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Litzman plea deal “very disappointing”
The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council is very disappointed with the plea bargain to end the criminal trial of former Israeli deputy health minister Yaakov Litzman.
Read MoreIsrael boycott bandwagon fails to see functioning democracy
It’s no surprise to see Greg Barns back on the Boycott Israel bandwagon, making false and easily disprovable claims of Israel being an Apartheid state to justify his support for the insidious Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against the Sydney Festival.
Read MoreMisguided representation of Israeli-Palestinian relations has no place in our society
The Australian campaign to shut doors to Naharin, rather than embrace a potential ally for Palestinian rights, says far more about the blinding, destructive obsessive animosity guiding the BDS campaign than about Israel’s alleged failings towards Palestinians. It is a deeply offensive obsession which has no place amidst the celebration of artistic creativity and diversity that the Sydney Festival represents. Patrons of the arts deserve better than the bullies of BDS.
Read MoreAIJAC welcomes Sydney Festival repudiation of demands by BDS movement
The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) appreciates the very important stance of the Sydney Festival in its continued support of the dance performance Decadance and its public repudiation of demands by members of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) to divest funding received for it from the Israeli Embassy.
Read MoreIsrael victimised by broken UN System
There have never been better reasons to hope that a democratic movement for change can, over time, help the UN overcome its self-defeating Israel obsession. Doing so would allow the world body an opportunity to revise its priorities and reform its structures so that it can genuinely help serve the causes of international peace, cooperation, and welfare…
Read MoreSubmission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights’ Inquiry into Religious Discrimination Bill 2021 and related bills
While antisemitism does, unfortunately, persist in Australia at relatively low levels, Australia’s Jews continue to be free to express their faith and openly practise traditions that bind them to generations past. This Bill and the associated amendments legally enshrine those protections for Australia’s Jewish and other faith-based communities into the future.
Read MoreAIJAC makes submission to ABC Complaint Handling Inquiry
The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) today announced it has made a submission to the “Independent Review of ABC Complaint Handling Inquiry” set up by the ABC Board to examine how the public broadcaster deals with editorial complaints.
Read MoreAustralian neo-Nazis stand with convicted British terrorist
Australian neo-Nazis have staunchly defended Ben Raymond, a Brit who was jailed earlier this month for eight years for his involvement in the banned terrorist group, National Action.
Read MoreAIJAC welcomes NSW’s embrace of the IHRA definition of antisemitism
NSW may be the first state to embrace the IHRA definition, but we are confident that others will soon follow its excellent lead. We also look forward to seeing the definition adopted by a range of institutions across Australia. Antisemitism must be combatted with all the tools at our disposal, and the IHRA definition is the most authoritative explanation of antisemitism we have.
Read MoreEditorial: Hopes for UN reform
At a time when the world is facing an unprecedented array of challenges, the politicised and dysfunctional state of the United Nations and its associated bodies and organs cries out for major reforms more than ever.
Read MoreAn untruth about the IHRA antisemitism definition
If you read someone claiming that “seven of the 11 examples” in the IHRA definition are about criticism of Israel, you should immediately recognise that the person making that claim either has not read it or else is being deliberately disingenuous.
Read MoreThe Afghanistan retreat: We may soon be recalling why we went there in the first place.
The Afghanistan retreat will be viewed in Israel as a serious and significant strategic setback that is likely to make the Jewish state less secure. Nonetheless, there is some hope that with the prudent policies and a bit of luck, at least some of the strategic lemons coming out of Afghanistan may be turned into lemonade in the form of an acceleration, consolidation and expansion of a burgeoning Israel-Sunni Arab regional security alliance.
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