As Australia leaves UNHRC, human rights abusers step up
October 16, 2020 | Oved Lobel and Allon Lee
Sadly, as of January, Australia’s voice will be gone from the UNHRC, and countries like China, Russia and Pakistan will dominate it with even less push back. Both the UN’s reputation and the wider cause of universal human rights will be the poorer as result of this sad and ridiculous reality.
Australia halves UNRWA funding
October 9, 2020 | Naomi Levin
The Australian Government has quietly halved its contribution to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
Israel roils under COVID-19 second wave
October 7, 2020 | Ahron Shapiro
The state of Israel continues to grapple with a surging second wave of coronavirus infections that has set the country on edge, as different segments of Israeli society blame one another for the upsurge and argue about how best to deal with it.
Mahmoud Abbas implicitly acknowledges Palestinian failures in UN speech
October 2, 2020 | Judy Maynard
With the UAE and Bahrain breaking with that historical consensus, and other major Arab states lining up to follow, Abbas’ repetition of long-standing mantras about Palestinian demands being at the core of the conflict not only rang hollow, but only underlined the Palestinian leadership’s apparently complete and ongoing inability to adapt to the region’s changing realities.
Blood libel from a contributor to Australian Arabic language site
September 30, 2020 | Tzvi Fleischer and AIJAC staff
It is past time for the Australian federal or NSW authorities to investigate if there are legal measures that can be taken against the blatant racial vilification and incitement being published in Arabic on Farah News – by Dr. El-Lidawi and others.
Jordan Valley tale is all wet
September 18, 2020 | Ahron Shapiro
The Jordan River has never run dry, and neither does the wellspring of stories about Palestinian grievances against Israel in the Jordan Valley, such as an article written by Andra Jackson which was printed in the Age and Sydney Morning Herald on September 5
Former Al-Jazeera chief compiles “blacklist” of journalists who support Israel-UAE and Israel-Bahrain deal
September 17, 2020 | Judy Maynard
The announcement of the normalisation agreements between Israel and the UAE and Bahrain, signed on Tuesday in Washington, gave rise to some unusual plain speaking by various Arab commentators on the subject of Palestinian rejectionism.
Russia’s quest to make itself indispensable in the Middle East
September 17, 2020 | Oved Lobel
Although it has neither the desire nor the financial or military capacity to actually displace the United States in the Middle East, Russia has become adept at planting itself firmly in the middle of crises and conflicts and establishing itself as an indispensable intermediary at relatively little cost.
Mahmoud Abbas courts disaster by rejecting hundreds of millions of dollars the Palestinians desperately need
September 15, 2020 | Allon Lee
Three things seem certain in the Middle East: death, taxes and the uncanny ability of Palestinian leaders to make terrible choices that leave their people worse off. A New York Times feature has demonstrated yet again not only this principle in action but the dysfunction at the heart of Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas’ 15-year one-man rule.
Al Jazeera coverage promotes Qatar’s view opposing UAE-Israel normalisation deal
September 4, 2020 | Judy Maynard
Surprise and a largely positive international reaction greeted the August 13 announcement of the Abraham Accord, the US-brokered normalisation agreement between Israel and the UAE. Even many Arab states said positive things about the agreement, or at least did not oppose it. Less surprising has been the negative coverage given to this historic development by the “independent” media organisation, Al Jazeera, the anti-Israel, anti-US and pro-Islamist propaganda outlet of the Qatari government, which founded, funds and controls it.
