Antinuclear

Antisemitism. The Royal Conflation Commission is in session

by Stephanie Tran | May 6, 2026 https://michaelwest.com.au/antisemitism-the-royal-conflation-commission-is-in-session/

The Bondi Royal Commission started its public hearings this week, and the mainstream media is lapping up the antisemitism narrative while ignoring other Jewish voices. Stephanie Tran reports.

The first block of public hearings for the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion began this week, focusing on the prevalence and key drivers of antisemitism in Australia.

Questions about representation and balance have already emerged, with critics arguing that the hearings are dominated by established, pro-Israel Jewish organisations, while progressive and non-Zionist voices remain marginal.

A number of peak Jewish bodies giving evidence, including the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, Jewish Community Council of Victoria, Zionist Federation of Australia, National Council of Jewish Women of Australia, Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council and the Dor Foundation, are being represented by the same barristers and solicitors, Arnold Bloch Leibler.

In her opening remarks on Monday, Royal Commissioner Virginia Bell said she was “satisfied that these organisations represent the majority of Australian Jews”.

The hearings will also include evidence from senior community figures, with counsel assisting Zelie Heger noting that they will provide a “bird’s-eye overview” of antisemitism in Australia.

They include Australia’s Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, Jillian Segal and Jeremy Leibler, partner at Arnold Bloch Leibler and president of the Zionist Federation of Australia.

Conflating Jewish identity with Israel

Peter Wertheim, co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, told the Royal Commission on Tuesday that the pro-Palestine protests in the wake of October 7 were “shocking” and called the “endless repetition of the genocide charge” an attempt to “re-stigmatise Jews collectively”.

Bell granted limited leave to the Jewish Council of Australia to examine expert witnesses on the IHRA definition and survey data relating to antisemitic attitudes, describing it as representing “a distinct but much smaller section of the Jewish community”.

That characterisation has been contested by some Jewish academics and advocates, who argue that the Jewish community is far more politically and ideologically diverse.

Antony Loewenstein, an independent journalist, film-maker and author of The Palestine Laboratory, and an advisory committee member of the Jewish Council of Australia, said it was “highly questionable” whether the organisations appearing before the commission reflect the breadth of Jewish opinion in Australia.

“The Australian Jewish community is culturally, politically and religiously diverse, and

“it’s highly questionable if the most pro-Netanyahu, pro-Israel lobby groups represent the majority of Jews in the country”.

“Conflating Israel and Judaism, pursued by the so-called mainstream Jewish groups in Australia, is both historically inaccurate and dangerous, tying Jews to the actions of a genocidal Jewish state.”

Professor Linda Briskman, the Margaret Whitlam Chair of Social Work at Western Sydney University and also on the advisory committee of the Jewish Council of Australia, said her research into Jewish Australians critical of Israeli government policies pointed to a different picture from that presented by peak bodies.

Briskman co-authored Not in Our Name: Jewish Australians Speak Out, a report examining the experiences of Australian Jews who oppose Israeli policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

“What we’ve found is that opposition to Israel’s actions is grounded not in the rejection of Jewish identity but in deeply held ethical commitments rooted in Jewish traditions of justice,” she said.

She added that Jews expressing dissenting views often face “significant personal and social consequences”, and said that

“antisemitism should be addressed alongside other forms of racism.”

“We should be concerned about all forms of racism,” she said. “Racism against Jewish people shouldn’t be treated as the exception. We know that Islamophobia has risen greatly since October 7, but that doesn’t get nearly as much publicity or attention.”

Jewish Council of Australia

The Jewish Council of Australia, which represents Jewish Australians and supports Palestinian rights while opposing antisemitism and racism, was granted leave on Friday to cross-examine expert witnesses on the IHRA definition and data relating to antisemitism. 

In a letter to supporters, executive director Sarah Schwartz said the group was seeking to raise funds to cover legal representation at the hearing.

“Pro-Israel legacy organisations, who receive significant public funding, have already formed a conglomerate and briefed a large team of barristers and lawyers,” she wrote.

Schwartz said the balance of representation would shape how the hearings are understood publicly, telling MWM,

“If the only Jewish groups represented in these hearings are Israel-aligned, it will have a significant impact on the narrative.”

IHRA definition

The hearings will scrutinise the use of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.

In opening remarks, Bell acknowledged divisions within the Jewish community over the definition, noting concerns that it could be used to suppress criticism of Israel. 

“The Jewish community is not monolithic, and there exist divisions of view amongst them about matters that include the politics of the Middle East,” she said. “I’m conscious that some Jews and other members of the Australian community believe that the IHRA working definition of antisemitism can be weaponised in order to suppress criticism of Israel.”

