Human Rights
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Zionists’ inflammation of antisemitism
The primary focus of the Zionist movement and the Israeli lobby is not combating anti-Semitism but rather combating critics of Israel’s colonial apartheid regime and the crimes it is perpetrating against the Palestinian people. Continue reading »
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A five-minute scroll
UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese speaks out for humanity, Palestine speaks in the UN, the PM of Ireland speaks out for the UNRWA and Bernie Sanders explains the difference between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump on Israel. Overnight continued Israeli attacks decimate lives in Beit Lahia, North Gaza, the US State department gives their perspective. Continue reading »
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The banning of UNWRA: The situation could not be grimmer
Let us be abundantly clear. What Israel is intending is against its obligations under international law. What Israel is intending is against its moral obligations as fellow citizens of the human race. Continue reading »
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Clean slate for prison reform
The Canberra community decided on 19 October to remove from its parliament the two most recent ministers for corrections, Mick Gentleman (Labor) and Emma Davidson (Green). Continue reading »
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Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity “extreme under any circumstances”
“The events since October 7 have been absolutely overwhelming. And that means they are overwhelming for everybody, but particularly for the people who are experiencing them, those who are suffering. The victims. It’s regularly said that October 7 represented the greatest killing of Jewish people since the Holocaust. And that’s correct. What’s said less frequently Continue reading »
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Lidia, I’m angry, too
A lot has been written in the past few days about Senator Lidia Thorpe and her courageous act of speaking truth to power when she confronted coloniser, King Charles, in the colonial halls of Parliament. Yet amidst the commentary, one voice remains absent: the voice of the criminalised community. As a formerly incarcerated woman, I Continue reading »
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Nobel messages from East Asia, 2024
Early in October 2024, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced the award of two major prizes: the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize to the Japanese grassroots peace organisation Nihon Hidankyo (Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organisations), and the literature prize to the Korean novelist, Han Kang. From both winners came messages addressed to our troubled Continue reading »
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Thank goodness for Lidia Thorpe
Calling Lidia Thorpe “un-Australian”, as occurred in Canberra on 22 October, is to be reminded that being “Australian” is to grovel to British royalty, to curtsy, genuflect and pay homage and allegiance to an anti-democratic institution, to a man who has wealth, position, entitlement and power due to birth, and birth only. Continue reading »
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The treatment of detainees at the Alexander Maconochie Centre federal prison in Canberra
So far, the only media outlets courageous enough to publish my revelations about the inhumane treatment of David McBride and other inmates at the odious Alexander Maconochie Centre federal prison in Canberra have been Pearls and Irritations and Canberra’s City News. Continue reading »
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Coping with despair: Palestine, Lebanon and beyond
Israel’s atrocities for which they are not held accountable, leaves a world feeling powerless to do more than watch and protest. Intervention to cope with a pandemic of despair, requires life enhancing responses to foster peace and revive respect for international humanitarian law. Continue reading »
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Make aid reach Gaza, but not until children starve to death for another 30 days, says US
For years, the Israeli authorities have restricted food, fuel and essential supplies to the Palestinians in Gaza, turning the deliveries on and off at will. This contributed to the desperate Hamas outbreak on 7 October 2023, which some experienced observers believe the Netanyahu government expected Continue reading »
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Terms of engagement: Refusing the Zionist narrative
“Our language shouldn’t be designed to appease the oppressor.” Steve Salaita Continue reading »
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A five-minute scroll
The onslaught of Israeli horror continues on Northern Gaza. Learn about the victim in the images shared across the world, Shaban al-Dalu, a 19-year-old university student. Israel has dropped the equivalent of six atomic bombs on Gaza, three times smaller than Hiroshima. We see horror in the aftermath as women and children are found in Continue reading »
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A five-minute scroll
John Mearsheimer on ethnic cleansing and Double Down news debunks the myth of self defence. Francesca Albanese questions Germany’s position on Israel, while chemical weapons are used on UN peacekeepers. Penny Wong announces sanctions on Iran, but not Israel. Life for Palestinian journalists and a record of IDF atrocities. Sophie McNeill corrects the ABC, Abul Continue reading »
