Australians for Humanity is a coalition of interested parties seeking to have Australia and Australians respond to the genocidal slaughter of Palestinians and the declared Israeli intent to ethnically cleanse Palestine and proceed to the annexation of Gaza, the West Bank and parts of Lebanon and Syria. (more…)
Paul Heywood-Smith
-
Antisemitism: a vehicle for engendering anti-Palestinian racism
The promotion of antisemitism as a diversion from what is happening in Palestine is a deliberate activity which must be understood by all Australians, particularly voting age Australians. (more…)
-
Our media ignores the elephant in the room: Israel’s illegal occupation
It falls to someone to bring the discussion concerning what is happening in the Middle East, back to the elephant in the room. And what is the elephant? It is the fact of illegal occupation and what is not being done about it. (more…)
-
Will Australia act on Israel team’s participation in Tour Down Under?
Some readers may recall an earlier article Israel and the Tour Down Under, published on 4 January. The article addressed the then forthcoming Santos Tour Down Under due to take place from 12 – 21 January. The cycling event, established in South Australia in 1999, is an annual event and part of the UCI (Union Cycliste International) World Tour. (more…)
-
How we got to Gaza: a compendium
The linked article “How we got to Gaza 2024”, is a compendium put together by retired Adelaide historian CL Parkes. The source material is the work of such writers as Ilan Pappe., Robert Fisk, John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, Shlomo Sand and Edward Said. Of course, there are others, and behind them all is the Holy Bible. (more…)
-
Israel’s relentless bombing leaves Syria defenceless against military aggression
This is just another example of the exceptionalism that we have come to expect with Israel. That exceptionalism is the Zionist belief that Arab peoples are inferior to themselves — as former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has described them — “human animals”. (more…)
-
Settlements in Palestine
As we are potentially approaching a time when the world must address a Palestinian resolution, it is appropriate to consider possible obstacles. As Australians, our vote at the UN last week calling on Israel to end the occupation, is most unlikely to avoid the obstacle addressed here. (more…)
-
Terminology: The trap that is being carefully set
Terminology, take care. Take care Pearls & Irritations that you don’t fall into the trap – fall into the trap that is being carefully set. (more…)
-
Is Israel above international law? Let’s put the ICC warrants into perspective
On 19 November, the ICC issued warrants for the arrest of Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, in response to the request by the Prosecutor of the ICC, Karim Khan KC, back on 20 May. (more…)
-
“Absolute savagery”: What is stopping Australia from holding Israel to account?
Why won’t you hold Israel to account? You don’t have to wait for the rest of the world. You can be the leaders, you can be the leaders to hold Israel to account, for the slaughter of tens of thousands of Palestinians, for the killing of Zoni Frankcom.” – Senator Mehreen Faruqi, addressing the Australian Foreign Minister, Senator Wong. (more…)
-
Act now: The case for UN membership for Palestine is overwhelming
John Whitbeck’s plea for sanity – UN Membership for Palestine Now, 14 November 2024, should not be put into the too hard basket. At present, of course, the State of Palestine has only non-member observer status, having failed in an application for full member status in 2011. (more…)
-
The ICJ advisory opinion and the UNGA response
A position paper has been published by the organisation BADIL in October, suggesting that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) decision on the illegality of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory further fragments the Palestinian people and marginalises their rights. (more…)
-
Israel’s “Right to Defend Itself” against the Hezbollah resistance in Lebanon
Readers may recall my recent P&I post, Israel does not have a right to defend itself, as our PM keeps saying, 11 October. Since publication I have been questioned by some: does the argument made in respect of Palestinians resisting from the West Bank and Gaza, occupied by Israel, apply as well to resistance in the form of missiles fired at Israel from non-occupied territory, such as Lebanon, from which Hezbollah operates? (more…)
-
Israel does not have a right to defend itself, as our PM keeps saying
Israel has no right of self-defence against resistance to the illegal occupation. Israel cannot both occupy Palestinian lands, and then launch an attack on those lands by citing ‘self-defence’ when occupied populations resist. Neither can Israel treat those resisting in occupied territories as enemy combatants. (more…)
-
UN Palestine vote: Australia shows it lacks a backbone
Why is it that successive Australian Governments cannot bring themselves to call out Israel for what it is? A state that constantly ignores international law, most recently in the current Gaza conflict where there can be no doubt that war crimes have been, and are being committed against the Palestinian population. What Israel is perpetrating against the Palestinians is genocide on any definition. (more…)
-
UN vote: Newspaper raises irrelevant questions about an ICJ decision
The exclusive ‘US urges Australia over UN’s Israel vote’, published in Tuesday’s The Australian by Ben Packham, demands a response. (more…)
-
We are avoiding the truths set out on Gaza by the International Court of Justice
Our World gets worse and worse, reflected in inhumane, racist, behaviour. And what for us – Australians – is really bad is that we, as represented by our political leaders, and our media, are totally complicit in genocide. (more…)
-
The ICJ decision and the general assembly
Readers note that it is a month since the International Court of Justice (ICJ) handed down its advisory opinion on the Palestinian occupation (on 19 July). No doubt some are wondering what is happening. I am one of you. (more…)
-
Apartheid Israel
“(I)f pressed on legality … our position is that it is for competent judicial bodies to determine whether crimes against humanity have been committed” – (DFAT, 2022, FOI release). What then are DFAT and Australia’s obligations following the finding by the International Court of Justice that Israel has established an apartheid system in the Occupied Palestinian Territories? (more…)
-
The ICJ decision – where to from here?
