Media Report 2025.05.27
FPM Media Report Tuesday May 27, 2025
Head of US-backed Gaza aid foundation quits, saying he could not abandon ‘principles’
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-27/aid-chief-quits/105340218
Head of US-backed Gaza aid foundation quits, saying he could not abandon ‘principles’
Multiple international organisations are warning of a humanitarian crisis in Gaza if more aid isn’t delivered. (AP: Abdel Kareem Hana)
In short:
Jake Wood, who was set to head up a new US-backed aid foundation in Gaza, has resigned, saying it could not adhere to “humanitarian principles”.
It comes as a trickle of aid flows into the enclave amid fears of widespread hunger.
The organisation is set to begin aid deliveries to the Palestinian territory this week.
The head of a US-backed foundation set to begin aid deliveries in Gaza resigned unexpectedly, saying it could not uphold humanitarian principles amidst war, as an Israeli airstrike on a school building killed dozens of Palestinians sheltering inside.
Reflecting growing international pressure on Israel, close ally Germany said its recent attacks in Gaza were inflicting a toll on civilians that could no longer be justified as a fight against Hamas — the Palestinian militant group which ignited the war with its cross-border October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
Israel has faced a mounting Western outcry this month as its military launched a new offensive in Gaza, already largely destroyed by Israeli bombardment during 19 months of conflict and where the population of two million is at risk of famine.
After nearly three months of blockade, Israeli authorities last week allowed a trickle of aid into the Palestinian enclave. But the few hundred trucks carried only a tiny fraction of the food needed.
Pallets of food aid can be seen on the back of a flat bottom truck.
Israel last week allowed some aid to reach Gaza, easing an 11-week blockade on the territory. (Reuters: COGAT)
Jake Wood, executive director of the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation for the past two months, said he resigned as it could not adhere “to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence”.
Mr Wood’s resignation on Sunday underscores the confusion surrounding the foundation, which has been boycotted by the United Nations and the aid groups supplying aid to Gaza before Israel imposed a total blockade on the enclave in March.
The groups say the new system will undermine the principle that aid should be overseen by a neutral party.
Gaza blockade eases amid warnings more aid is needed to avoid famine
Israel says it has allowed 100 aid trucks into the enclave, home to more than 2 million Palestinians, amid growing concerns about a humanitarian crisis.
Israel, which floated a similar plan earlier this year, says it will not be involved in distributing aid but it had endorsed the plan and would provide security for it.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which would use private contractors working under a broad Israeli security umbrella, said it would begin deliveries on Monday, with the aim of reaching one million Palestinians by the end of the week.
“We plan to scale up rapidly to serve the full population in the weeks ahead,” it said in a statement.
The Switzerland-registered foundation has been heavily criticised by the United Nations, whose officials have said the private company’s aid distribution plans are insufficient for reaching Gaza’s two million residents.
The new operation will rely on four major distribution centres in southern Gaza that will screen families for involvement with Hamas militants, potentially using facial recognition or biometric technology, according to aid officials.
But many details of how the operation will work remain unexplained, and it was not immediately clear whether aid groups that have refused to cooperate with the foundation would still be able to send in trucks.
Hamas condemned the new system, saying it would “replace order with chaos, enforce a policy of engineered starvation of Palestinian civilians, and use food as a weapon during wartime”.
Israel says the system is aimed at separating aid from Hamas, which it accuses of stealing and using food to impose control over the population, a charge rejected by Hamas, which says it protects aid convoys from gangs of armed looters.
Continued airstrikes
While the aid system is worked out, Israel has continued to carry out strikes across densely populated Gaza, killing at least 45 people on Monday, local health authorities said.
In Gaza City, medics said, 30 Palestinians, including displaced women and children who were seeking shelter in a Gaza City school, were killed in an air strike. Images shared widely on social media showed what appeared to be badly burned bodies being pulled from the rubble.
Nations threaten ‘concrete actions’ against Israel
Photo shows Bejnamin Netanyahu wearing a navy jacket, white shirt and a gold and Israeli flag lapel pin while grimacingBejnamin Netanyahu wearing a navy jacket, white shirt and a gold and Israeli flag lapel pin while grimacing
Pressure is piling on Benjamin Netanyahu over Israel’s “minimal” allowance of aid trucks in Gaza, with several nations issuing criticisms and fresh sanctions.
Israel’s military confirmed that it had targeted the school. It said that the building was being used as a centre by Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants to plan and organise attacks.
Farah Nussair, a survivor of the attack, said “just the tired ones” who needed food and water were in the school.
She added, a child in her lap: “We fled to the south, they bombed us in the south. We returned to the north, they bombed us in the north. We came to schools …. There is no security or safety, neither at schools, nor hospitals — not anywhere.”
Israel’s military said numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians. It did not provide evidence that the school was being used by militants.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, speaking to broadcaster WDR, said he planned to hold a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week to tell him “to not overdo it,” though for “historical reasons”, Germany would always be more guarded in its criticism than some European partners.
“Harming the civilian population to such an extent, as has increasingly been the case in recent days, can no longer be justified as a fight against Hamas terrorism,” Merz said.
Another strike on a house in Jabalia, adjacent to Gaza City, killed at least 15 other people, medics said.
Israel stepped up military operations in the enclave in early May, saying it is seeking to eliminate Hamas’ military and governing capabilities and bring back remaining hostages.
The campaign, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said will end with Israel in complete control of Gaza, has squeezed the population into an ever-narrowing zone in coastal areas and around the southern city of Khan Younis.
The Israeli campaign, triggered after Hamas-led Islamist militants stormed Israeli communities on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, has devastated Gaza and pushed nearly all of its residents from their homes.
The offensive has killed more than 53,000 people in Gaza, many of them civilians, according to its health authorities
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Albanese says Israel’s ‘excuses’ for withholding Gaza aid are not credible
By political reporter Jake Evans
In short:
The prime minister says Israel’s reasons for withholding humanitarian aid into Gaza are not credible.
Former cabinet minister Ed Husic criticised the government over the weekend for not following its allies in threatening sanctions.
What’s next?
The prime minister has called for the immediate resumption of a free flow of aid into Gaza.
In some of his strongest criticism to date, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Israel’s “excuses and explanations” for blocking aid to Gaza are untenable, and that it is an outrage that a democratic state would withhold aid.
The United Kingdom, France, Canada and other Western allies have threatened to impose sanctions on Israel over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to allow “minimal” humanitarian aid into the Palestinian territory.
Australia has not signed up to that joint threat, but did join international criticism of Israel’s proposed aid model and has called for a full and immediate resumption of humanitarian supplies into Gaza.
The United Nations has warned Gaza is on the brink of famine.
“Israel’s actions are completely unacceptable. It is outrageous that there be a blockade of food and supplies to people who are in need in Gaza,” Mr Albanese said.
“People are starving. The idea that a democratic state withholds supply is an outrage.”
Nations threaten ‘concrete actions’ against Israel
Pressure is piling on Benjamin Netanyahu over Israel’s “minimal” allowance of aid trucks in Gaza, with several nations issuing criticisms and fresh sanctions.
The prime minister added that he communicated that criticism to Israel’s president Isaac Herzog at a meeting in Rome just days ago, where he told the Israeli president “Israel’s excuses and explanations [were] completely untenable and without credibility”.
He said Australia did not sign on to the joint threat of concrete actions as it was a “statement by members of the G7”, though it was only a statement from three of those countries.
Over the weekend, dumped cabinet minister Ed Husic said the government should be doing more to pressure Israel.
“It was an important stand by [the UK, France and Canada]. Australia could have proudly joined them. We didn’t,” he wrote in an opinion piece for The Guardian.
“Now is the time to act. The UN has warned 14,000 babies suffering from severe acute malnutrition are at risk of dying, on top of the tens of thousands of women and children already murdered during this conflict.”
