The following newsletter was just sent to the Independent Australian Jewish Voices… email list: Hi all, There are a number of IAJV-sponsored and related events coming up that we would like you to know about. The first event begins in Sydney this weekend; it features Sahar Vardi and Micha Kurz, two Israeli activists and former IDF…
Showing all posts tagged Gaza
“After Zionism” events hit London
I’ll soon be speaking at two major events in London for my just released book, After Zionism. 21 August at the Frontline Club: With a new coalition formed in Israel, a prospective reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah and a new leader in Egypt it could be said the century-long Israeli–Palestinian conflict is entering a new…
Trouble in hasbara paradise
When senior British spokespeople are starting to speak out against the Jewish state, things are clearly getting desperate. The Guardian reports: The British ambassador to… Israel… has said international support for the Jewish state among those in the political mainstream is eroding, driven by settlement expansion in the West Bank and continued restrictions on Gaza. There is…
What Gazan women are facing
It ain’t pretty. Years of isolation, the Israeli siege, Hamas and growing Islamic fundamentalism. The Guardian reports: It is five years since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip and Israel tightened its siege of the territory. Many men became jobless overnight and it is women who have ended up bearing the brunt of their…
Israeli export: lessons in isolation
The Jerusalem Post reports on the latest lessons the Zionist state are giving the world. What inspiration: A growing number of countries are flocking to Israel to study border security as the Defense Ministry works to complete the construction of a physical and technological barrier along the Egyptian border. In August, a delegation from India…
Finally, maybe, siege on Gaza coming to an end?
Ma’an reports: Egypt will follow a new policy on the Rafah crossing between it and the Gaza Strip, and the people of Gaza will experience changes in travel procedures and times, says prime minister of the Hamas-run government in the Gaza Strip Ismail Haniyeh. Speaking to the Gaza-based Hamas-affiliated Palestine newspaper following a meeting with…
Why the Max Brenner case in Australia is victory for free speech over Palestine
A farcical case against activists who dared protest an Israeli company that backs the IDF. A Zionist community that remains in denial and believes they have the right, with politicians and many pundits, to silence serious public opposition to Israel. Even yesterday, the Israel lobby remained in denial, an authoritarian streak alive and well. A…
My 2012 PEN Free Voices lecture on free speech and why it matters
The following is published today as the lead piece by ABC’s The Drum: The two-hour drive from Islamabad to Peshawar is along a surprisingly smooth road. Mud-brick homes sit amongst lush, green fields. Police checkpoints are set up routinely to stop unwanted visitors. I am asked why I want to see the troubled Pakistani town…
Thank God for Tony Blair helping transport sweaters from Gaza
Amira Hass in Haaretz: Senior British diplomats invested supreme efforts in the past year so that one truck could transfer 2,000 sweaters, to be sold in the United Kingdom. The future wearers of these sweaters must, first of all, thank their former prime minister, Tony Blair, who this week will be marking the fifth anniversary…