Following my article in last week’s Canberra Times, I’m informed by reliable sources at the paper that Jewish academic Dvir Abramovich demanded a right of reply because I had “unfairly libeled… Israelis as extremists.” Yesterday his piece was published and it’s a masterful piece of saying nothing in 800 words. Empty words and slogans, two equal…
Showing all posts tagged Zionism
Jews who refuse to abuse Arabs under occupation
I wrote in December last year about the Shministim, Israeli high school students who have been imprisoned for refusing to serve in an army that occupies the Palestinian Territories. I met some of these brave men and women during my recent visit to Israel. Now, they’re taking this message to key ground, the US: Two…
What the Gaza war has done to Israel’s image
The fallout from the UN report on Gaza continues. Two pieces have particularly caught my eye. Here’s Norman Finkelstein on Democracy Now!: Well, the report is the last in a large number of reports that have been issued on the Gaza massacre. There were two significant reports issued by Amnesty International, five reports issued by…
Rapping Gazan stories in detail
I spent time in Gaza with Palestinian hip-hoppers Darg Team, an energetic group desperate to rap their stories to the world. The art is only growing: In a backstreet open-air cafe in Gaza late at night, Khaled Harara from the Black Unit Band starts to talk about rap. A phone call interrupts him. “Oh my…
Zionist impunity may be coming to an end
What was once on the fringes is now gaining serious momentum: British union leaders were locked in talks last night over whether to recommend to their delegates a boycott of all consumer goods produced in Israel. Members of the TUC have condemned Israel’s military strikes on Gaza in January, which left 1,450 Palestinians dead and…
Justified pressure on Israel grows by the day
History is turning: This weekend at the eighth annual US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation national organizers’ conference held in Chicago, delegates from the approximately 300 member groups that make up the US Campaign voted in favor of an academic and cultural boycott of Israel. The vote came on the heels of a presentation…
Palestinian American uses the right language to describe Israel
The Melbourne Age reports on an important visitor to our shores (who I will be introducing in Sydney next week): Visiting Palestinian-American academic Professor Saree Makdisi said last night that Israel was an apartheid state that was more extreme in its policy against Palestinians than South Africa had been against its black population. Under the…
The Tamil struggle in the face of Israeli-backed attack
No wonder Israel and the Palestinian Authority are backing Sri Lanka. This British eyewitness, who worked in the hospitals during the recent war helping the countless victims of government attack, talks about hell on earth. Israel and Sri Lanka share one key tactic: keep any independent media out of the conflict zone and humiliate and…
Thank you Toronto for allowing Palestine to remain in the news
Following the legitimate outrage over the Toronto International Film Festival presenting Tel Aviv as a model of cultural and ethnic harmony (hello occupation down the road), the key issues are being raised day after day in the media, a positive thing: Natalie Portman, Sacha Baron Cohen, Lisa Kudrow and Jerry Seinfeld were among dozens of…
Why J Street may just be having the right effect (sometimes)
It’s clear that J Street is seriously upsetting the Zionist establishment. Jewish Diaspora leaders who publicly criticise Israeli government policy are both necessary and morally important. Last night during a talk at Sydney University I challenged a senior Jewish lecturer who expressed pain about the West Bank settlements to actually try and do something about…