019 documentary Gaza Fights for Freedom that focuses on Israel’s human rights violations against Palestinians during the Great March of Return demonstrations.
The documentary evocatively substantiated claims Israel’s plan has always been the displacement of Palestinians from their homeland, and emphasised Israel’s crimes of collective punishment in its deliberate killing of children, journalists and medical workers. Today, we continue to witness Israel commit these unimaginable crimes on a catastrophic scale, as the genocide in Gaza rages into its fourth year.
During the meeting Martin lent her support to Free Palestine Melbourne’s Freedom for Marwan Barghouti Now campaign, part of the international Free Marwan initiative, calling for his release along with the thousands of Palestinian hostages held illegally in Israeli prisons.
Free Palestine Melbourne thanked Martin for her fearless reporting and commentary in support of the Palestinian people, and we wish her the very best in her future endeavours.
Mon. 27 July 2026, 6:15 pm arrival for 6:30–9pm, Sun Theatre Yarraville. Abby Martin’s Earth’s Greatest Enemy, followed by a conversation with Dave Sweeney (ACF).
As war tears through Gaza, a father waits beneath the clouds for his daughters to come home.
The Return Project and Free Palestine Melbourne are proud to present The Return, a play by award winning Palestinian Australian writer and director, Ala’a Al Qaisi.
A powerful theatrical event not to be missed.
Part dream, part revelation, The Return is a haunting and visually stunning theatrical experience that transports audiences beyond the limits of time and space. Through magical realism, poetry, music, and powerful storytelling, the play invites us into a world where the dead speak, the living awaken, and even the deepest wounds become a doorway to transformation.
The Return is inspired by martyred Palestinian sisters, Nagham and Rozan Abu Samra, who were killed by an Israeli strike on Gaza in 2024. Nagham was a karate champion who would have represented Palestine at the Olympic Games. The play is dedicated to their father Marwan who lives on to share their legacy, and to all the beautiful souls whose lights were extinguished far too soon in the Gaza genocide.
Both intimate and epic, heartbreaking and unexpectedly humorous, The Return is more than a play, it is an unforgettable journey into the heart of grief, resilience, forgiveness, and hope.
This is a story that will stay with you long after the curtain falls.
Cast: Rashid Taki as Marwan, Ala’a Al Qaisi as Rozan, Mohammed El Kesm as Aviv and The Man, Ahlam Hijazi as Sarah.
The Return will play in theatres across Melbourne and regional Victoria from 15–22 September, including Brunswick, Keysborough, Ballarat and Castlemaine. It is the first time the play will be performed in the state following a successful Sydney run in 2025.
The Return Victoria 2026 Dates:
September 15, 16, 17 and 20: Brunswick Mechanics Institute
September 18: Ballarat Performing Arts Centre
September 19: Chandler Community Centre, Keysborough
September 22: The Phee Broadway Theatre, Castlemaine
This performance explores themes of war, grief, and psychological trauma. It includes descriptions of violence and loss.Recommended for audiences aged 15 and above.
Fri. 19 June 2026, 6:15pm, Cinema Nova VIC: Join Free Palestine Melbourne’s screening of Tantura, a documentary film directed by Alon Schwarz that examines the events surrounding the Palestinian coastal village of Tantura in 1948 during the Nakba.
Wed 15 April 6:30pm: Abduction, imprisonment & torture are crucial tools of Israel’s genocide & occupation in Palestine. Hear the truth from behind the bars – and demand freedom for Palestinian political prisoners.
Fri 17 April 6:30pm Cinema Nova: Join Free Palestine Melbourne’s screening of Tomorrow’s Freedom, a documentary telling the story of Palestinian political leader Marwan Barghouti — described as Palestine’s Nelson Mandela.
Israeli President Herzog could be coming to Australia at any time, so we need to be ready to act at short notice. For alerts, follow on Instagram and subscribe to our email list.
Free Palestine Melbourne’s recent forum, How the labour movement can stand with Palestine, held on 14 August 2025, was attended by over 170 unionists and supporters, and another 1000 watching online.
The meeting voted unanimously to support the union contingent at the upcoming nationwide March For Palestine on 24 August and to call for sanctions on Israel.
Below is the text of the resolution passed by the meeting.
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Resolution: Victorian Labour Movement Stands in Solidarity with Palestine 14 August 2025
This meeting of Victorian trade unionists stands in solidarity with the people of Palestine as they face the ongoing crimes of military occupation, siege and genocide.
Israel’s war against Gaza must end now. It a murderous assault on the lives of Palestinian and an assault on the values and wellbeing of all humanity.
We oppose Israeli apartheid and Israel’s colonial-settler occupation.
As trade unionists we know that an injury to one is an injury to all and our movement has a long history of opposing apartheid. Our movement for justice for Palestine is driven by human compassion, ethics and the necessity for working class solidarity.
The Australian Government has called for an immediate, permanent ceasefire and the free passage of aid and essential supplies to Gaza. However, it has so far failed to back these calls with actions that would apply real pressure on Israel to cease its war crimes.
We endorse the demands on the Australian Government made by the Australian Council of Trade Unions in May 2025 which include:
Using all pressure, influence and diplomatic measures, including targeted sanctions
Supporting the deployment of a humanitarian aid convoy to Gaza
Ending all military trade (including parts and components) with Israel
Supporting international efforts to prosecute breaches of international law
Establishing emergency humanitarian visa pathways
We note that similar demands were overwhelmingly supported by the 600 branch and union delegates at the recent Victorian State ALP Conference. This meeting applauds the network of dockworker unionists across Europe and the Mediterranean who have successfully imposed bans and strikes against the arms trade with Israel.