The ICJ delivered its advisory opinion on 19 July regarding the legal consequences of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories. Readers are by now familiar with the basic rulings of the Court, not from mainstream media, I might add. The ICJ’s judgment has been reported, but its consequences, and particularly for Australia, have barely raised a comment. (more…)
-
Failure of the International Courts: when will we hear their determinations?
Readers of P&I may recall my earlier papers on the International Criminal Court of Justice (ICJ), and the International Criminal Court (ICC), and their recent forays into the Middle East quagmire. Some may have thought that this is a positive development, perhaps humanity is enlisting international law which will finally bring some common sense to the issue. Some might now be querying whether this optimism was misplaced, and asking, “When am I going to hear something of the Courts’ determinations?”. (more…)
-
Israel’s Moshe Feiglin repeats Hitler quote at AJA event
“I said on one of the Israeli channels… that he, Hitler, cannot live in the same world as long as one Jew still lives. This Islamo Nazism and the Jews cannot live together. Definitely, not in the same world, he [Hitler] said. But definitely not in the same country. That’s what I said. … And I said, from the river to the sea… it’s either you or me” – Israeli politician Moshe Feiglin at the Australian Jewish Association, June 19, 2024. (more…)
-
The Jewish community raise their voice to call out extremists
The Jewish Council of Australia, according to reports by Al Jazeera, is deeply concerned that the Australian Jewish Association is promoting the far-right Israeli politician Moshe Feiglin as a speaker at an Australian Zoom event, apparently held on 19 June, notwithstanding that Feiglin has recently quoted Adolf Hitler in reference to the wiping out of Gaza’s population. (more…)
-
Student protesters have done honour to themselves, and their University
For weeks encampment protests in universities have been occurring throughout Australia. Media coverage has to a significant extent been adverse, and undeservedly so. The public record suggests the protestors have been overwhelmingly well-behaved. And yet, Vice-Chancellors are said to have been pressed to stop the protests. There has even been conjecture that offending students might be disciplined in some way. Can we be assisted by history in this instance? (more…)
-
What would James Crawford “Australia’s greatest international lawyer” say about Palestine today?
James Crawford has been described as “Probably Australia’s greatest international lawyer of all time” (SMH, 16 June 2021). James Crawford died on 31 May 2021. But perhaps he still has something to contribute to the major controversy facing today’s world: Palestine. (more…)
-
“From the river to the sea”
“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” is a chant being used frequently today in rallies around the country in support of the Palestinian people, particularly in Gaza. More relevantly, for the purposes of this paper, the chant is being used in university campuses, where protestors are active, to the point of erecting tents, encampments, to accommodate themselves during the course of their protest. (more…)
-
“Antisemitic hate crime”: US and Israel desperate to avoid ICC justice
Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu has labelled prospective action by the International Criminal Court to hold him accountable for the murder of 14,500 children in Gaza as “an unprecedented antisemitic hate crime”. (more…)
-
Australian aid to Ukraine: False narratives and US hegemony
On Sunday 28 April, Defence Minister Richard Marles announced $100 million in military aid to Ukraine. It was said to raise Australia’s support to $1 billion in support of Ukraine’s attempt to counter “Russia’s illegal and immoral invasion”.
(more…) -
“Considering” recognition of the State of Palestine
The recognition of the State of Palestine has been an issue for the current Labor government since it came to office. Readers are reminded of these articles: The ALP and the Israeli occupation of Palestine, 9 August 2022; Why did Australia oppose the ICJ advisory opinion on Israeli settlements?, 15 February 2023; Recognise Palestine Now!, 3 October 2023; and The 2025 Federal Election – what are we to do?, 30 January, 2024. (more…)
-
A state of Palestine? Outrage as US backs perpetual occupation and oppression
Readers will recall my article of 16 April, The end of occupation: A state of Palestine at the UN. It advised of an anticipated vote in the Security Council on April 18. The Security Council was sitting in New York. Because of the time difference, that was early in the morning of 19 April in Australia. So, what happened? (more…)