Speaking out from within: Jewish voices confront Israeli aggression
Raghid Nahhas

Speaking out from within: Jewish voices confront Israeli aggression

As Israel's military campaign in Gaza reaches unprecedented levels of destruction, a global wave of protest has emerged.

Now is the time for humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza
Mara Kronenfeld

Now is the time for humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza

Israel recently launched a brutal new offensive in Gaza, followed by an expanded ground offensive, killing and injuring thousands of beleaguered Palestinians.

The FICAC Commission of Inquiry fiasco in Fiji
Jon Fraenkel

The FICAC Commission of Inquiry fiasco in Fiji

What started out as a trivial story barely worthy of public attention has grown into a full-blown crisis for the Sitiveni Rabuka-led government in Fiji.


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The United States must not be part of Israel's unlawful war on Iran
Bernie Sanders

The United States must not be part of Israel's unlawful war on Iran

The US Constitution is crystal clear: there can be no offensive use of military force — against Iran or any other country — without an explicit authorisation from Congress. No such authorisation exists, and any US involvement would, therefore, be illegal.

Strategic security partnerships in the region
Stephen Kentwell

Strategic security partnerships in the region

In reading analyses of how we can develop the seemingly logical argument by Paul Keating and others that Australia should be seeking its security in Asia rather than from Asia, the issue of official and personal contact in building such ties always seems to be neglected.

Patrick Lawrence: World’s most dangerous man and his enabler
Patrick Lawrence

Patrick Lawrence: World’s most dangerous man and his enabler

Netanyahu has craved this war with Iran for decades, always justifying his psychotic lust by way of endless lies and an apparently bottomless paranoia.

Australian net-zero projects to be rated to prevent greenwashing
Jennifer Dudley-Nicholson

Australian net-zero projects to be rated to prevent greenwashing

Environmental projects will be analysed and rated in Australia in a move experts say could prevent greenwashing and encourage international investments.

Job and the point of a good life
David O'Halloran

Job and the point of a good life

Job is not a manual for how to live well. It’s a reflection on why one would want to.

People of Pacific Rim say 'no' to US-China war
Bevan Ramsden

People of Pacific Rim say 'no' to US-China war

The Pacific and Pacific Rim countries have a geographical commonality. They are encircled by, or have a border with, the vast, blue, peaceful Pacific Ocean.

The hazards of Albanese's 'progressive patriotism'
Patrick Gourley

The hazards of Albanese's 'progressive patriotism'

John Menadue is absolutely right to point to regrettable omissions in Prime Minister Albanese’s 10 June speech at the National Press Club – its failure to say anything about reinvigorating a needy Australian democracy.

Latest on Palestine and Israel

Speaking out from within: Jewish voices confront Israeli aggression
Raghid Nahhas

Speaking out from within: Jewish voices confront Israeli aggression

As Israel's military campaign in Gaza reaches unprecedented levels of destruction, a global wave of protest has emerged.

Now is the time for humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza
Mara Kronenfeld

Now is the time for humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza

Israel recently launched a brutal new offensive in Gaza, followed by an expanded ground offensive, killing and injuring thousands of beleaguered Palestinians.

Stop Netanyahu before he gets us all killed
Jeffrey D. Sachs,  Sybil Fares

Stop Netanyahu before he gets us all killed

We could soon see several nuclear powers pitted against each other and dragging the world closer to nuclear annihilation.

Imposing meaningful sanctions against Israel is not difficult
Margaret Cassar

Imposing meaningful sanctions against Israel is not difficult

For decades, the Israeli Government has revealed itself impervious to pressure from international bodies like the United Nations and the International Criminal Court of Justice.

Why targeted measures on Israeli officials won’t stop the war in Gaza
Raghid Nahhas

Why targeted measures on Israeli officials won’t stop the war in Gaza

On 14 June 2025, five Western nations — Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Norway, and the United Kingdom — jointly imposed sanctions on two senior Israeli ministers: Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.

