Wait, what? West Bank settlements mired in massive housing slump

While it may sound surprising and counterintuitive, the numbers don’t lie: Despite recent well-publicised efforts by key right-wing legislators in Israel’s Government coalition –  – such as Finance Minister and Minister in the Defense Ministry Betzalel Smotrich of the Religious Zionism party – to remove some of the red tape involved in approving new housing in Israel’s…

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ALP Must Resist the Activists on Israel

The Australian Labor Party is shortly going to have to decide if its policy on Middle East peacemaking is going to be based on misconceptions, symbolic “solidarity” and empty slogans, or common sense, reality, and international law.

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Stockholm Syndrome in Tehran

In a stranger-than-fiction moment, earlier this month a small group of Jews gathered in a synagogue in the heart of Tehran to commemorate the anniversary of the death of Iran’s first Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who… died on June 3, 1989. It seems bizarre to see online images of Iranian Jews celebrating the Ayatollah, who infamously implemented Iran’s anti-Israel, anti-Zionist repressive agenda…

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Move to recognise Palestine is premature and dangerous

For the benefit of the Palestinian future, no less than the Israelis, the Albanese Government must firmly remind their ALP colleagues in state branches and at the national conference of the wise words of the late former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon who described his transformation from a rigid ideologue to an outspoken peace proponent responsible for Israel’s 2005 withdrawal from Gaza.

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Why ALP’s call to recognise Palestine is based on ignorance

The only way to achieve peace is that endorsed by the international community and accepted by Israel, but so far rejected by the Palestinian leadership – good faith negotiation between the two sides, involving compromise by both, to settle all outstanding matters, such as borders and Israel’s security concerns. Recognising a Palestinian state before that happens – and rewarding the current Palestinian refusal to even negotiate – would only make such peace harder to achieve.

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