Israeli Knesset hosts conference on plan to 'Occupy Gaza' and 'Relocate Gazans'
Stephen Prager

Israeli Knesset hosts conference on plan to 'Occupy Gaza' and 'Relocate Gazans'

There is a purpose to this war, and it’s a criminal one, wrote Israeli journalist Gideon Levy in Haaretz this past weekend.

Message from the Editor
Catriona Jackson

Message from the Editor

This week the news from Gaza has been so gut-wrenchingly awful that it is tempting to turn away. To stop reading. To stop looking.

An Australian pathway to productivity, resilience and budget sustainability
Glenn Withers

An Australian pathway to productivity, resilience and budget sustainability

The wisdom of serious reform:  The forthcoming August 2025 Government Roundtable seeks a better future for all Australians. And, indeed, our society has well-known and well documented lists of policies that can reliably deliver on that desired outcome.

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Australia urged to investigate Australians in Israeli forces for Gaza war crimes
Rateb Jneid

Australia urged to investigate Australians in Israeli forces for Gaza war crimes

The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC) has welcomed recent developments in Belgium, where Israeli soldiers were questioned under universal jurisdiction for alleged war crimes in Gaza, and similar legal actions reported in Canada, Brazil, Serbia, Thailand, and the Netherlands.

What about the RAAF in the AUKUS equation
Robert Macklin

What about the RAAF in the AUKUS equation

All the commentary about AUKUS is predicated on some kind of conflict with China over Taiwan. That is foolishness personified. But there is another factor that is even more bewildering. Both sides of the argument appear to have forgotten the existence of the RAAF.

To resist injustice in Gaza and the wider world
Charles Glass

Review

To resist injustice in Gaza and the wider world

Egyptian-born Omar El Akkad had studied in the United States and been 10 years a journalist when, in the summer of 2021, he became an American citizen. Covering the War on Terror in Afghanistan and at the U.S. detention centre in Guantanamo Bay exposed him to the “deep ugly cracks in the bedrock of this thing they called “the free world.” Yet he believed the cracks could be repaired – “Until the fall of 2023. Until the slaughter.”

Gender politics and right-wing politics clash in South Korea
Mandy Chan

Gender politics and right-wing politics clash in South Korea

South Korea’s gender divide has become a flashpoint in its democratic evolution. Amid economic stagnation and rising disillusionment, young men increasingly view feminist policies as threats to fairness, fuelling anti-feminist populism. Yet the roots of this divide run deeper — into the Confucian familism embedded in welfare structures, selective workplace norms, and a military culture that reinforces hegemonic masculinity. While women face structural inequalities, young men confront shifting expectations that clash with traditional roles.

Francesca Albanese’s bravery merits the Nobel prize
Daniel Falcone,  Richard Falk

Francesca Albanese’s bravery merits the Nobel prize

Richard Falk, international law scholar and former UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Since 1967, talks about the July 2025 U.S. sanctions imposed on current Rapporteur Francesca Albanese. Well known for her criticism of Israel’s Gaza offensive and her classification of genocide which now includes wilful mass starvation, Albanese has become the most embattled Special Rapporteur to date. Falk himself was no stranger to such pressures during his own 2008-2014 tenure.

We have turned the Nagasaki 80th into a celebration of Israeli genocide
Eugene Doyle

We have turned the Nagasaki 80th into a celebration of Israeli genocide

Israel’s key enablers, the G7, plus Australia and New Zealand, have succeeded in muscling Israel back onto the invite list for the commemorations in Nagasaki on 9 August. Last year Israel was excluded, triggering a refusal by these countries to attend in 2024. Does the ‘personal’ invitation that Nagasaki has just sent to Israel represent a triumph of Western diplomacy or a sick joke?

How’s my lippy? Polishing up impression management and memes
Robbie Lloyd

How’s my lippy? Polishing up impression management and memes

Nearly half a century ago Neville Wran, the gravel voiced powerbroking NSW Labor Premier from 1976-86, perfected the art of orchestrating TV press conferences. If a pesky journalist shoved a microphone in his face and asked a difficult question, Wran would just turn away from the offending mike and camera, using his eyes to invite someone else to ask their question. No sound, no visual, no story. Pretty Nifty indeed.

The disgrace of deliberate starvation: Israel's war of hunger in Gaza
Gideon Levy

The disgrace of deliberate starvation: Israel's war of hunger in Gaza

Israel's plan for the ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip is proceeding apace, maybe even better than expected. In addition to significant achievements in systematic killing and destruction already chalked up, the last few days have seen one more critical achievement: the deliberate starvation has started to yield results.

Latest on Palestine and Israel

Israeli Knesset hosts conference on plan to 'Occupy Gaza' and 'Relocate Gazans'
Stephen Prager

Israeli Knesset hosts conference on plan to 'Occupy Gaza' and 'Relocate Gazans'

There is a purpose to this war, and it’s a criminal one, wrote Israeli journalist Gideon Levy in Haaretz this past weekend.

Australia urged to investigate Australians in Israeli forces for Gaza war crimes
Rateb Jneid

Australia urged to investigate Australians in Israeli forces for Gaza war crimes

The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC) has welcomed recent developments in Belgium, where Israeli soldiers were questioned under universal jurisdiction for alleged war crimes in Gaza, and similar legal actions reported in Canada, Brazil, Serbia, Thailand, and the Netherlands.

To resist injustice in Gaza and the wider world
Charles Glass

Review

To resist injustice in Gaza and the wider world

Egyptian-born Omar El Akkad had studied in the United States and been 10 years a journalist when, in the summer of 2021, he became an American citizen. Covering the War on Terror in Afghanistan and at the U.S. detention centre in Guantanamo Bay exposed him to the “deep ugly cracks in the bedrock of this thing they called “the free world.” Yet he believed the cracks could be repaired – “Until the fall of 2023. Until the slaughter.”