However, Bell defended its use, arguing that conduct must be assessed in context.

“I consider that some of the criticisms of the IHRA definition proceed on a misconception,” she said. “The examples of conduct under that working definition that may constitute antisemitism are just that. In every case, the question of whether the conduct is to be assessed as antisemitic is considered in its overall context. 

“I expect the application of the IHRA definition will be fleshed out in the course of the evidence of witnesses in this first block of hearings by witnesses who have appropriate expertise.”

“When anti-Zionism becomes antisemitism”

Counsel assisting the Royal Commission, Richard Lancaster SC, said a key task for the inquiry “is to identify when anti-Zionism becomes antisemitism”. 

He described Zionism as “the belief in the Jewish people’s right to self-determination in their ancestral and biblical homeland of Israel”, which he said is a “core value” for many Australian Jews.

Lancaster said that some examples within the IHRA definition suggest that, depending on context, “it could be antisemitic to deny that right to self-determination,” attribute collective responsibility to Jews for the actions of the Israeli state, or express hatred on the basis of perceived loyalty to Israel.

“A further aspect of this is that current Australian political and social commentary undoubtedly displays many instances of very strongly expressed criticism of the polarising actions of Israel’s current government,” he added, stating that expert witnesses would be asked to help distinguish between legitimate political criticism and antisemitic rhetoric. 

“One of the experts to be called is Dr Dave Rich, who is the director of policy at the Community Security Trust in London, as research fellow at the London Center for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism,” Lancaster said.

Rich is a “is a leading expert on left-wing antisemitism”. He has rejected the UN’s finding that Israel has committed a genocide in Gaza, stating that UN’s finding “has put the final nail in the coffin of Israel’s reputation, but it is as shoddy and partisan as every other attempt to pin the genocide label onto the Jewish State”.

In March, Rich delivered a keynote at a conference launching a new national approach to addressing antisemitism in Australian schools, developed by UNESCO and implemented by the Office of the Special Envoy on Combating Antisemitism.

Stephanie Tran

Stephanie is a journalist with a background in both law and journalism. She has worked at The Guardian and as a paralegal, where she assisted Crikey’s defence team in the high-profile defamation case brought by Lachlan Murdoch. Her reporting has been recognised nationally, earning her the 2021 Democracy’s Watchdogs Award for Student Investigative Reporting and a nomination for the 2021 Walkley Student Journalist of the Year Award.

May 8, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Bondi Royal Commission. What this report refuses to see

COMMENT . This article and other coverage of this Royal Commission stress the unfair aspects of it, I have more confidence in it than those writers do.

Royal Commissioner Virginia Bell has a fine reputation as a judge, and did question Antony Loewenstein, and Professor Linda Briskman who gave the dissenting views of Jews wjo are critical of Israel

In opening remarks, Bell acknowledged divisions within the Jewish community over the definition, noting concerns that it could be used to suppress criticism of Israel.

by Andrew Brown | May 1, 2026, https://michaelwest.com.au/bondi-royal-commission-what-this-report-refuses-to-see/

“This report was designed to produce conclusions rather than find them.” A response to the interim findings of the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion by Andrew Brown.

As an ordinary Australian who has read this interim report, I am left with one overriding feeling. Something essential is being sidestepped. Not accidentally. Deliberately.

I say that as the godson of two Hungarian Holocaust survivors. I know what antisemitism looks like. I know what it costs. I know where it leads when good people stay silent. That history lives in my family, and it is not abstract to me.

That is precisely why I will not allow the word to be weaponised. Antisemitism is too loaded with real historical horror to be deployed as a conversation stopper every time someone raises the death toll in Gaza. When that happens, it does not protect Jewish people. It uses their suffering as a shield for a government committing atrocities. That is its own kind of desecration.

Antisemitism is real and must be confronted without equivocation. That is not what this is about. This is about a commission that had the opportunity to honestly examine the social fractures in this country and chose, from the very beginning, to look away from half the picture.

A predetermined exercise

The Royal Commission was announced less than four weeks after the Bondi massacre, stood up under acute political pressure, with terms of reference drafted in trauma and shaped by the loudest voices in the room. The result was an inquiry whose outcome was visible from the day the Letters Patent were issued.

The terms cover four areas. Antisemitism. Law enforcement recommendations. The Bondi attack. Broader social cohesion. That is the entire scope.

There is no mention of Israeli government conduct.

“No mention of Gaza.“

No mandate to examine Islamophobia. No instruction to ask why social tensions rose so sharply or what role political decision-making played.

When it was suggested the Commission also examine discrimination against Muslims and Indigenous Australians, Commissioner Bell made clear the focus would remain on antisemitism.

