We must fight the hate that spawns terrorism
April 1, 2019 | Colin Rubenstein
Australia must strengthen our arsenal of tools to combat the spread of hate. Effective administration of measures like Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, designed to protect Australians from hate speech, racial vilification and group defamation while still enabling robust protection
Terror in Tel Aviv
March 21, 2019 | Naomi Levin
Terror. It is the only word to describe the feeling when I stepped into the small hotel room, put down my bag and froze.
Diary
March 17, 2019 | Jeremy Jones
Two mornings later I arrived at the beach after the sun had risen. I noticed unusual activity – council workmen on a Sunday. As I came closer, I saw that they were hard at work assessing what was needed to be done to repair the damage done by a different feral creature – a person who had vandalised murals by spray painting swastika graffiti
Hezbollah is active here and should be banned
February 14, 2019 | Naomi Levin
There is strong evidence that Hezbollah is active in Australia – in the local criminal underworld and from the pulpits of some mosques.
The key to Middle East peace is getting Palestinians to say ‘yes’
February 14, 2019 | Ahron Shapiro
Slavish conformism to conventional wisdom has done practically nothing to resolve the conflict between the Palestinians and Israel, trapping the sides in a stalemate for decades.
Mahathir’s rantings can’t poison Paralympics
February 8, 2019 | Allon Lee
Call off the search. For its display of rare global moral leadership, Time Magazine’s 2019 “Person of the Year” award should unquestionably go to the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
Equality still a mirage for too many women
February 7, 2019 | Naomi Levin
There were a few double-takes recently when United Arab Emirates Vice President Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum took to social media to congratulate the winners of his country’s gender equality award. Why? All the winners were men.
Israel is not Bethlehem’s enemy
January 2, 2019 | Allon Lee
Anton Salman — who prior to becoming Bethlehem’s mayor, was a lawyer — shamelessly exploited genuine interest at Christmas in the traditional birthplace of Jesus (The Australian, December 26) to advance a dangerous and deluded anti-Israel agenda devoid of fact or historical accuracy.
Labor should match Morrison’s stance on Israel
December 27, 2018 | Naomi Levin
Despite agreement on the need for action, the paths being pursued by the two major political parties are quite different… While the Prime Minister’s declarations have not yet achieved bipartisan support, achieving that outcome remains a worthy objective.
Morrison rightly challenges foreign policy inertia on Jerusalem, Iran
December 19, 2018 | Colin Rubenstein
Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s speech at the Sydney Institute last Saturday has been met with criticism for reviewing and adjusting long-standing foreign policies, as though inertia were a virtue in itself. Good policymaking demands periodic review and adjustments to reflect changing realities.
On Australia’s Jerusalem Embassy review, don’t take advice from bigoted Mahathir
November 27, 2018 | Colin Rubenstein
Instead of threatening Australia for daring to review a long-standing position, why don’t we see Malaysia and Indonesia – both of whom provide strong rhetorical support to the Palestinian cause – as well as Morrison’s critics, encouraging progress towards a two-state peace, which most profess to support, and which underlies Morrison’s review initiative?
Iran-backed cyber attackers taking aim at Australia
November 23, 2018 | Oved Lobel
While Australia has yet to be targeted by more substantial Iranian cyber-attacks against infrastructure and financial institutions, like the US or Saudi Arabia, it has been the victim of several “independent” hacking groups that operate as fronts for the cybercrime of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and intelligence agencies.