We offer our solidarity to all unionists in Victoria working toward imposing industrial bans on the production or trade in goods that aid or assist Israel in the commission of unlawful acts.
This meeting wholeheartedly supports an active campaign by the Victorian trade union movement to inform and mobilise working people to achieve the ACTU demands for action by the Australian Government. To that end, we call on:
All unionists to support the call by Victorian Trades Hall Council for unions and workers to mobilise in numbers and march as a contingent at the 24 August National March for Palestine.
Victorian Trades Hall Council and affiliates to support further strategic actions such as combined union delegates meetings and work-day mobilisations of union members.
All union members and our elected representatives to co-operate to build and extend the movement in our own unions, workplaces and communities to end Israel’s war and achieve justice for Palestine.
All unions and unionists to vigorously defend members facing repression for their advocacy for a free Palestine.
20-22 July 2025: Free Palestine Melbourne (FPM) is organising some transport from Melbourne/Naarm to the Converge On Canberra event and return. Please read the following details before making your registration.
12pm, Sunday 15th May 2022, at the State Library, Melbourne
“The Nakba, or catastrophe in Arabic, is the common designation given to the hostilities and tribulations that began after the approval of the UN Partition Plan for Palestine in 1947. They led to the uprooting of some 750,000 Palestinians from their homes and communities – about 85% of those living within the borders of what became the State of Israel. Most of these deportees and their descendants still live as refugees without citizenship throughout the Middle East, in the West Bank, in Gaza and all over the world, and are still prevented from returning home. A few have remained in the area that became the State of Israel and were forced to become Israeli citizens, however, they are actively disallowed from returning to their destroyed towns and villages, let alone repossessing their lands, which have been expropriated by the State for Jewish-only settlements.”
Israel is once again attacking Al-Aqsa Mosque in the holy month of Ramadan. Hundreds of prayer-goers have been brutalized and arrested by the Israeli Offense Force, and air strikes have hit Gaza. Israel is an aparthied state that commits crimes against huminaty and breaks international law, and this must be opposed.
Calling on all Palestine activists to come out this Saturday for an emergency rally to stand in solidarity with the Palestinians fighting back against Israeli terror and oppression.
FORUM – Al Tatbia3: Freedom or Normalisation? Palestine, Israel and the Arab World
Wednesday 10 February 2021, 8pm to 9.30pm (AEST) Register here
Further details on EVENTS page.
We’re really delighted Dr Samah Sabawi is joining us on the panel. For those who don’t know her, Samah is a Palestinian-Australian playwright, author and poet. Outside the realm of art, she is a policy advisor to Al-Shabaka – الشبكة, the Palestinian Policy Network and the host of the new podcast and web series The Book Room with Samah Sabawi. Samah has also joined Nasser Mashni and FPM for a promotional interview on 3CR Community Radio that will air at 9.30am this Saturday. Make sure you tune in.
Miko Peled and Robert Martin: One on One
Author and activist, Miko Peled, hosts a discussion with longtime friend and Australian activist, Robert Martin. From Palestine to Maradona: no topic will go untouched and no stone left unturned.
This article discusses the psychology and manipulation of that psychology that justify Israel’s security doctrine and, by extension, the adoption of targeted killing as a state policy.
Making Jerusalem Jewish Again
This week we raised awareness of the organisation Ateret Cohanim, led by an Australia-born Daniel Luria. From the event post:
Australian-born Daniel Luria works for Ateret Cohanim, an Israeli organisation and yeshiva located in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. Founded in 1978, Ateret Cohanim works for the creation of a Jewish majority in the Old City and Arab neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem. It arranges for Jewish acquisition of Arab properties, a complex and sometimes dangerous undertaking, thus expanding the Jewish “footprint” in Jerusalem.
This is clearly in violation of international law and considered a UN violation. The organisation has come to the attention of the UN in the past.
The organisation encourages the construction of settlements in East Jerusalem, a Palestinian territory. UN Resolution 2334: December 23, 2016, condemned Israel’s construction of settlements in all territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem. If you want to understand who the organiser is, check this out: Louis Theroux – Ultra Zionists https://vimeo.com/253398748
The US, Israel, and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1917-2020 by Jerome Slater
“In 1973, Abba Eban, the eloquent Israeli diplomat, said: “The Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity,” an argument—better said, a myth—that was widely accepted and continues to have a huge impact on how the Arab-Israeli conflict has been understood in Israel, the United States, and most Western states. But that assessment was wrong then, and wrong since—if anything, the converse is close to being the case. One of the central purposes of this book, then, is to correct this myth, both in the interests of historical accuracy and in an effort to pave the way for policy changes in Israel and the United States.
The historical record, examined in detail in this book, demonstrates that it has been Israel, far more than the Palestinians and the leading Arab states, that has blocked fair compromise peace settlements.”
Join us online to celebrate Palestinian National Day and showcase Palestinian culture. The event will include poetry, music, Dabkeh performances, short speeches and videos from young Palestinians, as well as a live-stream of the raising of the Palestinian flag!
This event will be streamed on both Zoom and facebook live. Below is Zoom registration link. You can also join and share the facebook event.
It will be held at 5pm (AEDST) {4.30 SA; 4pm QLD; 3.30pm NT; 2pm WA}.
This event is hosted by Palestinian community and advocacy organisations in Melbourne – Australia Palestine Advocacy Network; Palestinian Community Association; Beit Jala Palestinian Association; Australians for Palestine; Casey Friends of Palestine; Free Palestine Melbourne. When November 15th, 2020 5:00 PM through 6:00 PM Location *Online* Australia
