06/10/2026
Media Release Wednesday 7 October 2026:
Three years on, Palestinian Christians ask Australia: will you still look away?
On the third anniversary of 7 October 2023, Palestinian Christians in Australia (PCiA) mourns every life lost in State of Israel and Palestine, including more than 74,000 Palestinians – mainly women and children - killed in Gaza since.
"This war did not begin three years ago," said PCiA President Suzan Wahhab. "It began with the Nakba of 1948, when around 750,000 Palestinians, Christians and Muslims alike, were driven from their homes. In 1947, Jews were about a third of Palestine's population. A Jewish state could only be created in a majority non-Jewish land by reversing its demography. Until that injustice is faced, there will be no lasting peace."
Two more Christians killed despite the ceasefire
Late last week, an Israeli airstrike on an apartment in Gaza City killed five people, including a Christian mother and her daughter. They were buried on Saturday at the Church of Saint Porphyrius. Gaza's Health Ministry reports more than 1,400 Palestinians killed since the ceasefire of 10 October 2025.
"They were a mother and a daughter in their home," said Ms Wahhab. "Gaza's Christian community, among the oldest in the world, has lost its people to strikes on its churches, homes and hospital. It is being brought to the brink of disappearing," she said.
The legal record
* International Court of Justice, 2024: three binding orders requiring State of Israel to prevent acts of genocide and allow aid into Gaza.
* ICJ advisory opinion, July 2024: State of Israel's occupation is unlawful and breaches the prohibition on racial segregation and apartheid.
* International Criminal Court, November 2024: arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
* UN Commission of Inquiry, September 2025: State of Israel has committed genocide in Gaza.
PCiA calls on the Australian Government to end military exports to State of Israel, including F-35 components; to ban trade with illegal settlements and sanction those responsible for the occupation; and to press for the protection of Palestinians and full humanitarian access to Gaza.
"The International Court of Justice has told every state, Australia included, not to aid or assist the State of Israel's unlawful occupation," said PCiA Director of Advocacy John Na'em Snobar, a former Australian diplomat who resigned in 2023 over the Government's policy on Palestine.
"These are not matters of opinion. They are obligations under international law, and Australia has chosen to wait. Waiting is itself a decision, and Palestinians are paying for it with their lives and their land."
"Australia now falls significantly behind its allies – including Canada and the UK - in sanctioning the State of Israel. We call on the Australian Government to match recent actions to outlaw goods produced in illegal settlements and other measures taken to curb apartheid and ethnic cleansing.”
"Genocide and apartheid are now in the legal record," said Mr Snobar. "Australia cannot claim it was not told."
About PCiA: Palestinian Christians in Australia advocates for justice, peace and the survival of the Christian community in the Holy Land.
Media contact: John Na’em Snobar, Director of Advocacy ·0435 059 099 · [email protected]
Suzan Wahhab and John Na’em Snobar are available for interview.
Photograph attached displays Maysa Khader Ibrahim Abu Daoud and her daughter Mary/Maria Hafez Michel al-Najjar, killed by the State of Israel late last week. Photo supplied by Living Stones of the Holy Land Trust
