The last five months in Australia have seen a sustained, mass campaign in solidarity with Palestine. Week after week, tens of thousands of protesters have marched through our capital cities condemning Israel’s onslaught against the people of Gaza, which has so far killed thirty thousand Palestinians, most of whom are children. Capital cities have witnessed their largest-ever pro-Palestine demonstrations, while in suburban and regional areas, community groups have rallied outside council chambers in support of cease-fire motions. There have been school strikes, sit-ins, and blockades, including an ongoing picket outside Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Sydney office that’s been running for the past two weeks.

But judging by the federal by-election in Dunkley — a tight contest between Labor and Liberals that’s expected to set the political terrain over the coming months — it may as well not be happening.

The Victorian Socialists (VS), however, have broken the silence over Israel’s war by standing as their candidate Reem Yunis, a Palestinian Australian socialist, schoolteacher, and long-term campaigner for Palestinian liberation. While the VS campaign is unlikely to topple the seat’s two-party duopoly, the goal is to stand in solidarity with Palestine and build on the party’s small but significant mass audience elsewhere in Melbourne.