Mr Husic, who was the first Muslim MP to enter cabinet, says he was booted from cabinet in part because he has been outspoken on Gaza.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein told the UK “external pressure [would] not divert Israel from its path in defending its existence and security”.
Mr Albanese also repeated that Hamas could have no role in the future of Gaza or the West Bank, and hostages from the October 7 terror attack should be released.
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Israelis chant ‘death to Arabs’ in annual ‘Dance of the Flags’ march through Jerusalem
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-27/israelis-march-on-jerusalem-day-dance-of-the-flags/105340498
By Middle East correspondent Matthew Doran, Hamish Harty and Raed Khatib
In short:
Thousands of Israeli nationalists took part in the controversial Jerusalem Day “Dance of the Flags”.
The event is provocative to the Palestinian population, given it marks the anniversary of Israel seizing East Jerusalem and the Old City, and the group marches through the Muslim Quarter of the Old City.
Jerusalem’s status is one of the most divisive issues in the discussion about a two-state solution, with both Israelis and Palestinians believing it is intrinsically linked to their identity.
Young Israeli nationalists have torn through Jerusalem’s Old City chanting “death to Arabs” and harassing Palestinians ahead of the yearly commemorations for the capturing of East Jerusalem by Israel.
Thousands took part in the Jerusalem Day “Dance of the Flags”, marching to Damascus Gate and onwards to the Western Wall on a hot Monday evening.
The event is provocative to the Palestinian population, given it marks the anniversary of Israel seizing East Jerusalem and the Old City during the 1967 war, and the group marches through the Muslim Quarter of the Old City demanding the Arab population leave.
In the shadow of the Gaza war, one of the most prominent banners held by those marching read “Jerusalem in our hands, 1967. Gaza in our hands, 2025”.
A crowd of young men
The young nationalists tore through Jerusalem’s Old City, provoking the Muslim population. (ABC News: Hamish Harty)
In the hours before the march arrived at the Old City, right-wing nationalists were already wandering the narrow, winding streets and harassing people inside the city walls.
One teenager tried to set fire to a small copy of the Koran near Damascus Gate, proudly displaying his inflammatory act to his friends.
Another group set upon a number of Palestinian women, surrounding and spitting on them while making noises like monkeys or chimps, while an elderly man was knocked to the ground and needed help from paramedics.
Many of the nationalists remonstrated with members of the media, trying to push cameras out of the way while they tore through the streets.
Police used pepper spray to force some to scatter.
They chanted “death to Arabs”, “may your village burn” and “the people of Israel live”.
Volunteers from Standing Together, an Israeli-Palestinian peace and social justice organisation, were stationed throughout the city trying to calm the crowds — sometimes putting themselves between the Israeli nationalists and members of the Palestinian community.
One woman, named Inayat, said it was her birthday and she had been travelling to the Al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount.
“I came and everyone spat on me,” she said with saliva visible on her headscarf.
“Why, I do not know. I did nothing, it’s not OK what they did.”
Israeli Yair Sussman was among those marching, and insisted Palestinians needed to move out of the city — even if it was a slow process.
Netanyahu is losing the war of influence
Photo shows man wearing suit with press pack behind themman wearing suit with press pack behind them
While bombing raids may be a distant and difficult concept for populations in relatively safe corners of the world to comprehend, the scenes of children jostling and screaming in fear and desperation for whatever morsels of food are available have hit home.
“Eventually, all of Jerusalem will be ours,” he said.
“The people of Israel are not afraid of a long route.”
Most of the Palestinian stores in the Old City closed down ahead of the march to avoid being targeted by the nationalists.
Mohammad Abdeen was one of the store owners hoping to stay open despite the threat from the Israelis marching through the Old City.
“Here in my store, they broke some of my goods last year, one of them stole things from my store, but we can’t just close and leave the city for them — we have to remain steadfast,” he said.
“Everyone is very stressed and angry about this situation, because it’s not a comfortable situation.
“At any time, something unexpected may happen — God willing, everything will be fine.”
A man in a checked shirt stands in front of a coffee machine
Mohammad Abdeen says the rally causes a lot of stress for the Palestinian community. (ABC News: Hamish Harty)
Peace activists were also wandering through the city, handing out fresh flowers to people.
“Jerusalem is for all of us, for humanity,”
Natan Israeli said.
“That’s the symbol that Jerusalem stands for, the universe.
“It is the city that is a symbol for a possibility of a different way of living.”
A man wearing a hat holds the yellow and pink flowers
Peace activist Natan Israeli was handing out flowers during the rally. (ABC News: Hamish Harty)
Far-right minister pushes to claim Temple Mount
Israel’s controversial far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, was mobbed by the crowds at the Damascus Gate when he arrived in the early evening.
He is one of the loudest voices in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet demanding, among other things, an expansion of settlements in the West Bank and the continuation of the war in Gaza.
Earlier in the day, he had travelled to the Temple Mount precinct — which is solely reserved for Muslim worship — and insisted it was government policy to overturn that rule.
“There are truly many Jews flooding the Temple Mount — how nice to see that,” he said in a video posted on social media.
“Today, thanks to God, it is possible to pray on the Temple Mount, to bow on the Temple Mount, we thank God for that.
“And we will continue, continue, continue — we are here in prayer for the safety of the hostages, that they all return home safely, for victory in the war.”
A crushed red flower
A crushed flower perhaps best symbolises the division of the commemorations. (ABC News: Hamish Harty)
On Jerusalem Day, Mr Netanyahu held a special cabinet meeting in East Jerusalem.
“We never forget Jerusalem,” he said.
“Jerusalem, the bird of our soul, is the heart of the nation.
“If you remove the heart from the body, the body will not exist, and therefore we will not allow anyone to remove Jerusalem from our hands.”
The status of Jerusalem is one of the most divisive issues in the discussion about a two-state solution in the Middle East, with both Israelis and Palestinians believing it is intrinsically linked to their identity.
Most countries do not recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel because of that unsettled debate.
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Israel increasingly isolated as relentless attacks on Gaza continue
Irris Makler
May 26, 2025 — 3.45pm
Israel finds itself increasingly isolated after another round of ceasefire talks in Qatar collapsed, failing to produce an end to the 19-month conflict with Hamas in Gaza.
It was the old impasse: Hamas said it would not release the Israeli hostages it took during its attack on October 7, 2023, unless Israel withdrew from Gaza; Israel expanded its military operation hoping to force Hamas to surrender by force.
As the death toll in Gaza rises, Israel faces increased opposition at home and abroad, including from its closest ally, the United States. The Hamas-run health ministry reports more than 53,000 Gazans have been killed, a figure comprising civilians and Hamas members. Nine children from one family, the Al-Najjars, were added to this toll over the weekend, killed in an Israeli airstrike near Khan Yunis.
“Enough! Have mercy on us! We plead to all countries, the international community, the people, Hamas and all factions to have mercy on us,” said Youssef al-Najjar, a relative. “We are exhausted from the displacement and the hunger, enough!”
Internal opposition within Israel includes growing street protests, declining numbers of reserve officers presenting for duty and, tellingly, open letters from former Israeli military commanders who argue the renewed war effort has no attainable military goals. Two former prime ministers, Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert, have added their voices to the protests.
Israel’s allies – Canada, Britain and France – last week put out a joint statement calling for an end to the war, for the first time threatening economic sanctions against Israel. There was no US response defending Israel. US President Donald Trump this month posted on Truth Social that he hoped to end this “brutal conflict”.
Since then, Trump went on his first Middle East trip since his re-election and didn’t visit Israel, heading instead to Saudi Arabia and striking deals reportedly worth billions with the Gulf states, not to mention snagging a private jet from Qatar for use as Air Force One. The Saudi deals were not conditioned on normalisation of relations with Israel.
Trump didn’t co-ordinate with Israel on his decision to end US attacks on the Houthis in Yemen, and he didn’t make any commitments to Israel’s security. Indeed, Houthi long-range missile attacks on Israel have continued since without any US response.
