The war in Afghanistan is an unmitigated disaster. It deeply shames me as an Australian that we have trooops in the country contributing to the carnage. Pull out now. The Guardian published on the weekend a moving essay about the effects of last week’s NATO missile attack in Kunduz. The stories of civilian suffering is…
Showing all posts tagged Australia
Please keep changing the topic and don’t talk about Palestine
Following the speech in parliament by Labor MP Michael Danby against the supposed evils of Israel criticism (and Crikey’s Guy Rundle in response), today’s Crikey publishes these letters: Michael Danby, the Federal Member for Melbourne Ports, writes: Re. “Rundle: No wonder Danby is pissed off” (Monday, item 12). Eric Beecher, the owner of Crikey has…
When Zionists start feeling the argument is lost
Following Michael Danby MP’s outburst in parliament last week – against those evil types who dare criticise Israel – Middle East Reality Check unearths a gem from the man’s past (1977, to be precise): Michael Danby, a student at Melbourne University, is a leader of the Zionist movement there. He regularly writes a column in…
SBS Arabic radio on My Israel Question
I was interviewed this week on SBS Radio Arabic about my book My Israel Question, my observations of Gaza and the West Bank and the prospects of peace under Barack Obama (hint: not high):
Jew cries into the wildnerness to defend beloved Israeli violence
The life and times of Labor MP Michael Danby would be almost comical if it weren’t so tragic. He’s been yelping for years against yours truly for supposed anti-Semitism and beating up on poor old Israel. Suffice to say, he’s been about as effective as George W. Bush’s pronunciation but I’m very glad he continues…
For this Jew, boycotting Israel is a bridge too far
Following my article in Crikey yesterday, David Imber responds today (under the headline: “This time Loewenstein, you went too far”): As a Jew who is used to reading controversial pieces about Israel (and as someone who was friends with him at uni) I have been content to let the views of Antony Loewenstein go through…
Drop rose-coloured views to lift Gaza peace hopes
My following article appears in today’s Canberra Times newspaper: Hussam Abuayish lives in Gaza’s Johrel-Deik district near the Israeli border. With yellow teeth and nervous demeanour, the 24-year-old told me in July of an Israeli missile that landed near his family home a month before. His sister died and he remains in pain because of…
One state, two state”¦who cares so long as there’s a solution?
My following article appears in today’s Crikey: US President Barack Obama has consistently stated that he imagines a two state solution in the Middle East, with viable Jewish and Palestinian nations alongside each other. Israel, in a clear sign of who runs the show, announced last week that it intended to continue building colonies in…
The rogue nation near our shores
With Sri Lanka dealing with dissent as robustly as its head teacher, Israel, this letter in today’s Melbourne Age perfectly captures the necessary sentiments: With the Sri Lankan military having recently perpetrated what Noam Chomsky has called a ”Rwanda-like atrocity” against its Tamil minority; with 300,000 Tamil civilians confined in concentration camps; with the sudden…
Dissident Jews should really just be shot
The following letter appears in this week’s Australian Jewish News: One of the revelations of the Jewish Population Survey was that 80 per cent of Jews support Israel. As editorialised in The AJN, this debunks the “absurd notion pushed by the likes of Antony Loewenstein and Jews Against the Occupation that there is a large…