Stuart Rees
Stuart Rees AM is Professor Emeritus at the University of Sydney & recipient of the Jerusalem (Al Quds) Peace Prize.
Stuart's articles (252 total)
Campus free speech on Palestine was the real casualty
A people’s tribunal has found that Australian universities restricted free speech and academic freedom on Palestine, even as vice chancellors apologised for not doing more to police protest.
Sometimes breaking a promise is the moral choice
Labor’s shift on capital gains tax and negative gearing should be judged by whether it makes the tax system fairer, not by a hypocritical “liar” campaign that treats every broken promise as a moral crime.
Challenging governments’ indifference to international law
A public forum organised by Australians for Humanity brought together legal, political and human rights experts to examine why international law must be upheld consistently – from Gaza to Australia.
The language of war is built on lies
The language used by Trump and Netanyahu turns violence into virtue, framing war as moral, necessary and inevitable while masking its human cost.
Randa Abdel-Fattah wins Jerusalem Peace Prize
Randa Abdel-Fattah has been awarded the 2026 Jerusalem Peace Prize, recognising her advocacy for Palestinian rights amid mounting political and institutional pressure.
Australia’s politics of consensus is stifling dissent and compassion
Governments sustain power by repeating stories about themselves. In Australia’s federal parliament, a narrow political consensus – marked by conformity, cruelty and evasion – is weakening democratic debate and eroding the principles of human rights and international law.
No Plan B: Trump’s Gaza plan sidelines justice and law
Donald Trump’s so-called Peace Board for Gaza promises reconstruction but delivers domination. With Palestinians excluded and international law sidelined, the plan exposes the urgent need for a credible alternative grounded in justice, accountability and self-determination.
Cowardice dressed up as authority on Sydney’s streets
The violence surrounding protests against the visit of Israel’s president was not an accident of crowd control. It reflects a deeper political failure – where authority suppresses dissent rather than confronting uncomfortable truths about Gaza, protest rights and democratic responsibility.
Herzog’s visit "a terrible cruelty"
For Palestinian Australians who have lost entire families in Gaza, the decision to welcome Israel’s president to Australia is not diplomatic neutrality but an act of profound cruelty. As deaths continue despite a ceasefire, questions of grief, justice and political accountability can no longer be avoided.
Trump’s 'Peace Board' is imperialism in a new suit
Trump’s proposed “Board of Peace” is framed as a peace initiative, but it centralises authority, sidelines the vulnerable and rewards coercion. Australia should reject it rather than lend it legitimacy.
‘Australians for Humanity’ demand the invitation to Israel’s President be withdrawn immediately
The Israel President cannot be welcomed in Australia. The government he represents has been found by the International Court of Justice to have breached international law: the Netanyahu regime has committed a range of international crimes against humanity including war crimes, apartheid, illegal occupation and ethnic cleansing.
Australia’s Christmas double standards on Palestine
As Palestinians face another winter of displacement and bombardment, Australia celebrates Christmas while ignoring its own obligations under international law. If recognition of Palestine is to mean anything, the government must act – not look away.
BBC and ABC targeted by conservative critics for the wrong reasons
Right-wing critics attack the ABC and BBC, but the real media bias is in ignoring Palestinian voices and defending power.
Defending the BBC
Legal threats against the BBC over an edited interview highlight that an independent, taxpayer-funded, public broadcaster is anathema to Trump and his administration.
Palestine’s future: Australians are outraged
At an Australia-wide webinar on 31 October, David Spratt paid tribute to the late Ali Kazak, Palestine’s first ambassador to Australia.
The future of Palestine: What Australia must do
Responding to continuing slaughter in Gaza is a test of Australian politicians and the government’s courage.
A century of deceit: Towards a new understanding of the colonisation of Palestine
Political and media commentary on the Hamas killings of October 2023 have been preoccupied with claims that these were not only the worst terrorists but that their actions were without precedent.
Recognising Palestine a long overdue act of courage
At the UN this week, in a long overdue act of courage, the Australian Government has recognised the State of Palestine.
