The SMH’s quest to downplay the Iranian nuclear program
March 2, 2012 | Allon Lee
Seldom has there been such a brazen attempt to pass off pantomime as intelligent debate.
Saturday’s edition of the Sydney Morning Herald‘s (SMH) weekly “The Question” section – which canvasses the opinions of four experts with presumed standing on a specific issue – addressed the topic of “Is the West destined for war with Iran? Deepening distrust is fuelling a new round of sabre-rattling.“
A fair enough subject for discussion, however, the range of views left a lot to be desired…
Wikileaks’ Assange using faux intelligence to bait journalists?
March 1, 2012 | Daniel Meyerowitz-Katz
On Monday, Wikileaks began releasing an alleged 5 million emails stolen by “hacktivist” group Anonymous from geo-political consulting firm Stratfor. The sensationalist title that Wikileaks gave the material — The Global Intelligence Files — as well as the statement announcing the release attempt to make the released emails out to be top-secret information from some sort of clandestine “private CIA”.
The Stratfor emails reveal a company that cultivates close ties with US government agencies and employs former US government staff. It is preparing the 3-year Forecast for the Commandant of the US Marine Corps, and it trains US marines and “other government intelligence agencies” in “becoming government Stratfors”…
The City of Peace is the subject of a Conference of Hate in Doha
March 1, 2012 | Sharyn Mittelman
Over the weekend a conference was held in Doha, Qatar called the “International Conference for the Defense of Jerusalem” – the conference was a one sided Israel bashing affair, that focused on what speakers claimed was the ‘Judaisation’ of Al-Quds (Jerusalem), while ignoring the Jewish historical and religious connection to Jerusalem.
Are the ultra-Orthodox poised to take over Israel?
February 29, 2012 | Ahron Shapiro
What’s wrong with being religious in Israel? Nothing at all – though there is of course much controversy in Israel at the moment over the exemption from the draft for most ultra-Orthodox young men following a Supreme Court ruling last week, and other issues, including views on women’s rights.
But these controversies, and the debates surrounding them, have led to the size and influence of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox population sometimes being exaggerated in the media in order to make spurious comparisons between Israeli society and dogmatic Islamic states such as Iran or Saudi Arabia. So some firm facts are needed.
Antisemitism and sexism still rife in Arab media
February 29, 2012 | Daniel Meyerowitz-Katz
The Middle East Media Research Institute or MEMRI is an organisation that combs the media in the Middle East and translates interesting items into English. Unfortunately, MEMRI’s research consistently exposes the extreme hatred that is fed to peoples throughout the Middle East through their state-controlled media outlets.
For example, MEMRI released a translation of an article responding to Western reports on Saudi textbooks late last year. An example of these reports comes from the UK’s Daily Mail:
Barbaric textbooks handed out in Saudi Arabian schools teach children how to cut off a thief’s hands and feet under Sharia law, it has emerged.
The shocking books, paid for and printed by the Saudi government, also tell teenagers that Jews…
Arabs speaks out on the Arab World’s problem with Antisemitism
February 28, 2012 | Or Avi Guy
Two recent blog posts by bloggers of Arab descent bravely tackle the internally- taboo issue of antisemitism in the Arab world, both claiming that it is a well entrenched belief system which undermines the development of pluralistic, democratic societies in the Middle East, as the Arab Spring revolutions enter their second year.
World Vision involved in alleged terror links – again
February 28, 2012 | Sharyn Mittelman
As has been widely reported, there has been controversy over support by World Vision and AusAID for a Palestinian group with alleged links to a terrorist organisation. While the current complaint is now being investigated by World Vision, it is worth recalling that this is not the first time that World Vision has been accused of making a controversial funding decision in the Palestinian Authority areas.
In the latest complaint, the Shurat HaDin (Israel Law Centre) wrote letters to AusAID and World Vision requesting that they discontinue their support of the Palestinian aid organisation the Union of Agricultural Work Committee, which it alleges is a subsidiary of the terrorist organisation the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine…
Iran claims victory over Israel in Academy Awards while continuing to repress film industry
February 28, 2012 | Daniel Meyerowitz-Katz
When accepting the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film last night, for his film Separation, Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi took a veiled stab at the regime ruling Iran. Farhadi expressed how grateful he was that Iran was being recognised for its “glorious culture” and spoke of the Iranian people’s rejection of “hostility and resentment”.
At this time, many Iranians all over the world are watching us and I imagine them to be very happy. They are happy not just because of an important award or a film or filmmaker, but because at the time when talk of war, intimidation and aggression is exchanged between politicians, the name of their country Iran is spoken here through…
Investors find their fortunes in Israeli, Palestinian stock markets
February 27, 2012 | Ahron Shapiro
While peacemaking visionaries talk about a future Israeli-Palestinian peace dividend – the concept that peace between Israelis and Palestinians will usher in a new era of mutual prosperity – the two peoples aren’t waiting, as both Israeli and Palestinian stock markets continue to impress.
On February 20, the financial news organisation Bloomberg named Israel’s stock market number one in the world in its Riskless Return Ranking – a measure of the safest investments for investors over the past decade…
The other concern about Greece: Antisemitism
February 24, 2012 | Sharyn Mittelman
Greece has been repeatedly in the headlines in recent months for one simple reason – because of that small country’s massive debt crisis and the huge implications it has for the wider European Union. But there’s another reason that the world should be paying attention to Greece. In Greece, antisemitism seems increasingly to be entering into the mainstream. Some speculate that the recent resurgence is linked to the Greek debt crisis that began in 2009.
AIJAC has previously written a blog post on the far right LAOS political party, which has an antisemitic track record and last year secured ministerial positions in the unity coalition. Now two senior members of LAOS, Makis Voridis and Adonis Georgiadis are joining Greece’s mainstream conservative party ‘New Democracy’, which is ahead in the polls in the lead up to parliamentary elections scheduled for April…
