Helen O'Sullivan
Social Work Field Educator, mother, grandmother and Australian pro-Palestinian activist.
Helen O’Sullivan is an Australian social worker, human rights activist and social work field educator from Queensland. Her commitment to Palestine has grown from a lifelong belief in social justice, human rights and solidarity with people experiencing oppression.
In 2024, Helen volunteered with the International Solidarity Movement in the occupied West Bank, where she witnessed the fatal shooting of 26-year-old human rights activist Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi during a peaceful protest in Beita. Helen subsequently gave evidence about what she witnessed and has continued to speak publicly about Eygi’s death and the experiences of Palestinians living under occupation.
Helen has also participated in Gaza-bound humanitarian flotillas. In 2024 and 2025 she joined the Freedom Flotilla Coalition campaigns to sail humanitarian aid to Gaza. In May 2026 she was among the 11 Australian participants in the Global Sumud Flotilla, which sought to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. She was detained by Israeli forces when the flotilla was intercepted and later spoke publicly about the experience. Along with fellow volunteers, Helen has provided a victim statement to the AFP regarding the brutal treatment of flotilla participants by the Israeli Occupation Force. More recently Helen was arrested and charged for publicly saying a banned phrase under Queensland’s contentious so called hate speech laws.
A mother and grandmother, Helen brings more than four decades of social work and crisis-support experience to her activism. She describes her advocacy as grounded in compassion, human rights, social justice and a determination to bear witness and speak out against injustice.
