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Fast Facts: Violence in Syria, and Israel’s intervention
After a Druze individual was attacked en route to Damascus on July 12, violence erupted in and around the predominantly Druze city of Suweida, in southern Syria. What started as tit-for-tat kidnapping and violence between Druze and Bedouins became mass violence, with Syrian Government and Bedouin forces from across the country involved in massacres. The violence also brought about an Israeli intervention in defence of the Druze. By July 20, a ceasefire seemed to be holding, though approximately 1,100 people were reportedly killed during the week, including almost 200 who were killed in ‘field executions’.
Read MoreCall for ceasefire wilfully ignores realities of Gaza conflict
The statement was not only highly critical of Israel but bereft of any value in solving the ongoing Gaza war, or ending the suffering that results from it. It demonstrated once again the profound lack of understanding of the Middle East or the Hamas-Israel conflict that has become all too common in this country.
Read MoreAIJAC rejects joint statement on Gaza as “badly misguided and deeply counter-productive”
The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) today rejected the joint statement by Australia and 27 other Western countries on the “Occupied Palestinian Territories” as badly misguided and deeply counter-productive to the very aims these countries seek.
Read MoreAIJAC deeply disappointed by linkage of antisemitism plan decision to upcoming Islamophobia report
The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) today expressed its deep disappointment at statements from Education Minister Jason Clare regarding Antisemitism Envoy Jillian Segal’s Plan to Combat Antisemitism, apparently linking the Government’s response to it to a forthcoming report on Islamophobia.
Read MoreThe arithmetic of hope and despair
The three weeks of constriction, the nine days of devastation, the seven weeks of numeration and the seven weeks of consolation; the Six-Day War, the Twelve-Day War. Numbers define Jewish identity from the past to the present.
Read MoreAn AIJAC letter the Sydney Morning Herald refused to publish
In “Five Minutes with Fitz” (July 6) Melissa Parke says Iran was cooperating with nuclear inspectors prior to Israel’s strikes, and US intelligence and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) assessed Iran wasn’t developing a nuclear weapon.
Read MoreMyths and Facts about Settler violence
No one should deny that settler violence is real. Moreover, there is good reason to urge the Israeli government and authorities to do more to ensure that the relatively small number of settlers responsible – generally estimated to be no more than a few hundred out of a settler population of some 450,000 – are caught and prosecuted. But one does not have to share Regavim’s pro-settler agenda to see that the numbers being used in most media reports on the subject, derived from UN data, amount to a complete misrepresentation of the reality of this phenomenon.
Read MoreAIJAC welcomes release of the Antisemitism Envoy’s “Plan to Combat Antisemitism”
The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) has welcomed the release of National Antisemitism Envoy Jillian Segal’s Plan to Combat Antisemitism, announced at a press conference this morning, and called on the Government to adopt the plan in full and implement it “urgently and vigorously”.
Read MoreMelbourne’s night of shame
We need them to understand that when rampant demonstrators attack our institutions and our community with word and deed, chanting “all Zionists are terrorists,” we take it very personally because they are not calling for dialogue – they are calling for death.
Read MoreIsraeli defence technology the rising star of Operation Rising Lion
Israel’s 12-day aerial war with Iran between June 13 and June 24 – known in Israel by the name “Operation Rising Lion” – was a remarkably successful campaign in many ways, beginning with the opening strike that eliminated five groups of targets across the country almost simultaneously.
Read MorePoliticians’ reactions ring hollow in echo chambers of outrage
“Zionists” are the targets, but it just so happens that most Zionists out there are Jews, and almost all Jews are Zionists. And, certainly, the protesters don’t usually bother to discriminate. Which is why synagogues are burnt. Which is why Jewish schools are graffitied and students are taunted. Which is why Jewish artists are de-platformed.
Read MoreAIJAC welcomes Premier’s statement on antisemitism crisis, but calls for urgent and vigorous enforcement
It is undeniable that there is a direct line between the incitement we see at the regular anti-Israel protests in the city and the violence that follows, so urgent action must be taken against this incitement and the protest leaders responsible for it.
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