Gazans struggle to receive cooked food distributed at a community kitchen in the Muwasi area of Khan Yunis on Friday.
Trump didn’t include Israel in negotiations for the release of US-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander, whom Israel had failed to liberate though he had been held by Hamas in Gaza for more than 580 days; on top of that, for the first time the US dealt with Hamas directly. (A new step, since the US designates the group as a terrorist organisation.)
Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held his first press conference in five months to deny any rift with Washington. But he signalled that he was prepared to lift the blockade on the entry of food, fuel and medicine into Gaza “to ensure our good friends support us”. Netanyahu also added two new war aims: a long-term Israeli military occupation of the Gaza Strip and the relocation of the population “in accordance with the Trump plan”. Months ago, Trump proposed the US would move out Gaza’s civilians and redevelop the strip into a “Riviera of the Middle East”. Little has been heard of that since, but it has emboldened extremists on Israel’s right, including Netanyahu’s ultranationalist finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, whose goal is to return Jewish settlers to Gaza.
Smotrich held his own press conference two days before Netanyahu. Explaining his new support for allowing food into Gaza, Smotrich said the quiet part out loud. “Humanitarian aid is only being allowed in so the world does not stop us and accuse us of war crimes.” He said the food delivered would be the bare minimum.
Smotrich said the “most important thing” was that the food aid would not stop Israel’s military operation in Gaza. “We are conquering, clearing and staying until Hamas is destroyed. We are dismantling Gaza, leaving it in ruins with unprecedented destruction, and the world hasn’t stopped us.”
Trucks carrying food aid are entering Gaza, though there is confusion about the numbers. It was reported that 93 trucks had entered in one day last week. Israeli sources say the number was 388 for the whole week. But aid agencies say that so far, little more than 100 trucks have reached their destinations, and hundreds more are needed daily.
When I was reporting from Jerusalem in 2024, food aid was intermittent, but even when aid trucks were entering Gaza, it was difficult to ensure the food reached Gaza’s civilians. There were instances when Hamas, and the Iran-affiliated militant group Islamic Jihad, stole stores of donated food and medicines, and were seen on video doing so. They then reportedly sold what they did not use themselves to the starving population.
Israeli officials say Hamas could end the war tomorrow by releasing the hostages and giving up its rule in Gaza. While international pressure is being ramped up on Israel, for the first time, Hamas is experiencing pressure – from the street. For weeks, Gazan civilians have been protesting against the Islamist group. Hamas has responded brutally, including beating, torturing and killing some protest leaders. Still, the demonstrations continue. People who have lost so much now don’t want to be controlled by Israel – or Hamas.
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Gaza doctor begged to hold daughter’s body after strike killed nine of her children
By Sally Abou Aljoud and Samy Magdy
Updated May 26, 2025 — 11.37amfirst published May 25, 2025 — 9.22am
Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip: A Palestinian doctor who rushed home from work after an airstrike hit her Gaza home begged rescuers to let her hold the body of her young daughter as they pulled the child from the rubble.
Paediatrician Alaa Najjar lost nine of her 10 children in the strike on Friday, colleagues from Nasser Hospital and Gaza’s Health Ministry said, and her husband, also a doctor, was severely injured.
Hamdi Najjar, the doctor’s husband, remains in critical condition with severe brain injuries, and their only surviving child, Adam, is in a moderate condition, said Ahmed al-Farra, the head of paediatric care at Nasser Hospital.
Al-Farra backed the family’s account of the deaths of the children in the strike.
Video footage of the strike’s aftermath showed Palestinian emergency workers carrying small, ashen bodies out of a building near the southern city of Khan Younis. As one was loaded onto a stretcher, a man could be heard shouting: “There are still nine down there!”
Alaa Najjar arrived at the scene just as her daughter Revan’s body was pulled out of the rubble, The Guardian reported. She tearfully begged rescuers to let her hold her one last time.
“Her [Revan’s] body was completely burnt from the upper part, nothing remained of her skin or flesh,” brother-in-law Ali Najjar said. “There are still two bodies of my brother’s children we could not find: the oldest, [a] 12-year-old boy, Yahya, and the six-month-old girl, Sayden.”
The children’s charred remains were put in a single body bag, said a fellow doctor at Nasser Hospital, Alaa al-Zayan.
‘History will judge them’: UK takes action against Israel as Gazans wait for food
Milena Angelova-Chee, a Bulgarian doctor also working at Nasser Hospital, told the BBC that Hamdi Najjar’s “life remains in danger”, while colleagues had told her the surviving son, Adam, was doing “reasonably well”.
The dead children ranged in age from seven months to 12 years old. The Guardian reported their names as Yahya, Rakan, Ruslan, Jubran, Eve, Revan, Sayden, Luqman and Sidra.
The home was struck minutes after Hamdi Najjar had driven his wife to work, the Associated Press reported.
“They were innocent children,” Hamdi Najjar’s brother Ismail said. “My brother has no business with [Palestinian] factions.”
The children were among 79 people killed by Israeli strikes who were brought to hospitals at the weekend, the Health Ministry said, a toll that did not include hospitals in the battered north that it said were now inaccessible.
Israel’s military said it had struck suspects operating from a structure next to its forces, and described the area of Khan Younis as a “dangerous war zone”. In a statement, it said it had evacuated civilians from the area, and “the claim regarding harm to uninvolved civilians is under review”. It blames Hamas for civilian deaths because it operates in densely populated areas.
Also on Friday in Khan Younis, two International Committee of the Red Cross staffers were killed when shelling struck their home, the ICRC said.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said the latest deaths brought the war’s toll to 53,901 since the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel in which some 1200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage, sparking the 19 months of fighting.
The ministry said 3747 people had been killed in Gaza since Israel resumed the war on March 18 to pressure Hamas to accept different ceasefire terms. Its count doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants.
Israel’s pressure on Hamas has included a blockade of Gaza since early March, which stopped food and medical supplies reaching its population of more than 2 million people. Last week, some aid trucks began entering the territory again.
COGAT, the Israeli defence body overseeing aid for Gaza, said 388 trucks had entered in recent days. About 600 trucks a day entered during the ceasefire.
Warnings of famine by food security experts, and images of desperate Palestinians jostling for bowls of food at the ever-shrinking number of charity kitchens, led Israel’s allies to press the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to allow some aid to return.
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Beit Zayit, Israel: Weeks before, Yaron Lischinsky had made plans to travel to Israel on Sunday with his partner, Sarah Milgrim. He wanted to introduce her to his family and, relatives said, propose to her.
Instead, Lischinsky, 30, was laid to rest on Sunday at sunset, in a small cemetery a short walk from his family home in the village of Beit Zayit, nestled in the wooded hills west of Jerusalem.
Lischinsky and Milgrim, 26, were gunned down on Wednesday night outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington as they left a reception for young professionals and diplomats hosted by the American Jewish Committee.
The alleged shooter, identified by the police as Elias Rodriguez, 31, of Chicago, cried out “Free, free Palestine!” as he was being apprehended – a call heard in protests around the world against Israel and its war in the Gaza Strip, which was ignited by the deadly Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.
Rodriguez has been charged with the murder of foreign officials, first-degree murder and other crimes. US authorities said they would also be investigating the attack as a hate crime and a crime of terrorism.
For their part, Lischinsky, a research assistant in the political department at the Israeli embassy, and Milgrim, who organised and worked with delegations, were both known as peace-seeking bridge-builders, according to their colleagues.
On Sunday, quiet prevailed over Beit Zayit, a community of about 1600 residents with a store, a clinic and an outdoor library in a tiny pavilion. Residents of the town described the Lischinsky family as very private and modest people.
In keeping with the family’s desire for privacy, the return to Israel of Lischinsky’s remains and his funeral were unusually low-profile affairs, without media coverage.