A commission into social cohesion that cannot examine what broke it is not an inquiry.

“It is a performance.“

The conclusion preceded the evidence. The Commission was built around it.

What Australians have been watching

This commission speaks about social tensions as though they formed in the abstract. They did not. They formed in the palm of every Australian’s hand.

For two years, social media feeds have carried footage no broadcaster would air unedited. Hind Rajab, a six-year-old girl trapped in a car in Gaza, surrounded by her family’s bodies, calling for help on a phone. Then the two paramedics sent to rescue her. All of them killed.

Children pulled from rubble. Doctors dragged from wards. Journalists killed in targeted strikes, cameras still rolling. More than twenty thousand children dead. Australians have not read that number.

“They have seen those children’s faces.”

They watched Zomi Frankcom, an Australian aid worker delivering food in Gaza, killed when Israeli drones struck her clearly marked World Central Kitchen convoy in three sequential strikes. The IDF had her coordinates. Israel withheld drone audio from Australian investigators. Two officers were dismissed. Nobody was prosecuted.

The government accepted that and moved on. Most Australians did not.

That accumulation does not leave you. It builds. And then those same Australians were told by their political class that the primary concern is the feelings of the perpetrating state’s supporters. A Royal Commission is underway. Its terms of reference do not contain the word Gaza. Do not contain the word Palestine. That is not governance.

“That is gaslighting at a national scale.”

Whose voices this commission chose

Organisations like the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council and the Zionist Federation of Australia have spent two years defending Israeli conduct without qualification while saying nothing meaningful about Palestinian civilian deaths.

This commission has amplified those voices as though they represent all Australian Jews. They do not.

“A significant number of Jewish Australians have marched, spoken out, and refused the script.“

Their voices carry particular moral weight. They have been systematically drowned out by the loudest and most politically connected faction, one that deploys the language of antisemitism against anyone who pushes back. This commission should have made space for the full spectrum.

That it did not tells you everything about whose interests it was built to serve.

The indefensible conflation

Any attempt to connect pro-Palestinian protest with the Bondi massacre is not analysis. It is a smear. The attack was carried out by ISIS-radicalised individuals. The hundreds of thousands who marched were exercising democratic expression.

Conflating them insults the Bondi victims and criminalises a community of conscience.

And while the Commission examines the ideological conditions that produced the Bondi attack, it has shown no appetite for examining the structural ones.

The father allegedly owned six firearms, all legally held under the old rules. Under the new NSW regime, that likely would not stand as the new maximum is four. So the question is unavoidable:.

“Did gaps in licensing and limits help create the conditions for this attack?“

A credible inquiry should be examining that directly.

The political will summoned to stand up this Royal Commission at speed was apparently unavailable for the harder conversation about legally acquired weapons in suburban Sydney.

A UN Commission of Inquiry found in March 2025 that Israel’s use of sexual violence against Palestinian detainees was systemic, committed under explicit orders or with the encouragement of Israel’s military and civilian leadership. B’Tselem called the prison system a network of torture camps.

“Australian media buried it.”

This commission has proceeded as though it never happened.

This commission must state plainly that opposition to Israeli government policy is not terrorism. That grief for Palestinian civilians is not radicalisation. That the people who marched are not the people who killed. Anything less is not a finding. It is a cover.

“This report was designed to produce conclusions rather than find them.“

Australians who came to this process in good faith deserved better. They are watching. And they are not going away.

May 8, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

20 May Webinar – The dangerous world of AUKUS, US, military occupation and suppression of dissent

National Webinar, 20th May, 2026, 6.30pm AEST https://events.humanitix.com/the-dangerous-world-of-aukus-and-us-military-occupation

The dangerous world of AUKUS, US military occupation and suppression of dissent

Confronting laws restricting/suppressing protest speech and action

Speakers: Former Sen. Rex Patrick, Lawyer Nick Hanna ,Arthur Rorris ,Jorgen Doyle, Sen David Shoebbridge,

Facilitator Kelley Tranter.

An Australian Police Force unit has been created which will impact on protesting against AUKUS

The AUKUS AFP Command has been established under the Australian Federal Police (AFP), in conjunction with the Department of Defence.  The AUKUS AFP Command’s powers cover the security of AUKUS operations, extending to wider US military activity elsewhere.  Its activities are of considerable concern since among its roles is “Public Order Management” listing of “munitions” which include tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets and real firearms.

Is this the Australia we want for ourselves, our children and the world?

Since 2003 and 9/11 a raft of laws have been passed by successive Australian governments attacking our civil and democratic rights, including freedom of speech and political protest.  Some of these laws have been used against the environment movement.

