Five stand-outs about Hamas’ new policy manifesto
May 5, 2017 | Ahron Shapiro
Hamas’ new policy document – which has been mischaracterised as replacing its founding charter – has been described as a softening of its position. But does it really reflect a change in Hamas’ attitude towards Israel or is it merely an attempt to improve its image abroad?
Abbas goes to Washington/ Fatah-Hamas escalation fuels Gaza electricity crisis
May 3, 2017
This Update deals with two issues, previewing Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas’s important trip to Washington to meet US President Donald Trump later this week, and also providing the background to the escalating tension between the PA and Hamas over control of Gaza, which has resulted in serious electricity problems for Gazans (including most recently a PA refusal to continue paying Israel for the large amount of electricity it supplies to Gazans.)
After threatening Australia last week, North Korea threatens Israel this week
May 2, 2017 | Shmuel Levin
After threatening Australia with a nuclear strike last week, North Korea has added yet another country to its target list – Israel.
Beyond the spin: Israel’s planned settlement
April 6, 2017 | Ahron Shapiro
While, ironically, both pro-settlement and anti-settlement groups have an interest in amplifying its significance, a rational fact-based analysis of Israel’s planned first new West Bank settlement in over 20 years would seem to suggest they’re almost literally making a mountain out of a molehill.
Developments in Israeli missile defence/ Syria after the latest sarin attack
April 6, 2017
This Update features material about recent developments in Israel’s anti-missile defences – including both the implementation of “David’s Sling”, the third and final layer to Israel’s missile defence system, and the first operational use of the Arrow long-range defence system a couple of weeks ago. It also includes some material on the strategic implications of the deadly chemical weapons attacks in Syria’s Idlib province earlier this week.
Syria chemical attack highlights the ugly reality that the Middle East is turning into a chemical weapons free-for-all
April 5, 2017 | Shmuel Levin
Once again, the world has woken up to another chemical weapons atrocity in Syria, with numerous heart-rending videos showing children gasping and struggling to breathe, if not killed outright. Early indications suggest that the attack likely involved sarin nerve gas.
In the World Vision Gaza case, words matter
March 31, 2017 | Ahron Shapiro
A statement and subsequent clarification by DFAT officials have been the basis for news reports that cast aspersions on Israel’s allegations that a top World Vision employee in Gaza, Mohammad El-Halabi, had diverted aid money to Hamas. Yet a close reading of the statements together suggests the substance of DFAT’s statements don’t justify the headlines.
Video: Corey Wingard MP (South Australia) – Impressions of Israel
March 31, 2017
South Australian state MP and shadow minister Corey Wingard (Liberal, Mitchell) spoke to AIJAC upon his return from his Rambam Fellowship visit to Israel in March 2017.
Some lessons from the Westminister terror attack
March 30, 2017
As readers are doubtless aware, last week saw yet another apparently ISIS-inspired “lone wolf” attack in London, which killed four people and left more 50 injured, when 52-year-old Briton Khalid Masood first drove into a crowd on Westminister bridge and then attacked police with a knife before being shot dead. This Update features some of the best commentary on what the attack tells us about the current terrorist threat and how to counter it.
The assassination of a terrorist
March 27, 2017 | Shmuel Levin
Last Friday night, four assassins lay in wait for Hamas military leader Mazen Faqha outside his beach-side home in Tel el-Hawa, a neighborhood in south-western Gaza City. The assassins had broken in to Faqha’s garage a few hours earlier, after Faqha had left his house with his wife and daughter. Now, they waited quietly for his return.
