Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council

Afghanistan/ Pakistan

Mob violence, human rights and Pakistan's blasphemy laws

Rimsha Masih, a 12-year-old Christian Pakistani girl has been jailed for allegedly desecrating Holy ...

Pew Survey of Middle East reveals complex and sometimes conflicted feelings about democracy

The Pew Research Centre's Global Attitudes Project has just released the results of surveys it condu...

UN chief attacked in Gaza; Syria ponders massacre; leaders' chefs cook for peace and more

A round-up of news stories that readers may have missed today......

Africa

Foxes guarding the Human Rights henhouses: A UN tradition continues

UN agencies dedicated to the promotion of human rights, mandated with the protection of the world's ...

Out of Africa

Compared to the revolutionary upheavals in the Arab states, the Jewish state is a haven of political...

UN appoints 'Tourism Ambassador' banned from travelling for his misdeeds

The UN has often suffered from a ‘credibility' issue because of its choice of appointments, an...

America

Boston Marathon bombing: Israel-trained medical team responds, extremists spread conspiracy theories

Australians woke up yesterday morning to the shocking news that two bombs had exploded in the street...

Obama, Israel and the "Jewish Lobby"

Barack Obama's first visit to Israel as President last month has been widely analysed in the context...

Evaluating President Obama's Israel visit

US President Obama ended his visit to Israel and the Palestinian terrorities on Friday, going on...

Anti-Zionism

Media Week - A sprinkle of BDS; Minority report

In a bizarre move, the hardcopy edition of the Daily Telegraph failed to run any coverage before or ...

Pro-BDS Facebook page descends into bigot versus bigot hate-fest

Earlier this week, AIJAC reported the vile anti-Jewish hate-speech that appeared on the Facebok even...

Media Week - So near, and yet so far; Justified fears; Shalom Salam; Justice done; Conspiracy-land; Howe's that

On Fairfax's "Daily Life" site (April 23) Ruby Hamad, who has previously penned some ill-informed an...

Antisemitism

Pro-BDS Facebook page descends into bigot versus bigot hate-fest

Earlier this week, AIJAC reported the vile anti-Jewish hate-speech that appeared on the Facebok even...

'Sue me Jew' part 2: hate-speech off campus and online?

On Monday, AIJAC reported on the first two days of vicious anti-Jewish hate-speech on the Facebook p...

'Sue me Jew': horrific hate-speech by Australian students on anti-Israel Facebook page

Student activism in NSW seems to be taking a dark turn. For those who follow this blog, it would no...

Asia

Asia ahead in courting hi-tech Israel

ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent visit to China was revealing. Despite Chinese cri...

North Korea and Iran/ The PA's democracy deficit

Following the North Korean nuclear bomb test earlier this week, and the failure of the lat...

Asia Watch: Sporting colours

Emerging from nearly two decades of military rule, Myanmar has been a largely closed country known m...

Australasia

Australia’s first honorary citizen: Raoul Wallenberg

AIJAC welcomes the Australian Government's decision to honour Raoul Wallenberg as Australia's first ...

ANZAC day in Israel

The ANZAC Day memorial ceremony at the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery on Mount Scopus, Jerusalem s...

Pro-BDS Facebook page descends into bigot versus bigot hate-fest

Earlier this week, AIJAC reported the vile anti-Jewish hate-speech that appeared on the Facebok even...

China

New Huawei allegations - Iranian partner breaching US sanctions

There are new allegations regarding the Chinese telecommunication company Huawei, with Reuters repor...

Huawei: US Congress, Canada backs Australian government claims that Chinese company is a security risk

In March this year the Australian government decided to block Chinese telecommunications company Hua...

More on Israel's growing ties with China

In a quick followup to Sharyn Mittelman's recent blog on the growing numbers of international studen...

Documents

Assad's Email, Iran and the Palestinians

As has been widely reported in the Australian press today, on Wednesday the Guardian went public wit...

Annapolis: Joint Understanding of Negotiations - 2007

The representatives of the Government of the State of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisati...

The Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel - May 14, 1948

On May 14, 1948, on the day in which the British Mandate over a Palestine expired, the Jewish People...

Egypt

The End of the Era of Arab States?

This Update deals with a worrying trend some distinguished scholars are beginning to to identify...