More laws have been passed recently aimed at suppressing the huge upsurge of outrage against Israel’s genocide in Gaza, including draconian anti-protest laws in several states, and “hate laws” by the Federal Government.

More widely, protests are arising from concern with the huge diversion of public money for the AUKUS war pact and its nuclear submarines away from urgent social needs including the climate crisis.  Communities and environmentalists are concerned with nuclear exposures.  There is growing opposition to AUKUS embedding Australia in another US-led war, possibly a nuclear war.

These public concerns extend to the increasing US military footprint across Australia, enabled by the 2014 Force Posture Agreement.

Australian people have a proud history spanning 170 years of collectively on mass opposing and defying oppressive anti-democratic laws.  From the 1854 Eureka rebellion, the countless strikes by workers and their unions, against conscription and unjust wars, against the Vietnam and Iraq wars, and defending the environment.

Join this webinar, ask questions, discuss action.

May 7, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The UK Descends Into Confected Antisemitism Hysteria

Nate Bear, Do Not Panic May 05, 2026

The UK has descended into confected hysteria over antisemitism to protect Keir Starmer and Labour from being wiped out by the Greens in local elections this week.

The British establishment is well-practiced in manufacturing antisemitism hysteria, of course, having used it to destroy Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party when it got too close to power.

Now the UK’s political and media establishment is trying to pull the same trick, but this time on the Green Party and its Jewish leader, Zack Polanski.

This fresh round of hysteria really ramped up after a man with a history of mental illness (and of stabbings) stabbed two Jews in north London last week. Neither died and both will live. Omitted from almost all state-corporate media coverage was the fact that he also stabbed a third man, a Muslim. Also omitted was his history of stabbings (he previously stabbed his own dog, a Somali man, and two police officers), and his history of psychotic breaks.

Despite the circumstances clearly pointing to random attacks by a person suffering an acute mental episode, the police treated it not just as a planned antisemitic attack, but as terrorism.

The terrorism threat level in the UK was raised to severe.

I remember when terrorism used to mean car bombs, political goals, manifestos and scores of dead people, not a mentally disabled man with a butter knife scratching a few people.

But the attack was perfect fodder for the British media and political establishment, who blamed support for Palestine and opposition to genocide for enabling antisemitism, and instantly began demanding pro-Palestine protests were fully outlawed.

The environment of hysteria that ensued is hard to describe if you don’t follow British media or politics closely, but it has been extraordinary.

Keir Starmer gave a primetime televised address to the nation.

His speech was a complete misrepresentation of the facts of the case, completely omitting the Muslim victim, completely omitting the man’s history of illness and random stabbing attacks. But they were deliberate lies of omission critical to constructing an antisemitism narrative.

And it worked.

Every headline, every news broadcast for a week led with the story about ‘the antisemitism crisis in Britain.’

I remember when terrorism used to mean something. I also remember when antisemitism used to mean something. And implying all Jews support the actions of Israel used to be considered antisemitic.

But now that’s all anyone with political or media power does.

Starmer said that anti-genocide, pro-Palestine protests have created the environment for antisemitic attacks. The Green Party’s opposition to Israel’s genocide, the media said, has fuelled antisemitism. The Guardian had a story on the Green Party’s ‘struggle against antisemitism,’ a story which presumably included how just eight months ago the entire Green Party membership antisemitically elected a Jewish leader.

And when you deconstruct the logical conclusions behind the implication that Jews are being attacked because of what Israel has done, it will break your brain.

Firstly the implication that Jews are attacked because of Israel, not because of their religion, means Israel represents all Jewish sentiment……………………………….

We’ve reached the point where everything is antisemitism apart from the thing that is actually antisemitism.

And this is because the Zionists have lost the propaganda war. Genocide is not going back in the bottle. Everyone sees what Israel has done. Everyone can now see what Israel is: a genocidal settler-colony apartheid state run by ethno-supremacists.

The deliberate conflation of antisemitism and anti-Zionism then is intended to silence criticism of Israel, and erase the truth about what Israel is and has done.

It’s also intended to stop the Green Party inflicting a humiliating defeat on Keir Starmer and his Labour Party in local elections this week.

The establishment calculation is that if you can establish in the mind of progressives the idea that a vote for the Greens is actually a vote for hate, not a vote against genocide or apartheid, you can stop Labour bleeding leftist votes to the Greens.

If the Zionist establishment can reestablish that black is white, they think they have a chance.

But it goes even deeper than that.

The UK establishment aren’t just using the attack for rhetorical purposes, they are using it to actually get Green Party election candidates arrested.

Andrew Gilligan, a former adviser to Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, and now a right-wing journalist, wrote a story about two Green Party candidates Saiqa Ali and Sabine Mairey who he said had made ‘antisemitic’ posts. Last week, he gloated that following his stories, they’d both been arrested…………………………………………………

Three people are stabbed every day in London. Over one thousand people a year, of all religions and none.

