On the way to an Islamic constitution? The Muslim Brotherhood tries to hijack the Egyptian transition to ‘democracy’
March 30, 2012 | Or Avi Guy
As a step in the transition to democracy in Egypt, a body was formed to draft a new constitution prior to the presidential elections (scheduled to be held in May). This constitution is set to determine major issues such as the role of religion, the balance between the President and the parliament’s authority and minority and women’s rights.
It was always expected that heated debates would emerge around the content of the constitution. However, according to recent developments, the first political crisis regarding the constitution revolves around the make up of the panel itself, and that debate makes it clear that for all their assertions about having reformed and their expressed desire to govern Egypt in a democratic and pluralistic manner, it appears that the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood is determined to use their political clout to Islamise Egypt.
Aussie ex-pat brings Murray-Darling spirit to Israelis, Palestinians and Jordanians
March 29, 2012 | Daniel Meyerowitz-Katz
On a family rip back to Australia, Gidon Bromberg, an Australian environmental activist now living in Israel, picked up a copy of Chris Hammer’s book The River: A Journey Through The Murray-Darling. Bromberg was inspired by Hammer’s description of the process that led to the Federal Government passing legislation in 2007 to protect the river basin; so inspired, in fact, that he decided to bring Hammer to Israel and attempt to replicate the feat and help the long-suffering Jordan River.
Bromberg has written about this in today’s Jerusalem Post…
Power shortage fuelling anti-Hamas sentiment in Gaza
March 29, 2012 | Ahron Shapiro
A fuel shortage in Gaza Strip has created some genuine hardships in the Hamas-run entity, affecting power generation as well as transportation.
The crisis has produced a rare glimpse into the state of play between Hamas, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority, as each side has begun blaming one another for the situation, with no role for Israel, except for Hamas to conspiratorially smear against its political opponents.
UNHRC green-lights Goldstone II: The settlements
March 27, 2012 | Ahron Shapiro
We’ve seen this movie before.
Coming soon from the same producers of the discredited Goldstone Report on the 2009 Gaza War – the UN Human Rights Council – is a sequel: A “fact-finding” mission to investigate the impact of Israeli settlements in the West Bank on Palestinians. Co-sponsors of the resolution that authorised it include Syria and Iran.
Toulouse school’s decision to cut security may have implications on Australia
March 27, 2012 | Daniel Meyerowitz-Katz
In this post last month, I argued that the Jewish community in Australia does have the unfortunate need for security at Jewish schools, which remain a target for terrorists, a statement that I later affirmed after the Toulouse attacks. This was to rebut statements made by former Australian Jewish News editor Dan Goldberg, reported in The Age in January – well before the attack in Toulouse – suggesting that the money could be better spent elsewhere:
[Former AJN editor Dan] Goldberg suggested the rising costs of security were helping push up education fees so that ever more money would be spent on protecting ever fewer children…
Road to Toulouse paved with incitement
March 23, 2012 | Ahron Shapiro
The massacre of three students and a teacher (and father of two of the children) at a Jewish school in Toulouse, France has understandably prompted condemnations and statements of outrage from world leaders, diplomats and pundits that have followed similar anti-Semitic atrocities in the past.
Some analysts, however, have discerned a troubling equivocation in some of these responses. By failing to acknowledge the underlying antisemitism and anti-Israel incitement that fuelled the attack, the commentators said, a festering hatred is allowed to persist, and the next attack is only a matter of time.
Terror attack on Jewish school in France a stark reminder of antisemitic threat
March 20, 2012 | Daniel Meyerowitz-Katz
Last month, I wrote in defence of the security concerns of Australia’s Jewish community. With a heavy heart, I must note that these concerns have been unfortunately vindicated once again. Last night, a shooting attack outside Ozar Hatorah, a Jewish school in Toulouse, killed much-loved schoolteacher Yonatan Sandler, as well as his two sons — Aryeh, age five, and Gavriel, age four — as well as Miriam Monsonego, age seven. Another boy was injured.
According to the chilling AFP report, a masked gunman dismounted from a Yamaha scooter and began shooting, hitting Sandler as he tried in vain to sheild his sons. The shooter then chased after Miriam as she ran into the school, grabbing her and killing her at close range…
Assad’s Email, Iran and the Palestinians
March 16, 2012 | Ahron Shapiro
As has been widely reported in the Australian press today, on Wednesday the Guardian went public with a trove of messages that they had obtained which purportedly had been mined out of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s personal email account.
What was less widely reported was that, as a key strategy, in the emails the Iranians told the Alawite Assad to shore up his image among the country’s majority Sunni Muslim population by fashioning himself as an uncompromising opponent of concessions to Israel and as a defender of Jerusalem.
UN Commission on the Status of Women singles out Israel for condemnation
March 16, 2012 | Sharyn Mittelman
The United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) has done it again – in its annual session it condemned only one country – Israel, while ignoring the human rights violations of women around the world, including especially the current crisis in Syria – where women are being raped and murdered…
Want to avoid a strike on Iran? Then keep threatening to strike Iran
March 16, 2012 | Daniel Meyerowitz-Katz
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has recently been the subject of much criticism because of what some see as an unnecessarily militaristic attitude regarding Iran, arguing that his statements indicate a clear gung-ho — even warmongering — attitude. The reality may actually be the very opposite.
Israel is believed to have previously taken-out two different nuclear programs: Iraq’s in 1981 and Syria’s in 2007. I say “believed to have” because Israel has never officially admitted to the second one; indeed, no Israeli public official ever even recognised that Syria had a nuclear program and in neither case was there any prior warning (in fact, prior to the strike on Syria’s secret reactor in 2007…