Francesca Albanese’s bravery merits the Nobel prize
Daniel Falcone,  Richard Falk

Francesca Albanese’s bravery merits the Nobel prize

Richard Falk, international law scholar and former UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Since 1967, talks about the July 2025 U.S. sanctions imposed on current Rapporteur Francesca Albanese. Well known for her criticism of Israel’s Gaza offensive and her classification of genocide which now includes wilful mass starvation, Albanese has become the most embattled Special Rapporteur to date. Falk himself was no stranger to such pressures during his own 2008-2014 tenure.

The disgrace of deliberate starvation: Israel's war of hunger in Gaza
Gideon Levy

The disgrace of deliberate starvation: Israel's war of hunger in Gaza

Israel's plan for the ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip is proceeding apace, maybe even better than expected. In addition to significant achievements in systematic killing and destruction already chalked up, the last few days have seen one more critical achievement: the deliberate starvation has started to yield results.

Defining antisemitism and bringing the killing to an end
Frank Brennan

Defining antisemitism and bringing the killing to an end

In a homily delivered last Sunday Frank Brennan said the best way to counter antisemitism is by extending hospitality to the stranger and to all work to end the killing.

Israel has succeeded in starvation, and the global moral edifice has collapsed sharply
Refaat Ibrahim

Israel has succeeded in starvation, and the global moral edifice has collapsed sharply

I step out of my tent every morning, burdened with exhaustion, drenched in sorrow, searching for anything I might be able to buy for my family, a family worn down by hunger. Their bodies are too weak to move. Their faces have turned pale, drained of all signs of life. For two months, not a single grain of flour has entered our tent. My children still go to sleep every night with empty stomachs and unbearable pain.

Former UN Aid chief calls Gaza genocide 'Worst crime of the 21st century'
Brett Wilkins

Former UN Aid chief calls Gaza genocide 'Worst crime of the 21st century'

I am absolutely convinced that what's going on in Gaza is a genocide, because the thing speaks for itself, said Martin Griffiths.

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

The future of surveillance tech is already here – in the US, not China
Alex Lo

The future of surveillance tech is already here – in the US, not China

Chinese citizens enjoy public safety in exchange for compromised privacy. In the United States, people are facing an increasingly unchecked state.

National security 'experts' go ga-ga over China
Gregory Clark

National security 'experts' go ga-ga over China

There was a time when Australian writings on China were first-class.

Albanese’s China trip shows ‘stiffening of Canberra’s spine’ in face of US pressure
Laura Zhou

Albanese’s China trip shows ‘stiffening of Canberra’s spine’ in face of US pressure

Beijing rolled out the red carpet for the Australian leader this week and the two sides appeared to keep a lid on tensions.

John Menadue

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Defining antisemitism and bringing the killing to an end
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Latest letters to the editor

A REAL nomination for the Nobel-Kishore Mahubhani

Les Macdonald — Balmain NSW 2041

Great quote in this article from a man I greatly admire for his integrity, intelligence, compassion and geo-political understanding. Mahubhani represents the best aspects of a universalism and inclusivity that is entirely absent from those who pose as the foreign policy elites of the dying west. Whilst we promote our western values ceaselessly around the planet, we fail almost universally to actually live up to those supposed values. We only apply them to the often fabricated atrocities attributed to the behaviour of those we look down upon as lesser civilisations, whilst blithely ignoring our far greater capacity and willingness to...
Neo-cons know their world is dying

Les Macdonald — Balmain NSW 2041

The western neo-cons shouting into the void reflect their futility and anger at the dying of their largely white Anglo-Saxon hegemony over the world. Intellectually unequipped to deal with the newly emerging multi-polar world that rightly sees them as infantile examples of humanity senselessly throwing their toys out of their cots, they fulminate furiously their prevarications and delusional mendacities. The problem for them is that the world has moved on past their conventional wisdoms, spread as they overwhelmingly are in the dying legacy media space that they thought would enable them to control the public mind on a permanent basis....
Antisemitism should apply to 400 million Semites

Les Macdonald — Balmain NSW 2041

This is up to Robert's usual high standard, but even it never mentions the other 400 million semites and their rights. The cleverly constructed identification of antisemitism with only antijewism for over one hundred years enables us all to sympathise with only a tiny proportion of Semites, who are daily slaughtering many of the other Semites. This is no small matter as those other Semites, all 400 million of them, are the principal targets of the Jewish state. We in the West are prone to adopt simplistic notions that suit our prejudices and often use them to shape our view...
A better use of our taxes

Bob Pearce — Adelaide SA

As far as the United Nations is concerned I have come to the conclusion that it is a very expensive retirement home for politicians and public servants - a reward for services rendered - and when it really counts ineffective. Sound a bit like parliaments in general. There have been too many examples of vetos by the major players based on other left/right alliances, unarmed UN peacekeeping forces standing helplessly by and climate inaction and ineffectiveness . The League of Nations reached its use-by date between the wars and the UN is long past its use-by date. The new body...

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Arts 120 China 1157 Climate 1362 Commendations 19 Defence 2423 Economy 2729 Education 683
Employment 34 Finance 2 Health 1497 History 47 Immigration 951 Indigenous Affairs 377 Israel Palestine 1159
Media 1778 Podcast 43 Policy 172 Politics 17558 Racism 16 Religion 1219 Review 19
The Human Future 49 Our Top Five Each Week 2059 USA 477 World 1267

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