Stop the presses - No Arab League breakthough

Contrary to recent headlines, the Arab League as a collective body did not substantially "sweeten" i...

Five extreme reactions to the Boston Bombings

The confusion after the bombing of the Boston Marathon last week saw a number of reactions that were...

Europe

The End of Syria?

Could this tide be stemmed in Syria? Early on in the crisis, it could have been, at a high price, ha...

Iran's antisemitic partnerships

Iran finds it hard to make friends these days. And now, another "blow"- Venezuelan dictator Hugo Cha...

Hamas' housing demolitions met with deafening silence

Are NGOs imposing a double standard when it comes the demolition of Palestinian houses? That is the...

Events

US Middle East policy expert Dr. Steve Rosen to speak in Melbourne

AIJAC, in partnership with the Zionist Council of Victoria and Australians for Israel, is proud to p...

John Howard comments on Israel, the Middle East

The former Prime Minister John Howard spoke at a dinner in Sydney conferring upon him AIJAC's Distin...

AIJAC visitors Emanuele Ottolenghi and Yaakov Katz to speak in Melbourne and Sydney

AIJAC, in partnership with its co-sponsors, is proud to present two expert speakers in Melbourne and...

Far Right

Iran's antisemitic partnerships

Iran finds it hard to make friends these days. And now, another "blow"- Venezuelan dictator Hugo Cha...

Australian anti-Israel activists must distance themselves from neo-Nazi sympathisers

A group supported by a cross-section of Australia's anti-Israel movement has been revealed to be ped...

Following attacks, Israeli leaders vow to stamp out racism

Israeli leaders have responded with outrage at a pair of unrelated, racially-motivated attacks again...

Gulf states

Stop the presses - No Arab League breakthough

Contrary to recent headlines, the Arab League as a collective body did not substantially "sweeten" i...

More questions about al-Jazeera as it purchases a network to create US subsidiary

Hamas and the latest rocket barrage

Southern Israel suffered through an intense rocket barrage from Gaza earlier this week, with mor...

Holocaust/ War Crimes

Australia’s first honorary citizen: Raoul Wallenberg

AIJAC welcomes the Australian Government's decision to honour Raoul Wallenberg as Australia's first ...

Australians for Palestine's graphic prejudice

In Australia and elsewhere, proponents of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions ('BDS') campaign aga...

International Holocaust Remembrance Day Misused and Abused

Increasingly January 27, ‘International Holocaust Remembrance Day' is being misused and abused...

Immigration/ Multiculturalism

Jewish disloyalty: The myth that just won't die

Public debate in Australia has taken on a dark and worrying tone over the past few weeks. Recent rev...

The Last Word: On the Wilders Side

When it was confirmed that the controversial Dutch MP Geert Wilders would be visiting Australia, sup...

We still need race hate laws

OUR society is founded on civility, tolerance and fair opportunity for all people, regardless of rel...

India

On 20th anniversary of ties, Israel and India embark on second honeymoon

As India and Israel celebrate their 20th anniversary of diplomatic ties this year, the number of coo...

The Secret behind India-Israel ties

Dr. P.R. Kumaraswamy, Professor with the Centre for West Asian Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru Universit...

Dr. P R Kumaraswamy talks on the history of India-Israel relations [audio]

Dr. P R Kumaraswamy talks about the history of India-Israel relations, as part of an AIJAC Breakfast...

International Jewry

 Baroness Margaret Thatcher, Israel and the Jewish people

Thatcher's reputation as the "Iron Lady" reflected her self-proclaimed status as a conviction politi...

How to turn a feel-good story into a misleading anti-Israel rant

In a stunning example of cherry picking, Ruby Hamad has demonstrated that when it comes to Israel, a...

Hugo Chávez's antisemitic re-election strategy

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's hatred of Israel is no secret. His despotic regime's ...

International Security

Iran: Sanctions and the Risk of Breakout

This Update features two important articles on the state of play regarding the Iranian nuclear s...

Another unsuccessful round of Iran talks/ Israel gets gas

The latest round of talks over Iran's nuclear program ended on the weekend with a meeting in Alm...

After the Almaty nuclear talks

In the P5+1 nuclear talks with Iran last week, it was agreed to hold two additional meetings -...

