A Hamas flag flies over a destroyed neighbourhood in Gaza, where Israel’s military assault revived support for the struggling Islamic movement.
EPA/Mohammed Saber
As the dust settles in a bloodied Gaza, after what one US official described as not so much another military exercise in “mowing the lawn” as “removing the topsoil”, Palestinians greeted the ceasefire…
Investigations of the death and destruction wrought upon Gaza’s civilian neighbourhoods must be independent of the warring Israeli and Palestinian forces.
EPA/Mohammed Saber
With the August 26 ceasefire between Israeli and Palestinian forces holding, both sides have resumed their relentless pursuit of political advantage. Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, Palestine…
Qatar, where it never rains - except on FIFA’s parade.
EPA/Peter Kneffel
There is an old British saying: “It never rains but it pours”. One of Britain’s former protectorates may well have to consider adopting the phrase as its new national slogan. In Qatar, it hardly ever seems…
There will always be plenty of young people willing to serve in the IDF.
EPA/Atef Safadi
In 1988, I was in Kathmandu in Nepal when I found out that war was raging in the occupied territories; it would soon become known as “the intifada”. And when, in a small corner shop I spotted in one of…
We’ll keep selling if you keep buying.
EPA/Lindsey Parnaby
Ever since the first New Labour administration of 1997, successive British governments have declared their commitment to so-called “ethical” arms sales. But recent decisions about which countries should…
How to report impartially in the face of horrors like Gaza?
EPA
While an open-ended ceasefire agreement is currently holding between Israel and the Palestinian factions, it is clear that the rule of international law has failed in Gaza. The international community…
One of the casualties of Israel’s Hannibal Protocol in Rafah, August 1.
EPA/Stringer
While Israel and Hamas are still looking for ways to end their Gaza war, the UN Human Rights Council appointed a three-member panel to investigate allegations that humanitarian law was violated in the…
With a tenuous five-day ceasefire now underway, the pause in the Gaza War allows each side to consider its position. The Israeli Embassy in London reported on August 11 that: All known tunnels, 32 in total…
Never forget: Star of David recalls Krystallnacht in Germany.
EPA/Sven Hoppe
Prejudice sometimes takes gross forms, like physical violence, but it is not always so blatant. Scholars talk about “institutional” racism, sexism, or homophobia, since attitudes can militate against some…
Boycotters need to be careful about the comparisons they draw.
The Q Speaks
Russell Brand is the latest to muscle in on the Israel-Palestine conflict, calling for big businesses to pull funding from the country. But the issue of boycotts is a fraught one. For many Jews, the word…
Two cancelled shows at the Edinburgh fringe, a theatre in London refusing to host a film festival while it was partly funded by the Israeli Embassy and now, on the other side of the spectrum, Belfast City…
The New Atheists are once again provoking controversy, this time with their comments on Gaza which has prompted divisions among those better known for presenting a united front against religion. Over the…
With the Palestinian peace camp among the casualties of the bombardment of Gaza, what does Israel expect to emerge from the ruins?
AAP/Newzulu/Eloise Bollack
If we apply Karl Marx’s dictum that “history repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce”, then the Gaza Strip is one of the longest-running tragicomic productions in the world today. It is not hard…
Injured child in Gaza before last week’s ceasefire: Israel is a State Party to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
EPA/Stringer
Amidst the cycle of fighting and ceasefire between the Israeli military and Hamas the safety of children remains severely threatened. Young Israelis are vulnerable to the trauma of frequent air raids that…
Anti-Semitism never takes long to surface, ranging from the desecration of Jewish graves and memory to violent attacks on people.
AAP/NZN/Alastair Bull
The Israel-Hamas war in Gaza has triggered a dramatic rise in global anti-Semitism. This has significantly undermined the collective well-being of the Jewish people. While the intensity of anti-Semitism…
Sophisticated and terrifying: Israeli firepower.
EPA/Atef Safadi
In the 1982 Lebanon war I served as an Israeli artillery forward observer, my task to pinpoint the PLO’s positions and call in fire from our artillery units. We stayed in the evacuated Al Jamous School…
The continuing slaughter of women and children in Gaza is a painful reminder of the inadequacy of international institutions and our collective inability to impose order, let alone justice, in the world…
Israel advocacy campaigns, seen recently in the context of the conflict in Gaza, are typically fought in Australia on two fronts: Jewish community mobilisation and media engagement.
AAP/Nikki Short
Jewish communal and Zionist organisations in Australia have taken the unusual step of staging mock air-raid sirens to show solidarity with Israel amid its ongoing conflict with Hamas and to build support…
Sayeeda Warsi, not the first Tory to be outraged over Palestine.
Stefan Rousseau/PA
As Israel’s Operation Protective Edge began to draw more vocal international criticism, the supposedly staunchly pro-Israel Conservative party saw the beginnings of a revolt: a number of David Cameron’s…
Western governments worked hard to secure last week’s ceasefire in Gaza, which, nonetheless, collapsed within hours on August 1. These efforts should not, however, distract attention from the West’s political…