Lischinsky’s coffin arrived in Israel on Friday and was received by representatives of the family and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a brief, private ceremony at the airport, according to a ministry statement.
Israelis were outraged by the killing of Lischinsky and Milgrim but many said that amid the global rising tide of antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment they saw such an attack coming.
A suspect is in custody after two Israeli embassy staff were shot dead near the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC.
“The people of Israel have been attacked for thousands of years,” said Israel Perel, 83, who moved to Beit Zayit five decades ago, seeking a home in nature.
“We won’t give in to those who want to do us harm,” he said, speaking outside the community’s small administrative centre on Sunday afternoon. He had come looking for an Israeli flag to take with him to Lischinsky’s funeral.
In the intense late afternoon heat, hundreds of people began to stream towards the cemetery in a pine forest on the edge of the village for the funeral scheduled for 6pm.
Israel’s Foreign Minister, Gideon Saar, attended the ceremony and gave one of the eulogies.
Milgrim and Lischinsky were gunned down on Wednesday night outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington as they left a reception for young professionals and diplomats.
Lischinsky, an outstanding student who had grown up in Germany and Israel, was a deeply committed Israeli patriot and had aspired to become a professional diplomat for his country, according to his teachers and colleagues.
After his burial, his close family tarried by the fresh grave, covered in wreaths of flowers, until darkness fell as long lines of mourners embraced them and offered words of comfort, according to some people in attendance.
Lischinsky came from a culturally mixed background with a Jewish father and a Christian mother, and was a practising Christian, according to his brother, Hanan Lischinsky, 32. People who had worked with Lischinsky in the embassy said that over his last two years there, he had identified as Jewish.
The funeral service blended religious traditions and elements. A leader of the Hebrew-speaking King of Kings congregation of Jerusalem – part of a Messianic community that says its mission is to reveal the true face of Jesus to Israel – officiated alongside representatives of the Orthodox Jewish burial society.
On Monday, Saar was expected to host US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem in Jerusalem, followed by joint statements together with the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee. Afterwards, the foreign ministry said in a statement, a memorial ceremony would be held in honour of Lischinsky and Milgrim, and a tree would be planted in their memory.
Milgrim’s funeral is scheduled to take place on Tuesday near the Kansas City suburb where she grew up.
Lischinsky’s family never got to meet her.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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Is a new conflict in the Middle East just around the corner?
Greg Sheridan
Israel is likely to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities within the next six months. A fascinating piece in the well-regarded US conservative journal, the Middle East Forum, argues an Israeli attack is imminent. Sources in Israel think that assessment overblown. They emphasise Benjamin Netanyahu’s government will be careful about negotiations the Trump administration is having with Iran over a possible agreement.
The MEF reports that the US Defence Intelligence Agency believes Iran could produce enough nuclear weapons-grade material for one nuclear bomb within a week, if it decided to. After Iran twice attacked Israel with missile volleys, Israel responded by wiping out much of Iran’s most sophisticated air defence capabilities.
Therefore, there’s a certain logic to Israel undertaking a strike now, or soon. The longer it waits, the more Iran will rebuild air defences, which could enact a serious toll on Israeli planes and aircrew. Israelis understand they can’t destroy Iran’s nuclear program from the air. But they believe they can hit “choke points” in the program and set it back several years.
Israeli military action has vastly reduced the potential of Iranian proxies, notably Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the Houthis in Yemen, to provide significant military support to Iran in the event of Israel-Iran conflict. Similarly, the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, and the subsequent destruction of most of Syria’s conventional armed forces by the Israeli Defence Force, has removed from the board Iran’s single most important state ally in the Middle East. For some Israelis, therefore, it’s now or never.
However, the possible costs of an Israeli strike are also enormous. Although the Israeli government will ultimately act independently to protect its existential interests, everything depends on Donald Trump. An Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities is the most predicted, and most postponed, event in the Middle East. Over the past decade or more I have on a handful of occasions been told by people at the very top of the international system that an Israeli strike would shortly take place. To be clear, I’ve never been told that by US or Israeli officials. Nor was I ever given a specific date. But my interlocutors were people at the very top of national systems, who you would expect to know of the likelihood of such a strike. I’ve concluded, and there has been some limited reporting to this effect, that on several different occasions Israel decided it would strike the Iranian facilities but was talked out of it at the last minute by the Americans.
Barack Obama got an extremely weak deal with the Iranians, which recognised the legitimacy of the Iranian nuclear industry, accepted in principle that Iran could enrich uranium up to a certain point, and had a quite limited duration, so that after the agreement expired Iran faced very few restrictions.
In his first term, Trump withdrew from this deal and imposed heavy sanctions on Iran. Sanctions are Trump’s preferred tool of coercion, almost his preferred tool of statecraft, and they’re often quite effective. In this case they didn’t markedly change Iran’s behaviour but did deprive it of funds. Joe Biden, in one of his countless Middle East miscalculations, greatly softened the sanctions in pursuit of a deal with Iran, which went absolutely nowhere. Now it really seems as if a lot of factors are converging to create a fateful moment of truth.
The Trump administration has been trying one last time to negotiate a full deal with Iran. If it gives up its nuclear program and stops sponsoring terrorists, Iran can be released from all sanctions and, if it wants, welcome US and other international investment. The Iranians, under a lot of pressure, look as though they would enter a deal in which they meaninglessly promise to stop sponsoring terrorism, and also promise to keep their nuclear program at enrichment levels well below that needed for a nuclear weapon. That’s the real sticking point. The Israelis, and Trump in some of his statements, have said the Iranians must abandon all uranium enrichment. This is a perfectly reasonable position. The Iranians time without number have threatened the total physical destruction of Israel. Their official state ideology is one of extreme Islamism, in which both the US and Israel figure as entities of eternal evil, which the Islamic revolution has a duty to destroy.
The reason the Iranians are willing even to talk about a strong deal with Trump, when they wouldn’t with Biden, is that they fear Trump could hit them militarily. They didn’t have this fear of Biden. My best guess is Trump won’t strike the Iranians militarily under almost any circumstances. Whatever you might say about Trump, you cannot accuse him of recklessly engaging in military conflict. He is not exactly an isolationist. But a central part of his ideological approach is to denigrate, if not altogether repudiate, the element of US international leadership which has involved military action far from home. He did conduct a bombing campaign against the Houthi rebels, against the wishes of his Vice-President. This was ostensibly to stop the Houthis from attacking international shipping, especially US shipping, in the Red Sea. Even this seems to have been partly show: the Houthis had already stopped attacking US and most international shipping. But it allowed Trump to make a triumphal announcement. Notably, Trump didn’t insist the Houthis stop attacking Israel. Nonetheless, he will be far more permissive of an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities than Biden or Obama. The Trump administration has already transferred much of the necessary ordnance to the Israelis to do the job. But even with Iran’s air defences degraded, it would be a dangerous and costly job for Israel to do alone. It would be far more effective if the US and Israelis acted together.
Both Israel and the US devote intense intelligence resources to Iran and believe they would know when and if the Iranians move decisively towards a nuclear weapon. The greatest danger from Israel’s point of view is that some of Trump’s advisers sell him on a deal that allows Iran to keep enriching uranium. The Israelis would certainly feel constrained about bombing Iran if Trump himself has just declared victory. But if they felt it necessary, the Israelis would still strike, perhaps after an interval. It’s unlikely the Iranians will accept ending uranium enrichment. A whole new Middle East conflict may be just around the corner.
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Wrong target for PM’s Gaza aid fury
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s condemnation on Monday of Israel’s efforts to relieve the aid situation in Gaza as “completely unacceptable” and “outrageous” reflects an extremely troubling oversimplification of a deeply complex issue.
While humanitarian concerns are valid, dismissing Israel’s security considerations and the role of Hamas in exacerbating the crisis undermines efforts toward a sustainable resolution.
