Calls for release of Israeli soldier after 5 years of captivity
June 24, 2011 | Daniel Meyerowitz-Katz
Tomorrow will mark 5 years since kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit has been held illegally by Hamas in Gaza. As Isabel Kershner has reported in the New York Times, Hamas has again refused a request from the Red Cross to visit Shalit – so that they could merely ascertain what kind of conditions he is being held in and whether he is alive or dead.
The International Committee of the Red Cross on Thursday publicly demanded that Hamas provide proof that an Israeli soldier captured five years ago and held in Gaza is still alive. Hamas promptly rejected the demand.
Egyptian PM reportedly backs down on election postponement
June 24, 2011 | Allon Lee
Egypt’s interim Prime Minister Essam Sharaf is now reportedly denying media reports, noted previously on Fresh AIR, that he supports postponing parliamentary elections scheduled for September until after a new constitution is drawn up, a process only scheduled to commence in September.
For Evans Sake!
June 24, 2011 | Jamie Hyams
Former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans appeared on Jon Faine’s “Conversation Hour” on 774 ABC Melbourne on June 16, giving his take on the Middle East and demonstrating we’re lucky he is no longer in the role.
Palestinians will go to the UN no matter what
June 24, 2011 | Daniel Meyerowitz-Katz
Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour has just come out and stated that even if negotiations with Israel were to recommence, the Palestinians will go to the UN and ask for recognition of statehood. Haaretz reports:
The Palestinians will seek membership as an independent state at the UN in September even if peace negotiations with Israel are underway, the Palestinian UN envoy said on Thursday.
Climate sceptic’s Nazi jibe “offensive”
June 24, 2011
AIJAC Executive Director Dr. Colin Rubenstein has appeared on ABC-TV’s Lateline, responding to the use of Nazi and Holocaust analogy in Australia’s climate change debate.
Obama confirms Afghanistan troops drawdown
June 23, 2011 | Daniel Meyerowitz-Katz
After much speculation that the US was gearing-up to pull out of Afghanistan, President Barack Obama has just given an address confirming that the US combat mission in Afghanistan will end by 2014, with the withdrawal beginning this year. He explained that 33,000 troops will be withdrawn by next year, thereby ending the controversial troop surge that is a hallmark of his presidency.
The speech is embedded below and the transcript can be viewed HERE. More on this shortly.
Breakdown of Obama’s Afghanistan announcement
June 23, 2011 | Daniel Meyerowitz-Katz
As reported recently on this site, US President Barack Obama has just given a landmark speech on the US policy in Afghanistan, including a timetable for the withdrawal of combat troops. The President gave a brief history of the war, concentrating primarily on his December 2009 “troop surge” decision, where he increased the number of US combat troops in Afghanistan by 33,000 in order to counter a resurgent Taliban. As he explained (Transcript via CBS):
…in one of the most difficult decisions that I’ve made as President, I ordered an additional 30,000 American troops into Afghanistan. When I announced this surge at West Point, we set clear objectives: to refocus on al Qaeda; reverse the Taliban’s momentum; and train Afghan Security Forces to defend their own country.
Obama then announced that the surge was successful and will be withdrawn by the end of the year and the combat mission will end by 2014.
Australian Parliament raises concern for arrested student Ilan Grapel
June 23, 2011 | Sharyn Mittelman
On 22 June, Federal MP Jamie Briggs (Mayo, Lib.) made a speech in the House of Representatives drawing the Parliament’s attention to the arrest in Egypt of American-Israeli Ilan Grapel. Mr. Grapel was arrested earlier this month for alleged involvement in espionage and formenting sectarian strife in Egypt. As Mr Briggs rightly points out: “These allegations at best seem far-fetched and when you consider that Mr Grapel is a regular visitor to the Middle East and had entered Egypt under his own name on his own passport [and] was posting daily messages on Facebook, the allegations do raise significant concern.”
Mr Briggs also commented: “This is similar, sadly, to the five year anniversary of the detention of Israeli citizen Gilad Shalit, who has been held by Hamas since 2006.”
Bold or spineless? Strong conviction or a lack of direction? Responses to Obama’s speech
June 23, 2011 | Daniel Meyerowitz-Katz
Just a few hours after President Obama’s recent speech on Afghanistan, there was a wide array of responses, positing a number of theories as to the ramifications of the new US policy.
In general, the focus was on Obama’s decision to end the troop surge that he implemented only 18 months ago. Michael Cohen from the American Security Project writes in The Atlantic that Obama was never fully invested in the surge strategy and is now returning to a strategy which is more congruent with his generally dovish stance on foreign policy.
If there is one overriding takeaway from Obama’s speech tonight, it is that the same President who 18 months ago was led by his generals into an escalation that he didn’t appear to fully support has now taken back control of his policy in Afghanistan.
Iran gives new meaning to “fashion police”
June 22, 2011 | Daniel Meyerowitz-Katz
Iranian authorities have just announced that they are extending their crackdown on “un-Islamic dress codes” to include various “Western-influenced” men’s haircuts and jewellery. Iranian women have traditionally been harrassed by the “moral police” for not following the strict, conservative dress codes that Iran’s rulers see as “Islamic”, however, as reported by Ali Akbar Dareini and Brian Murphy in The Huffington Post, the authorities appear to be extending this code further each year.