Iran

Iranian Election dramas/ Western Apologists for Iran

Western governments will be closely observing the Iranian election process in the leading up to ...

Iran: Sanctions and the Risk of Breakout

This Update features two important articles on the state of play regarding the Iranian nuclear s...

Media Week - So near, and yet so far; Justified fears; Shalom Salam; Justice done; Conspiracy-land; Howe's that

On Fairfax's "Daily Life" site (April 23) Ruby Hamad, who has previously penned some ill-informed an...

Iraq

The End of the Era of Arab States?

This Update deals with a worrying trend some distinguished scholars are beginning to to identify...

The Truth about Iraq WMD "Lies"

The release of The Art of Betrayal, by Gordon Corera, the highly-regarded veteran BBC journalist, sh...

Shhh, Australia is resettling Palestinians

Even as some Australian Palestinians and their supporters spent Tuesday evening disrupting commuters...

Islamic Extremism

A Teen's Life in Gaza - Terrorism training, with beatings for anyone sporting "cool" haircuts or skinny jeans

Much of the attention regarding Israeli-Palestinian peace prospects have been focused on "hard" poli...

Media Week - So near, and yet so far; Justified fears; Shalom Salam; Justice done; Conspiracy-land; Howe's that

On Fairfax's "Daily Life" site (April 23) Ruby Hamad, who has previously penned some ill-informed an...

Opposing radical Islamist terrorism is a moral duty

Some are now arguing that terrorism should be accepted as a normal hazard of modern life, like traff...

Israel

Asia ahead in courting hi-tech Israel

ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent visit to China was revealing. Despite Chinese cri...

Media Week - Hack by Name...

ABC Radio "Triple J"'s Sophie McNeill is probably quite proud of a half hour "special" aired on the ...

A vote of confidence in Israel from Warren Buffett

Israeli industry has received another vote of confidence, this time from near-legendary American bus...

Jordan

Stop the presses - No Arab League breakthough

Contrary to recent headlines, the Arab League as a collective body did not substantially "sweeten" i...

Israel offers positive water policy example to the region - the Palestinians, sadly, offer the opposite

Through resource management, innovation and planning, the Israeli water authorities ... have now bea...

King Abdullah Wins a Round

The parliamentary elections in Jordan on Jan. 23, 2013 failed to produce a clear answer as to the im...

Lebanon

Stop the presses - No Arab League breakthough

Contrary to recent headlines, the Arab League as a collective body did not substantially "sweeten" i...

Syria and Chemical Weapons/ Hezbollah in trouble?

With Israeli military intelligence concluding that Syria has been using chemical weapons against reb...

Lebanon - ready to explode?

Lebanon always looks and feels like it's ready to erupt into armed conflict, but today it's more rea...

Libya

The End of the Era of Arab States?

This Update deals with a worrying trend some distinguished scholars are beginning to to identify...

Israel refuses to participate in UN "human rights" farce

Israel has been making headlines recently for its failure to show-up to its "Universal Periodic Revi...

Attacks on the US Diplomatic Missions in Cairo and Benghazi

This Updates deals with the implications of yesterday's mob attack on the US Embassy in Cairo  ...

"The scheduling of the Federal Election on Yom Kippur is of course somewhat disappointing, especially for those members of our community - be they politicians, political party members, campaign workers, canvassers, scrutineers or voters - who won't be able to engage on election day as they normally would..."...

AIJAC comments on Carr/Hague AUKMIN 2013 Communique

On Friday January 18 at the close of the Australia-UK Ministerial Consultations (AUKMIN) conference ...

Foreign Minister's focus on Israeli settlements "misplaced" and "counter-productive"

The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) today labelled the intense focus on the is...

Media/ Academia

Media Week - Hack by Name...

ABC Radio "Triple J"'s Sophie McNeill is probably quite proud of a half hour "special" aired on the ...

Media Week - A sprinkle of BDS; Minority report

In a bizarre move, the hardcopy edition of the Daily Telegraph failed to run any coverage before or ...

Media Week - So near, and yet so far; Justified fears; Shalom Salam; Justice done; Conspiracy-land; Howe's that

On Fairfax's "Daily Life" site (April 23) Ruby Hamad, who has previously penned some ill-informed an...

Middle East

Media Week - Hack by Name...

