School strikes for Palestine mark a generational watershed. Jewish leaders don’t get it

Australian youth are at the vanguard of a broadening refusal to accept the long leash Israel receives from Western governments.

Last week, thousands of Australian high school students marched in solidarity with Palestine in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Byron Bay and Wollongong. It may be tempting to make sense of these demonstrations with reference to the School Strikes for Climate, a global youth movement for ecological action which reached its peak in 2018-2019. The pro-Palestine student demonstrations, however, indicate an entirely different political act, with deep implications for Jewish-Australians invested in the conflict.

The students who marched for Palestine last week did so in defiance of state education departments and federal political leaders across both major parties. Pleas to “stay in school” were issued by federal Education Minister Jason Clare, NSW Premier Chris Minns, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allen, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, and a Jewish community-led open letter - signed by 6,000 people.

Unlike the climate strikers, who received at least tacit sympathy from wide sections of the political class, the School Strikes for Palestine self-consciously defied what has long been the mainstream public opinion on Israel in Australia: it sought to seize the moment and hasten the rise of a new consensus.

For all their apocalyptic rhetoric, the School Strikes for Climate retained a carnival-esque atmosphere: homemade and colourful placards, parents in attendance, mainstream elected officials leading the speeches - all condoned, to varying degree, by educators and administrators.