Israel offers training to counter terror inspired by IS

Israel insists it is willing to train Australian police in countering terrorism and antisemitism while accusing the federal government of lacking action on “radical Islam”. Read more

Israel’s Attorney General asks High Court to push for removal of Itamar Ben-Gvir

Israel’s Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara asked the country’s High Court to intercede in the matter of Itamar Ben-Gvir’s continued service as Israel’s Minister of National Security. Read more

Israel’s first immigrants of 2026 arrive from Australia amid shifts in Jewish migration

The Sachs family from Sydney, Australia- father Trevor, mother Dalit, and daughter Ashira- became Israel’s first immigrants in 2026 after arriving at Ben Gurion Airport on Thursday, as trends point to rising Jewish immigration from Western countries. Read more

Israel begins 2026 with midnight birth and dozens of emergency calls

Israel welcomed its first baby of 2026 just one minute after midnight as Magen David Adom medics across the country dealt with a busy New Year’s Eve marred by traffic accidents, alcohol-related injuries, and violent incidents overnight. Read more

Israeli agency refutes claims made by Doctors Without Borders

The Israeli agency COGAT (Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories: Judea and Samaria and towards the Gaza Strip) released a statement of clarification regarding the registration of international organisations that send aid to Gaza and their non-compliance with Israeli registration requirements, following allegations made by Doctors Without Borders (DWB). Read more

‘Absolutely essential’: premier backs swift protest ban

Senior police have taken less than a day to deploy anti-protest powers that were rushed into law after the Bondi Beach terror attack.
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Israeli expansion of Judea, Samaria communities draws international rebuke

Israel’s decision this week to approve new communities in Judea and Samaria violates international law and risks “fueling instability,” 14 countries, including France, Germany and Italy, said on Wednesday. Read more

Australian government invites Herzog to visit

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has called Israel’s President Isaac Herzog, telling him that his government has recommended the Governor General that Australia should officially invite him to visit. Read more

Shiri Bibas’s sister lights Chanukah menorah in Rafah

Israeli forces held a Chanukah candle-lighting ceremony in Rafah, the southern Gaza Strip, on Sunday, led by Golani Brigade commander Col. Adi Ganon and Sgt. (res.) Dana Silverman Seton, the sister of murdered Hamas hostage Shiri Bibas. Read more

Netanyahu: Jews’ spirit ‘will not fall’ after Sydney massacre

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lit on Sunday the eighth Chanukah candle together with Chabad emissaries at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem. Read more

Trump imposes sanctions on two more ICC judges

The Trump administration has imposed sanctions on two more ICC judges over their position on Israel. Read more

A soldier’s new mission – fighting antisemitism

On the night of October 10, 2023, days after the massacre in Israel, crowds chanted ‘Where’s the Jews?’ at the Sydney Opera House. Watching the news the next day, Col Michael Scott turned to his wife. ‘I can’t stay silent,’ he said. It was at the moment he realised he had a responsibility to act.

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UIA Australia leadership transition as Esther Frenkiel concludes four-year term

United Israel Appeal Australia has praised Esther Frenkiel as she concluded her four-year term as Federal President, and welcomed Andrew Boyarsky as her successor. Read more

Netanyahu appears in Israeli court after pardon request

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appeared in court for the first time since asking the country’s president for a pardon in his long-running corruption trial. Read more

Testimony project helps women in the IDF navigate healing

As attention shifts from the battlefield to the long road of recovery, Israelis are beginning to speak more openly about the trauma of the war triggered by the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7, 2023. For women, that process often unfolds differently. According to the American Psychological Association, women are twice as likely as men to experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and are also more likely to seek help.

During Operation Iron Swords, officially named the War of Redemption by the Israeli Cabinet, many women chose silence. With hostages held in Gaza and families mourning loved ones who fell in battle, they felt that their personal trauma was insignificant by comparison.

“Women experience war very differently from men,” said Ronit Shoval, CEO of the Eden Association, a nonprofit that supports girls and women across Israel. “War is not only about combat. We wanted to look at it from many perspectives.”

Shoval pointed to the moment Israeli families were forced into bomb shelters on Oct. 7 as one of the clearest illustrations of gendered responses to crisis. “Mothers immediately took responsibility for calming children and separating them from the terror outside,” she said. “Many men searched for weapons and took on the role of defenders.”

Women also process trauma differently, she said. While men often look for practical action, women tend to seek emotional expression. Within days of the Hamas massacre, Shoval and her colleagues began asking what could be done.

“One week after Oct. 7, we sat together and asked what our contribution could be,” she recalled. “A woman from the Nova festival wanted to tell her story again and again. I realized that documenting stories was essential to healing. Trauma needs a beginning, middle and end. But history also erases women’s voices. Wars record generals, not individuals. This project became both therapy and testimony.”

Out of that realization came “October 7th-Her Story: Voices from the Frontline,” a testimony initiative that documents the experiences of female reservists and combat soldiers who fought on the battlefield to defend Israel. To date, some 80 women have shared their stories.

Video testimonies

Adi Weiss, the manager of the project, said it initially began as a podcast before shifting to video testimonies.

“We saw how important it was for these women to speak, to process their trauma on their own terms,” she said. “Trauma victims feel the need to repeat their stories. But over time, details fade or become blocked. We wanted to preserve their voices.”

Weiss added that many women who survived attacks in shelters, at Nova and on kibbutzim spoke openly about their fear of sexual assault.

“They said they feared rape more than death,” she said. “And today we know this fear affected men as well.”

When word of the project spread, women began approaching the Eden Association, wanting to participate. For many, it was the first time they told their story to anyone, including family.

“Some canceled multiple times,” Weiss said. “They wanted to speak but were afraid. Our model focuses on control. Trauma steals control. We ask questions carefully and make sure the women remain in charge of their narrative.”

Telling their stories

The stories they shared are harrowing and powerful. Meital Feldman, an imaging specialist who served as a reservist at Camp Shura identifying casualties, described the emotional toll of her duties.

“I was dealing with death constantly,” she said. “I ran my hands over the body bags, whispering, ‘You are a hero of Israel.’ When I came home, I would scrub myself in the shower to bring back the feeling of life, because death clings to you.”

Maj. May Talker, the commander of a body recovery team at the Nova Festival site, recalled the moment that fractured her emotional defenses. “Next to one of the bodies was a phone. It rang with ‘mom’ on the screen. That was the first moment my focus broke. A mother was searching for her daughter, and I knew the truth.”

She said the war proved the quiet strength of women. “Women did powerful things, not only in combat but throughout everything that happened,” she said. “We should talk about it more.”

For female soldiers, the challenges are layered. They face combat like their male counterparts while also navigating issues of acceptance, identity and physical boundaries in overwhelmingly male units.

“They fight three battles,” Weiss said. “On the battlefield, in their personal lives and in defining who they are.”

Capt. Dr. Bar, a medical officer in the Armored Corps, described the additional pressure. “Because I am a woman, I have to prove myself more,” she said. “So I don’t complain, even when it is hard.”

Some women found expression through art rather than words. The project has already produced three exhibitions featuring artwork and photography. Thirteen women were photographed in environments where they felt most at ease, reclaiming control over how their stories are seen.

For Shoval, the project’s meaning is clear. “This is not only documentation,” she said. “This is survival.”

Netanyahu’s pardon request sparks fierce political reactions

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Queensland Labor backs legal warnings for IDF volunteers

Grassroots members at the Queensland Labor conference this weekend have passed a motion calling on the Albanese Government to issue explicit legal notices to Australian citizens serving in the Israel Defence Forces.

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Between two blades: Global squeeze on world Jewry

In recent years, it has become increasingly clear that the global Jewish Diaspora is facing an unsettling squeeze, one that is closing in from both ideological extremes. Read more

Father of last slain Israeli hostage fears his son won’t return

The father of Israel Police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, one of two deceased hostages still held in Gaza, said on Thursday that Hamas claims not to know where his son’s body is located and expressed fear Israel may never recover him. Read more

Troubling Trends

“Put not your trust in princes.” Read more

Lapid seeks Knesset approval of Trump plan, putting Netanyahu coalition on spot

Opposition leader Yair Lapid announced on Tuesday that he will bring a motion to the Knesset next week calling for Israel to adopt U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan, a move designed to support Washington while putting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition on the spot. Read more

Netanyahu on elimination of  acting Hezbollah Chief of Staff

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to the Israeli public on television Sunday night after the Israeli military eliminated

the acting Hezbollah Chief of Staff, in an airstrike in the Beirut area earlier in the day, declaring that Israel will not allow Hezbollah to rearm. Read more

Commemoration for forgotten Jews from Muslim countries

The Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV) will host Victoria’s first community-wide commemoration of the Day to Mark the Departure and Expulsion of Jews from the Arab Countries and Iran on Sunday, 30 November. Read more

Israel boosts air defences with US$8.7 billion U.S.-backed Iron Dome expansion

Israel signed a multi-billion-dollar contract with defence contractor Rafael Advanced Defence Systems to expand serial production of the Iron Dome missile defence system, the Defence Ministry announced on Thursday.
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Protecting the body from age-related decline and disease

Researchers at Bar-Ilan University have discovered how the longevity-associated protein Sirt6 orchestrates a delicate molecular balancing act that protects the body from age-related decline and disease. Read more

60-year-old identified as victim of terror attack

A 60-year-old man killed in a Palestinian car-ramming and stabbing attack on Tuesday was identified as Aharon Cohen, a resident of Kiryat Arba. Read more

After UN vote, Netanyahu says Trump plan can ‘end Hamas rule’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued his first public comments Tuesday on the United Nations Security Council’s adoption of a U.S.-sponsored resolution endorsing President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza, praising the initiative as a historic step toward regional stability. Read more

Released documents show NZ government advised full recognition of Palestine — advice declined

Newly released government papers show that New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) urged the Government to fully recognise a Palestinian state earlier this year. Read more

Berlin-Israel arms sales to continue if ceasefire holds

Germany suspended arms exports to Israel in August amid mounting pressure of the war, but will recommence if the ceasefire holds, it says. Read more

UN Security Council adopts US resolution on Gaza plan

The UN Security Council has approved a US plan for Gaza authorising an international security force to demilitarise the zone, but Hamas insists it won’t disarm. Read more

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