The message is simple: Be joyful!
October 3, 2025 | Rabbi Ralph Genende
So much to be sad about and in the shadow of the agony of the Holocaust, the pall of October 7 has enshrouded us. Yet for all this, we have days of almost riotous celebration like Purim and Simchat Torah. The word for joy, Simcha, is a motif of our regular prayers; a repeated reminder in the book of Deuteronomy by Moses in his final words to his people; and it is indeed the leitmotif of the Sukkot festival.
Gaza peace plan offers hope, but also faces major hurdles
October 3, 2025 | Ran Porat
Hamas is very reluctant to surrender its last remaining bargaining chips: the hostages and its weapons. A vague promise of future statehood and the return of the PA is not enough of an achievement to justify what befell the Palestinians as a result of the 7 October attack.
Abbas said some positive sounding things in UN speech – pity they are so far-fetched
September 30, 2025 | Oved Lobel
It seems clear the Abbas-led PA is not capable of real reform, as it has demonstrated for decades. But even if it were, it has almost no support among Palestinians and no means of enforcing its writ even in the West Bank, much less Gaza. Unless and until that changes, Abbas’ commitments and call for peaceful coexistence in this speech will remain as symbolic and meaningless as the recognition of Palestine by Australia and other Western countries.
Media Matters: The ABC’s blind spot
August 17, 2025 | Allon Lee
Towns and villages flattened as far as the eye can see. Exhausted civilians desperately seeking an end to their misery but led by a pitiless leadership that refuses to surrender. Not Gaza in 2025 – but Japan in the final months of World War II.
Essay: Antisemitism – What everyone needs to know
September 19, 2025 | David Harris
Above all, antisemitism is an enduring and infinitely adaptable conspiracy theory. It ascribes to Jews, as a group, malevolent characteristics and aims. Even if historical circumstances should change over time, those essential characteristics and aims do not.
