Letter in response to Haaretz article
May 15, 2014 | Colin Rubenstein
Contrary to the imputation in Dan Goldberg’s April 22 article “At the heart of Australian Jewish community’s schism: the ‘Israel lobby’ debate”, in deciding the best way to respond to then NSW Premier Bob Carr’s unfortunate decision to present the Sydney Peace Prize to Hanan Ashrawi in 2003, there was no daylight between AIJAC and the other communal representative bodies in either Sydney or Melbourne.
Peace eludes Israel amid unrealistic expectations
April 22, 2014 | Colin Rubenstein
Tony Walker is certain Israel’s West Bank settlements are illegal. (Out on a limb over settlements, AFR 12-13 April). International law is far less certain. Many eminent experts have argued strongly that the claim they are illegal is based on an incorrect reading of Article 49 of the 4th Geneva Convention. These include Professor Julius Stone, who was professor of international law at Sydney University for 30 years, and former International Court of Justice president Stephen Schwebel.
Bob Carr – a not so slick operator
April 16, 2014 | Ahron Shapiro
In his recently released diary and memoir, former foreign minister Bob Carr described his effort to change Australia’s vote pattern on the UN General Assembly resolution “Lebanese Oil Slick” in late November 2012, and how he met resistance from then-prime minister Julia Gillard. Controversially, Carr even released private text messages between himself and Gillard on the subject.
Carr’s reckless Israel view
April 15, 2014 | Colin Rubenstein
IN his interview on the ABC’s 7.30 about his book Diary of a Foreign Minister, and in media yesterday, Bob Carr continues to makes various claims about what he refers to as the “Israel lobby” in Melbourne. From his comments, it is clear he is referring mainly to the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council.
In short, he says we wielded “extraordinary influence” over the Office of the Prime Minister when Julia Gillard was prime minister, and expressed an “extreme right-wing Israeli view”.
Carr’s reckless claims do him no credit.
Bob Carr’s ‘Israel lobby’ claims inaccurate, bizarre
April 11, 2014 | Mark Leibler
Bob Carr’s interviews on Wednesday on the ABC’s 7.30 and Lateline, spruiking the publication of his The Diary of a Foreign Minister, make various claims about what he refers to as the Melbourne “Israel lobby” exercising extraordinary influence over the office of prime minister Julia Gillard.
Referring to a meeting in April 2013, Carr says that I adopted a “how-dare-you” tone. For a former foreign minister to characterise a normal, cordial and frank exchange as potentially intimidatory is not only inaccurate but a little bizarre.
Let’s preserve our best legal weapon against racism
March 18, 2014 | Jeremy Jones
THE frenetic game and tremendous atmosphere at the recent Sydney football derby, with Sydney FC triumphant over the Western Sydney Wanderers, were what I, and many other sports fans, would like to be our final memories of the game.
Instead, the revelations of racial and religious abuse directed at a classy and inspirational player, Ali Abbas, have dominated post-match discussion.
Racism is, unfortunately, a reality in contemporary Australia. The best means to redress it and provide recourse to the victims of racist intimidation and harassment is currently the subject of vigorous public debate. For more than 18 years, one of the options available to those innocent Australians who have found themselves targeted by bigots and bullies has been Section 18C of the Federal Racial Discrimination Act.
Letter: Two states our vision
March 12, 2014 | Colin Rubenstein
JOHN Lyons (“Distant ‘experts’ choose to ignore Israeli realities”, 8/3), did not address any of the substantive criticism levelled at his Four Corners program. Instead, he made new unsubstantiated allegations directed at critics.
AIJAC has consistently argued that a negotiated two-state settlement is the only path to genuine peace in the narrow strip of land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean – thus fulfilling the desire of all parents there to give their children a secure and fulfilling future free from terrorism and war.
Carr’s view on settlements is counter-productive
February 18, 2014 | Mark Leibler
BOB Carr (“West Bank settlements always illegal”, February 11) has accused the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council of directing “a furious effort at trying to block” his “routine criticism” of settlements while he was foreign minister, “as if this were more vital than advocating a two-state solution or opposing boycotts of Israel”.
This accusation grossly misrepresents AIJAC’s position…
“Stone Cold Sensationalism” from ABC’s Four Corners
February 14, 2014 | Colin Rubenstein
The ABC has done it again – this time in the massively promoted “Four Corners” program on Monday about Israeli treatment of children – created together with the Australian‘s Middle East correspondent John Lyons. Most of the allegations in the program about abuses of Palestinian minors during arrest and interrogation were just that – uncorroborated allegations, with no supporting evidence provided by the ABC or the Australian. While the story claimed that UNICEF “found” the allegations to be true, this is wrong – the UN agency merely “found” that these concerning allegations exist but did not investigate further.
‘Moderation’ screen hides reality of Iran
February 5, 2014 | Or Avi Guy
TO the naive observer, it might seem Iran’s relations with the international community are on the right track; under the leadership of an apparently more moderate president, Hassan Rouhani.
An interim action plan regarding Iran’s nuclear program was reached and further negotiations are taking place. Yet in the wake of this agreement and Rouhani’s larger “charm offensive”, most recently at the UN’s World Economic Forum in Davos, some appear to be prematurely optimistic that there is already a real change in Iran’s problematic international and internal behaviour.
Too many chances for abuse in Iran deal
January 21, 2014 | Tzvi Fleischer
THE six-month interim nuclear deal reached between Iran and the US-led P5+1 powers – US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany – in Geneva in late November finally came into effect yesterday.
But now the really hard part begins. If the six-month deal does not lead in the end to the kind of agreement that will finally end the years of intense international concern over Iran’s nuclear efforts, it will have been worse than useless. Yet there are very good reasons to doubt that it will.
Israel PM’s peacemaking efforts should be remembered
January 21, 2014 | Ahron Shapiro
Ariel Sharon, the former Israeli general, Defence Minister and Prime Minister who died earlier this month, was one of the government officials who greeted then-Egyptian President Anwar Sadat on the tarmac during his famous visit to Israel in November 1977.
Sharing a smile and a handshake, Sadat ribbed Sharon, reminding him that he had unsuccessfully tried to catch him when he crossed the Suez Canal during the war of October 1973.
Sharon famously replied, “Now you can catch me as a friend.”
