As Australians wake up to news of the country's formal recognition of Palestinian statehood overnight, SBS News can reveal Australia has emerged as one of the top 10 countries globally for pro-Palestinian protests.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made the historic declaration outside the 80th session of the UN General Assembly on Sunday morning in New York (Sunday evening in Australia) – formalising the commitment he'd made in August to recognise an "independent and sovereign state of Palestine".
It follows Australians' participation in more than 900 pro-Palestinian protests over the past two years.
Data provided to SBS News from international conflict monitor ACLED shows there have been 50,122 Gaza-related protests around the world since 7 October 2023, when Hamas militants killed around 1,200 people in Israel and took 250 hostages, unleashing a devastating retaliation in the Gaza Strip.
The protests have overwhelmingly been in support of Palestinians, with more than 40,000 events between 7 October 2023 and 5 September this year.
In contrast, just 3,120 pro-Israel demonstrations have been held over the same time period — more than two-thirds of these (2,159) were held in Israel. Another 1,680 events globally have been either neutral or supportive of both sides.
Over the course of the war, Israel has also targeted militant group Hezbollah — an ally of Hamas that began low-intensity cross-border attacks on Israel a day after October 7 — through aerial bombing in Lebanon, and the strategic detonation of pagers and walkie-talkies in September 2024.
Around 3,000 events were held in protest against Israel's actions in Lebanon, either alongside Palestinian protests or as a separate demonstration.
In Australia, around 40 events included Lebanese community representatives or featured criticism of Israel's actions in Lebanon as well as in Gaza, but no protests were recorded to be exclusively in solidarity with Lebanon.
Australia among top 10 countries for pro-Palestinian protests
Pro-Palestinian protests in Australia started almost immediately after news of the October 7 attack emerged, with more than 1,000 people gathering in Sydney two days later.
Protests in Sydney have continued on an almost weekly basis since. To date, there have been 906 pro-Palestinian protests in Australia, 34 pro-Israeli protests and another 31 protests that were either neutral or supported both sides.
Australia ranks 9th globally for pro-Palestinian protests, and is 4th among non-Muslim majority countries.
The numbers are particularly significant given Australia is considered a "low protest country", according to ACLED, and otherwise ranks 37th overall for protests with a total of 1,857 demonstrations over the same time period.
When it comes to large-scale protests — those attracting more than 10,000 people — Australia is second only to Yemen in terms of the number of pro-Palestinian protests held.
Top 10 countries for pro-Palestinian protests that drew more than 10,000 people. Source: SBS News
Nine countries where large scale pro-Israel protests of more than 10,000 people took place. Source: SBS News
Organiser with the Palestine Action Group Sydney, Josh Lees, says the group has been holding protests since 2008 — well before October 7 — when Israel kicked off operation Cast Lead, a 22-day military campaign in Gaza that killed around 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis (10 of whom were soldiers).
Following October 7, the group started holding protests at least once a fortnight. Lees says they wanted to act quickly after October 7 because they knew Israeli retaliation to the Hamas attack would be severe, pointing to comments made by then-Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant.
In the days after the attack, Gallant said: "We are fighting against human animals", and ordered a complete siege with "no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel".
The group was able to organise at short notice.
"We knew what was coming was going to be absolutely horrific," Lees says.
"What they ended up doing has been and continues to be even worse than we imagined."
Support for Palestinians among neighbouring countries
Yemen has held the highest number of pro-Palestinian protests in the world, with Yemeni news outlets having reported millions of people taking to the streets on a regular basis since October 7.
An ACLED spokesperson says the protests in Yemen have been substantial, and it's possible that attendance at each protest could approach one million, although reports of "millions" in the street regularly could be an overestimate, as they stem largely from propaganda from Houthi authorities in Yemen.
In compiling the data, ACLED relies largely on media reporting of events, which is analysed by regional partners and researchers.
Yemenis lift placards and flags of Palestine during a rally in solidarity with Palestinians and in condemnation of Israel and the US, in the Houthi-run capital Sanaa on 18 July 2025. Source: AFP / Mohammed Huwais
Countries with the highest number of pro-Palestinian protests. Source: SBS News
Countries with the highest number of pro-Israel protests. Source: SBS News
"Other Arab countries have banned protests and marches for Gaza and Palestine," Laachir says, pointing to restrictions in Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Historian and Middle East expert Dr Andrew Hammond of the ANU says the protests in Yemen have been organised by Houthi authorities in the capital Sanaa, which has identified support for Palestinians as a key policy.
