20 May 2025
Yes, it's a genocide
Building on Monday's piece outlining a shift in scholarly opinions on Palestine globally, we bring you a very powerful short video, narrated by Israeli professor of holocaust studies, Amos Goldberg. He says: A radical atmosphere of dehumanisation of Palestinians prevails in Israeli society to an extent that I cannot remember in my 58 years of living here.
20 May 2025
Husic is right – Albanese is too timid about the challenges ahead
Deposed Labor cabinet minister Ed Husic threw down the gauntlet to the Albanese Government last week when he challenged it to “burn through the timidity that has shackled us in the first term”.
20 May 2025
The US Supremes, not its critics, are trashing the rule of law
The American Chief Justice, John Roberts, has complained that judges are being trashed, and has warned that the rule of law is being endangered.
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
20 May 2025
Inaccessible, indifferent, out of touch? A vice-chancellor’s non-response
In times of age old professionalism, it was reasonable to make requests to leaders of powerful institutions and expect a reply, but in times unduly influenced by the alleged efficiency of managerialism, public interests and requests are too often ignored.
20 May 2025
Time for Catholic Bishops to speak up for Palestine
An open letter to Catholic Bishops. Please speak up.
20 May 2025
After the victory: Kelty’s warning and why it’s still not enough
The Labor Party has just secured a resounding second-term mandate – defying forecasts, media pessimism and internal doubts.
20 May 2025
Israel's new Gaza operation should be called 'Chariots of Genocide'
About 70 people from dawn to noon on Wednesday. Almost twice the number of those killed in the massacre at Kibbutz Nir Oz. Twenty-two of them were children, and 15 were women. The previous evening, 23 were killed in a hospital.
19 May 2025
Vale Ali Kazak
On Sunday afternoon, we received the very sad news that Ali Kazak has died in Thailand, en route to Palestine. An extraordinary campaigner and shaper of the Palestinian cause for all his almost 80 years, his loss will be sorely felt. Stuart Rees wrote this tribute to Ali for Pearls and Irritations last November. More will follow in coming days.
19 May 2025
Message from the editor
While most of the nation has reverted to paying little attention to federal politics, the town where I live (Canberra) has been soaking in it. Last week we witnessed three leadership contests (Greens, Nationals and Liberals) and one nasty stoush over the dumping of Cabinet ministers Ed Husic and Mark Dreyfus.
19 May 2025
Even once reluctant scholars now agree on Israel's Gaza assault: It's a genocide
Can I name someone whose work I respect who doesn't consider it genocide? said one researcher. No.
19 May 2025
Pope Leo XIV and some unfinished business
In its 2017 Final Report, the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse recommended changes to canon law, the most important of which was the abolition of the pontifical secret over child sexual abuse by clergy.
Latest on Palestine and Israel
20 May 2025
Yes, it's a genocide
Building on Monday's piece outlining a shift in scholarly opinions on Palestine globally, we bring you a very powerful short video, narrated by Israeli professor of holocaust studies, Amos Goldberg. He says: A radical atmosphere of dehumanisation of Palestinians prevails in Israeli society to an extent that I cannot remember in my 58 years of living here.
20 May 2025
Time for Catholic Bishops to speak up for Palestine
An open letter to Catholic Bishops. Please speak up.
20 May 2025
Israel's new Gaza operation should be called 'Chariots of Genocide'
About 70 people from dawn to noon on Wednesday. Almost twice the number of those killed in the massacre at Kibbutz Nir Oz. Twenty-two of them were children, and 15 were women. The previous evening, 23 were killed in a hospital.
19 May 2025
Vale Ali Kazak
On Sunday afternoon, we received the very sad news that Ali Kazak has died in Thailand, en route to Palestine. An extraordinary campaigner and shaper of the Palestinian cause for all his almost 80 years, his loss will be sorely felt. Stuart Rees wrote this tribute to Ali for Pearls and Irritations last November. More will follow in coming days.
19 May 2025
Even once reluctant scholars now agree on Israel's Gaza assault: It's a genocide
Can I name someone whose work I respect who doesn't consider it genocide? said one researcher. No.
17 May 2025
Judge orders release of Georgetown scholar Badar Khan Suri from ICE detention
My only 'crimes' making me a 'national security threat' are my marriage to a United States citizen of Palestinian origin and my support for the Palestinian cause, wrote Badar Khan Suri in an op-ed published on 13 May.
17 May 2025
Our humanity is lost under the rubble in Gaza
It is a Sunday evening, and I am shopping online. But there is a difference.
16 May 2025
Fear, censorship and repression are keeping Israelis in the dark about Gaza
The public's indifference to what Israel is doing in the Gaza Strip is not just the result of a lack of care, but the result of the war Israel is waging against the possibility of knowing.
Support our independent media with your donation
Pearls and Irritations leads the way in raising and analysing vital issues often neglected in mainstream media. Your contribution supports our independence and quality commentary on matters importance to Australia and our region.
DonateLatest on China
16 May 2025
China and renewable energy: Dawn of the Fourth Industrial Revolution
China’s deployment of renewable energy technologies is spectacular and globally dominant, but is not its primary focus.
13 May 2025
Trump’s USAID cuts only accelerate the West’s miserly convergence with China
Critics of the Trump administration’s assault on foreign aid warn that it will undermine the United States’ capacity to compete with China.
12 May 2025
Shell-shocked voters of US allies choose stability over disruption
Rather than left- or right-leaning political parties, citizens in Singapore, Australia and Canada chose steady hands to navigate geopolitical turbulence.
More from Pearls and Irritations
Latest letters to the editor
Is the law an ass?
Bob Beadman — Darwin
Thanks for the article on Ali Kazak
Rex Williams — Springwood
Equal opportunity dumping
Bob Pearce — Adelaide SA
Ex-PMs are not vanishing quickly enough
Bob Pearce — Adelaide SA