MORE CENSORSHIP BY THE AUSTRALIAN NEWSPAPER

Re: NETANYAHU WAS ILL ADVISED TO ATTACK HAMAS LEADERS IN QATAR

Opinion piece by Greg Sheridan 

Published in The Australian national daily, September 11, 2025

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My subscriber comment (below in italics) under this opinion piece was REJECTED by the moderators.   I suspect they didn’t like (i) the hint of skepticism about October 7 and  (ii) the use of the term ‘final solution’. 

Try as I may, I cannot get any of my comments on Israel approved by the moderation system.   I cannot out-smart the moderators, suggesting they are smarter than me, like, artificial intelligence? 

NOT APPROVED Yesterday

There are many eloquent comments on this thread in support of Israel's attack on negotiators in Qatar. There could be some truth in what these supporters of Israel are saying. All this violence has arisen as a result of October 7th. It is hard to fathom how & why October 7th happened. Suicide is always difficult to understand. And national suicide even a bigger mystery. Whatever, October 7th was a gift to Israel to create an appetite for the final solution to the Gaza problem. Nothing makes sense.

Footnote 

In the The Australian digital edition, to which I subscribe for $44/month, there were 448 comments from subscribers under this opinion piece (as at 4pm AEST, September 12, 2025)

All these comments were pro-Israel.   None criticized Israel nor disparaged the ideology of modern Likud-Netanyahu Zionism.  Many of the published comments were inane & gung-ho, cheering on Israel, supporting and downplaying the plausible genocide taking place in Gaza. 

Here’s a sprinkling of the actual comments to give you a taste of the flavor 

• “Go Israel!”
• “Go Bibi”
• “Bibi is my hero”
• “Outstanding work prime minister Mr Netanyahu. The West's most gutsy leader. Destroying the forces of evil wherever they are is the way to go”
• “I'm with Netanyahu, good on him. Just wish we had a PM with a backbone. All power to Israel.”
• “All strength to Bibi's arm.  And don’t stop until you have them cowered in every proxy on the planet.”
• “Netanyahu is a great leader, and has majority support in Israel. “
• “The cost to US credibility is increasing daily and Trump is looking increasingly foolish. Still, well played by Netanyahu. He has been able to lead the US administration like a puppet master.”
• “Tactically brilliant, Stategically sensless. Recover all the hostages then unleash
• “Hamas must be removed from Gaza to the point they can’t rebuild. Leaders hiding out in neighbouring countries are fair game”
• ”Brilliant and opportunistic move by Bibi and the IDF. I’m surprised it’s taken nearly two years for it to happen, which is indicative of the IDF restraint. “
• “An overdue and deserved response by Israel.”
• “Benjamin Netanyahu was well advised to attack Hamas leaders in Qatar. “

Afterthought

The editorial policy appears to be that any criticism of Israel’s actions or of Zionism is “antisemitic” hate speech.  Therefore - according to the spin given to me last November - the newspaper runs a risk of the newspaper being sued by Australian Zionist organizations under section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act.    But this is a weak excuse, if we take cognizance of the Australian Federal Court opinion on what is and what is not antisemitism hate speech.  The court wrote in a 1 July 2025 case decision, inter alia, (1) “Political criticism of Israel, however inflammatory or adversarial, is not by its nature criticism of Jews in general or based on Jewish racial or ethnic identity” (2) “Disparagement of Zionism constitutes disparagement of a philosophy or ideology and not race or ethnic group”.