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SvennoJ on 05 August 2025
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Australia’s FM warns of ‘risk there will be no Palestine left to recognise’

Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs has told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) “there is a risk there will be no Palestine left to recognise”.

However Penny Wong did not elaborate on when Australia would recognise Palestinian statehood, saying only that it was “a matter of when, not if”.

Wong’s comments came after a mass protest in Sydney on Sunday, which she said showed the “distress of Australians, on what we are seeing unfolding in Gaza, the catastrophic humanitarian situation, the deaths of women and children, the withholding of aid”.

But asked if Australia was considering taking any more concrete actions, such as imposing sanctions on Israel, Wong said: “We don’t speculate on sanctions for the obvious reason that they have more effect if they are not flagged.”

She noted that Australia had already imposed sanctions on two far-right ministers in Netanyahu’s government, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, in June this year, as well as “extremist” Israeli settlers.

‘Solidarity in a can’: Palestine Cola launches in Ireland

A new soft drink is making waves across Ireland – not just for its taste, but for the message it carries. Palestine Cola has launched in County Down, with organisers calling it “solidarity in a can”. All profits go directly to Palestinian-led initiatives in Gaza.

Garry Harper, a member of Mourne for Palestine, told Al Jazeera the project is deeply personal. “Every single penny of profit goes directly to support two young Palestinian girls, Yara and Rahaf, who stayed with our family in September 2022.

The girls visited after winning a drama competition run by the Hands Up Project. “Since returning to Gaza, their lives have been upended by conflict, displacement, and tragic losses,” Harper said. “They’ve lost family members and have been forced to live in tents, facing dire shortages of basic needs.”

Palestine Cola is now stocked in cafes, restaurants, and shops across south Down and Armagh, and has featured at protests and music festivals. Orders are coming in from Cork, Galway and Dublin.

“I’m not trying to rival Coca-Cola,” Harper added. “People just deserve an alternative that doesn’t fund a genocide.”

Harper is a member of Mourne for Palestine, a group that has helped organise mass protests across County Down, including marches under the shadow of the highest mountain in the north of Ireland, Slieve Donard.

“That backdrop has become symbolic,” Harper said. “One of the most beautiful and moving settings to show solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Palestine.”


Scientists petition CERN over Israel’s war on Gaza

More than 1,000 scientists have petitioned the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) to take action over Israel’s war on Gaza, urging it to comply with its principles, including to “have no concern with work for military requirements”.

“As scientists, we firmly believe that international collaboration, the sharing of knowledge and the free movement of ideas are great drivers of human progress and peace. Middle Eastern scientists have remained steadfast in upholding these principles despite decades of regional tensions and conflict,” the petition read.

“As scientists, we cannot tolerate that the current state of war imposed by the Israeli government on Palestinians, alongside the unacceptable toll of lives and affront to human dignity, also compromises the continued peaceful collaboration of Israeli and Palestinian scientists between themselves, and with the rest of the community.”

CERN is home to the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s most powerful particle accelerator.