A new milestone – Israel begins exporting gas
March 9, 2017 | Shmuel Levin
Whilst Israel has long bemoaned its scarcity of natural resources, now, for the first time in its almost 70 years of existence, Israel has quietly begun exporting natural gas to other countries.
Reports: Netanyahu has secretly been advancing regional peace plan
March 9, 2017 | Ahron Shapiro
Since taking office in 2009, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has often been criticised in the media for supposedly not doing enough to promote peace with the Palestinians and ultimately being responsible for the lack of progress in the peace process.
However, in recent days, new reports in the US foreign policy magazine, The American Interest, and Israel’s left-leaning Ha’aretz daily have emerged detailing backchannel negotiations and discreet peace initiatives that Netanyahu and his emissaries have been making with – not only the Palestinians – but Egypt and a number of Arab states.
Beyond the photo-opportunities: The concrete results of Netanyahu’s visit to Australia
March 8, 2017 | Shmuel Levin
As the dust begins to settle on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Australia, it is worth taking stock of the specifics of what exactly was accomplished during this short four-day trip. While much has been written elsewhere about the visit and the broader Australia-Israel relationship, a number of specific concrete projects were also realised.
“Settlements Bob” At It Again: A fisking
March 8, 2017 | Gareth Narunsky
Former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr’s well-known obsession with Israeli settlements – while completely ignoring Palestinian intransigence, rejectionism and incitement – has reared its ugly and ill-informed head once again.
Netanyahu down-under: The view from Israel’s press
March 3, 2017 | Shmuel Levin
As noted by Jerusalem Post journalist Herb Keinon, Israel often devotes much of its diplomatic energy towards its European critics, relative to that afforded towards good friends like Australia. As such, the recent visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Australia, a strong friend of Israel, gave the media a chance to focus on a change to this modus operandi.
In defence of Ambassador Dave Sharma
February 23, 2017 | Gareth Narunsky
On February 7, Australia-based online news site Crikey asked the question “Does DFAT support Israeli settlements?” The short piece essentially attacks Australia’s Ambassador to Israel, Dave Sharma, for “his support for the Israeli Government” and for “working with a group that actively promotes the key threat [which is settlements according to the article] to the two-state solution”.
Livestream of Netanyahu-Turnbull community event
February 22, 2017
The communal event taking place in Sydney at 6:00 pm with the Prime Minister of Israel, His Excellency Benjamin Netanyahu and the Prime Minister of Australia, the Hon Malcolm Turnbull MP, will be live streamed on the web.
Have Netanyahu and Trump backed away from the two-state peace paradigm?
February 16, 2017 | Ahron Shapiro
There has been much confusion over what was and what wasn’t said at the press conference between US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in Washington DC yesterday.
However, upon closer examination of the press conference and comments made afterwards, it seems likely that they are both, quite deliberately and intentionally, leaving the door open for a peace based on a two-state outcome – while pressuring the Palestinians to come to the table.
On construction within settlements, Israel maintains policy
February 14, 2017 | Ahron Shapiro
In a follow-up to my previous blog on Israel’s West Bank settlements from late last month, I examine a second round of approvals for around 3,000 more housing units in the settlements that was announced approximately a week later.
What’s of particular note is that, although this announcement from January 31, like the previous one from January 24, occurred after the inauguration of Donald Trump, it remained consistent with Israel’s settlement policy for over a decade – largely avoiding significant expansion of construction in settlements outside of the settlement blocs Israel is expected to retain in any future peace agreement through the use of land swaps with the Palestinians.
Freedom in the World 2017: Israel a leader in a dismal and worsening Middle East region
February 8, 2017 | Shmuel Levin
The US based Freedom House think-tank has released the initial findings of its annual Freedom in the World report. The report analyses the state of political and civil freedoms, as well as the state of governance frameworks, in each country around the world, based upon a “combination of on-the-ground research, consultations with local contacts, and information from news articles, nongovernmental organizations, governments, and a variety of other sources.”
