My whole-hearted congratulations on this fine and courageous piece. In another recent substack Guy Rundle points out that there is virtually nowhere in the supposedly progressive Australian mainstream media where the crimes of both Israel and, by complicity, the United States, can be analysed in the appropriate moral tone. Those wishing to read truthful accounts from Australian commentators about the Netanyahu Government's genocide in Gaza have only substacks like yours, Guy's and Anthony Lowenstein's, and John Menadue's "Pearls and Irritations". My principal daily source for truthful analysis comes, strangely enough, from Israel's ages-old newspaper, Ha'aretz, and in its pages from the greatest journalist of our time, Gideon Levy. Thank you Nick.
Robert Manne AO, FASSA. Emeritus Professor of Politics. La Trobe University.
Hi Robert, not to mention the utter evil way we treat refugees, especially those from Iran who are jailed the longest, tortured and abused by us and called liars.
All countries must decry the Israel-US delivered 'aid' to Palestinians in Gaza. Outrage should have occurred earlier with all the assassinations by Israel of unarmed and displaced Palestinian civilians sheltering in hospitals. And for decades, the apartheid-like and humiliating treatment of Palestinians by Israel. It is this treatment that led to the formation of Hamas.
Concentrate on the matter of the aid delivery first. Tell the stories of those who were killed and wounded through seeking food for their starving children and families. Flood the internet with their stories. Get information about those who are delivering inadequate rations and shooting and shelling as they go. Make sure they and their families are featured and shamed on news stories. Surely the ICCJ will be able to step in and charge those responsible.
Then tell the stories of all Palestinians killed by Israel since 2023. List all the times that Israel has said that this or that killing of Palestinian civilians will be investigated. What was the result of those findings? What were the results of independent, if any, findings?
Is Netanyahu able to be arrested if he goes to a country which condemns his actions? Could restrictions be placed on his movements so that he's placed on home arrest? He is after all, responsible for the deaths of scores of thousands of innocent people.
With the US bombing of 'strategic sites' in Iran, it will be an unproductive debate about whether Trump should or shouldn't have.
The real issue is why the US and other countries provided arms to an aggressive state like Israel.
It's clear to see that Israel is responsible for anti-Semitism.
Hi Marilyn - I was referring to the way that Israel refers to anyone speaking against Israel's actions against Palestinians, Lebanese and others as taking part in anti-Semitism which is the term for prejudice against or hatred of Jews
I agree with almost everything you have written but is it really “irrefutable” that Israel initiated this violence? Hamas and Hezbollah are irrefutable proxies of Iran, supported by Iran with both money and weapons, for the sole purpose of eliminating the state of Israel. These proxies have been attacking Israel for years - decades - and accelerated all this on Oct 7th 2023, with full backing from Iran.
Why does Iran need a nuclear weapon? They have only 1 use for it, which Israel (and the world) should not allow. Nuclear arms are said to be a deterrent against invasion by another similarly armed country, but does that apply to a nation whose religious government believe in glorious afterlife and couldn’t care less if their population were decimated? Sinwar said as much some years ago.
I have no idea how close Iran was and now is to building a nuclear weapon, but neither have you. If Israel’s move was another example of Netanyahu’s manoeuvring to shore up his position, then it should be rightly condemned. But I don’t trust Iran as far as I can spit, and they are not enriching uranium (which is undisputed) for fun. They have attacked Israel indirectly and directly, so it is not irrefutable that Israel initiated the violence.
Wouldn’t it be nice if they could all just accept the other’s right to exist in peace? Then there would be no more more wars. But that has basically never been the case. Blame lies on both sides and too much hand-wringing about how vile Israel is just presents a distorted picture of reality.
To what extent are people right to blame October 7 on the Iranian administration? Do you think Hezbollah joining in and bombing Israel On October 7 is something the Iranian administration are culpable for too? And what of the Houthis, also an Iranian proxy. All three proxies attacked Israel and whether one agrees or disagrees with these attacks—whether one considers them justified or not—is it not reasonably foreseeable that after responding to these proxies Israel might then move on what it perceives to be the greatest threat of all?
Many referred to September 11 as 'blowback' for the USA. Does 'blowback' work both ways?
Please respond kindly and respectfully, I've been called a kapo, a zionazi, and a 'rat' too many times and I do just want to have normal empathetic conversations without all the hatred etc
Not to mention the disgusting way we traffic, jail and torture refugees from the nations we bombs, never forget that Al Masri and Al Katebs cases finally given there boot were both men from Gaza, one now dead and the other insane. And Sisalem is Paletinian .
