‘The worst two years’: Israeli lives remain entangled with grief and hope
October 8, 2025 | Ran Porat
Much of the world has since moved on from the events of that terrible day, focusing attention instead on the high death toll and widespread destruction in Gaza following Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip. But Israelis remain trapped in a psychological time loop, a kind of “Groundhog Day” of horror, reliving the nightmare…
When Israel woke up on October 7
October 7, 2025 | Bren Carlill
In the years before October 7, Israel did what the world had done for eight decades – it lulled itself into believing that its enemies didn’t mean what they said. Israelis thought that if money went into Gaza, if Gazans could work in Israel, if Gaza’s economy improved, then Hamas, as Gaza’s ruler, wouldn’t want to throw that away… But Hamas attacked anyway, and Israel woke up.
The message is simple: Be joyful!
October 3, 2025 | Rabbi Ralph Genende
So much to be sad about and in the shadow of the agony of the Holocaust, the pall of October 7 has enshrouded us. Yet for all this, we have days of almost riotous celebration like Purim and Simchat Torah. The word for joy, Simcha, is a motif of our regular prayers; a repeated reminder in the book of Deuteronomy by Moses in his final words to his people; and it is indeed the leitmotif of the Sukkot festival.
Gaza peace plan offers hope, but also faces major hurdles
October 3, 2025 | Ran Porat
Hamas is very reluctant to surrender its last remaining bargaining chips: the hostages and its weapons. A vague promise of future statehood and the return of the PA is not enough of an achievement to justify what befell the Palestinians as a result of the 7 October attack.
Trump’s Gaza deal may be the last best chance for peace
October 3, 2025 | Joel Burnie
Achieving the Plan will be probably be tortuous. Many of the details will need to be negotiated, and any of these could potentially derail it. And it will only truly work if Hamas agrees.
It’s up to Hamas, but US plan means peace looks more possible than ever
September 30, 2025 | Colin Rubenstein
The Hamas-Israel war has, once again, come to the point of ceasefire. Once again, Israel has agreed to its terms. It is once again up to Hamas as to whether or not it wants to end the war.
Roadmap to a viable Palestine requires holding Abbas to account
September 29, 2025 | Bren Carlill
The problem is that Western recognition of the ‘State of Palestine’ rewards Palestinian promises, not Palestinian actions.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas will be impotent to deliver on promises
September 29, 2025 | Bren Carlill
Anthony Albanese said that recognition was predicated on promises that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas made to him. But Mr Abbas has made these promises before. They weren’t implemented then, and they won’t be implemented now.
Palestinian recognition without reform is a dangerous illusion
September 26, 2025 | Colin Rubenstein
If, against all odds, Senator Wong and her peers somehow did succeed in forcing the PA to honour its commitments, the outcome could be transformative… And in that scenario, recognition could have real meaning. But history – and Palestinian polling – tells us it will not happen.
‘Choose the blessing, choose life’: Can we resist despair this Rosh Hashanah?
September 25, 2025 | Rabbi Ralph Genende
I am in despair because polarisation reigns. Black and white are the only colours. Simplistic thinking has pervaded our public spaces — it is also sadly evident in Israel and in many within the Jewish community.
Palestinian statehood would reward murder
September 22, 2025 | Justin Amler
“Palestine” fails on nearly all counts. It has no defined borders, no single government — only a corrupt Palestinian Authority controlling the Palestinian cities of the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) and a terrorist Hamas regime in Gaza — and no real capacity for international relations when half its leadership is a proscribed terror group.
