Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council

Last month, Kevin Rudd used the occasion of his first parliamentary sitting as Prime Minister to make history: he apologised to Indigenous Australians, and particularly the Stolen Generations, for the policies and practices of past Australian governments.

Some in our media used the recent visit to the Middle East by US President George Bush to unjustly attack Israel'?s conduct, often by rewriting international law or United Nations resolutions to suit their purpose.

The visit to Australia of Gregg Rickman, the US State Department's Special Envoy on Antisemitism, prompted a reflection on one aspect of anti-Jewish prejudice by the writer of the Fairfax-linked weblog "All Men Are Liars".

The General Assembly routinely promotes and passes blatantly one-sided, anti-Israel resolutions; the UN Human Rights Council ...has so far been no better than its predecessor; and there are four distinct bodies within the UN bureaucracy that are devoted solely to advancing the Palestinian narrative

The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) has praised the Rudd Government and its UN ambassador for voting the last week of December against funding for the so-called UN Durban Review Conference, or "Durban II".

To the extent that Iran is today less committed to nuclear weapons than previously, this can be seen as vindication of US policies in the region since 2001. However, some news services overlooked these aspects in all the excitement.

To meet Luluk Nur Hamidah is to be impressed. A dynamic, irrepressible academic, poet and political activist with Indonesia?s - and most likely the world?s - largest Islamic organisation, Nahdlatul Ulama, Luluk expressed opinions on virtually every topic raised at the inaugural Youth Interfaith Foru

A change of government always ushers in new emphases, personnel, policies and preferences. AIR therefore sought the views of a number of knowledgeable and interested figures in Australia and Israel, asking them both to evaluate the current state of Australia-Israel relations and assess how the new R

In October, a Jewish cemetery in Wellington was desecrated. Again. Like many Jewish New Zealanders, when I heard about the latest attack I had a sad sense of deja vu. This sort of thing should not, and is not meant to, happen in our "fair go for all", egalitarian country. But it does.

In late November, the US Justice Department released the FBI's 2006 Hate Crime Statistics. While few who follow the media will be surprised to read of 156 'Anti-Islamic' incidents, the 967 'Anti-Jewish' attacks in the same table provides a rare perspective.

This month's issue of AIR goes to press as Australians head to the polls. Whichever party has won government, John Howard's and Kevin Rudd's answers to the AIR's policy questionnaire in the October issue allow us to say with confidence that Australia will be in good hands on the key issues important

The new Rudd Government gives every indication of not only seeking to match, but if possible, even improve on the excellent record of the Howard Government in terms of both willingness to act on Jewish domestic concerns and also Australia's support for Israel's security and peacemaking efforts.

When asked to speak at Melbourne International Conference on Counter Terrorism 2007: Counter Terrorism Policing and Culturally Diverse Communities, I explored a number of options in considering what I could most constructively contribute.

British-based Palestinian writer and academic Ghada Karmi, in Australia recently giving talks at various universities, represents an extreme school of thought in relation to the peace process. Her solution is that Israel should cease to exist as a Jewish state, being replaced with a single state, w

Footage of black-clad, armed police kicking down the door of a Wellington flat posted on TV3s website on the morning of Monday, October 15, was the first indication something strange was taking place in Aotearoa.

Everyone knows that the Arab-Israel conflict is one of the bloodiest and most intense in the world, and this is the reason solving it will lead to great benefits for the whole world - from halting terrorism, to democratising the Middle East, to helping cure global warming - right?

On a recent visit to Lakemba, I popped in to one of the larger Islamic bookstores and enquired about texts outlining and explaining different schools of Islamic jurisprudence. The bookseller was keen to help, showing me what he had for sale, and explaining that some books were much cheaper than othe

There has been some controversy over $1 million in Saudi funding for Griffith University's Islamic Research Unit, following a story in the Australian on Sept. 17.

Urbane and articulate, Waleed Aly is Australia's most accessible voice of the Muslim community. Married to a convert to Islam, the Melbourne born and educated lawyer, has worked up a tremendous profile in the media despite his relative youth.

As has become traditional in the lead-up to a federal election, the Australia/Israel Review posed a series of questions to Prime Minister John Howard and Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd focusing on international security, the Middle East, and domestic polices of special interest to the Australian Jewis