That more aid needs to get into Gaza, is self-evident and not in dispute. At issue here, however, is how to distribute that aid in such a manner that it reaches those who actually need it, and not allow Hamas, an Australian-designated terror group that initiated the October 7 massacre, to continue to siphon, divert, profit and weaponise from it, as it has been systematically doing.
In his press conference on Monday, Albanese insisted he found “Israel’s excuses and explanations completely untenable and without credibility”. Yet last week, even Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas himself, in an unprecedented statement, condemned Hamas for “looting and stealing” humanitarian aid intended for the people of Gaza. Ignoring this reality not only misrepresents the situation on the ground, but also risks emboldening Hamas by absolving it of responsibility and undermining efforts of aid actually reaching the civilian population in Gaza.
The Prime Minister’s remarks also overlook the extraordinary efforts Israel has made to facilitate aid while ensuring security, all the while fighting an enemy that continues to use human shields and steal aid to underwrite its terror operations and the ongoing captivity of hostages.
Since the October 7 attacks by Hamas, Israel has facilitated almost 100,000 trucks carrying 1.8 million tonnes of aid into Gaza. Meantime, since the commencement of phase one of the hostage-ceasefire deal on January 19, more than 25,000 trucks entered Gaza (about 600 per day), carrying a total of 57,000 tonnes of food. This was at a greater level than pre-war aid deliveries.
On March 1, however, and after repeated refusals by Hamas to agree to US proposals to extend the second phase of the ceasefire, Israel was left with no alternative but to halt the supply of aid into the Gaza Strip, a decision it did so within the strict confines of international law, and specifically Article 23 of the fourth Geneva Convention, which permits states to halt the entry of aid when there is serious reason to believe these supplies are being diverted from their destination or used for military purposes, as has been the case with Hamas.
Notwithstanding the belief by Israeli intelligence services that there is sufficient food currently available in Gaza, and independent assessments rejecting false and libellous accusations of starvation and famine, last week Israel reopened the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip, in order to “prevent the development of a hunger crisis in the Gaza Strip” and “due to the operational need to enable the expansion of intense fighting to defeat Hamas”.
Since then, approximately 400 trucks carrying humanitarian aid, including flour, food and medical equipment, have entered Gaza, with every effort continuing to be made to ensure the aid does not reach the hands of Hamas.
It is imperative to underscore that the public condemnation of Israel without acknowledging Hamas’s role in the humanitarian crisis risks skewing international perception and policy decisions in Canberra. When the West refuses to recognise this, and instead reflexively condemns Israel, while threatening the Jewish state with further sanctions, as the UK, Canada and France recently did, they are warmly thanked by Hamas.
If Prime Minister Albanese does not change this approach, Australia too risks the dubious honour of receiving a thankyou note from Hamas. Instead, Australia’s foreign policy should aim to support both humanitarian objectives in Gaza and the security of Israel, not echo falsehoods about famine while singling out Israel for opprobrium and castigation.
The challenge always has been, and remains, how to ensure aid reaches the intended civilian population without being co-opted by Hamas. In that regard, there is a new entity, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US and Israel-backed international aid organisation established to manage a new model for distributing humanitarian aid in Gaza, in such a way that it is not diverted by Hamas. Australia should warmly welcome this approach and seek ways to contribute through its extensive know-how and resources.
While the plight of civilians in Gaza is deeply concerning, it is imperative that Australia’s response is informed by a comprehensive understanding of the factors at play and Hamas’s exacerbation of the suffering. Acknowledging the complexities and engaging in balanced diplomacy will better serve the goals of peace and humanitarian relief.
Arsen Ostrovsky is an Australian-Israeli human rights lawyer.
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PALESTINIANS HAIL PM’S STANCE ON ISRAEL
SARAH ISON
Palestine’s representatives in Australia have lauded comments by Anthony Albanese decrying Israel’s actions in Gaza, describing the intervention by the Prime Minister as a significant “advancement” in Australia’s position on Palestine and urging the government to take “concrete action” against the Jewish state.
Mr Albanese on Monday declared Israel was making “excuses” for why aid was unable to be delivered to civilians in Gaza and accused the Netanyahu government of intentionally withholding supplies from the region, in his strongest comments against Israel in years.
“Israel’s actions are completely unacceptable,” he said. “It is outrageous that there be a blockade of food and supplies to people who are in need in Gaza. We have made that very clear by signing up to international statements.”
While peak Jewish bodies urged the government to remember Hamas shouldered the responsibility for suffering caused since October 7, 2023, the General Delegation of Palestine to Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific expressed its “appreciation” for the Labor leader.
“This statement by … Anthony Albanese … represents further advancement in Australia’s position with regards to the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and Israel’s punitive blockade of food and water and medicine and electricity, and all other essentials of life, characterised by Prime Minister Albanese as being ‘completely unacceptable’ and ‘outrageous’,” a statement from the delegation provided to The Australian said.
“The situation in Gaza is unbearable and necessitates immediate action to halt Israel’s ongoing brutality and violations of international law.”
The delegation stressed words were “simply not enough”, calling on the Albanese government to recognise Palestine and take “concrete action to pressure Israel and ensure accountability and adherence to International Law”.
“The General Delegation of Palestine urges the Australian government to recognise the State of Palestine without further delay as a means of safeguarding the two-state solution in accordance with international law and resolutions of international legitimacy,” the statement said.
Mr Albanese’s intervention follows Foreign Minister Penny Wong last week joining more than 20 other foreign ministers to condemn the lack of aid being allowed to flow into Gaza.
“Humanitarian aid should never be politicised, and Palestinian territory must not be reduced nor subjected to any demographic change,” the joint statement read.
The steadily increasing condemnation of Israel comes ahead of a UN conference to be held in New York next month, where the recognition of Palestine is expected to be a key focus.
When asked about his position on Palestinian statehood, Mr Albanese said “what we’re dealing with here is the humanitarian crisis”. “Australia isn’t a participant in any of this. And I make this point as well, people should not bring conflict here, which some of the acts of anti-Semitism have done,” he said. “But you can be a clear opponent of all that and still be able to be critical of the actions of the Israeli government, which we have done both privately and publicly.”
Senior Jewish Liberal MP Julian Leeser said he wished Mr Albanese “would have expressed the same passion to the same degree for those hostages” that were still held by Hamas.
Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler said his organisation agreed that the crisis in Gaza was concerning but disagreed on who was to blame.
“We share the Prime Minister’s deep concern regarding the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. However, Australia can and must hold two truths at once: compassion for innocent lives and clarity about who is responsible for their suffering; Hamas,” he said.
“Hamas began this war with the massacre of 1200 Israeli civilians and continues to embed itself among Palestinian civilians, using them as shields and diverting aid for terror.
“Humanitarian assistance must reach those in need, it cannot be hijacked by those intent on prolonging this conflict.”
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said the criticism of Israel and calls to recognise Palestine “distract from what should be the focus of all Western governments right now”, which was ensuring the surrender of Hamas.
“Hamas has praised world leaders that have criticised Israel’s battle tactics and views calls for recognising a Palestinian state as a validation of its October 7 atrocities which began this war,” Mr Ryvchin said.
“Such calls play right into Hamas’s strategy of isolating Israel from its Western allies no matter the cost in civilian blood.”
Mr Ryvchin noted Mr Albanese had called for the release of hostages and made clear that Hamas should play no role in the future of Gaza, but said such language was not meaningful when taken with the fierce criticism of Israel.
“Such statements are invariably tempered by scathing criticism of Israel and that is all that Hamas hears,” he said.
“If our government wishes to play a constructive role in ending the conflict it should support those Gazans bravely protesting against their murderous rulers and should lead the calls for Hamas’s immediate and unconditional surrender.”
