I’m down in Melbourne for a few days to launch My Israel Question tonight and speak tomorrow at Trades Hall and a large pro-Palestine rally in the centre of the city. So I opened the Age newspaper to find this embarrassingly parochial story on page one of the paper: John Howard was the man of…
Showing all posts in June 2019
Palestinian history threatens nobody except the weak
The fact that this is a serious story simply suggests how threatening the Palestinian narrative remains for the Jewish state: The Education Ministry will be reexamining a new Hebrew-language history textbook published by the Zalman Shazar Center that was approved for 11th- and 12th-grade classes. The textbook gives expression to the Palestinian perspective on the…
Avoiding Hamas just avoids making peace
Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to Fox News: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israel would never make peace with Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, a stand that could undermine peace negotiations in the region. In an interview with FOX News, Netanyahu said Gaza can’t be part of a peace deal while Hamas…
When apartheid grows, Israel has a little problem
Ambassador Edward S. Walker, Jr, former assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, former Ambassador to Israel, Egypt, and the U.A.E., and Deputy Permanent Representative of the U.S. to the U.N. with Ambassadorial Rank, writes about this week’s futile Obama/Netanyahu/Abbas meeting and ends with a question that nobody wants to seriously consider: Perhaps President…
HuffPost leaves serious questions in America when in Israel
Arianna Huffington lands in Israel and immediately pens a love letter to the wonderful state. Nauseating and utterly devoid of skepticism. What occupation? What Gaza war? I arrived in Tel Aviv, at the Ben Gurian Airport, at 6:30 Sunday evening and went straight to the Yoezer Wine bar, a charming restaurant in Jaffa, housed in…
America signs yet another deal to kiss Israel
On some days, such as today, I look at the Middle East “peace process” and wonder how any serious journalist can’t write about Israel and Palestine and not simply laugh (or cry). Talks, meeting, summits, statements of intent and yet the occupation only grows. A farce allowed to continue by either blind Zionists or bought…
Jewish angst over colonies is utterly unappealing
Chaim Gans, author of A Just Zionism: On the Morality of the Jewish State, continues the grand Zionist tradition of endlessly debating the “rights” and wrongs of the occupation and the pain of the Right that believes God gave the land to the Jews. Such circular and futile discussions have been going on for decades…
Lone voices in Iran will be heard
Human rights abuses in Iran, especially since the disputed June election, are growing by the day. Here’s just one way that the internet is spreading the information to the world, away from government thugs: Following controversial elections in Iran, Ibrahim Sharifi joined the popular street protests. After being tracked down by Iran’s security forces, he…
Do Americans have to speak the language to colonise?
Care to wonder why Washington’s message to the world is often so contradictory, hypocritical and clueless? Look no further: About a third of Foreign Service officers in jobs that require language skills don’t have the proficiency required to do their jobs, hurting America’s ability to advocate its interests around the world, according to a new…
The awakening of the mainstream journalist in Jerusalem
Jason Koutsoukis, Middle East correspondent for the Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age, has published an important piece online today, singularly challenging the myth that Israel is a victim in the Middle East: Forgive me for being confused, but exactly what are the clear and present dangers facing the State of Israel? … The more…