The IRGC and its criminal proxies
November 4, 2025 | Oved Lobel
While Iran’s long-standing global links to criminal networks to conduct surveillance, harassment or attacks demonstrate malign intent and the desire for deniability, it also reflects Iran’s extreme weakness and desperation, which forces it to rely on unknown freelancers, incompetent criminals and organised crime groups already penetrated by local law enforcement and domestic intelligence agencies.
In the wake of the Gaza ceasefire, Israel’s election countdown begins
October 30, 2025 | Ilan Evyatar
The next Israeli elections are not officially scheduled until late October 2026, yet the campaign season has plainly begun. The Knesset’s winter session opened on Oct. 20 with an acrimonious debate, reflecting a political system already in election mode.
Palestinians, “armed action” and the impact of the Gaza war
October 30, 2025 | Bren Carlill
The Hamas-Israel war appears to be convincing Palestinians that negotiations are more effective at achieving Palestinian objectives than violence.
The United Nations stopped delivering aid to millions of Yemenis nine months ago – no one seems to care
October 29, 2025 | Alana Schetzer
News that the terrorist group Ansar Allah (widely known as the Houthis) kidnapped another 20 United Nations employees in Yemen last week wasn’t just horrific for the individuals being held against their will – it was devastating for millions of hungry Yemeni civilians.
With all the discussion of disarming Hamas, how are the plans to disarm Hezbollah going?
October 24, 2025 | Oved Lobel
Thus far, the faltering Lebanese efforts, or lack thereof, at disarming Hezbollah appear to offer important lessons for what not to do in Gaza.
China could be the key to the success of the renewed “snapback sanctions” on Iran
October 3, 2025 | Alana Schetzer
This week saw the reinstatement of comprehensive UN sanctions on Iran under the “snapback” mechanism of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear agreement, after the UK, France and Germany triggered this process in late August, citing Iran’s blatant non-compliance with the deal’s provisions.
Abbas said some positive sounding things in UN speech – pity they are so far-fetched
September 30, 2025 | Oved Lobel
It seems clear the Abbas-led PA is not capable of real reform, as it has demonstrated for decades. But even if it were, it has almost no support among Palestinians and no means of enforcing its writ even in the West Bank, much less Gaza. Unless and until that changes, Abbas’ commitments and call for peaceful coexistence in this speech will remain as symbolic and meaningless as the recognition of Palestine by Australia and other Western countries.
Media Matters: The ABC’s blind spot
August 17, 2025 | Allon Lee
Towns and villages flattened as far as the eye can see. Exhausted civilians desperately seeking an end to their misery but led by a pitiless leadership that refuses to surrender. Not Gaza in 2025 – but Japan in the final months of World War II.
Druze crisis tested Israel’s Syria strategy
July 31, 2025 | Ilan Evyatar
A week-long outbreak of violence in southern Syria in mid-July exposed the fault lines and shifting regional and global alignments shaping Syria’s post-Assad future – and the challenges these pose to Israel’s strategic goals.
Media Matters: Smoke and Ire over IHRA
July 30, 2025 | Allon Lee
Of course, the IHRA definition clearly states that “criticism of Israel similar to that levelled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic.” But you wouldn’t necessarily know this if you relied on the bulk of the commentariat favoured by the ABC, Guardian Australia and Nine Newspapers.
The silver anniversary of the silver bullet
July 29, 2025 | Bren Carlill
July 25 marked the 25th anniversary of the breakdown of the Camp David talks, which were supposed to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. The terrible situation in Gaza is a stark reminder of the need for peace. However, if we want to achieve that peace, we need to learn the lessons of Camp David and the last 25 years.
Diaspora Iranians hope for more attention to the plight of the Iranian people
July 24, 2025 | Alana Schetzer
What are Iranians saying in the aftermath of the highly successful Israeli and US military strikes against the Iranian regime’s illegal nuclear weapons program, including the elimination of multiple top military commanders?
