“Freedom is never given. It must be taken.” (Ursula Le Guin) . You cannot be well in a home you stole. I was born, raised, and educated (or rather indoctrinated) in the state of Israel. Twenty-two years ago, a decade into my life in Australia, I began to wake up from the stupor of my Continue reading »
Religion and Faith
The Medical Association for Prevention of War renews its call of last week for the Australian government to express in the strongest possible terms that Australia supports the application of the rule of law impartially and in all circumstances, and explicitly condemns violations of it not only by Hamas but also by Israel in the Continue reading »
Your fear is our fear, your safety is our safety, your blood is our blood, our blood is your blood, make no mistake. When I see a Jewish mother crying for her loss, I feel with her. I want you to feel with the thousands of Palestinian mothers that have been crying for years and Continue reading »
As reported in the New York Times, US President Joe Biden has accepted the summons from his master and will be in Israel to physically manifest his full support for the further enhanced genocidal assault against the people of Gaza which Israel has publicly announced its intention to launch. Unless he has received prior assurances Continue reading »
Israel has spoken of “erasing Gaza”. Don’t turn away. Stop. And think about what that might mean. It is important for us to see what is happening here. The wider context must be understood to enable decisions to be made that are correct. And so, the wider context. This current crisis did not start on Continue reading »
Mainstream Western coverage of the recent Hamas foray into Israel and its aftermath has been marked by sensationalism, lack of historical context, and superficial moralising. The decision of Hamas to attack Israeli towns and villages can be fairly described as ethically indefensible and strategically senseless. Resistance against oppression is a right and a duty. The Continue reading »
This morning, I call to mind the Aboriginal woman who spoke at the end of a forum we held in Darwin on the Voice. She told us: ‘A lot of my people don’t understand all the law and politics about this Voice. All I know is that when they wake up on Sunday 15 October Continue reading »
There is a genocide happening on our watch. Can we rally from the brink of despair? I can usually rally myself back from the brink of despair at the state of our world. Not this time. We are in a worrying crisis of monumental moral bankruptcy. There is a genocide about to happen right under Continue reading »
The Bibi doctrine—his belief that he could control Hamas—compromised Israeli security and has now begat a bloody war. Decades ago I spent three years writing The Samson Option (1991), an exposé of the unstated policy of American presidents going back to Dwight Eisenhower to look the other way as Israel began the process of building Continue reading »
Behind all this lies Israeli arrogance; the idea that we can do whatever we like, that we’ll never pay the price and be punished for it. We’ll carry on undisturbed. We’ll arrest, kill, harass, dispossess and protect the settlers busy with their pogroms. We’ll visit Joseph’s Tomb, Othniel’s Tomb and Joshua’s Altar in the Palestinian Continue reading »