Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council

Australians woke up yesterday morning to the shocking news that two bombs had exploded in the streets near the finish line of the Boston Marathon and had killed three people - Martin Richard an eight-year-old boy who was cheering on his father in the marathon, Krystle Campbell a 29-year-old woman de

Barack Obama's first visit to Israel as President last month has been widely analysed in the context of the Israel-Palestinian peace process and in terms of other regional security concerns, with a particular focus on the sometimes rocky relationship he shares with Israeli PM Benyamin Netanyahu. How

US President Obama ended his visit to Israel and the Palestinian terrorities on Friday, going on to Jordan and then returning home. His major statements in Israel were his speech on arrival, his media conference with Israeli PM Netanyahu, his media conference with Palestinian

AIJAC guest Professor Alan Johnson from the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre discusses US president Barack Obama's recent tour of Israel on ABC News 24. [link]

"I'd love to sit at a cafe and just hang out," President Barack Obama told Israel's Channel 2 on March 14. Obama confessed: "Sometimes I have this fantasy that I can put on a disguise and wear a fake mustache." He mused about wandering Tel Aviv and meeting university students casually. In that spiri

I think the world is headed towards a surprise. I think the United States and Israel are converging on a fresh initiative towards the Palestinians. I don't think this is merely being imposed on Netanyahu from the outside - I think this is what he wants.

The new Israeli coalition government - sworn in after weeks of negotiations only two days before the US President' arrival - was indeed an achievement, and one the President should be able to appreciate. Just as Obama was elected on a platform of "hope and change" an appropriate way to describe the

US President Barack Obama's trip to Israel and the Palestinian Territories has been vitally important - and apparently highly successful. In only three short days Obama seems to have been able to address core issues that appeared to be straining the US-Israel relationship and press ‘reset'.

Obama will find many fresh faces in [Netanyahu's] government - and also some new opportunities to push forward towards peace with all of Israel's neighbours, especially the Palestinians. He will also find a government likely very concerned about pressing regional issues - especially the Iranian nucl

In Melbourne on March 15, AIJAC hosted Dr. Steve Rosen, the Director of the Middle East Forum's Washington Project and the former director of foreign policy issues for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee from 1982-2005.

After six weeks of haggling, Israel's thirty-third Knesset was reported on Wednesday to include 22 cabinet ministers (down from 30 in the previous cabinet) and several deputy ministers from the 68-strong coalition of Likud-Beiteinu, Yesh Atid (There is a Future), HaBait Yehudit (The Jewish Home) and

This year's annual AIPAC Policy Conference attracted more than 13,000 delegates, and heard from an array of speakers including Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu (via satellite), Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak, US Vice President Joe Biden, Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird, US House L

The numerous obituaries and eulogies being written for the recently deceased Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez all seem to agree on one thing: the man was polarising. One group that was driven relentlessly towards the hostile pole is Venezuela's Jews. In addition to his generally poor rights record,

The controversy stirred up during the confirmation hearing of US Senator Chuck Hagel, now appointed Secretary of Defense on Feb. 26, has once again opened debate on the relationship between the US and Israel. More to the point, it has prompted detractors to call into question the role of the "Israel

AIR correspondent Andrew Friedman caught up with Professor Eytan Gilboa, Director of the School of Communications at the Begin-Sadat (BESA) Centre for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University and an expert on US-Israel relations, for an exclusive briefing about the presidential visit, the state of U

Judging by his first State of the Union address since his reelection, US President Barack Obama will focus in his second term on domestic issues - from the deficit, defence spending, and neglected bridges to the minimum wage, gun control and trade relations. After all this, there was very little ti

North Korea's latest nuclear test has again brought into focus the growing urgency of stopping the nuclear weapons program of another country on the road to nuclear weapons capability - Iran. The rapidly closing window of opportunity to either persuade Iran to change course or, if all else fails, di

The release of The Art of Betrayal, by Gordon Corera, the highly-regarded veteran BBC journalist, should, if our media indeed has the commitment to truth which it constantly proclaims, rightfully see the last decade of often conspiratorial rhetoric about the 2003 war in Iraq fade to reveal a differe

US President Barack Obama has now announced that he will be visiting Israel in March, after coming under some criticism for failing to do so during his first term in office. Details on the visit and what US officials hope will accomplish are reported here. (It is worth noting the White H

One of the issues that has been raised in the US controversy over the nomination of former Senator Chuck Hagel as US Defence Secretary is some comments he made in an interview in 2006 that "the Jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people up here [in Washington]." Now in fact, the opposition to Hagel's