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ISRAEL TO TAKE GAZA ‘IN TWO MONTHS’
Dov Lieber
The Israeli military on Sunday said it planned to capture 75 per cent of the Gaza Strip within two months and push Palestinian civilians into just a quarter of the Strip’s territory as part of a new effort to rid Gaza of Hamas.
The military is also planning to roll out a new US-backed program to distribute aid in Gaza as early as Monday. It has built three complexes in southern Gaza and one in central Gaza where hundreds of American contractors will distribute aid to Palestinians, according to an Israeli official.
The new plan will require a representative from each family to come to one of the complexes to pick up an aid package every five days. The UN and aid groups, which have refused to participate in the plan, say it is too dangerous because it requires Palestinians to travel through a war zone for food and violates their principles of neutrality because Israel would be controlling the aid.
The new plan comes after Israel started letting small amounts of aid enter Gaza following a more than two-month blockade of all goods, leading to severe shortages of food, fuel and medicine.
The announcement comes as Israel makes a tactical shift in how it fights in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the new offensive will include conquering Gaza and holding territory. The goal, Israel says, is to push Hamas into releasing the remaining hostages and disarming, and for its remaining leadership to leave the territory.
When it first launched a ground invasion weeks after the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack, Israel’s military raided areas, aiming to kill Hamas militants. But there was no replacement for Hamas put in place so the US-designated terrorist group quickly re-established control.
The new ground offensive also comes amid mounting international pressure on Israel to wrap up the war, and domestic pressure to strike a deal that would see the return of the remaining hostages.
Israel’s reservist military is tired and stretched thin, and more Israelis are turning against the war. In recent weeks, Israel has surged thousands of soldiers into Gaza. It is already in control of around 40 per cent of Gaza’s territory since renewing hostilities in March after a temporary ceasefire collapsed, the military said.
Israel has ratcheted up pressure on Hamas with attacks on its military and political leadership as well as infrastructure. Israel killed Hamas’s Gaza leader, Mohammed Sinwar, brother of October 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar, at a meeting of top militants in an airstrike this month.
When Israel seizes new territory, it will also demolish whatever it considers infrastructure used by Hamas, the military said. This will cause more destruction in the enclave, which has already seen vast swathes demolished.
Israel has to date destroyed about 25 per cent of the hundreds of kilometres of tunnels Hamas has dug under Gaza.
It isn’t clear when or how Palestinian civilians would be allowed to return to areas taken by Israel’s military. Israel hopes that over time it can create areas in Gaza it is sure are free of Hamas.
The war’s toll on Palestinian civilians has been severe, with many being forced to move multiple times to escape Israeli airstrikes. More than 53,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to Palestinian health authorities, who don’t say how many are combatants.
Israel’s military believes preventing Hamas from controlling aid distribution is fundamental to dislodging it from the civilian population and ending its rule in Gaza. Israeli officials say the new aid program is designed to prevent Hamas commandeering aid from trucks or warehouses and using it to feed its ranks or sell to civilians to fund its activities.
Aid groups say Israel overstates the problem with Hamas commandeering aid, and says the safest way to get aid to civilians is through existing infrastructure.
The Wall Steet Journal
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SPAIN URGES SANCTION THREAT IN PEACE PUSH
Mariette le Roux
The international community should look at sanctions against Israel to stop the Gaza war, Spain’s Foreign Minister said on Sunday, as European and Arab nations gathered in Madrid to urge an end to its offensive.
Some of Israel’s longstanding allies have added their voices to growing international pressure after it expanded military operations against Gaza’s Hamas rulers, whose 2023 attack on Israel sparked the devastating conflict.
An aid blockade lasting almost three months has worsened shortages of food, water, fuel and medicine in the Palestinian territory, stoking fears of famine.
Aid organisations say the trickle of supplies Israel has recently allowed to enter falls far short of needs.
The talks aimed to stop Israel’s “inhumane” and “senseless” war in Gaza, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said before the meeting.
Humanitarian aid must enter Gaza “massively, without conditions and without limits, and not controlled by Israel”, he added, describing the territory as humanity’s “open wound”.
Representatives from European countries including France, Britain, Germany and Italy joined envoys from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Morocco, the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation.
Norway, Iceland, Ireland and Slovenia, who like Spain have already recognised a Palestinian state, took part, alongside Brazil.
After the EU decided last week to review its co-operation deal with Israel, Mr Albares said Spain would request its “immediate suspension”. Spain would also urge partners to impose an arms embargo on Israel and “not rule out any” individual sanctions against those “who want to ruin the two-state solution forever”.
Sunday’s meeting also promoted a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa said he wanted to “move as fast as possible to a peace where Palestine and Israel can coexist and bring stability and security for the whole region”.
Mr Albares said the summit made progress by including more EU powers such as France, Germany and Italy in the format. They would “never give up on peace in the Middle East”, he said.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot will meet the Palestinian Authority’s minister of state for foreign affairs, Varsen Aghabekian Shahin, during a trip to Yerevan this next week, his office announced on Sunday.
The diplomatic drive comes one month before a UN conference on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in New York.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has said his country will back draft resolutions at the UN aimed at ramping up aid access to Gaza and holding Israel to account over its international humanitarian obligations.
AFP
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Release hostages to help Gazans
Outrage over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, such as that expressed by Anthony Albanese on Monday, is all very well. Israel can and should do more to alleviate the suffering. But such criticism overlooks the root cause of the problem. “People are starving,” the Prime Minister said. “The idea that a democratic state withholds supply (of food and other aid) is an outrage.” The trouble, however, is that it reveals yet again the hypocrisy of Western leaders – not just Mr Albanese – who invariably are quick to lambaste and demonise Israel but fail to recognise that the nub of all that is happening in Gaza is Hamas and its pigheaded, inhumane intransigence in refusing to lay down its arms and release the Israeli hostages it has held since October 7, 2023.
When British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney issued a joint demarche last week, it was Israel – not Hamas and its Iranian puppetmaster, the perpetrators of the slaughter of 1200 Jews – that was targeted with threatened sanctions if it did not halt its military operations in Gaza and lift aid restrictions. At least on Monday Mr Albanese called for a ceasefire, humanitarian aid to be allowed in, the release of the hostages and an “end to hostilities”. But he did not come close enough to recognising that until Hamas hands over the hostages there is unlikely to be an end to the humanitarian catastrophe or the war and its terrible toll.
Global outrage over the Israeli airstrike last Friday that killed nine of the 10 children of two married doctors working at Gaza’s Nasser Medical Complex is well founded. It inevitably provoked more worldwide condemnation of Israel. But where is the condemnation of the Hamas-style “Free Palestine” assassination last Wednesday in the heart of Washington DC of two soon-tobe engaged Jews working at the Israeli embassy, Sarah Lynn Milgrim, 26, and Yaron Lischinsky, 30? “I did it for Palestine,” alleged assassin Elias Rodriguez, 31, boasted.
Israel deploying most of its army to Gaza with the aim of taking full control of 75 per cent of the Strip across the next two months is provoking further anger. It plans to push Palestinian civilians into just a quarter of the territory as part of a new effort to rid Gaza of Hamas. Short of caving in to the terrorists and their cynical abuse of the hostages as a strategic playing card, Israel does not have an alternative but to do what it believes necessary to annihilate Hamas. That is the basic prerequisite to ending Gaza’s humanitarian and security challenges. The sooner world leaders accept that reality, the better the hopes for eventual peace and an end to the Gazans’ suffering. Blaming Israel is not the answer.
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Canberra Times
Hamas agrees to Gaza proposal, Israel dismisses it
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8976492/hamas-agrees-to-gaza-proposal-israel-dismisses-it/
Updated May 27 2025 – 3:11am, first published 3:09am
A Palestinian official says Hamas has agreed to a proposal by US special envoy Steve Witkoff for a Gaza ceasefire, only for an Israeli official to deny that the proposal was Washington’s and add that no Israeli government could accept it.