None of these ever warrant a national prime ministerial TV address.

Twenty-seven mosques in the UK were attacked between July and October last year.

No extra security funding (Starmer has promised an extra £25 million for Jewish areas). No discourse about Islamophobia. Just tumbleweed.

But a random attack on two Jews gets the full national psychodrama treatment because it can be so usefully weaponised to serve the interests of Zionism.

Are people going to fall for this?

I don’t think so.

Is Zack Polanski going to fall for this after seeing what happened to Corbyn?

Hopefully not.

We have more than enough evidence by now to know that you can never appease Zionists.

There is no middle-ground, no strategy of accommodation.

Any concession is interpreted as a sign of weakness. As Corbyn showed us, once they’ve drawn blood, they’ll bleed you dry.

The only anti-Zionist strategy that makes any sense is one of full confrontation.

The only route to victory is their full defeat. https://www.donotpanic.news/p/the-uk-descends-into-confected-antisemitism

May 7, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Australians speak of violence, beatings and sensory deprivation in Israeli detainment

2 May 2026 AIMN Editorial, https://theaimn.net/australians-speak-of-violence-beatings-and-sensory-deprivation-in-israeli-detainment/

2.5.26 Global Sumud Flotilla Aussies Update

Australians who were held in Israeli custody for over 30 hours, have spoken out about threats, violence, beatings and abuse.

Six Australians were captured by Israeli Defence Forces in international waters west of Crete at approximately 10am AEST time on Thursday 30th of May, and were released in Crete late last night (AEST time).

The Australians were aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla attempting to get life-saving aid to Gaza.

Three Australians Ethan Floyd, Zack Schofield and Neve O’Connor were taken to Sitia General Hospital in Crete for injuries, including concussion, bruising and cuts. Cameron Tribe, Dr Bianca Webb-Pullman and one other, Surya McEwen have also been released, unharmed.

173 other global humanitarian volunteers were also released, 30 of whom also went to Sitia hospital for various injuries.

Of huge concern, two leaders of the Global Sumud Flotilla, Thiago Ávila from Brazil, and Saif Abu Keshek from Spain, remain unaccounted for, with Israeli sources indicating they have been taken to Israel.

Ethan Floyd, Sydney student and Wiradjuri, Ngiyampaa and Wailwan man who is aboard the flotilla said: “We were transferred to another Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB) and taken to a very large Israeli warship. From there we were held again in stress positions for 45 minutes to an hour, made to crawl along the floor before being thrown into an enclosure constructed from shipping containers.

“I witnessed people being shot with rubber pellets. I witnessed people being thrown to the ground, dragged along the ground by their limbs, people being forced to listen to the shouts and screams of people who were being beaten.

“We’ve been dumped in Greece without consular assistance. We were driven for hours through Crete with the promise that embassy officials would be there to meet with us, and when we arrived, there were none.”

Zack Schofield, climate activist from Newcastle: “We were surprised that they had gone 600 nautical miles away from Israel, with warships, a prison ship and special operations forces there to seize our boats, to kidnap us, to brutalise us and take us on board a prison ship with absolutely no charges being laid on us.”

“I was forced to sleep outside, and during the night, they flooded the deck with sea water, to wake people up and prevent them from sleeping.”

“The Australian Government has failed to stand up to Israel, despite the fact that Israel constantly violates every single international law that our nation claims to support, and has now just kidnapped six Australian citizens and tortured us because we are trying to get food to the people of Gaza.”

“Australians need to be really, really concerned that if we let Israel get away with these crimes with impunity, we are setting up such a dangerous world for ourselves.”

Neve O’Connor (from Melbourne): “We were 600 nautical miles from Israel, and being intercepted was not even on our minds. We saw flares go up. We saw people were sounding the alarms.”

“They threatened to shoot us if we didn’t move, and if we didn’t comply, they said they would open fire.”

“It was constant brutality and oppression, and then we tried to advocate for our rights, they just laughed at us.”

Senator Larissa Waters, Leader of the Australian Greens said: “This is yet another shocking breach of international law by Israel. In attempt to prolong its genocide in Gaza, Israel has seemingly kidnapped Australian citizens in international waters.”

“These flotilla participants are bravely trying to bring essential supplies to Palestinians under illegal blockade by Israel, and this act of piracy shows how far the Netanyahu Government will go to ensure the genocide continues.”

“The Australian government should be championing the actions of the brave flotilla participants, and must now strongly fight for them to be released.”

