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Author: Philip Mendes

  • INTERNATIONAL

    What progressives need to understand about the October 7 massacre

    • Philip Mendes
    • 04 December 2023
    2 Comments

    For over 40 years, I have supported a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. That term means two states for two peoples. Such an outcome can only come about as the result of peaceful negotiations that advance compromise and moderation on both sides. 

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Young people not supported after they leave care

    • Philip Mendes
    • 17 March 2015
    2 Comments

    There are currently two national inquiries into the experiences of children in out-of-home care. Yet neither is specifically exploring what happens to young people transitioning from care. This is like a football team putting in a good performance in the first half but neglecting the second, which decides the outcome.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Israel's emotional pull on Australian Jews

    • Philip Mendes
    • 26 February 2013
    12 Comments

    Some Jewish Australians bring from their childhoods in tranquil Australia a special degree of idealism and innocence to their involvement in homeland conflicts. It may be this, rather than spy-catcher conspiracy theories, which best explains what happened to Ben Zygier and other young Australians who have died in conflicts in the Middle East.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Intervening in Israel

    • Philip Mendes
    • 05 February 2013
    23 Comments

    The effectively deadlocked Israeli election outcome reflects a contradiction between philosophy and action: most Israelis are willing to consider two states in principle, yet they have been debating the same political issues for 20 years with no concrete outcome. Some form of long-term international intervention may be necessary to overcome the deadlock.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Forgotten Jewish refugees demand recognition

    • Philip Mendes
    • 07 September 2010
    14 Comments

    International concern with Middle East refugees focuses on the approximately 700,000 Palestinian Arabs who left Israel during the 1947–48 war. Far less attention has been paid to the nearly one million Jews who left Arab countries in the decade or so following that war.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Debunking the myth of Jewish communism

    • Philip Mendes
    • 05 February 2010
    3 Comments

    The myth of an international Jewish communist conspiracy has long been a central diet of anti-Semitic agendas. Dutch academic Andre Gerrits provides a dispassionate an balanced account of this contentious topic.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    On orphans in Catholic care

    • Philip Mendes
    • 27 March 2009
    1 Comment

    Some enjoyed supportive placements and moved successfully into mainstream society. Others were disempowered and even traumatised by their time in care, and left with serious health and emotional deficits.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Israeli history's definitive rewrite

    • Philip Mendes
    • 09 January 2009
    6 Comments

    Benny Morris, Israel's best-known revisionist historian, led more and more Israelis and Diaspora Jews in the 1980s to accept the legitimacy of an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Morris has changed his spots. (September 2008)

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  • AUSTRALIA

    State wards: parental guidance recommended

    • Philip Mendes
    • 15 October 2008
    4 Comments

    While most families continue to support their children when they turn 18, young people leaving state care are expected to transition to instant independence with scant ongoing support. Little wonder many face the transition with trepidation.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Israeli history's 'definitive' rewrite

    • Philip Mendes
    • 12 September 2008
    34 Comments

    Benny Morris, Israel's best-known revisionist historian, led more and more Israelis and Diaspora Jews in the 1980s to accept the legitimacy of an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Morris has changed his spots.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Conflicting narratives converge on Israel anniversary

    • Philip Mendes
    • 09 May 2008
    25 Comments

    Israel's 60th anniversary next week will be an occasion for celebration by Jews throughout the world. The formation of Israel in 1948 gave Jews renewed hope, but Palestinians remember it as a time of mourning. These conflicting narratives are reflected within the Australian context.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Jewish West Bank Settlements a bad but reversible mistake

    • Philip Mendes
    • 10 March 2008
    13 Comments

    Over the years, many simplistic arguments have been advanced in an attempt to justify the West Bank settlement project. None of these arguments had any substance in the 1980s, and they have even less validity now.

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