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Australia Just Recognized ‘Palestine’ — Did It Also Push Me Toward Aliyah?
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks during a press conference at the Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, June 17, 2024. Photo: Lukas Coch/Pool via REUTERS
On August 11, 2025, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stunned many when he announced that Australia would formally recognize the State of Palestine at the upcoming UN General Assembly — pending promises by the Palestinian Authority to demilitarize Gaza, exclude Hamas from governance, hold elections, and cease payments to families of terrorists.
The glaring problem is that Albanese appears to take these assurances at face value, as though a handful of pledges — offered without timelines, enforcement mechanisms, or credible evidence of intent — could erase decades of violence, corruption, and rejectionism.
It’s the mark of a leader who doesn’t know what he doesn’t know: either unaware of the PA’s long record of breaking its commitments or unwilling to confront the implications of that record. He also doesn’t understand that this is a reward for terrorism and, for the enemies of freedom, liberty, and democracy.
The question I find myself asking today — whether I am truly choosing Aliyah, merely considering it, or being pushed toward it — is not a new one. Over centuries, Jews have wrestled with the call of Aliyah — “ascent” to the ancestral homeland — versus the pull to remain in the Diaspora. For some, it was not the call of Aliyah at all, but the search for a safe haven — somewhere in the world where they could live without fear.
My grandparents had that promise; they went to Canada believing it would be that place. Now, I’m not sure where in the Diaspora that promise still exists.
And without that sense of safety, Aliyah no longer feels like a romantic, idealistic choice — how I’ve seen it most of my life. Instead, it starts to feel like the only real option left. Ahad Ha’am wrote that Aliyah should be a deliberate, inspired choice, not a desperate escape — and that truth has long been woven into our collective soul.
Today, the landscape is starkly different. Aliyah is shifting from a Zionist aspiration to a contingency plan. After October 7 and the surge of antisemitism worldwide — including here in Australia — the Diaspora finds itself asking: what’s our Plan B? And of course, many Diaspora Jews — in Australia, in Canada, in France, in the United States, in the United Kingdom, and across the world — are not even considering the choice to move but instead are deepening their connection with Israel. There is comfort in knowing we have somewhere to go; there is a psychological sanctuary that our ancestors lacked, and we have it. That knowledge is a safety net, one that offers reassurance even to those who never plan to use it.
Australia’s recognition of Palestine, dressed as a diplomatic advance, feels deeply personal and destabilizing. For those of us whose Jewish identity is rooted not only in heritage but in the continuity of a safe, supportive homeland, this punting of responsibility troubles the heart.
Albanese’s decision shows the danger of a leader who doesn’t know what he doesn’t know: he steps into a geopolitical minefield believing he is making history, without recognizing that he is rewarding terror, undermining alliances, and ignoring lived realities on the ground. Did I just get nudged toward Aliyah by the government’s betrayal? Perhaps. But even if I never make the move, the knowledge that Israel exists — that there is still one place where we are not guests — remains a lifeline in an increasingly uncertain world.
Will the Palestinian Authority honor its conditions, or is recognition merely a performative act? Has Australia fractured its alliance with Israel at a moment when global support is profoundly precious? Is this recognition a hopeful step toward peace, or a perilous reward for violence? These are not only diplomatic questions — they are mine and ours.
As a Jew in Sydney today, I stand torn between devotion to a country I’ve called home for over 30 years and the ancient, pulsating call of Zion. Aliyah no longer feels like a choice — it feels like inevitability. But while we are here, we must live as proud Jews and proud Zionists, unafraid to stand tall in our identity. We must educate — not only within our own communities, but in the broader Australian community — about our history, our homeland, and our truth. That is both our responsibility and our strength.
Perhaps both history and the present have finally pushed me to the place my grandparents only dreamed of. L’Shanah Haba’ah B’Yerushalayim.
Michael Gencher is executive director StandWithUs Australia, an international nonpartisan education organization that supports Israel and fights antisemitism.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.