For Australian-German author and journalist Antony Loewenstein, Gaza was rarely a place to fear as a Jew. Living and working in East Jerusalem, before the war, he was a visitor to the Palestinian enclave, enjoying its seafood, its culture, its hospitality, and its people. “I thought it was important as a Jew, to say to Continue reading »
Israel / Palestine
The Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) is a constant presence in Australia’s mainstream media. Its predominant role is to defend the state of Israel come hell or high water. Whenever someone appears in the media criticising Israel and/or supporting the Palestinian cause, AIJAC personnel pop up to set the reader straight. AIJAC complains about Continue reading »
Keeping silent, while a genocide is in full swing for all to see, is not good for social cohesion. These days any expression of grief over the genocide in Gaza is regarded as a threat to social cohesion. Any expression of moral clarity is labelled antisemitic. A large number of us are expected to keep silent and Continue reading »
American elites are squandering the country’s global standing and political capital defending the indefensible with Israel’s genocidal war. When you not only defend but actively enable genocide and the mass murder of children, all norms and standards in human decency go out the window. That’s what’s happening to the ruling and media elites in the Continue reading »
“[T]here was the man in his 50s, forgotten in a room, having had both legs amputated. He had lost his kids, his grandkids, his home . . . and he’s alone in the corner of this dark hospital, maggots going out of his wounds and he was screaming: ‘The worms are eating me alive please Continue reading »
I sometimes see people expressing bafflement that the US would back a genocide in the middle east knowing that it will radicalise the region against them, mistakenly thinking this goes against US strategic goals. And I always want to say to them, uh, have you been asleep the last quarter century? Have you not seen Continue reading »
Jewish students in Western countries are increasingly facing forms of transnational repression from vigilante groups linked to the repressive Israeli state. These groups are allegedly using violence and intimidation on university campuses in coordinated strategies to curtail freedom of speech. The strategy utilised by the Zionist Establishment within Jewish communities and outside these communities, particularly, Continue reading »
Hundreds of thousands of people are being forced to flee, once again, after more than half of Gaza’s population took sanctuary in the border town of Rafah. This is part of Israel’s sadistic playbook. Run, the Israelis demand, run for your lives. Run from Rafah the way you ran from Gaza City, the way you Continue reading »
In another significant show of solidarity by the Australian legal profession, more than 700 Australian lawyers (including practising barristers and solicitors, legal academics and law students) have signed a further letter to the Australian Government calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. This follows a similar initiative six months ago. Link to the further letter Continue reading »