Hamas remains the barrier to rebuilding Gaza
March 9, 2015 | Sharyn Mittelman
LAST October, the international community pledged a massive $7 billion to assist the Gaza strip’s reconstruction after Hamas’s July war with Israel.
However, only about 5 per cent of the money has been delivered to Gaza so far and reconstruction is clearly slow. While some aid agencies based in Gaza blame Israel’s security blockade for the slow rate of reconstruction (while ignoring Egypt’s total blockade), the real reasons lie elsewhere.
Letter: Free speech protected
March 9, 2015 | Colin Rubenstein
Chris Berg (Opinion, 1/3) misrepresented an article I wrote with Michael Kapel published in The Age in 1994. In context, the line that Berg quotes does not say that newspaper articles would never be subject to the Racial Discrimination Act, as he implies…
Why the UN Security Council can’t solve the Arab-Israel conflict by itself
February 16, 2015 | Einat Wilf & Shany Mor
Australia showed moral leadership in its term on the UN Security Council, most notably when it stood with the US in December and voted against a highly biased and anti-Israel draft resolution put forward by the Arab League, recognising true peace between Israel and the Palestinians can only be achieved via direct negotiations.
The path to Palestinian statehood has always passed through reconciliation with Israel – a recognition of both the fact of a Jewish state in the Middle East and the acceptance of its legitimacy.
Statement on the terrorist attacks in Denmark
February 16, 2015
AIJAC expresses its sincere condolences to the victims and their families of the terrorist attacks in Copenhagen on the weekend. The victims of the deadly attacks included documentary filmmaker Finn Noergaard who was killed while attending a discussion at a café on freedom of speech and Dan Uzan, a Jewish volunteer security guard who was killed while guarding a synagogue where around 80 people were celebrating a Bat Mitzvah. Five policeman were also injured in these attacks and we hope for their full recovery.
Paris no excuse for revisiting 18C
January 21, 2015 | Sharyn Mittelman
ON January 7 there was an attack on free speech in Paris by murderous terrorists inspired by a jihadist ideology, not French laws on hate speech.
Despite this truth, the attack on Charlie Hebdo and the horrific murders of 17 people have led some commentators in Australia to rehash the debate on section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, claiming we cannot say “Je suis Charlie” and support hate speech laws. But we can and we should.
Not condemning anti-Semitism only fuels extremism
January 21, 2015 | Glen Falkenstein
“I went down to the freezer, I opened the door, there were several people who went in with me. I turned off the light and the freezer…I brought them inside and I told them to stay calm here, I’m going to go out”.
Lassana Bathily, a Muslim employee of a kosher grocery store in Paris, saved several Jews from Amedy Coulibaly who murdered four men finishing their shopping before the Sabbath. Earlier that week, Cherif and Said Kouachi, who along with Coulibaly had sought to send radicalised French youths to Iraq, killed twelve people in an attack on the Charlie Hebdo headquarters.
First Person: Time to wake up
December 16, 2014 | Jeremy Jones
Armed hostage taking is extremely rare in Australia, and armed hostage taking accompanied by a banner that evoked images of Islamic State, al-Qaida or other groups known for their inhumanity, barbarity and callous disregard for morality and decency, is unprecedented.
Washington’s goal now appears to be to legitimise Iran as a nuclear threshold state in exchange for a few concessions
December 8, 2014 | Colin Rubenstein
Negotiations between the P5+1 and Iran over Iran’s nuclear program in Vienna have just missed another major deadline. November 24 was the date set for a final deal – after an extension in June – under the interim agreement signed late last year. Moreover, this latest extension, unlike the previous one, violates a key provision of the initial interim deal last November which set a one year limit on the talks.
Letter to The Age/SMH: Home demolitions
December 8, 2014 | Jamie Hyams
In Australia, a major purpose for imposing lengthy jail terms is to deter would-be criminals. But what if the would-be perpetrator intended to die in their attack, in the belief that they would go straight to paradise? What if they murdered in the knowledge they would become a hero in their community, they may even have streets named after them, and their family would be exceedingly generously compensated for their loss?
Moral clarity about Islamic State needs zero tolerance of terrorism
October 24, 2014 | Ahron Shapiro
IN Ottawa on Wednesday, a lone gunman rampaged in and around Canada’s parliament, killing a Canadian soldier before being killed. Authorities said he was a convert to Islam, radicalised to commit his act of terrorism.
That day in Jerusalem, a newborn girl was run down and killed in her pram when a vehicle intentionally rammed a crowded tram stop. The Palestinian driver, killed while fleeing, had an extensive arrest record for nationalistic violence and familial connections to Hamas. He was glorified on Hamas-affiliated websites as a martyr and a Hamas spokesman said his attack was only “natural”.
No to backburner, yes to a two-track strategy
October 21, 2014 | Glen Falkenstein
Iran’s securing nuclear weapons would destabilise a region already suffering from mass upheaval, in addition to having dire security implications for the rest of the world. Multilateral efforts to deter the sadistic actions of ISIS, a crucial priority, seem to have distracted from international efforts to halt Iran’s nuclear program. As identified in the recent post by Andrew Nikolic, a nuclear Iran remains a broader strategic priority and potentially worse threat.
Nuclear-armed Iran would pose a far bigger threat than Islamic State
October 2, 2014 | Colin Rubenstein
The Islamic State is certainly dangerous and must be “degraded and ultimately destroyed”, in Obama’s words. But nothing could damage long-term regional and wider global stability, and Australian and American interests in the region, more than to allow the fight against the Islamic State to become the distraction that allows Tehran to develop nuclear weapons capabilities or extend its regional sphere of influence…