Witkoff also rejected the notion that Hamas had accepted his offer for a hostage deal and a ceasefire in Gaza on Monday, telling Reuters that what he had seen was “completely unacceptable” and the proposal being discussed was not the same as his.
The Palestinian official, who is close to Hamas, had told Reuters that the proposal would see the release of 10 hostages and a 70-day ceasefire and was received by Hamas through mediators.
“The proposal includes the release of 10 living Israeli hostages held by Hamas in two groups in return for a 70-day ceasefire and a partial withdrawal from the Gaza Strip,” the source said.
It also included the release of a number of Palestinian prisoners by Israel, including hundreds serving lengthy prison terms.
An Israeli official dismissed the proposal, saying no responsible government could accept such an agreement and rejecting the assertion that the deal matched one proposed by Witkoff.
On March 18, Israel effectively ended a January ceasefire agreement with Hamas and renewed its military campaign in Gaza. Hamas and allied factions began firing rockets and attacks two days later.
Hamas has said it is willing to free all remaining hostages seized by its gunmen in attacks on communities in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, and agree to a permanent ceasefire if Israel pulls out completely from Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel would only be willing to agree to a temporary ceasefire in return for the release of hostages, vowing that war can only end once Hamas is eradicated.
Israel launched an air and ground war in Gaza after the Hamas-led militants’ cross-border attack, which killed 1200 people by Israeli tallies, with 251 hostages abducted into Gaza.
The conflict has killed nearly 54,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, and devastated the coastal strip. Aid groups say signs of severe malnutrition are widespread.
Australian Associated Press
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PM slams Israel; Australians against Gaza aid blockade
By Dominic Giannini
A vast majority of Australians believe Israel’s decision to block aid for people in Gaza isn’t justifiable, as the prime minister branded the Middle Eastern nation’s actions as untenable.
Anthony Albanese used some of his strongest language yet to condemn the blockade of food and supplies into the territory, as Israel begins to let in just a trickle of humanitarian aid after a nearly three-month blockade.
More than two million people in the strip face starvation and famine.
Mr Albanese said Israel’s actions were “completely unacceptable” and that he raised the issue with Israeli President Isaac Herzog when they met on the sidelines of the Pope’s inauguration in Rome last week.
“I made it very clear that Australia finds these actions completely unacceptable and we find Israel’s excuses and explanations completely untenable and without credibility,” he told reporters in Canberra on Monday.
“It’s outrageous that there’d be a blockade of food and supplies to people who are in need in Gaza.
“People are starving and the idea that a democratic state withholds supply is an outrage.”
Using starvation as a warfare method is a war crime, according to international law experts.
Mr Albanese reiterated Australia’s support for a ceasefire and for the designated terrorist organisation Hamas to return Israeli hostages.
“We consistently and unequivocally oppose what happened on October 7, but states, which are democratic states, have a responsibility to behave in a way that is consistent with international law and with humanitarian concerns,” he said.
“The whole world is concerned about what has occurred with the blockade.”
Australians are largely in step with the prime minister, with about four in five people saying Israel’s deliberate hindrance of humanitarian aid isn’t justifiable, according to YouGov polling commissioned by a number of not-for-profit organisations.
Two-thirds of respondents said Australia should do more to support civilians in Gaza who cannot access food, water or medicine, the survey of 1500 people found.
Support was highest amongst Labor voters for both statements.
Some 9000 trucks are waiting to enter Gaza, Oxfam Australia’s acting chief executive Chrisanta Muli said.
“The small amount we’ve seen so far enter Gaza represents a trickle of water into an ocean of need,” Dr Muli said.
“Australians want our government to take a stronger stance to halt the devastating destruction of Gaza and its people.
“They are clearly saying, ‘the current status quo is unacceptable’.”
The survey was commissioned by Oxfam Australia, ActionAid Australia, Plan International Australia, Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA, Caritas and ChildFund Australia.
Australia has also condemned the forced displacement of Palestinians as Israel reinvigorates its military offensive in the strip.
The Israeli military controls about 77 per cent of Gaza, according to Gazan officials.
The strip has been largely reduced to rubble and Israel’s counteroffensive has left more than 53,000 people dead, according to the local health ministry.
It followed Hamas’ attack against Israel on October 7, 2023 which killed 1200 people and resulted in 250 people taken hostage, according to Israel’s tallies.
Dozens of hostages remain captive and Israel began its blockade and restarted a ground offensive after a ceasefire deal collapsed months ago.
The deal resulted in the release of 25 hostages held by Hamas and about 1900 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
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A good reason for their support
Jochen Zeil (Letters, May 23) wants Jamie Hyams to concentrate on introducing Israeli voices such as David Issachoff to Australia’s public, rather than putting Israel’s case. Israel, being a democracy, does have far-left writers who attack its government and everything it does. Australia also has unrepresentative commentators who are only interested in trashing this great country. That doesn’t make them right.
Meanwhile, Fred Goldsworthy (Letters, May 23) outrageously claims every Jew who doesn’t avidly oppose Netanyahu is also guilty of war crimes.
The reason why Hyams and most other Jews maintain their stance broadly in support of Israel is that they are invested in and educated about the conflict. They therefore understand that Israel is abiding by international law, and keeping the ratio of civilian to combatant casualties to unprecedented lows for modern urban warfare. They also know it is Hamas, with its human shield strategies and aid theft, that is committing the war crimes.
M van Dijk, Fadden
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The turning point that wasn’t: the way the world talks about Israel’s war has changed. Nothing else has
https://www.theguardian.com/au/commentisfree
An air of complicity has prompted new rhetoric from UK and EU leaders. But it won’t redeem them – or change history’s course
Why now? That’s the question. Why now, after 19 months of relentless assault that was plain for all to see, and declared by Israeli authorities themselves, has the tide begun to shift on Gaza?
The marked change in tone this past week from leaders in the UK and EU is a clear break from the pabulum of “concerns” and reiterations of Israel’s right to defend itself. Now the rhetoric is that Israel’s actions are “morally unjustifiable” and “wholly disportionate”, and the threats of its leaders “abhorrent”. Some of this is future-proofing. The war has amounted to genocide and ethnic cleansing in ways that are increasingly undeniable, indefensible and unspinnable. Some had a good go at it for a year and a half, but now cannot stand at a lectern or sit at a dinner table and argue that, yes, actually, there is an argument for killing 100 people a day, as was the case last week. Or that Israel has any plan other than what its leaders have consistently declared to be one of displacement and settlement. Long gone is the argument that this is simply about wiping out Hamas. Israel, as one British media ally lamented, has hung its friends out to dry.
But there is a disconnect between condemnation and outrage, and what happens on the ground. When it comes to Israel, the levers of international censure are broken. Throughout the war, international organisations, humanitarian missions and courts of justice have been rendered powerless by their inability to translate their findings into action. Words alone mean nothing. They simply bounce off Israel’s iron dome of impunity. Every day, the world wakes up and is confronted with an Israeli leadership that violates every law of morality and logic. Victims are aggressors, humanitarians are biased, an army that kills unarmed medics is the most moral army in the world. Up is down.
As Gaza’s children are bombed and starved, we watch – powerless. What is it doing to us as a society?
The recent change in language from Israel’s international allies is remarkable. But it would be dangerous to overestimate its significance. Israeli authorities not only do not care, but draw strength from the condemnation. It all serves to prove that the country is on its own and must persevere because it is, as ever, misunderstood, discriminated against, surrounded by enemies. The shift feels like a breakthrough only in comparison to what came before. For so long, the act of calling what is happening in Gaza by its name has been traduced, even criminalised. There are people sitting in detention for the charge of describing reality. If anything, the past year and a half has seen a series of breakthroughs that signified nothing; historic protests, a sea change in global public opinion, a tussle at the heart of western political, legal and academic institutions over the right to protest against an unfolding genocide. Palestine, once a marginal issue, has become a mainstream one that lies at the heart of western politics and discourse. And yet, as long as governments with leverage over Israel refused to act, none of that saved a single life.
