Sri Lanka and Israel should get a room

Sri Lanka and Israel use terror in similar ways: the “war on terror” they’re both fighting causes nothing other than mass destruction and hatred. Some victory. The relationship is murky and ever-deepening. This headline is revealing: S.L. Govt. uses Israel to soften American pressure

Australian Jewish academics pray for peace (but urge no action)

The saga of holding Israel to account continues. Following the recent call for a campaign against apartheid Israel, played out in the media and online, comes this response by some of Australia’s best-known Jewish academics: We write in response to the two letters published in The Australian on Monday 21 September by Anthony Loewenstein and…

Sri Lanka attempts to talk about joy instead of death

I reported in February the Galle Literary Festival in Sri Lanka and its apparent attempt to white-wash or ignore completely the brutal civil war then taking place in the country. Now, as the government continues to imprison hundreds of thousands of Tamils, those wily cultural ambassadors are back at it: Sri Lanka will host the…

If a Rabbi can be a humanist, what about the rest of us?

American Rabbi Brant Rosen is an outspoken defender of Palestinian rights. Here he is in the Chicago Tribune this week on the occasion of Judaism’s holy day: On Sunday night, the Jewish community will begin our annual Yom Kippur fast. The physical deprivation is a crucial element of the day, but as with many faith…

True justice over Gaza won’t happen on its own

Last week America told the world that the UN Gaza report was terribly unfair to Israel and should essentially be ignored. This week, in yet another sign of Washington’s “seriousness” over Middle East peace, we have this: The United States called on its close ally Israel on Tuesday to conduct credible investigations into allegations of…

Of course Israel should attack Iran and soon

This is mainstream American news television, a discussion about how Iran should be bombed, when it should happen, if Israel should be assisted and if Israel should assassinate Iranian leaders to bring regime change. Can you imagine the outcry if Iranian television had the same kind of program, discussing the ways in which Israeli leaders…

The Palestinians should tell their 1948 story

A new book, Rosemarie M. Esber’s Under the Cover of War: The Zionist Expulsion of the Palestinians, presents 1948 history as it really happened as opposed to how Zionists would like to white-wash events: During this civil war period, Esber writes, “Zionist Jewish military organizations forced more than 400,000 Palestinian Arab inhabitants from their homes…

If Israel calls itself a democracy it has to act like one

Following my letter in last week’s Australian supporting the targeted boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Israel, Labor MP Michael Danby responds: Antony Loewenstein and Jake Lynch (The Australian, Letters blog, 22 September) criticise Philip Mendes and Nick Dyrenfurth for their opposition to the campaign for “boycott, disinvestment and sanctions” directed at Israel. But they…

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