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Middle East
Editorial: In the Balance
The next prime minister of Australia should be whoever can more convincingly promise a stable coalition able to undertake the responsibilities of government more effectively. Overseas and Australian state government experience demonstrates that s...
Published: 27/08/2010 read more
Scribblings: The BBC Pre-empts Flotilla Inquiries
Israelis have been much focused in recent weeks on the testimony of various top officials to the Turkel inquiry - looking into the flotilla clash off Gaza on May 31 that left nine Turkish activists dead. On top of this, the Israeli government has ma...
Published: 27/08/2010 read more
Hamas' stances/Israel, the Arab world and Iran
This Update features some new material on Hamas, its goals and its efforts to control Gaza. And it also has an important and detailed look at the increasingly complex relationship between Israel and the Arab states in the face of the Iranian hegemon...
Published: 12/08/2010 read more
Iran "vulnerable" to sanctions
IRAN is much more vulnerable to pressure than the West realises, and ratcheting up the pressure with sanctions may halt its nuclear weapons program, according to an Israeli specialist on Iran. The European Union's history with Iran taught it that it...
Published: 29/07/2010 read more
Editorial: Reaffirming Bipartisanship
Once again, the Australian Jewish community is fortunate enough to have the choice between two prime ministerial candidates who strongly defend Israel's right to exist in peace and security. Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Ab...
Published: 27/07/2010 read more
Scribblings: Going Green?
There does seem to be one prediction on which most election analysts agree - the Australian Greens are likely to wind up controlling the balance of power in the Senate. This will be worrying to many in the Australian Jewish community because not onl...
Published: 27/07/2010 read more
Election Face-off
Despite the obvious concern that accompanies any change of government - particularly one that had ruled for 11 years - by and large the changeover to the Australian Labor Party saw a continuity of bipartisanship on a raft of Israel and Jewish commun...
Published: 27/07/2010 read more
The Reset Button
All of a sudden we have seen a different type of meeting between Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and Obama. And a major effort on the part of the President, for the first time since his election, to be nice to the Israeli people by giving an interview...
Published: 27/07/2010 read more
Essay: The Turning of Turkey
Since its decisive re-election in 2007, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) has been re-aligning the country's foreign policy. Under Erdogan's governance, Turkey has been moving away from its 20th centur...
Published: 27/07/2010 read more
Turkey, Iran and UN Sanctions
This Update looks at Turkey's regional policy, including its relations with Iran, especially in the wake of the recent UN and unilateral sanctions passed to deter Iran's illegal nuclear activities. It also contains some new informed advice on how th...
Published: 09/07/2010 read more
Hamas, now here to stay
Hamas will be in power in the Gaza Strip for a long time. Who is going to remove it? It is a client of Iran. Certainly it is under embargo for arms but it does function a lot like an independent state for daily practical purposes. It will return to ...
Published: 30/06/2010 read more
Israel: The Case for Optimism
As I travel around the world, I often encounter strong pessimism about Israel's current situation and future prospects. I want to give everyone some good news. Contrary to widespread perceptions, Israel's strategic situation and prospects are curren...
Published: 30/06/2010 read more
Essay: Rational Action
One of the few points on which there is wide agreement is that for deterrence to work, the leaders of the nations that command nuclear arms must be rational. The same holds for terrorists who may acquire nuclear arms one way or another. In effect, a...
Published: 30/06/2010 read more
The Truth about Gaza... and its wider significance
The tragic events of May 31 - when 9 Turkish blockade runners were killed in a clash with Israeli troops at sea - has focused attention on the current situation in Gaza. Unfortunately, much that is being said about the history and current reality of...
Published: 16/06/2010 read more
The Wider Context of the Flotilla Tragedy/ The NPT Conference outcome
Today's Update continues our coverage of the Gaza flotilla tragedy, with articles that attempt to put this specific event into the wider regional and strategic context. It also has some new expert comment on the controversial outcome of the Nuclear ...
Author: AIJAC staff Published: 04/06/2010 read more
The Truth Teller
The current proximity talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) are premature and risk precipitating a third intifada for which the Jewish state will be blamed while Iran, Syria, Hamas and Hezbollah become the main beneficiaries, warns...
