My following article appears in today’s edition of Crikey: Overland is a quarterly publication published in Melbourne since 1954 and aims to give, in the words of… editor Jeff Sparrow, “space for radicals and liberals”. Over the past few years a handful of articles have appeared written by Jews (including me, principally on peak oil)…
Articles in Crikey
Australia rolls out the welcome mat for war criminal retirees
My following article appears in today’s Crikey: The news that defeated Sri Lankan presidential candidate and former army chief Sarath Fonseka may claim temporary asylum in Australia due to fears for his life… is the latest saga in the country’s ongoing tragedy. Foreign Minister Stephen Smith denies that Australian officials in Colombo ever received an…
GFM claims success in flying the flag for Gaza
My following article appears in today’s Crikey: I attended the Gaza Freedom March (GFM)… in late December to generate publicity for the disastrous Western-led policies towards Palestine. 1400 people from 43 countries descended on Cairo on December 27 and aimed to travel into Gaza to “break the siege”. Palestine has become a truly globalised issue…
Rudd helps the Middle East story remain one sided
My following story appears in today’s Crikey: Last weekend the Australian’s foreign editor Greg Sheridan interviewed former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and provided a platform for him to defend the 2006 Lebanon war, 2008/09 Gaza war and reveal the “most extensive concessions any Israeli leader has ever brought to the table in the search…
Israel lobby funds another media tour. Read all about it
My following article is published today on Crikey: “Peter Hartcher is the Sydney Morning Herald’s international editor. He travelled to Israel as a guest of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies.” Hartcher’s latest piece for his paper tells a familiar tale. The UN Goldstone report on the Gaza war… ”‰—”‰in which Israel and Hamas are accused…
Times changing rapidly in the Middle East
My following article appears in today’s Crikey: Times are changing fast in the Middle East. The legal affairs editor at Yediot, Israel’s largest circulation daily, wrote on the weekend that the situation in the West Bank is “apartheid”. One leading American commentator, Time’s Joe Klein, directly challenges Barack Obama to withhold US aid until Israel…
J Street pushing a policy that leads to disappointment
My following article appears in today’s Crikey: Antony Loewenstein writes from Washington DC: During this week’s first J Street conference in Washington DC… ”‰—”‰a US-based, “pro-Israel and pro-peace” lobby group that aims to widen the debate over the Middle East… … ”‰—”‰an older woman stood up in a session titled “What does it mean to be pro-Israel?” and…
The Jewish background of Aceh
My following article is published in Crikey: In the shadow of Aceh’s tsunami memorial museum sits a colonial, Dutch-era cemetery. Framed by overgrown grass and red flowers, graves lie disjoined, the result, I was told by writer Fozan Santa, of time and the tsunami’s raging water. At the back of the space, behind ornate statues…
Aceh: the only Jew in the village
My following article appears in today’s edition of Crikey: The small sign in my bare hotel room in Banda Aceh was clear. “It is forbidden to bring a woman/man who are not husband or wife into the hotel.” I saw similar messages in Iran, Saudi Arabia and Gaza. I was in Aceh [Indonesia] as a…
Survey puts Israel and Zionism under scrutiny
My following article appears in Crikey: Monash University’s Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation has released the preliminary findings of its survey of Australian and New Zealand Jewry in which… 6200 Jewish people answered 144 questions on a variety of subjects, including anti-Semitism, Israel and Zionism, inter-marriage, education and identity. It’s the biggest study of its sort…