JOHNSTONE

It's not okay to be a grown adult with internet access in August 2025 and still believe that what we are seeing in Gaza is not a genocide. It's not okay to be a grown adult with internet access in August 2025 and still believe this mass atrocity is about self-defense. It's not okay to be a grown adult with internet access in August 2025 and still believe that people in Gaza are not being deliberately starved by Israel. Reading by Tim Foley.

Reading by Tim Foley.

It wasn't that long ago when I sincerely wondered if we'd ever see Assange's face again, let alone in public, let alone in Sydney, let alone heading up what had to be one of the largest pro-Palestine rallies ever held in Australia. Dare to be encouraged. The light is breaking through. Reading by Tim Foley.

It was obvious in October 2023 that Israel intended to eliminate all Palestinians in Gaza, in part because you would never treat a population that way if you intended to leave survivors on your border. Because you'd know they'd seek revenge later on. Reading by Tim Foley.

A much more useful and interesting question than "What was Israel supposed to do in response to October 7?" is "What were Palestinians supposed to do in response to all of Israel's abuses prior to October 7?" Nobody's ever been able to give me a serious response to this question which doesn't entail mountains of lies and/or the dehumanizing expectation that Palestinians should accept conditions that none of us would willingly accept ourselves. Reading by Tim Foley.

This is humiliating for everything that passes for the "left" in mainstream US politics. Imagine being such a dogshit human being that you'd let Marjorie Taylor Greene be a better person than you. Reading by Tim Foley.

I will probably spend the foreseeable future periodically reminding the world that when everyone was angry at Israel for starving children in Gaza, Israel's apologists spent days loudly proclaiming that no, they were actually just starving SICK children. As their DEFENSE they said this. They actually believed this helped their case. Reading by Tim Foley.

People absolutely should admit that they were wrong, and they absolutely should be encouraged to do so, but they need to do it with humility, and with some outward expression of remorse. Reading by Tim Foley.

Israel apologists use language the same way malignant narcissists do. It's never to communicate or connect or find out what's true, it's always to manipulate and get things they want. Reading by Tim Foley.

Dear Mr Dreyfus, Today I saw the skeleton of a young man in Gaza picked clean by dogs, his arms and head intact but the rest of his body was bone and gristle. The colour of the bones was still a bright fresh red. He had been shot only days ago but the cats and dogs had got to him already and gnawed his bones clean. I have never seen anything like it. Every single day brings fresh horrors to my screen. Each time I think I can no longer be shocked, I am proven wrong. The image of that man made me gasp. It literally took my breath away. I then had to sit with my hands over my eyes while I waited for my heart and breath to come back to normal. When I close my eyes at night, all I can see is skeletal babies, their little mouths gaping open like baby birds waiting for a worm. I have started to dream about it. Each night I carry a child, a new child, a different baby, trying to find food for them. I wake up with a shadow of an ache in my arms because in my dreams their bones are as brittle as egg shells and I have to be so tender and careful. This. Must. Stop. All the waffle of who-did-what-and-when burns to dust when babies are starving. No amount of words can make that right. No amount of words can extinguish the images from my eyes, the ache in my heart, and the alarm going off in my head for those babies. Please do what you can! I beg of you. Please make it stop. It’s all I can think about and I am not alone. Every day the numbers of people like me are growing. Every day more eyes snap awake.