Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine can avoid humanitarian disaster

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestine Liberation Organisation President Mahmoud Abbas need to break their silence and confirm or deny whether two of their senior officials have been discussing implementing the Saudi-based Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution or alternative solutions in secret back channel meetings for the last two months. Read more

Do we have a guardian angel?

Ask the rabbi. Read more

At the Adelaide Festival with Alan Slade

The Adelaide Festival Theatre is an impressive structure and one of South Australia’s most prestigious venues. Read more

Feintooner

This week’s cartoon: Burying the Hatchet Read more

When the Rain Stops Falling: A Melbourne theatre review by Alex First

What a phenomenal piece of writing by Andrew Bovell (who wrote the powerful Australian film Lantana, which debuted in 2001). Read more

& Juliet: a Melbourne musical review by Alex First

A riotously fun, thoroughly entertaining musical for our new, enlightened times, & Juliet picks up Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet where it ended and kicks it up a gear. Read more

Yad Vashem-sponsored symphony celebrates Japanese diplomat who saved Jews during the Holocaust

Samurai warriors live by the moral code bushido, or “way of the warrior.” Read more

The urgent need for Israeli electoral reform

Democracy is currently being undermined in many parts of the free world. Read more

Don’t kiss!

Here is a hilarious if sacrilegious clip, in the spirit of Purim, from over five years ago when no one had even heard of something called Covid. Read more

At the Adelaide Festival: The Adelaide Writers Week

In the lead-up to Adelaide Writers Week (AWW), the director Louise Adler’s decision to include at least 10 Palestinian contributors and not even one Israeli author caused controversy. Read more

Bursting bubbles

There is a popular computer game called “bubble shooters” in which the aim is to burst as many bubbles as possible and amass points. Read more

L’Chaim to Life: Ron Finkel

Morry Frenkel speaks with Ron Finkel, founder and chair of Project Rozana, an organisation dedicated to improving the relationship between Israelis and Palestinians through collaborative healthcare projects. Read more

A concert of colour: A music review by Fraser Beath McEwing

Young’s reflected lights, Saint-Saens’ kaleidoscopic second piano concerto and Mussorgsky’s art gallery stroll, resulted in a visually provocative program last night from the SSO under the baton of 39-year-old Estonian Mihhail Gerts. Read more

Shabbat Ki Tisa: What does God look like?

The dominant theme of the Torah this Shabbat is the episode of the Golden Calf. Read more

‘Why do we need judicial reform?’ An architect behind the proposal explains

Professor Moshe Koppel, one of the architects of the Netanyahu government’s judicial reform program, spoke to JNS last week about why the reform is needed and what it’s really about. Read more

At the Adelaide Festival with Alan Slade

Most Jewish Australians will have heard of William Cooper (1860? – 1941), the Aboriginal political activist who, in 1938, led a delegation of the Australian Aboriginal League to the German Consulate in Melbourne to deliver a petition condemning the “cruel persecution of the Jewish people by the Nazi government of Germany”. Read more

What’s worse: Threats by Smotrich or Amnesty International?

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich does not appear to be ready for prime time. Read more

Taking on the Russian Titans: a music review by Fraser Beath McEwing

Twenty-six-year-old Albanian-born pianist Marie-Ange Nguci might well have bounded onto the Recital Hall stage wearing boxing gear last night because there was no way she could avoid stepping into the ring with four heavy-weight Russian composers all threatening to knock her out. Read more

At the Adelaide Festival

Cédric Tiberghien, the French classical pianist, started learning to play the piano at age 5, which may explain his masterful rendition of Mozart’s Sonata K331 in the concert he gave in the magnificent Adelaide Town Hall as part of the Adelaide Festival. Read more

From Australia’s Jewish Past: Shlomo Weintraub – Samuel Wynn – Wine Merchant and active Zionist

Shlomo (Samuel), the son of Michael and Rivkah Weintraub, was born on 4 April 1891 in Ushimow near Lodz, Russia (Poland).  Read more

Made in China 2.0: a Melbourne theatre review by Alex First

I am faced with a predicament that I can’t say I have confronted too many times in four decades of reviewing. Read more

On the other hand

Trees throughout Israel have burst forth with blossoms of all colours. Read more

Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine: Biden’s new horizon for peace?

The Aqaba Joint Communique issued by the US Department of State suggests that President Biden could be jettisoning his support for UN Security Council Resolution 2334 calling for the creation of a sovereign independent Palestinian Arab State between Israel and Jordan (two-State Solution). Read more

Can women say Kaddish?  

Ask the rabbi. Read more

Manny Waks on a special visit to Melbourne

Child sex abuse advocate Manny Waks is in Melbourne to attend the Malka Leifer. He talks with Henry Greener. Read more

The real threat to Israeli democracy

The huge demonstrations that continue in Israel and turned violent this week are fueled by the claim that the government’s judicial reform package spells the end of Israeli democracy. Read more

Nicanor Day

It’s the festival you might never have heard of, Nicanor Day, the 13^th of Adar, the day before Purim. Read more

Israel is our business

Israel’s Six-Day War disrupted Benjamin Netanyahu’s graduation plans at Cheltenham High School, located less than a mile from the Philadelphia neighbourhood where I grew up. Read more

Recycling

When one thinks of recycling, the generally accepted definition is the process of collecting and processing materials that would otherwise be thrown away as trash and turning them into new products. Read more

Creed III: a movie review by Alex First

After retiring from the ring three years ago, Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) lives to fight another day in Creed III. Read more

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