ABC Radio "Triple J"'s Sophie McNeill is probably quite proud of a half hour "special" aired on the ...

The End of the Era of Arab States?

This Update deals with a worrying trend some distinguished scholars are beginning to to identify...

Media Week - A sprinkle of BDS; Minority report

In a bizarre move, the hardcopy edition of the Daily Telegraph failed to run any coverage before or ...

Monographs/ Submissions

Symposium: Perceptions of the Middle East and the Gaza War - Australia

The reaction of Australia's government, media, and elite, and public opinion to Israel's December 2008-January 2009 military operations against Hamas in Gaza was mixed. At the government level, both the Labor government as well as the Liberal opposition voiced strong, consistent, and principled support for Israel's right to defend itself....

Submission to Senate Committee Inquiry into Academic Freedom - 2008

AIJAC's position in this matter is that academic freedom is a right that should be respected, and that the balance between the right of academic freedom and the duty to educate students - as well as maximise excellence in academic research grounded in analytical clarity and quality empirical evidence - is one that can be maintained....

Israel in the Australian Media

The Australian media focuses disproportionately on Israel and particularly on the Arab-Israeli conflict. The bias in this coverage derives partly from trends imported from international sources, especially certain "narrative frames."...

Multimedia

Video: AIJAC's Or Avi-Guy on the airstrikes in Syria

AIJAC policy analyst Or Avi-Guy talks with Sky News' Stan Grant about Israel's apparent air strikes in Syria....

Video: Obama hits reset button on Israel visit

AIJAC guest Professor Alan Johnson from the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre discus...

Video: Prof. Alan Johnson on the new Israeli Government and the Peace Process

Prof. Alan Johnson, Senior Research Fellow at the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM), addressed an AIJAC luncheon in Melbourne on March 15 on the new Israeli Government's likely approach to the Peace Process....

NGOs

Blood libel surfaces at Hanan Ashrawi's MIFTAH organisation

The Jewish people recently celebrated the festival of Passover, which recounts the Jewish exodus fro...

Hamas' housing demolitions met with deafening silence

Are NGOs imposing a double standard when it comes the demolition of Palestinian houses? That is the...

A small victory for genuine human rights: Extremist Richard Falk loses one gig, but keeps important UN post

UN Watch, a Geneva-based NGO monitoring the UN, celebrated a little victory last week, when Richard ...

Op-eds

Asia ahead in courting hi-tech Israel

ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent visit to China was revealing. Despite Chinese cri...

Opposing radical Islamist terrorism is a moral duty

Some are now arguing that terrorism should be accepted as a normal hazard of modern life, like traff...

Change drives Israel coalition

The new Israeli coalition government - sworn in after weeks of negotiations only two days before the...

Palestinians

Media Week - Hack by Name...

ABC Radio "Triple J"'s Sophie McNeill is probably quite proud of a half hour "special" aired on the ...

A Teen's Life in Gaza - Terrorism training, with beatings for anyone sporting "cool" haircuts or skinny jeans

Much of the attention regarding Israeli-Palestinian peace prospects have been focused on "hard" poli...

West Bank crossings and checkpoints explained

West Bank crossings and checkpoints exist to protect Israeli civilians from terrorist attacks and th...

Quartet

The Mideast Quartet strikes a constructive note

The Middle East Quartet (the US, UN, EU and Russia), which met in Washington on Wednesday, issued a ...

Back to the table?

Lead Israeli negotiator Yitzhak Molcho met with his Palestinian counterpart Saeb Erekat in Amman on ...

AIJAC UPDATE - The Principles and Principals of the Gilo Housing Project

Today's Update looks at last week's controversial approval for a proposed plan to build 1,100 homes ...

Reference

Israel's legal process regarding Palestinian minors accused of using stones as weapons in the West Bank

This document looks at the Israeli legal process regarding Palestinian minors in the West Bank (hereinafter, the "Area") accused of using stones as weapons, including a specific analysis of a recent two month period, August and September 2011....

Factsheet: The Palestinian Unilateral Declaration of Independence bid at the UN

KEY ISSUES It will not establish a Palestinian state under international law It is expected that...

Factsheet: the Israel-Lebanon border incident

Overnight, a border clash between Israeli and Lebanese troops left five people dead. While statements from both sides have been reported in most Australian media, some contextualising facts have been excluded by some media....