Death or displacement, ‘Please no more polite language about the Netanyahu evil’
Gazans experiencing 688 days of bombing and killing now face Netanyahu’s latest final solution the destruction of Gaza City and displacement of the surviving population.
Redefining Hamas, pleading for a peace force
In conflicts, unless perception of opponents is re-defined, claims as to who is worthy, who unworthy are repeated and resolution remains elusive.
Gaza: Options for urgent action put to parliamentarians
Organising to meet a considerable number of federal parliamentarians in Canberra during a sitting week is never easy but that was the goal of Australians for Humanity desperate for new ways for Australia to contribute to urgent humanitarian action in Gaza.
Appeal to Parliamentarians: Resist Israel/US thuggery, be advocates for peace
As though infected by a chronic illness, news of unending death and destruction in Gaza and on the West Bank leaves millions feeling frustrated, angry, despairing and powerless.
Spare more than a thought for Iran’s protesters
Members of the National Council of Resistance of Iran ask the world to take notice of impressively brave protests against a cruel and repressive Iranian regime.
Suggesting a Nobel for Trump is a Netanyahu obscenity
Intent on stroking one another’s outsize egos, two thugs in the White House smirk at the latest ingratiation-beyond-belief feature of their alliance.
Courage needs to be shown in politics – Israel is no longer above the law
In the past weeks, an estimated 500 more Gazans have been killed, bombed out of existence by the IDF or killed while queuing for food.
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.
A sign of hope: UN High Commissioner Navi Pillay to receive 2025 Sydney Peace Prize
The Sydney Prize jury has announced the choice of UN High Commissioner Judge Navi Pillay as the recipient of the 2025 Sydney Peace Prize. The jury’s rationale and citation reads, Navi Pillay, for a lifetime of advocating for accountability and responsibility in the face of crimes against humanity.
Whether due to indifference or disinterest, the media colludes with Gaza genocide
Clearly, the Australian media has little interest in reporting on any local reaction to the catastrophe in Gaza.
Millions want intervention to stop Israeli slaughter of Palestinians
Across Australia, around the globe, millions of people have been outraged by Israeli slaughter in Gaza and on the West Bank, their outrage compounded by despair that Israel has been given a blank cheque to ignore international law, to do what it likes.
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.
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.
P&I authors expose Israeli atrocities, but with what effect?
In his emotional victory speech after winning the 3 May election, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese referred to Australian values such as kindness, and Foreign Minister Penny Wong described him as a man of compassion.
Silence is no response to slaughter, so at least recognise Palestine
Death, destruction and ethnic cleansing in Gaza and on the West Bank continues. Israeli savagery, lying, and disdain for international law display the depths of inhumanity, but when challenged to show courage by supporting life for Palestinians, the Australian Government remains silent.
Institutionalisation: Vice-chancellors’ cowardly collusion with antisemitism lobby
In response to a Senate inquiry into supposed antisemitism on Australian university campuses, the Group of Eight (Go8) vice-chancellors representing the Australian National University, Sydney, Melbourne, Monash, UWA, UNSW, Queensland and Adelaide have produced a definition of antisemitism which is to be enforced on all their respective students and staff.
A moral precipice challenge – Vote for humanity
Response to the latest Israeli/US slaughter in Gaza shows the world’s citizens looking into a moral precipice. How will they act? Will they ponder the principles of humanitarian law let alone ideals of a common humanity?
Anatomy of a public meeting: genocide a key election issue
Sunday evening in a crowded Glebe Town Hall in Sydney, the audience came to hear speakers address several objectives to make candidates attitude to genocide a key election issue, hold politicians accountable for genocide, vote for humanity.
Universalism the panacea for Palestine
Defence of the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination is a collective responsibility fuelled by commitments to theory and ideology inherent in universalism. In domestic and foreign policies and in the conduct of personal relations, the values associated with universalism concern altruism and inclusiveness, each goal delivered in a spirit of generosity.
Moral panics, from Teddy Boys to antisemites
Seventy years ago, British youth, dressed in tight jeans, pointed winkle picker shoes and with greasy duck’s arse haircuts, gathered on the beaches of seaside towns, usually well know for their Victorian piers. By adding rock’n roll music to their unusual appearance, the young Teddy Boys, also referred to as ‘Folk Devils’ added a colourful but challenging culture to a dour post-war Britain.