“Labor continues the two-way arms trade with Israel, has not put any sanctions on Netanyahu or his war cabinet, and invites their head of state to tour the country – even as they kidnap and kill Australian citizens.”

“Labor must stop ignoring Israel’s constant breaches of international law.”

Flotilla organisers and released Australians are calling a day of action on Monday 4th of May to put pressure on the Australian government to:

1. Immediately and publicly condemn Israel for illegally kidnapping and detaining Australian citizens
2. End Australia’s complicity in the genocide of Palestine, and support all efforts to deliver life-saving aid to Gaza
3. Call for the immediate release of Thiago Ávila and Saif Abukeshek

Vision: For live updates see the Instagram accounts of the Global Sumud Flotilla and Australian delegation of the Global Movement to Gaza.

In a video message taken from Sitia hospital in Crete, Neve, Zack and Ethan allege that they were “beaten and tortured” whilst on an Israeli prison ship. They say they are on hunger strike. The full video can be found here.

Two leaders of the Global Sumud Flotilla, Thiago Ávila from Brazil, and Saif Abu Keshek from Spain, remain unaccounted for, with Israeli sources indicating they have been taken to Israel.

Zack Schofield: “Two of our comrades, Thiago and Saif, have been identified as leaders in the movement and remain upon that prison ship. We believe that they are being taken to Israel and likely beaten and tortured. We all three decided not to take any food from the Israelis as they continued their starvation of the Palestinian people, and until we know more about the health and whereabouts of Thiago and Saif we’re also continuing not to eat.”

It is understood that all other 173 global activists were released and are in Crete. Approximately 30 activists are at Sitia hospital after sustaining various injuries. They include: Australia 3, Canada 2, Hungary 1, Netherlands 2, New Zealand 4, Spain 2, Ukraine 1, Germany 2, France 1, Poland 1, UK 2, Colombia 2, Italia 3, USA 3, Portugal 1.

Unconfirmed reports are indicating that many of the activists are resisted deportation by plane.

Zack Schofield closed the video with a message for their loved ones: “We want our families to know that we are all well, and free Palestine, that’s why we’re here.”

Families of the released Australians are reporting their distress. Joanne Jarowski, Zack’s mother said: “In the wee hours this morning, we were greatly relieved to get a voice message from our son Zack, one of the 175 hostages held in an Israeli prison ship for two days, to say he was at Sitia Hospital in Crete for medical review. Israeli forces illegally detained him and the other aid volunteers for trying to bring food and medicine to the sick and the starving in Gaza. This is not a crime: in fact, International Humanitarian Law mandates rapid, safe and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians. The real crime is keeping aid from civilians who are sick and starving to death.

“Zack was on a borrowed phone, and only had a few seconds to tell us he was in hospital for medical review and that he loves us. We want to know his complete medical assessment, and we really bloody want to know why our government hasn’t publicly condemned the kidnapping of our son and detaining him illegally on international waters – and also, when in heaven’s name our government will break their silence and business-as-usual as the genocide of Palestinians is perpetrated by our so-called ally, Israel.”

Families have been in contact with DFAT where they have been told that Australian Consular support workers are in Greece and attempting to get support to the Australians who have been released.

Juliet Lamont, Head of the Australian Delegation, who is organising from ports in Europe: “We are relieved our people are free. But let’s be clear about what happened – Israel abducted unarmed humanitarian volunteers to stop aid reaching the people of Gaza.”

“Children in Gaza are still starving. Aid is still being blocked. Israel is still killing Palestinians.”

“The Australian Government must support all attempts to ensure food, medicine and baby formula can reach the people of Gaza.”

“We call on Australians to join mass-mobilisations. Apply direct pressure on Wong and Albanese to ensure the safety of our humanitarians and the delivery of their life-saving aid.”

“Let Palestinians Live. Let aid flow. Cut ties with Israel!”

Text by Alexa Stuart, Subhi Awad, Jane Salmon for Rising Tide, Global Sumud Flotilla Australian Delegation.

May 6, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

19 May – Webinar: No Nuclear Weapons in Australia

Go to https://actionnetwork.org/events/webinar-no-nuclear-weapons-in-australia

Start: 2026-05-19 18:00:00 UTC Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (GMT+10:00)

End: 2026-05-19 19:30:00 UTC Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (GMT+10:00)

Event Type: Virtual
A virtual link will be communicated before the event.

Host Contact Info: australia@icanw.org

No Nuclear Weapons in Australia: Webinar

As plans advance for Australia to host US nuclear-capable B-52 bombers and potentially nuclear-armed submarines, there are increasing concerns about the potential for Australia to unknowingly host American nuclear weapons in future. This is particularly concerning against a backdrop of Australia accepting US policy to neither confirm nor deny the presence of nuclear weapons.

