Soldier Meir Ben-Shitrit has revealed himself as the main suspect in the infamous gang rape of Palestinians at the Sde Teiman detention facility. Rather than making him an outcast, his story has turned him into Israel’s latest media darling. Three weeks ago, the Israeli right-leaning Channel 14 aired a 10-minute interview with one of the Continue reading »
Israel / Palestine
After a record 111 days, students at the ANU Gaza Solidarity Encampment finally took down their tents on 17-18 August and began a new phase of activism. The Encampment was established on 29 April to put pressure on the Australian National University to disclose and divest from arms manufacturers (the ANU has at least $1 Continue reading »
Sometime in 2016 , soon after I’d joined the Northern Beaches Committee for Palestine, a group of us visited the then premier of New South Wales in his Manly electorate office. It would be safe to say that there weren’t many people on the Northern Beaches then who knew much about Palestine, or cared, but Continue reading »
It is primarily in the hands of Israelis to reject their settler colonial occupation, their apartheid laws, and their current government and nationalist parties. The alternative means the loss of their humanity. Since its creation in 1948, Israel has been embroiled in many wars with Palestinians and some Arab countries. Historically, these wars have sparked Continue reading »
Zionism has followed the twisted logic of a long line of modern ideologies that ended up committing mass murder. On the day when crime puts on the apparel of innocence, through a curious reversal peculiar to our age, it is innocence that is called on to justify itself … It is a question of finding Continue reading »
In June this year, Liberal MP Julian Leeser introduced a bill in Federal Parliament for a Commission of Inquiry into Anti-semitism at Australian Universities (2024). According to Leeser, the Australian Human Rights Commission, tasked by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with carrying out a general inquiry into racism, including anti-semitism, was unsuitable due to its support Continue reading »
These massacres bring us closer to the central questions that the inquiring mind might ask about the Gaza genocide. Every genocide is different from the one before. Organised extermination is their similarity, but no two genocides are the same. They are not unique except in themselves. In fact, history is in part a running sequence Continue reading »
The organisation Physicians for Human Rights Israel issued an urgent global appeal on 17 June on behalf of the children of Gaza, demanding “immediate and decisive action from the international community to prevent further loss of life and to address the dire and immediate needs of Gaza’s most vulnerable population”. The care and protection of children Continue reading »
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Stephen M Walt, Professor of International Relations at Harvard University, in “The Dangerous Decline in Israeli Strategy”, argues that Israel, the US and their supporters are wedded to long-honed, conspicuously bad policies. Continue reading »
Diplomacy is required, and examples such as South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission provide an example and an opportunity for all Israel and Palestine representatives to genuinely meet – to resolve this tragic situation and negotiate a fair and peaceful outcome. Continue reading »