Russia

Putin's Israel visit showcases diplomacy's strengths and limitations

Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Israel last week, as part of a larger Middle East tour b...

Russian President to visit Israel in June

Despite Israel and Russia holding strongly divergent views on key Middle East issues - the violence ...

Russia is trying to convince us that there is nothing going wrong in Syria

As the bloodshed continues in Syria, with no end in sight, there are increasing calls for something ...

Saudi Arabia

Iran and Saudi Arabia's new push for gender segregation

Universities across Iran are reportedly closing their gates to women in many fields of study in an e...

Hard Choices for Hamas

In December 2011, reports from several directions converged to suggest that Hamas is abandoning the ...

Europa Europa: The Party is Over

Europe is peering into the abyss. And the crisis is far from over. Indeed, it is likely to intensify in 2012 as financial contagion spreads from Ireland, Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy to France, which holds large quantities of Italian debt, and then to Britain, which is exposed to substantial French debt. Italy, whose debt approaches A$3 trillion, has pushed realistic hopes of rescue beyond r...

Somalia

Somali-American suicide bomber calls for Muslims to fight Jihad in Australia

Abdisalan Hussein Ali, a 22-year-old Somali who grew up in America and is believed to be one of...

UN Resumes Aid to Somalia as Terrorists Vanish

It is not often that "ignore the problem and hope it goes away" is a particularly effective strategy...

US funding for Somali aid may go to terrorists

As explained in a previous post, the drought that is currently besetting East Africa has become a fu...

Speeches

John Howard comments on Israel, the Middle East

The former Prime Minister John Howard spoke at a dinner in Sydney conferring upon him AIJAC's Distin...

PA President Abbas addresses the UN General Assembly

The Question Palestine is intricately linked with the United Nations via the resolutions adopted by ...

US President Obama's speech to the UN General Assembly

Mr. President, Mr. Secretary-General, fellow delegates, ladies and gentlemen: I would like to talk t...

Sudan

Foxes guarding the Human Rights henhouses: A UN tradition continues

UN agencies dedicated to the promotion of human rights, mandated with the protection of the world's ...

Palestine's spurious UN bid relied on some unsavoury supporters

"Mr President: independence, freedom, the right to self-determination; these are principles that ha...

US clamping-down on terror supporters and war criminals

After frequent calls on this blog for some action against Sudanese President Omar Bashir, it is welc...

Syria

The End of the Era of Arab States?

This Update deals with a worrying trend some distinguished scholars are beginning to to identify...

Red lines and calculated risks for Israel in Syria

A pair of apparent Israeli cruise missile strikes on Syrian military targets this month brought with...

Media Week - A sprinkle of BDS; Minority report

In a bizarre move, the hardcopy edition of the Daily Telegraph failed to run any coverage before or ...

Terrorism

Media Week - Hack by Name...

ABC Radio "Triple J"'s Sophie McNeill is probably quite proud of a half hour "special" aired on the ...

A Teen's Life in Gaza - Terrorism training, with beatings for anyone sporting "cool" haircuts or skinny jeans

Much of the attention regarding Israeli-Palestinian peace prospects have been focused on "hard" poli...

Media Week - A sprinkle of BDS; Minority report

In a bizarre move, the hardcopy edition of the Daily Telegraph failed to run any coverage before or ...

Tunisia

Pew Survey of Middle East reveals complex and sometimes conflicted feelings about democracy

The Pew Research Centre's Global Attitudes Project has just released the results of surveys it condu...

Essay: In Retrospect

Since the outbreak of the protests in Tahrir Square, which were led by liberal, secular youth and wh...

New order, same rules

Will the Arab revolutions bring freedom for women? So far the signs are bad. Many women in post-rev...

Turkey

Israel talks Turkey

During his visit to Israel in March, US President Barack Obama arranged a dramatic telephone call on...

Media Week - No experience necessary?; Flotilla details sink; McGeough shrugs; Doubting Thomas; One among the pack; Relationships advice

Ahead of PM Julia Gillard's cabinet reshuffle Michael Danby's name was touted in the Age and Sydney ...

How the Turkish Prime Minister condemned himself by calling Zionism a ‘crime against humanity’