A welcome pause, but Hamas horror lingers
January 20, 2025 | Ahron Shapiro
Releasing terrorists is inherently risky for Israel. A similar prisoner release with Hamas in 2011 in exchange for Gilad Shalit freed Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the October 7 attack. Nevertheless, most Israelis and diaspora Jews viscerally welcome the deal. For so many of us, since October 7, the families of the hostages have become part of our own. The plight of the hostages cast a pall on every holiday, wedding and birthday, and for many, kept us awake at night.
There is no big winner in the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal
January 17, 2025 | Jamie Hyams
Hamas will glory in the horrors of October 7. It will claim it won because it survived. However, it hoped to ignite a wider war with Israel which would be attacked with equal force from all sides and ultimately destroyed.
Gaza ceasefire deal: What it means for the Middle East
January 16, 2025 | Ran Porat
After almost a year-and-a-half of agony and suffering, millions in the Middle East, especially Israelis and Palestinians, are finally seeing a silver lining.
UN’s anti-Israel biases can’t hide facts of terror
January 15, 2025 | Oved Lobel
One need not take every single IDF claim at face value to see that the reason that Gaza’s medical infrastructure has been so battered is that it is constantly and routinely being used by Hamas and other groups “to commit acts harmful to the enemy”. Yet one would never know this reading UN reports…
Ice Hockey tournament cancelled to “protect” Israelis
January 14, 2025 | Justin Amler
The tournament’s cancellation highlights the broader failure of many Western governments, including Australia, to confront the surge of antisemitism which followed Hamas’ October 7 terror war.
“The child is the father of the man”: How the birth of my grandson renewed my hope for a gentler year
January 9, 2025 | Rabbi Ralph Genende
When my grandson was soon to be born, I was filled with dread — like the Hebrew parents of my Egyptian slave ancestors, a hundred generations ago, who must have wondered: “How can we bring children into this dangerous world?”
A black day for the international community
December 18, 2024 | Justin Amler
This is a resolution of surrender to terrorism and tyranny, effectively rewarding Hamas by giving it everything it has been asking for since October 7, while sacrificing all Western ideals of justice, fairness and freedom. It is shameful that countries such as Britain, Canada, France and New Zealand could support such a resolution…
Australia is abandoning Israel
December 18, 2024 | Colin Rubenstein
This vote was part of a clear pattern by the Australian Government of deliberately transforming our bipartisan history of warm relations with Israel combined with thoughtful support for a negotiated two-state resolution with the Palestinians. Our new policy appears to be something approaching open antagonism to the Jewish state, combined with a near obsession with demanding Palestinian statehood at all costs.
Maybe she won’t be right after all
December 16, 2024 | Justin Amler
Australia can no longer pretend we are immune to this storm of darkness that has swept across the world and now reached our shores too. And the Jews of Australia are crying out for moral strength and clarity from our country’s leaders…
Australian government’s conduct gravely disappointing
December 13, 2024 | Jamie Hyams
The government’s own calculations no doubt inform its actions. However, the overall effect has been to degrade Australia’s relationship with our most important Middle Eastern partner, while making Australia’s Jewish community, suffering its worst ever wave of antisemitism, feel more isolated.
Australia’s Jewish community under siege
December 10, 2024 | Justin Amler
The impact of seeing a holy place of worship burning in the very heart of Jewish Melbourne, was like a stab in the heart of the Jewish people.
The government’s vilification of Israel has led to a terror attack on place of worship
December 7, 2024 | Joel Burnie
Attacking a synagogue does not only profane a sacred place, it is the ultimate expression of hatred for the entire Jewish community. Desecrating sacred spaces undermines our social fabric and cohesion as well as the foundation of our liberal democratic and multicultural society.
