Diplomatic relations between Israel and Australia are under new pressure, with news that three Australian passports were used in the Mossad assassination of a Hamas official. What now for Australia and Israel?
Israel
Mossad’s secret history of spectacular assassinations
In the wake of accusations that a Hamas leader was killed by an team of trained Mossad assassins, the Guardian looks at Israel’s shadowy history of kidnappings and assassinations.
Why Israel needs a Zionist revival
Israel is headed for a big political upheaval, says Ari Shavit, and if Zionists play their cards right, 2010 could be their year to seize back power and the national ideology.
Meet the “Palestinian Nelson Mandela”
Israel is willing to free hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in return for the return of kidnapped Israeli sodiler soldier Gilad Shalit, but there’s one they won’t give up: Marwan Barghouti, the man many Palestinians see him as the leader who can finally reunite them.
revealed The Israeli organ harvesters: stealing body parts from Palestinians
In a move likely to throw fuel on an already volatile fire, Israel has admitted it harvested organs from dead Palestinians without permission. But, despite claims to the contrary, there is no evidence of Palestinians being killed for their organs.
Settlers rally against Netanyahu, peace, whatever
Israeli policy seems to be stuck in a sphere of unreality where a two-state solution is officially proclaimed as the goal, but there is a taboo on any discussion of measures.
leaked The EU plan to split Jerusalem
Hareetz has got its hands on a document drafted by the European Union calling for the division of Jerusalem between Israel and a future Palestinian state, indicating it would support a unilateral Palestinian declaration of statehood.
Palestine is better off without Abbas
Many are lamenting Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’s decision not to stand for re-election as the end for a chance at peace in the Middle East. Saree Makdisi is not one of them.
Times changing rapidly in the Middle East
In the context of a stagnated “peace process” and ongoing colonial expansion that makes a two-state solution practically impossible, the Greens are re-assessing their current policy on the Israel/Palestine conflict.
From stone throwing kids to online activists: the e-Palestine movement
Palestinians have figured out one the most effective methods of mobilising the youth: bringing their activism online. They foster an international diaspora and avoid the traditional Hamas and Fatah tensions and talk in chat rooms. Can they mimic the success of Obama’s online campaign?
What really happened during the Gaza WarJon Stewart the Middle East peace maker
Last Wednesday night, that beacon of witty politics, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, aired a rather controversial interview between an Israeli and a Jewish American. Which was just a bit for some media writers to bear.
Stop sucking up to Israel, America
Israel is spoiled, arrogant and condescending country, says Gideon Levy, and it will continue to behave like one until the US stops flattering and fawning all over it. Washington needs to learn to say “no”.
J Street pushing a policy that leads to disappointment
This week’s J Street’s conference saw Zionists, students, pensioners, 1948 Jewish fighters, anti-Zionists and Nazi hunters congregate in Washington DC in an effort to widen the debate over the Middle East.
The frenemies bringing Israel down
Recently Israel has got public endorsement from controversial supporters like Holocaust denier BNP leader Nick Griffin and Polish politician Michal Kaminski, who has made questionable comments about Jewish massacres. This is a publicity disaster for Israel, writes Miriam Shaviv.
The new battlefront in the Middle East: hummus and tabbouleh
Lebanon and Israel are engaged in a heated battle; not over territory, religion or politics, but over which country invented hummus and tabbouleh. Lebanon has struck the latest blow, breaking world records by cooking a 2056kg bowl of hummus and 3557kg plate of tabbouleh.
Iran and Israel’s secret nuclear meeting
Are Israel and Iran finally restoring diplomatic relations? The Israel Atomic Energy Commission says the two countries have met to discuss nuclear non-proliferation in the Middle East, but Iran says it never happened.
Founder of Human Rights Watch slams its Middle East strategy
Human Rights Watch founder Robert L. Bernstein has come out with a surprise attack against his former NGO, accusing them of completely ignoring other oppressed Middle East countries in favour of blasting Israel continuously.
Ariel Sharon: a (barely) living metaphor for the Israeli peace process
Former Israeli PM Ariel Sharon has been in a coma for nearly four years, living in a persistently vegetative state. He’s too healthy to die, but too sick to really live — just like the Middle East peace process, says Lynn Sherr.
The image makeover that Israel didn’t want
Israel is alienating more and more of its traditional allies and its criticism of the Goldstone report — which accuses Israel of targeting citizens in its attacks last Dec-Jen — may further damage its relationship with the US, writes Patrick Seale.
What if Israel just bombed Iran’s nuclear program into oblivion?
Well, here’s one way to end Iran’s nuclear ambitions: send Israel in to bomb the sh*t out of the country’s nuclear sites. Would it actually work? Or is it all more trouble than its worth? CSM explores an interesting proposition.
America and Israel take a leak on Russia and Iranrevealed 
Is anti-semitic Ahmadinejad actually Jewish?
A chance snapshot of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s identity card has revealed a curious fact: he was born with a Jewish surname. Are his attacks on Israel and the Jewish world all a rouse to cover his true roots?
Is the threat of Iran’s nuclear powers being exaggerated?
If Iran will allow the UN to inspect their secret nuclear facility, than it’s fairly unlikely that they are building nuclear weapons. Which is hard to remember in a media obsessed with strikes against Israel, argues Juan Cole.
