Alex First names the best of Melbourne theatre in 2024 but a Sydney production tops the list

The world of creative theatre is one of many hues. As a Melbourne-based reviewer, naturally I see most productions in that city. Read more

Alex First names his best movies of 2024

Top of the list is Zone of Interest. Read more

Feintooner

This week’s cartoon:  Poles put out  Jewish welcome mat at Auschwitz memorial Read more

Eradicating Jew-hatred at United Nations is long overdue

Ongoing attempts at the United Nations (UN) to denigrate, delegitimise and isolate Israel continue to give the UN the dishonour of being designated the epicentre of the worlds current Jew-hatred. Read more

“The 2,000 Kidnapped Spanish Jewish Children”

A film dedicated to the families of October 7 hostages Read more

A real Chanukah gift? The release of the hostages

My younger brother Evyatar turns 24 on Dec. 28. His Hebrew birthday falls on the eighth night of Chanukah, the second of Tevet. I should be planning his celebration…writes Ilay David. Read more

Dry Bones

2025

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On the other hand

You know that it is that time of the year when sufganiyot (donuts) appear in the shops and chanukiyot (menorot) are erected on streets. Read more

INTO THE FRAY: Gaza—A sense of Déjà vu

All the current “mainstream” proposals for the “Day After” in Gaza represent the triumph of misguided hope—or at least, misconceived correctness—over bitter experience. Read more

The real message of Chanukah

In Israel, tails are up. Despite the acute national trauma over the plight of the hostages, the continuing (if sporadic) missile attacks and the losses of soldiers’ lives that are still being sustained, there’s a general optimism that the Jewish state is winning this war and that genocidal Iran is staring at defeat. Read more

Orgies

Since we are in the midst of party season, I am reminded of the strange history of Jewish parties that went wrong. Read more

Anora

A movie review by Alex First Read more

Better Man

A movie review by Alex First Read more

The Room Next Door

A movie review by Alex First Read more

Cold Crematorium: Reporting from the Land of Auschwitz

Book review by Dr Anne Sarzin Read more

Shabbat Mikeytz: Dreams

Dreams play a very important part in the biblical narrative. Read more

Dry Bones: Chanukah

Chanukah – Out of darkness comes light … Read more

Bethlehem’s last Christians face persecution, violence, and erasure

The Christians of Bethlehem face a crisis as their dwindling community faces systematic Palestinian discrimination, harassment and violence in the cradle of Christianity, as well as being erased from the Palestinian Authority curriculum. Read more

By any other name: Her voice will be heard – Book review by Dr Anne Sarzin

Holiday reading: Jewish claimant to Shakespeare’s plays Read more

‘The Palestinian cause was liquidated on October 7th’ says Syrian activist in Jerusalem

Rawan Osman has come a long way from Lebanon, where she grew up hating Jews, to arriving in Jerusalem to speak at an event Friends of Zion Museum  on Sunday night. Read more

Fighting with fire

I’ve attended many pro-Israel rallies over the years and have been a speaker at most of them – but my first experience of a ‘counter rally’, where pro-Pally protesters turn up to disrupt, was in 2018. Read more

Meet SmartAid’s Shachar Zahavi

Today Alethea Gold is on a shopping spree, but not for Chanukah or Christmas gifts. She is shopping for wheelchairs. Read more

Feintooner

This week’s cartoon: Vatican naïveté scene Read more

Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution refuses to implode

The Saudi-based Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution (HKOPS) to end 100 years of conflict between Arabs and Jews refuses to implode – despite the best efforts of the United Nations and world media to ignore HKOPS existence since its publication on 8 June 2022. Read more

Welcome to ‘Paddystine’

The other day, during a discussion with a colleague about the wave of pro-Hamas, antisemitic hysteria sweeping the Republic of Ireland, I unthinkingly quipped that the people of Eire should rename themselves “Paddystinians.” Read more

On the other hand

Following the devastation of forests and plant life in the north of Israel caused by Hezbollah, the Jewish National Fund is now dedicating enormous resources to rehabilitation. Read more

A history of Chanukah

We like to think that Chanukah was the great victory of Judah, the son of Mattityahu the Priest ( who initiated the resistance ) against the mighty Syrian or Seleucid Greeks over two thousand years ago. Read more

The walls around Israel’s enemies keep falling

The current negotiations for the release of the hostages, whether finalized or still in progress, are quite significant, akin to the sudden fall of the Bashar Assad regime and the collapse of Hamas and Hezbollah, as they are another wall falling within the fierce and determined front aimed at the destruction of the State of Israel. Read more

The diplomatic crisis between Israel and Ireland

Among Western countries that have expressed hostility to Israel, Ireland has long stood out as the most vicious. Read more

Will Syria become a battleground between Turkey and Israel?

Israel’s relationship with Ankara has been characterized by fluctuations over time, marked by periods of cooperation and tension. However, Turkey’s recent posture, particularly in the aftermath of the Hamas-led massacre on Oct. 7, 2023, has been increasingly antagonistic and inconsistent. Read more

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