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Equality under the law: the differing treatment of Hezbollah and Israel in Australia
Last week the federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton was asked by a journalist about the process for making Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based political and militant group, a ‘proscribed terrorist organisation’. As is usually the case for a politician caught out because they don’t know the answer, he became aggressive and sought to belittle the journalist. Continue reading »
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One year after 7 October: statement by the Australian Jewish Democratic Society
If any lesson can be drawn at this dismissal juncture, it must surely be that violence engenders violence … Continue reading »
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Life in Gaza and on the West Bank: Political leaders invited to interpret humanity
In the current global turmoil of revenge and war, Australians want to see political leaders speaking about humanity and negotiation, not the old rhetoric which chooses winners and losers. In the following letter to party leaders in the House of Representatives and the Senate, we urge all parliamentarians to support their leaders by making their Continue reading »
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Resilience amongst ruin: 12 months of genocide and resistance in Gaza
Just weeks into Israel’s current genocide in Gaza, I spoke with my cousin as she watched the violence unfold from her home in Khan Yunis. She declared, “We are used to this; it is temporary and will pass.” Continue reading »
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The media campaign against Julian Assange
The liberation of the Australian journalist, late June, closes an ordeal lasting fourteen years. On the other hand, it doesn’t lighten the responsibility of his persecutors. Continue reading »
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Julian Assange gets a positive hearing at last
Appearing in public for the first time since he returned in June to Australia from Britain’s Belmarsh Prison, Julian Assange will give his first official testimony since 2019 on 1 October. Continue reading »
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A five-minute scroll
A five-minute scroll of X uncovers abhorrent settler behaviour, questions about Peter Dutton’s nuclear platform, South Africa speaking out for Palestine in the UN, Chris Sidoti on the Israeli Army, Genocide Tourism and news of Julian Assange. Continue reading »
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On war crimes and Western hypocrisy
The death toll has risen to 12 from Israel’s terror attack in Lebanon on Tuesday which detonated explosive materials hidden in thousands of pagers. Another 20 people were then killed in another attack on Wednesday with a second wave of explosions, this time using walkie talkies and home solar energy systems. Continue reading »
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These are the things I’ve learnt you can’t ask about Israel
In recent years, I have been asked to comment on the Middle East “impasse”, though I am no foreign policy expert. I am merely one of many humanists who mourn this tragic history and rail against the failure of the international community to exert the great influence it has to bring peace and justice to Continue reading »
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Sudan’s nightmare: 150,000 civilians killed
UN estimates suggest 2.5 million people will die by the end of 2024 and six million by 2027. World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has called on the world to “wake up and help Sudan out of the nightmare it is living through”. Continue reading »
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Israeli hostages, Palestinian prisoners: the worthy and unworthy
Israeli citizens’ demand to bring home an estimated 100 Israeli hostages still held captive by Hamas is assumed to depend on a Gaza ceasefire which would include a Palestinian prisoner release. Continue reading »
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How human rights are disappearing before our eyes
The moral distinction between liberal democracies and dictatorships is being flattened by the carnage in Gaza. Continue reading »
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ABC – Ignorant, fearful or biased journalism?
Having just read journalist John Lyons’ book Balcony Over Jerusalem, I’m acutely aware of the ways in which the pro-Israeli Lobby in Australia exerts its influence on the media here to disparage journalists and their work and to even try to have them removed from their positions, if this lobby deems there is adverse critique Continue reading »
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‘Insane torture’: Israeli soldiers confirm horrific abuse of Palestinians at Sde Teiman
“Teeth were broken, bones were broken,” said one soldier. “You notice how easy it is to lose your humanity,” said another. Continue reading »
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Israel’s Australian ‘hostages’
Hundreds of Australians’ family members holding valid Australian visas are being prevented from fleeing devastated Gaza – by the Israeli military, and the impotence of the Australian government. Continue reading »
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Israeli MP condones sexual abuse of Palestinian prisoners
What democracy would accept a member of parliament agreeing that it was permissible and acceptable for it’s solders to sexually abuse political prisoners Continue reading »