My whole-hearted congratulations on this fine and courageous piece. In another recent substack Guy Rundle points out that there is virtually nowhere in the supposedly progressive Australian mainstream media where the crimes of both Israel and, by complicity, the United States, can be analysed in the appropriate moral tone. Those wishing to read truthful accounts from Australian commentators about the Netanyahu Government's genocide in Gaza have only substacks like yours, Guy's and Anthony Lowenstein's, and John Menadue's "Pearls and Irritations". My principal daily source for truthful analysis comes, strangely enough, from Israel's ages-old newspaper, Ha'aretz, and in its pages from the greatest journalist of our time, Gideon Levy. Thank you Nick.
Robert Manne AO, FASSA. Emeritus Professor of Politics. La Trobe University.
Hi Robert, not to mention the utter evil way we treat refugees, especially those from Iran who are jailed the longest, tortured and abused by us and called liars.
A lovely piece of writing Nick, full of facts that have been making me sad about Australia for some time.
All countries must decry the Israel-US delivered 'aid' to Palestinians in Gaza. Outrage should have occurred earlier with all the assassinations by Israel of unarmed and displaced Palestinian civilians sheltering in hospitals. And for decades, the apartheid-like and humiliating treatment of Palestinians by Israel. It is this treatment that led to the formation of Hamas.
Concentrate on the matter of the aid delivery first. Tell the stories of those who were killed and wounded through seeking food for their starving children and families. Flood the internet with their stories. Get information about those who are delivering inadequate rations and shooting and shelling as they go. Make sure they and their families are featured and shamed on news stories. Surely the ICCJ will be able to step in and charge those responsible.
Then tell the stories of all Palestinians killed by Israel since 2023. List all the times that Israel has said that this or that killing of Palestinian civilians will be investigated. What was the result of those findings? What were the results of independent, if any, findings?
Is Netanyahu able to be arrested if he goes to a country which condemns his actions? Could restrictions be placed on his movements so that he's placed on home arrest? He is after all, responsible for the deaths of scores of thousands of innocent people.
With the US bombing of 'strategic sites' in Iran, it will be an unproductive debate about whether Trump should or shouldn't have.
The real issue is why the US and other countries provided arms to an aggressive state like Israel.
It's clear to see that Israel is responsible for anti-Semitism.
Arabs are the actual semites, most jews are just Europeans.
Hi Marilyn - I was referring to the way that Israel refers to anyone speaking against Israel's actions against Palestinians, Lebanese and others as taking part in anti-Semitism which is the term for prejudice against or hatred of Jews
I agree with almost everything you have written but is it really “irrefutable” that Israel initiated this violence? Hamas and Hezbollah are irrefutable proxies of Iran, supported by Iran with both money and weapons, for the sole purpose of eliminating the state of Israel. These proxies have been attacking Israel for years - decades - and accelerated all this on Oct 7th 2023, with full backing from Iran.
Why does Iran need a nuclear weapon? They have only 1 use for it, which Israel (and the world) should not allow. Nuclear arms are said to be a deterrent against invasion by another similarly armed country, but does that apply to a nation whose religious government believe in glorious afterlife and couldn’t care less if their population were decimated? Sinwar said as much some years ago.
I have no idea how close Iran was and now is to building a nuclear weapon, but neither have you. If Israel’s move was another example of Netanyahu’s manoeuvring to shore up his position, then it should be rightly condemned. But I don’t trust Iran as far as I can spit, and they are not enriching uranium (which is undisputed) for fun. They have attacked Israel indirectly and directly, so it is not irrefutable that Israel initiated the violence.
Wouldn’t it be nice if they could all just accept the other’s right to exist in peace? Then there would be no more more wars. But that has basically never been the case. Blame lies on both sides and too much hand-wringing about how vile Israel is just presents a distorted picture of reality.
To what extent are people right to blame October 7 on the Iranian administration? Do you think Hezbollah joining in and bombing Israel On October 7 is something the Iranian administration are culpable for too? And what of the Houthis, also an Iranian proxy. All three proxies attacked Israel and whether one agrees or disagrees with these attacks—whether one considers them justified or not—is it not reasonably foreseeable that after responding to these proxies Israel might then move on what it perceives to be the greatest threat of all?
Many referred to September 11 as 'blowback' for the USA. Does 'blowback' work both ways?
Please respond kindly and respectfully, I've been called a kapo, a zionazi, and a 'rat' too many times and I do just want to have normal empathetic conversations without all the hatred etc
Not to mention the disgusting way we traffic, jail and torture refugees from the nations we bombs, never forget that Al Masri and Al Katebs cases finally given there boot were both men from Gaza, one now dead and the other insane. And Sisalem is Paletinian .