"The Houthis organise these events almost weekly, and there are certainly hundreds of thousands [of protesters] on a large portion of these — sometimes it could be a million," Hammond says.
The protests have become a way for Houthi authorities in Yemen, who control a key section of the country, to present themselves as truly populist, explains Hammond. This is in contrast to other countries, which are wary of protests turning into an anti-regime uprising.
He notes there is no doubting the popularity of the pro-Palestinian cause more broadly, with most of the non-Western world seeing the conflict over Palestinian territories through the lens of colonialism.
The Arab Opinion Index survey conducted by the Arab Centre for Research and Policy Studies in the early stages of the war — between 12 December 2023 and 5 January 2024 — found a strong sense of solidarity with Palestinians among neighbouring countries.
The survey found 80 per cent of Jordanians expressed solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, and 72 per cent of those in Lebanon and Egypt also did so. These countries do not appear in the top 10 countries for protests.
A 'very big' global movement
Even small countries such as Samoa, Bermuda, Isle of Man and Antarctica have held at least one pro-Palestinian protest — showing just how widespread the cause has become.
"If you look at a global scale, it is a very, very big movement," Lay says.
The ACLED analysis manager notes there had also been a handful of demonstrations in Hong Kong and Russia, but government censorship and anti-protest sentiment have likely kept numbers low.
The state-controlled media landscape in these areas also reduces the reporting of events, he says, something ACLED relies on to help pull together its data.
Among the non-Muslim majority countries with the highest number of pro-Palestinian protests, Spain is the only nation that has already recognised Palestinian statehood.
France, Australia and Canada have all announced their intention to do so this week. The UK says it will also recognise a Palestinian state if Israel does not agree to a ceasefire deal.
Overall, at least 145 countries out of the 193 UN members have already recognised or plan to recognise a Palestinian state, according to an AFP tally.
They include most countries in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Asia.
Can protests make a difference?
Lees believes the marches in Australia have influenced political decision-making, including pushing the government to recognise a Palestinian state.
In particular, he says the Sydney Harbour Bridge march on 3 August — which drew a crowd estimated between 90,000 and 300,000 people — generated a lot of momentum.
Just a week before the protest, Albanese told ABC's Insiders program that recognition of Palestine was not imminent. By 11 August, he had revised his position.
"Clearly, this shows that mass protest movements can force governments to change their policies, and we should take heart from that," Lees says.
Pro-Palestinian protesters during the Palestine Action Group's March for Humanity in Sydney on Sunday 3 August. Source: AAP / Flavio Brancaleone
Before the Harbour Bridge march, France, Canada and the UK — where significant pro-Palestinian protests have also taken place — all announced their intention to recognise statehood, starting with a statement from French President Emmanuel Macron on 25 July.
Fathi says France's announcement was not surprising for a number of reasons, including: its economic interests, colonial heritage, historic relationship with the Palestine Liberation Organisation, stance on multilateralism, its Arab and Jewish communities and public sentiment.
Fathi says France's decision didn't seem to sway Australia at the time, but Albanese changed his stance after Starmer announced the UK's support.
He says Canberra has looked to London, along with Washington, for foreign policy direction for a long time.
"British support of the French initiative provided cover — credentials everyday Australians would understand," Fathi says.
Australia's path to recognition
In 1947, Australia backed the creation of Israel and has historically supported recognising Palestine at the end of a peace process.
But last year, Foreign Minister Penny Wong raised the prospect of recognising Palestine before peace is secured.
"Like other partners, Australia no longer sees recognition of a Palestinian state as only occurring at the end of negotiations but rather as a way of building momentum towards a two-state solution," Wong told the United Nations last September.
In May this year, Ed Husic became the first Labor MP to publicly call for the government to back Palestinian statehood at the upcoming UN conference.
The viral image of a starving child in Gaza in late July also appeared to galvanise support internationally and in Australia, amid accusations that Israel is committing genocide. A finding now supported by the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry.