Palestine, incredible, unbelievable
An Opening Salvo Five hundred days into a war to achieve death and destruction which at a glance looked like organised slaughter where most casualties were women and children, a carnage is justified by claims that even newborn babies must be terrorists, hence a beyond belief horror movie beamed nightly on television screens. Murder Unlimited A cast of extras has included home grown journalists, aid workers, nurses, doctors, ambulance drivers, all targets for death by invaders loving their chance to kill, destroy, dress in women’s underwear and have the selfies sent home as military snap reminders of soldierly escapades marinated...
2025 Jerusalem (Al Quds) Peace Prize to Wendy Turner
At the 2025 Jerusalem (Al Quds) Peace Prize ceremony in the Melbourne Town Hall on Friday evening February 21, this year’s award will go to Wendy Turner, trade unionist, ageless social justice activist and long term advocate for the human rights of all Palestinians.
Anti-semitism ‘rise’ obscures more slaughter in Gaza
Australian political leaders and their mainstream media backers are in moral outrage mode. Anti-semitism they say is rife, infectious, getting worse and must be stamped out. At first sight these claims seem plausible. They are made in response to the burning of a synagogue, a child care centre, to a Jewish community leader’s home being torched and to anti-Jewish slogans being painted on public buildings and Jewish places of worship.
Gaza ceasefire, the missing pieces
Palestinians and Israelis are breathing sighs of relief that after fifteen months of killing, famine, torture and destruction across Gaza, the Israeli Netanyahu government and representatives of Hamas have agreed to a ceasefire.
Sudan: Beyond pessimism
In numerous journals and newspapers, death and destruction in Sudan is described as probably the greatest, certainly the most neglected, humanitarian catastrophe in existence.
Noam Chomsky, the voice silenced, the legacy unending
Voted many times by UK and US magazines as the most important public intellectual in the world, Noam Chomsky, scientist, linguist, human rights activist, suffered a stroke at age 95 and can no longer speak. Yet as 2025 begins, Chomsky at 96 gifts the world his examples of inquiry and dissent. These qualities he might say, remain the much needed means to strive for freedom, justice and peace.
Goodbye democracy: Labor’s rank and file of no consequence
In the 2022 federal election, Labor members in the supposedly safe seat of Fowler were not allowed to choose their candidate. Instead, head office parachuted star performer Kristina Keneally into the seat and were rewarded with a huge up yours by voters. The seat was lost with an 18% swing against Keneally, a punishment which prompted a senior Labor member’s comment, I bloody hope we’ve learned that imposition from on high is deeply resented.
Anti-Semitism, a pandemic of concocted claims
In response to arson on a Melbourne synagogue, ill informed politicians, ignorant media commentators and a bully Israeli Prime Minister have rushed to declare this crime is not only anti-Semitic but an act of terrorism. A year of pandemic like claims about a rise in anti-Semitism has reached a climax in interpretations of the meaning of this synagogue fire.
Canberra’s cowardice leaves Australian women and children stranded in Syria
US diplomat Peter Galbraith insists the Australian Government and Opposition are exaggerating the dangers of even trying to bring 10 Australian women and 30 children home from Syrian camps. In an affidavit to the Australian High Court, Galbraith explained he had made 20 visits to camps in north-east Syria and had helped to extract several women and 29 children.
Survival of a people: Threats to Palestine’s existence as Israel kills 45,000
Israeli leaders insist that all the people of Gaza are Hamas. In the same breath, Prime Minister Netanyahu boasts that victory in his war depends on the complete annihilation of Hamas, by which he presumably means a whole people?
Poetry in times of despair
In a search for light in the tunnels of previous dark times, poets responded with lines depicting cruelties yet leavened with resilience and hope. The English romantic Percy Bysshe Shelley and the Russian resistance poet Osip Mandelstam cherished what they judged to be a panacea like quality in poetry. Shelley forecast that by crafting images of humanity, poets could become the unacknowledged legislators of the world.