There is still something in this moment that could be expanded into something meaningful. Politics tends towards inertia – the observance of alliances and the status quo. To upend that requires real crisis, yet Israel has managed to escalate its campaign in Gaza to a level that has scaled even that high bar. Standing by as a population starves, watching lives ebb away in plain sight, seeing the ribs and hollowed eye sockets of lethargic children, governments are tarred with the stain of complicity. To deprive people of food, to have such power over them, is not a military campaign of strategic goals involving regrettable collateral damage – it is the creation of a ghetto of mass punishment. A defining chapter of history is being written. The sponsors of this act are clearly identifiable, emphatically supportive, and yet now seem thrown off by the position they find themselves in. Duration also plays a role. It’s all gone on for too long and it has become clear that it is impossible to force through a habituation to mass murder. But it might also be this particular phase of Israel’s campaign, which is luridly more savage and naked in its intentions than it’s ever been.
If this new attitude taken by western leaders is designed to fend off a reckoning, then it’s too little, too late: the record has already been taken. If it is to deter Israel from following through on its plans of scorching the conditions for life, forcing people to leave, and starving and killing those who remain, then they are facing down a juggernaut using little more than press releases. The gulf between Israel’s actions and the world’s reaction is still too wide to be proportional. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has already insulted France, the UK and Canada, accusing their governments of siding with Hamas just for finally stating the obvious: that Israel should stop killing and starving people. In what world does a member of government declare that it intends to wipe out what remains of an area and aims, “with God’s help”, to remove its inhabitants, only for the response be nothing more than vague threats of “concrete action”? What deterrence is required to stop a doctor going to work and then returning to the charred remains of nine of her 10 children, wiped out in a single blow?
It will take far more than the reviewing and suspension of future trade talks between Israel and the UK. Those mechanisms of censure that signal displeasure and motivate outlaws to come back into the fold have been shattered by an Israel that has made a virtue out of being outside it: the kind of action required would necessitate the overturning of deeply held fears and assumptions. First, the now risible belief that Israel is a stabilising ally in a hostile region, that it is a country that shares civilised western values and so should be supported. Then, the fear of a rift with Israel that will violate security arrangements and historical synergies – after all, Israel has already brought that about. It has upended regional and global political and moral settlements, and its allies have still not caught up. Once these truths have been accepted, the toolkit, so easily deployed to sanction other countries, is there to be mobilised. The US remains the party with the most influence, but it is not the only player. The EU constitutes about a third of Israel’s total global trade: an embargo should be sought. Sanctions should be imposed, not just on settlers but on the politicians in government who have enabled them. The international criminal court’s rulings on Israeli leadership should be observed. A blockade should be enforced, one that establishes in practice the pariah status that the Israeli government has long ago earned in principle.
And even then, all this would only be a start, and a colossally, tragically late one at that. One can break down why none of these things have yet happened: the hopes that keeping Israel on side preserves some modicum of leverage; concerns that strong measures will embolden Iran; loyalty to the notion of historic debt; fears of the uncertain world that a break with Israel would usher in. But that world is already here, and cowardice has only accelerated its arrival, rather than prevented its emergence.
Palestinians, from Gaza to the West Bank, are paying the highest price for inaction, but an acute wound has been inflicted on the rest of the world. If nothing happens, its moral and political morbidity will encompass all.
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Thousands of Israelis join violent, racist march through Jerusalem’s Muslim quarter
State-backed flag day march shut down Palestinian life in Old City to celebrate Israel’s 1967 annexation of East Jerusalem
Emma Graham-Harrison and Quique Kierszenbaum in Jerusalem
Tue 27 May 2025 05.09 AEST
Thousands of Israelis have joined a state-funded march through the Muslim quarter of the Old City in Jerusalem, where large groups chanted racist slogans including “Gaza is ours”, “death to the Arabs” and “may their villages burn”.
The annual march, paid for and promoted by the Jerusalem city government, celebrates Israel’s capture and occupation of East Jerusalem and its holy sites in the war of 1967. The Israeli takeover is not recognised internationally.
The Jerusalem municipality advertises the event, known as the flag march, as a “festive procession”, part of a broader programme of events celebrating the “liberation” of the city.
The march has been marred by racism and attacks on Palestinians for years, and is preceded by a campaign of violence in the Old City that in effect shuts down Palestinian majority areas, particularly in the Muslim Quarter.
From before midday on Monday small groups of young Israeli men attacked and harassed shopkeepers and passersby inside the city, spitting at women in hijabs, stealing from cafes, ransacking a bookshop and entering at least one home by force.
“Shut now, or I can’t protect you,” a police officer told cafe owner Raymond Himo, when he protested about teenagers in religious Zionist dress stealing drinks. On Monday, shops had mostly closed by 1pm, hours earlier than in previous years, with residents barricaded in their homes.
Aviv Tatarsky, a researcher with the Ir Amim non-profit that works for an equitable Jerusalem, said: “It deprives people of their economic livelihood, makes them feel unsafe in their surroundings. Symbolically it sends a message: ‘You don’t belong here, we are the ones who own this place.’”
From midday, groups of Jewish men inside the city shouted racist chants including “may their villages burn”, “Mohammed is dead” and “death to Arabs”.
Those slogans were picked by larger groups of mostly men that began arriving in the late afternoon. Women approached the Western Wall on a separate march, which is largely divided by gender for religious reasons.
One large group arriving at the Damascus Gate chanted “Gaza is ours”, and carried a large banner reading “Jerusalem 1967, Gaza 2025”, in effect threatening full military annexation of the strip to echo the capture of East Jerusalem.
Another banner read a “without a Nakba there is no victory”, referring to the forcible expulsion of about 700,000 Palestinians when the state of Israel was created in 1948.
The procession is coordinated by “Am K’Lavi”, a non-profit whose only activity is organising the flag day march. It is chaired by Baruch Kahane, the son of Meir Kahane, a Jewish supremacist Rabbi who founded the Kach party. Banned as a political party in Israel in the 1980s under anti-terror legislation, it is now a far-right movement.
Some marchers wore T-shirts with the party’s symbol of a clenched fist in a star of David. Others wore shirts with the names of their high schools, which had organised group outings to the march.
Itamar Ben-Gvir with a raised fist
The Israeli far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, was among the crowds in the Old City of Jerusalem. Photograph: Atef Safadi/EPA
Despite the history of violence at the march there was a relatively light police presence inside the Old City, and they did little to protect many of the Palestinians targeted with violence.
Activists from the group Standing Together, who stood as human shields in front of attackers protected only by purple gilets identifying them as members were often the only barrier preventing the violence escalating.
The far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was among the crowds arriving at the Old City around sunset. He had earlier made an inflammatory trip to pray at al-Aqsa mosque in its compound, where officially Israel does not permit Jewish believers to carry out religious rituals.
The prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, hosted a cabinet meeting in Silwan, in occupied East Jerusalem. He ignored warnings from the Shin Bet security service that it would be an inflammatory move, Israeli media reported.
The flag march is already seen as a violent and deeply provocative expression of Jewish control of Jerusalem, which has in the past triggered broader conflict. Violence at the same event helped spark the 11-day war between Israel and Hamas in 2021.
Danny Seidemann, an Israeli attorney specialising in the geopolitics of Jerusalem, described Netanyahu’s cabinet meeting as political “pyromania”.
“The ridge to the south of the ramparts of the Old City, literally in the shadow of the Old City, is indeed the location of biblical Jerusalem. But it is also a contemporary Palestinian neighbourhood,” Seidemann said.
“The past is being weaponised by biblically motivated settlers to displace Palestinians, demolish their homes and recreate their vision of a renewed pseudo-ancient Israel. This is the site, the most contested and volatile in Jerusalem, is where Netanyahu has decided to ‘celebrate’.”
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