Australian society and the conflict for Palestine
Bob Bowker

Australian society and the conflict for Palestine

Australia’s symbolic actions on Palestine may not change the course of the conflict, but they matter deeply at home.

Sanctioning Ben-Gvir and Smotrich is but a tiny, sad step in ending the Gaza massacre
Gideon Levy

Sanctioning Ben-Gvir and Smotrich is but a tiny, sad step in ending the Gaza massacre

Alas and alack! Woe be unto us, for we have sinned: Five countries have imposed sanctions on Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. The war in Gaza will now stop immediately, and maybe the occupation, too, certainly the apartheid.

A naval force to escort humanitarian aid is an act of peace
Stuart Rees

A naval force to escort humanitarian aid is an act of peace

In honour of a brave Gazan fisherwoman Madleen Kulab, the international aid boat of the same name was turned back to an Israeli port.


John Menadue's book on Israel's war against Gaza

Israel's war against Gaza

Media coverage of the war in Gaza since October 2023 has spread a series of lies propagated by Israel and the United States. This publication presents information, analysis, clarification, views and perspectives largely unavailable in mainstream media in Australia and elsewhere.

Download the PDF

Latest on China

People of Pacific Rim say 'no' to US-China war
Bevan Ramsden

People of Pacific Rim say 'no' to US-China war

The Pacific and Pacific Rim countries have a geographical commonality. They are encircled by, or have a border with, the vast, blue, peaceful Pacific Ocean.

Australia’s defence and intelligence agencies are US outposts
Richard Broinowski

Australia’s defence and intelligence agencies are US outposts

More than ever, Australia should have the objective capacity to determine its own defence and intelligence requirements, instead of being heavily influenced by American interests and perspective.

China is increasingly present in US Latin American backyard
John Queripel

China is increasingly present in US Latin American backyard

From the time when US President James Monroe announced what has become known as the Monroe Doctrine in 1823, warning European states to stay out of the hemisphere, the US has considered Latin America to be its backyard.


John Menadue

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More from Pearls and Irritations


Latest letters to the editor

Progressive patriotism and vision

Wes Mason — Gisborne

Regardless of the efficacy of Albanese's stated positions at the NPC, I agree with John Menadue. But Patrick Gourley noted something in his article about the weasel words and waffle that has now become a staple of political oratory on both sides of politics. While Dutton's speech and delivery was completely boring and moribund, the PM's speech was laced with this rubbish. I'm sick of hearing politicians and others talk about actively responding or actively listening. Sorry, but what the hell does that mean? Is it assuring the targeted audience that they are not inertly listening or inactively doing...
Prescient speech by Tulsi Gabbard

Geoff Taylor — Perth

Sachs and Fares sound a timely warning. US director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, has just sounded a timely warning too. Nothing “bizarre” about it, as some media would have it. She said, “I recently visited Hiroshima in Japan and stood at the epicentre of a city that remains scarred by the unimaginable horror caused by a single nuclear bomb dropped in 1945, 80 years ago. Yet this one bomb that caused so much destruction in Hiroshima was tiny compared to today's nuclear bombs. As we stand here today closer to the brink of nuclear annihilation than ever...
Cometh the moment, cometh the man

Bob Pearce — Adelaide SA

Is it at all possible that Anthony Albanese is just the leader we need?  The steady-as-we-go quiet achiever that we need. I hope so, because the alternative is unthinkable.
John Tons, it's not 'problems' that are wicked

Stephen Saunders — O'Connor

Like “free markets” and “artificial intelligence”, problems themselves aren't living human beings, they can’t be “wicked”. That would be ministers and mandarins. Dr Kennedy got the top PM&C job by dueting with Dr Chalmers. Singing the Langton Crescent ballad of “net zero, budget repair, inflation fighting, million jobs, rising wages”, while delivering their million-plus migrants, carefree expansion in non-market jobs, and declining living standards for punters. A South Seas island with stable government, endless energy resources, and easily managed borders, ought to have low power prices, reasonably affordable housing, and negligible population-pressures. It amuses the elite to inflict...



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