Recently, over 150 civil society organisations across Australia and the Pacific launched the ‘No Nuclear Weapons in Australia’ Declaration calling on the Albanese government to push back on these policies of nuclear ambiguity and to reject Australia having any role in nuclear war. This declaration underscores that the security of a nation cannot be bought at the risk of the survival of humanity and the planet’s ecosystem, and that our region’s nuclear-free status is too precious to risk.

Join to hear eminent voices on nuclear policy, disarmament, advocacy and international humanitarian law in relation to Australia’s role in the global nuclear landscape. Together we’ll explore what the Declaration is asking for, what it means for Australia’s place in the Pacific, and what we can do together keep the pressure on.

The humanitarian consequences of even a single detonation, whether accidental or intentional, cannot be understated as it would be catastrophic and irreversible. No health system or humanitarian agency has the capacity to respond to the aftermath of a nuclear explosion; there is no “cure” for a nuclear catastrophe, only prevention. Beyond the immediate blast that would incinerate surrounding areas, the resulting radiation would inflict multi-generational health crises.

Speakers include:

• Janet Craven, Director, ICAN Australia
• Dr Emma Shortis, Director of International & Security Affairs Program, The Australia Institute
• Joey Tau, Coordinator, Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG) and Chair of the Pacific Regional NGO (PRNGO) Alliance.
• Prof Richard Tanter, Senior Research Associate at the Nautilus Institute, and Honorary Professor at the School of Political and Social Science, University of Melbourne.
• Vince Scappatura, Sessional Academic in the School of International Studies at Macquarie University, and author of ‘The US Lobby and Australian Defence Policy’.
• More to be announced

This event is co-hosted by ICAN Australia and the Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG).

May 5, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Nuclear Power and Net Zero II Symposium – REPORT ON ATTENDANCE AT THE CONFERENCE

April 24 2026, Robyn Wood, Friends of the Earth Adelaide

My friend and I arrived early at the Waite campus of Adelaide University, and they had
two security guards standing outside the main doors armed only with radios.

It was an interesting day. They are a dedicated bunch, very polite, about 70 people, and
I think they believe their heart is in the right place. They are very negative about
renewables, kept going on about “baseload power” and they expect grid collapses and
blackouts within the next 5 years. They are most insistent that nuclear is cheaper than
renewables when you take the whole big picture into account (but apparently you
shouldn’t take the cost of building a nuclear power plant into account when measuring
how much the electricity it produces costs). They cherry picked and misinformed, things
they accuse the antinuclear movement of doing, and say the general public need more
education so they learn to love nuclear. 
I actually almost felt sorry for them with the current federal Labor government so
committed to renewables and antinuclear, and probably the next 2 federal governments
being Labor.

I asked electrical engineer Dr Robert Barr who presented “Integrating Nuclear into the
grid” if he had spoken to the government with his models of the NEM and pricing and he
said the government won’t speak to him but he has spoken to the opposition. He wanted
to use “cheaper gas” and I don’t know where he is going to find that with the Iran war
on. We saw his presentation last year and I asked him again what he based his costings
of long term high level waste disposal on and he still couldn’t remember but said it was
a small number. I was not very convinced.

They were even sad about all the education and scholarships going into school &
university students for AUKUS as they saw that as stealing away talent from future
nuclear power plant workers. They brought out the old chestnuts about AUKUS means
we should have nuclear power, and that because we sell uranium we should take back
the high level nuclear waste. My friend shut them up by saying we sell coal and other
products and don’t take back the waste so what makes nuclear waste special.

My friend got security called on him because he got so annoyed with former ANSTO
CEO Adi Patterson using data from 2020 and 2022 when the whole symposium was
supposed to be about advances from the last symposium in 2024 that he challenged
him. My friend interrupted Adi instead of waiting to the end asking him why his data was
so old and where was the recent data. People got cross with my friend for interrupting,
and 5 min later I noticed security standing next to him, but the guard never said
anything.  One old man complained at the break to the female MC that she hadn’t run
things properly by not stopping the argument, and she said she liked passionate
discussions but they should be in the QnA section. He then said to us that she couldn’t
take criticism!

They had a whole session strongly criticising renewables and I didn’t bother taking any
notes as I didn’t believe a word of their figures and models which were based on
ChatGPT. So many of the things they picked on renewables for also applied to nuclear
power, but they didn’t mention that. One example being the environmental damage of
mining and mineral processing which applies to both, but somehow it was only a
problem for renewables.