Israel has rejected accusations of genocide and also denied its actions are causing famine in Gaza, insisting the territory is suffering from a "man-made shortage engineered by Hamas".
It said it "categorically rejected" the UN inquiry report, which it labelled "distorted and false".
Key dates on Australia's path to recognition of Palestinian statehood. Source: SBS News
In his statement on 11 August, Albanese said the move would contribute to international momentum towards a two-state solution, a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of the hostages.
But Lees is quick to point out that recognition of statehood is not a demand of the pro-Palestinian movement, which wants to stop the oppression of the Palestinian people.
"This was an attempt by the Albanese government to try to distract the movement, to throw some symbolic crumb, I suppose, to the hundreds of thousands who are outraged by Israel's genocide.
"But it's a step that won't do anything to stop this genocide."
Lay notes there were pro-Palestinian sentiments already present within the Australian Labor Party, and the protests may have just enabled politicians to move more quickly.
"This kind of understanding of public sentiment has perhaps sped up movements that were already in [play] in Australia."
Protests haven't swayed US authorities
ACLED's US expert Kieran Doyle points to the protest landscape in the United States, which has the third-highest number of pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the world.
The country has been a staunch supporter of Israel and last month denied a visa to Abbas to attend the UN meeting this week.
[In the US] we don't see the same sort of moderation towards Palestine, or the same sort of pro-Palestine policies of recognition, either in the Joe Biden administration or now in the Trump administration.
"So to the extent that demonstrations might have some sort of an influence or just be an expression of public sentiment around these issues, it's going to be a number of different factors, one of which might be the leadership of a country's responsiveness to demonstrations."
The pro-Palestinian protests also pale in comparison to the Black Lives Matter protests in the US, which saw 12,357 demonstrations in the two years from 25 May 2020 — more than double the number of pro-Palestinian demonstrations since October 7 (5,266).
"Nonetheless, the pro-Palestine movement is among the largest and most sustained demonstration movements we have seen in the United States, and it was the majority demonstration driver in the country for more than a year, following the beginning of the conflict," Lay says.
"It remains a regular driver of demonstrations to this day, reflecting its continued importance as a political issue during the Trump administration."
'Remarkable' turnout in Australia
The pro-Palestinian protest movement in Australia culminated in the massive turnout for the Sydney march on 3 August — one of a number of significant protests across the country — but data shows the number of demonstrations has gradually declined in the almost two years since October 7.
A monthly tally of pro-Palestinian protests in Australia starting from 7 October 2023 until 31 August this year. Source: SBS News
This trend is mirrored worldwide.
Lees says protest numbers overall have ebbed and flowed, with huge numbers of people coming out in the first few months, and numbers picking up around key moments, such as when Israel first invaded Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
"What's so remarkable is that we have been able to sustain a movement of this size for this long," Lees says, noting it eclipses demonstrations against the Vietnam and Iraq wars.
"Both of [those wars] saw huge demonstrations, but [you] did not see consistently demonstrations of at least thousands, week after week, for nearly two years now.
That is a testament to the real horror felt in Australian society [to what's happening in Gaza].
He says more recently, there has been an upsurge in protest numbers, amid concerns about mass starvation in Gaza and the killing of civilians seeking food.
Lees believes Australia should be doing more to help those in Gaza.
"We're determined ... to keep fighting until we can force our government to sanction Israel ... and stop this genocide," he says.
"We'll keep going — what else can we do?"
Additional reporting from AFP
Methodology
Data referenced in this article and related assets are sourced from international conflict monitor ACLED, which relies on news reporting and the independent assessment of regional partners and researchers to 'tag' (or categorise) events.
Protests supportive of Palestine or Lebanon have been grouped together, although those mentioning Lebanon make up less than 8 per cent of pro-Palestinian tagged demonstrations.
In order to be tagged as pro-Palestinian or pro-Israel, there must be an element of support, such as the presence of flags in the crowd. Events don't need to be exclusively in support of Palestine or Israel.
Descriptions of crowd sizes for the interactive map have been standardised into five categories, for example, classifying vague terms such as "small group" into the category "under 100". All care has been taken to ensure protest sizes have been accurately reflected where numerical values have not been recorded.
Data covers demonstrations that occurred between 7 October 2023 and 5 September 2025.