Author: Allon Lee Published: 02/06/2010 read more
Boycott Blindness
Twenty years ago, the Arab League's economic boycott of Israel was pervasive - as was the pressure exerted on Australian companies to comply....
Author: Allon Lee Published: 27/04/2010 read more
America's Mideast woes don't begin and end with Israel
Petraeus conspicuously avoided any hint that the conflict with the Palestinians and recent violent clashes are the result of Israeli policy. He made no mention of Israeli settlements; nor to Israeli building in east Jerusalem....
Author: External author Published: 26/03/2010 read more
A Middle East Without American Influence?
The new catch phrase in the Middle East is strategic realignment. Broadly speaking, this means that the balance of power is shifting from the US-backed regional order to the axis of resistance....
Author: External author Published: 26/03/2010 read more
The Assassination of Mahmoud Mabhouh and the Passport Controversy
With new allegations from Dubai that three stolen or forged Australian passports were employed in the assassination of Hamas military leader Mahmoud Mabhouh on Jan. 20, the controversy over that assassination has certainly heated up....
Author: AIJAC staff Published: 26/02/2010 read more
Creativity and realism required for success in Middle East talks
YESTERDAY in Washington, President Barack Obama formally launched the resumption of direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians after a 19-month hiatus. International expectations for the talks are low because there appear to be a number of fac...
03/09/2010 read more
Hamas, Israeli Security and Peacemaking
Following the Israeli-Palestinian Summit in Washington yesterday (in which the details of discussions were kept discreet), this Update features some comments on Hamas' role as a potential spoiler in the wake of the Hamas terror attack Tuesday, which...
03/09/2010 read more
Today's Israeli-Palestinian Summit in Washington
As readers are doubtless aware, Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu is meeting Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas today in Washington in a summit designed to formally re-launch direct Israeli Palestinian peace talks. This Update offers backgrou...
02/09/2010 read more
Editorial: In the Balance
The next prime minister of Australia should be whoever can more convincingly promise a stable coalition able to undertake the responsibilities of government more effectively. Overseas and Australian state government experience demonstrates that s...
27/08/2010 read more
Scribblings: The BBC Pre-empts Flotilla Inquiries
Israelis have been much focused in recent weeks on the testimony of various top officials to the Turkel inquiry - looking into the flotilla clash off Gaza on May 31 that left nine Turkish activists dead. On top of this, the Israeli government has ma...
27/08/2010 read more
AIR New Zealand: A Tzur Thing
When Israel reopened an embassy in Wellington in April this year, it seemed obvious that the new Ambassador, Shemi Tzur, and his staff had a big job in front of them. Almost a decade without on-the-ground representation, as well as some years of tro...
27/08/2010 read more
Fall of the Teflon Terrorist?
On Aug. 9, 2010, members of Indonesia's elite counter-terrorist police force arrested the militant cleric Abu Bakar Bashir as part of their ongoing investigations into a terrorist training camp discovered in February 2010 in Aceh, plots to kill Pres...
27/08/2010 read more
Israel's Endangered Deterrence
There are few journalists specialising in strategic and security affairs more experienced than Ron Ben Yishai. After fighting as a paratrooper in the Six Day War, Ben Yishai turned to journalism full time. Since then he has covered, from the battlef...
27/08/2010 read more
Hamas' Gaza Killing Spree
News stories about bodies found at sea are occasionally published by Gaza newspapers. The number of such bodies isn't huge, yet not all those drowning victims chose to go swimming voluntarily. The Gazans who found their death at sea include mid-leve...
27/08/2010 read more
The State of the Iranian Revolution
Since coming to power in 1979, the Islamic Revolution in Iran has had two main aims. First, it wished to remain in power and if this was the aim of the Islamic Revolution, 31 years later, it has been successful. But revolutions don't come about simp...
27/08/2010 read more
Essay: Decade of Disappointment
It's been a decade since Israeli and Palestinian leaders met as peacemakers only to part at loggerheads. Now, with most of the Camp David summit's protagonists long gone from the scene, that ill-fated conclave's military, diplomatic and political re...
27/08/2010 read more
The Last Word: Ideology Above Humanity
What struck me then, and continues to strike me, was their complete lack of concern, sometimes even contempt, for the human beings they claimed to champion and the hatred for the human beings on the other side of the political divide. There was no r...
27/08/2010 read more