I asked ANSTO’s GE of ‘Nuclear Operations, Safety and Security’ Miles Apperley how
many safety incidents ANSTO had had over the years, and he said he didn’t understand
my question, so I narrowed it and asked him how many safety incidents ANSTO had
had while he had worked there. He said he wasn’t avoiding the question but they had a
safety culture and everything got reported, not necessarily to do with radiation, and the
most dangerous issue was the road entering the facility where there were no traffic
lights and there had been near misses. Then he tripped over someone’s bag and made
a joke about it being a safety issue. So he got away with avoiding my question. I would
have expected he would have had those safety statistics memorized due to his
responsibilities.

We found out that ANSTO has a program of giving tours to NSW school children, and
one man who worked in the regulatory sector said they provided information to schools
but teachers returned the information as they said it was too dangerous!

They all seemed to think the disposal of high level nuclear waste was solved as
Australia has “lots of land”. So I told the panel discussion that I was interested in deep
geological waste disposal of intermediate and high level waste, and was following
Finland who were still working on their deep geological waste dump after 20 years, and
asked how the panelists planned on dealing with the UN Rights of Indigenous People
when Aboriginal people had stopped the last four efforts at a low level ANSTO dump. (I
figured Aboriginal people should be mentioned as they hadn’t been so far). Jasmin Diab
(MD of Global Nuclear Security Partners and Former President of Women in Nuclear
(WiN) Australia) chose to answer me and said 20 years to build a high level dump
wasn’t a long time. She then gave me the answer I expected, and said they had learned
not to treat Traditional Owners as ‘stakeholders’ but as ‘partners’ (what the difference is
I have no idea), and to sit down together to solve the problem, and basically bribe them
with things like jobs and doctors for the town as we saw with Kimba and Hawker. MC
Kirsty Braybon (a lawyer who was the inaugural Head of Legal for the Australian
Radioactive Waste Agency) pointed out that the UN Rights of Indigenous people was
not legally binding and Australia had signed but not ratified it, but she expected future
dealings with the government to comply with it, and on other topics as well as nuclear
waste.

I was standing behind one man in his 60s in the lunch queue and eavesdropped on him
lamenting that the demographics in the room were mostly older people and he wanted
to know how to get younger people involved. There were a lot of men in their 60s and
70s. It seems retired engineers and scientists set up their own consultancies and try to
stay relevant. A few young men of uni student age attended who probably hoped for
AUKUS submarine jobs.
The scary thing for me is that there is a LOT of portable SMR R&D planned over the
next five years, especially in the US Department of War. Scottish nuclear construction
civil engineer Peter Anusuas who had worked on Sizewell C in the UK said the most
likely way nuclear power would enter Australia was via SMRs in the military or mining
industries. One woman said the mining industry wanted the pronuclear industry to lobby
the government for SMRs but didn’t want to be seen as behind them as they didn’t want
to go against the government’s

Their final session on “where to next” with lobbying with their expensively filmed video of
the day, and a written summary but didn’t come up with much. They said they needed to
start in primary schools showing kids that science was fun and interesting and you
wouldn’t end up sitting in a lab in a white coat doing maths all the time, which is exactly
what my science career was like!
All in all it was an interesting day and quite cheered me up how despondent and
rudderless they were even with Adelaide University financially supporting them. Despite
the university‘s financial support, tickets were $70 and there was no student
concession. The free lunch, coffee and cake were nice.
Robyn Wood
Friends of the Earth Adelaide
Adelaideoffice@foe.org.au

Nuclear Power and Net Zero II

April 24 2026
Waite Campus, Adelaide University
The topics and speakers may be found at the Humanitix link.
https://events.humanitix.com/nuclear-energy-and-net-zero-ii-symposium

Description: Following the very successful June 2024 half-day symposium on
“Nuclear Energy and Net Zero” and significant global developments since then,
Dr Rod Hill FTSE FRACI and Prof Geoff Fincher FAA FTSE have organised a
follow-up symposium entitled “NUCLEAR ENERGY & NET ZERO II – A 2026
UPDATE”.
The aims of the symposium are

1. To provide a dispassionate, apolitical and evidence-based update on the
   potential role of nuclear energy in achieving Australia’s Net Zero targets and
2. To prepare a summary of proceedings and primary outcomes for distribution to
   governments and other relevant parties.
   Twelve invited speakers will address many areas where significant advances
   have been made since the June 2024 symposium. These include:

 Current and planned global nuclear power generation as a component of the
global energy mix in countries overseas.
 Technology developments in large and small-scale reactors.
 Australia’s nuclear technology and reactor operations record and its fuel cycle,
including spent fuel transmutation and disposal.
 Integrating nuclear energy into the electricity grid.
 Nuclear power plant construction in the UK.
 Analysis of popular community perceptions of nuclear and renewable systems.
The symposium will conclude with a speaker panel Q&A discussion with the audience.

May 4, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment