First of all, here's what we have for you this week:
- Killer Grabs: Quotes from around the traps.
- How Albanese sold-off Australia's 'golden opportunity' to Donald Trump— By Osman Faruqi
- The Good Ones: The best journalism, opinion and entertainment for you to enjoy.
The brinkmanship between the US and Israel over the highly fragile Gaza ceasefire spiralled to new lows this week.
Early this morning, it appeared the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, would pass legislation to annex the West Bank and make the Palestinian territory legally part of Israel.
US Vice President JD Vance, who was just about to leave Israel after his trip there, labelled it an insulting and "very stupid political stunt". President Donald Trump had given his word that Israel would not be allowed to annex the West Bank, including in an interview with Time magazine published only yesterday, and the administration was clearly furious with Israeli lawmakers threatening to break his undertaking.
After Vance's comments, Netanyahu reportedly ordered members of his ruling coalition government to prevent the bills from reaching a final vote.
But that doesn't mean it's safe to relax. Members of Netanyahu's coalition threw tantrums in the Knesset over Netanyahu trying to stall their illegal and genocidal plan to seize the already illegally occupied Palestinian territory, with one angrily declaring that the government had a responsibility to "settle in the land of Israel" – referring to territory that is certainly not "Israel".
Most news reports have described Netanyahu as having killed the vote, but with rabid expansionism exploding among Israeli lawmakers, it's highly likely he has only delayed it. The Knesset could easily try its luck again at a moment that is less pointedly insulting towards Donald Trump.
The US President has secured a lot by being capricious and vindictive. While those traits are a highly unstable and risky basis for peace in the Middle East, they did secure him a hell of a deal this week.
Today, Os takes us inside a minerals deal Trump and Anthony Albanese signed this week in Washington. The political press has lauded it, but it is full of concessions to curry favour with Donald Trump, including an underreported clause that commits Australia to spending billions on new drones.
We would love to hear any ideas or feedback at all, whether it's about the look and feel of it, what you want to read more about from us or how often you'd like to hear from us.
Killer Grabs
"I like the way Australia's gone on this. I think there is an argument to ban it completely until kids are of an age where they can really understand what they are disseminating" — Piers Morgan on Australia's teen social media ban.
Piers Morgan didn't reach an age where he understood what he was disseminating until he hit 40 and left the Daily Mirror.
A court found that while he was editor, he was well aware the newspaper was printing information it had gained through unlawfully hacking people's phones.
"He didn't even play in the game! I think he was in one of the rooms having some scampi and chips!" — Roy Keane, on bizarre scenes following the sacking of Ange Postecoglou.
After Ange Postecoglou was sacked this week from his role as manager of Nottingham Forest, there were some bizarre scenes at the team's stadium.
Player Ryan Yates did a post-match interview for a game he didn't play in. Irish firebrand Roy Keane was not too impressed, given Yates hadn't done much that day to help Ange keep his job.
"Equal to or above the comparable media industry." — ABC management presentation to staff on their latest pay offer.
We'll need a little help here, is 3 per cent "equal to or above" 3.75 per cent? How about 5.25 per cent?
The ABC's offer of 3 per cent is actually beneath agreements recently struck at both Nine and Guardian Australia, pretty "comparable" workplaces.
Minor credit for some adjustments to the ABC's notoriously broken pay band system, but it's always bold to sneak some loose claims past a workforce full of journos.
How Albanese sold-off Australia's 'golden opportunity' to Donald Trump
By Osman Faruqi
Up until recently, whenever I heard the term “rare earths” my eyes glazed over because I assumed people were talking about a type of Pokemon. The synonym “critical minerals” had the same effect, because that one sounds like the move a Pokemon might make in a battle (“Critical mineral hit!”).
In some ways, I wish that’s where my level of knowledge remained. Because once you get past how boring “rare earths” sound you realise how vitally important they are to the future of the entire world, how fundamentally linked they are to geopolitics, and how Australia might just have sold off our next “golden opportunity”, in the words of Treasurer Jim Chalmers to Donald Trump and a select set of mining billionaires.
