Commentary from co-CEO Alex Ryvchin originally published in The Australian on 1 October 2025.
The single most important quality of a political survivor is the ability to detect where true power lies. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has seen his world shrink. Traditionally friendly governments lined up to recognise a Palestinian state. The contemptuous response of much of the international community to his speech at the General Assembly.
Netanyahu was able to brush this all aside and parse that the future of his nation and his own legacy will not be determined in Canberra or in declining European powers led by lame duck leaders, it will be settled in Washington, Riyadh and Doha. Netanyahu wasn’t talking to the UN or its anemic member states. He was talking to his own base and to the White House.
The joint press conference by the two leaders, at which the US proposal to end the war was unveiled, showed that Netanyahu retains the confidence and support of President Trump. President Trump in turn exerts an emperor’s power over the international community, particularly those parts of it whose policies are driven by a desire for progress and wealth and not by street rabble, online influencers and academics clad in corduroy.
And so, as some states, in their desire to project relevance and prestige, moved to recognise a Palestinian state which isn’t there, the Trump administration crafted a proposal to actually end this war. A plan that unlike unilateral recognition, can achieve the things our government says it cares about – liberation of the hostages, an end to civilian suffering, a future without Hamas, the de-radicalisation of Gaza and its peaceful reconstruction for its people. In other words, true lasting peace and genuine coexistence rather than temporary ceasefires to allow the domestic political flak for western leaders to briefly settle, or idle joint letters that try to say everything but say nothing at all.
Israel has accepted the proposal which will obligate it to permanently end its military campaign in Gaza, and to release thousands of Palestinian terrorists and fighters it currently holds. The governments of the major players in the Islamic and Arab world, including Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Qatar, Turkey and Indonesia, have also backed it.
The question is what will Hamas do? And what will our government, that has insinuated itself into the conflict through its recognition proclamation, do to ensure this comprehensive peace plan becomes a reality? Australia has shown a willingness to punish Israel in a great number of ways for what it sees as its intransigence, what will it do to ensure the Palestinians uphold their side of the bargain?
For starters, our government can’t simply say it endorses this peace plan, it needs to work with the UK, Canada and France in applying maximum pressure on all Palestinian factions to accept and implement it without delay.
If this plan succeeds, Netanyahu’s stock as a political survivor will enter new stratospheres. But if it fails despite the will of the United States, Israel and the Islamic world, it will reveal a terrifying truth – the course of war and conflict, and all the misery it entails, is determined not by the peacemakers but by terrorists and rogues, and all our interventions are for naught. If this is revealed to be so, the total destruction of Hamas, will be the only option.
ECAJ Head of Legal Simone Abel discusses the latest on antisemitism at the University of Sydney, and the court victory that stopped the Sydney Opera House protest.
US’s Gaza plan a display in the politics of power
US’s Gaza plan a display in the politics of power
Commentary from co-CEO Alex Ryvchin originally published in The Australian on 1 October 2025.
The single most important quality of a political survivor is the ability to detect where true power lies. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has seen his world shrink. Traditionally friendly governments lined up to recognise a Palestinian state. The contemptuous response of much of the international community to his speech at the General Assembly.
Netanyahu was able to brush this all aside and parse that the future of his nation and his own legacy will not be determined in Canberra or in declining European powers led by lame duck leaders, it will be settled in Washington, Riyadh and Doha. Netanyahu wasn’t talking to the UN or its anemic member states. He was talking to his own base and to the White House.
The joint press conference by the two leaders, at which the US proposal to end the war was unveiled, showed that Netanyahu retains the confidence and support of President Trump. President Trump in turn exerts an emperor’s power over the international community, particularly those parts of it whose policies are driven by a desire for progress and wealth and not by street rabble, online influencers and academics clad in corduroy.
And so, as some states, in their desire to project relevance and prestige, moved to recognise a Palestinian state which isn’t there, the Trump administration crafted a proposal to actually end this war. A plan that unlike unilateral recognition, can achieve the things our government says it cares about – liberation of the hostages, an end to civilian suffering, a future without Hamas, the de-radicalisation of Gaza and its peaceful reconstruction for its people. In other words, true lasting peace and genuine coexistence rather than temporary ceasefires to allow the domestic political flak for western leaders to briefly settle, or idle joint letters that try to say everything but say nothing at all.
Israel has accepted the proposal which will obligate it to permanently end its military campaign in Gaza, and to release thousands of Palestinian terrorists and fighters it currently holds. The governments of the major players in the Islamic and Arab world, including Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Qatar, Turkey and Indonesia, have also backed it.
The question is what will Hamas do? And what will our government, that has insinuated itself into the conflict through its recognition proclamation, do to ensure this comprehensive peace plan becomes a reality? Australia has shown a willingness to punish Israel in a great number of ways for what it sees as its intransigence, what will it do to ensure the Palestinians uphold their side of the bargain?
For starters, our government can’t simply say it endorses this peace plan, it needs to work with the UK, Canada and France in applying maximum pressure on all Palestinian factions to accept and implement it without delay.
If this plan succeeds, Netanyahu’s stock as a political survivor will enter new stratospheres. But if it fails despite the will of the United States, Israel and the Islamic world, it will reveal a terrifying truth – the course of war and conflict, and all the misery it entails, is determined not by the peacemakers but by terrorists and rogues, and all our interventions are for naught. If this is revealed to be so, the total destruction of Hamas, will be the only option.
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