Road to Reconciliation: Israel and Turkey
July 6, 2016
Last week brought news that Israel and Turkey are set to restore full diplomatic ties, ending the six-year impasse that followed Israel’s interception of the Gaza-bound Mavi Marmara. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has heralded the deal as “an agreement of strategic importance” that will improve stability in the region, but it may be too soon to start celebrating.
UK antisemitism documented
July 5, 2016 | Gareth Narunsky
The release of the UK Labour Party’s report into antisemitism last week revealed the significant extent of the problem. We’re not talking about what was contained within the report, we’re talking about the launch itself.
Media Week – Beyond the pale; Siege mentality
July 1, 2016 | Allon Lee
In the Australian (June 24), analyst Paul Monk rebuked governments for cosying up to Iran whilst “vicious anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial and virulent anti-Zionism” remains part of its “DNA”.
Analysing the deal to normalise Turkish-Israeli relations
June 29, 2016
Today’s Update looks at the significance of the deal announced between Israel and Turkey to re-establish full diplomatic relations which have been in the doldrums since the deaths of Turkish citizens in the Mavi Marmara naval incident in 2010 when a flotilla tried to breach Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza and Israeli commandos enforcing it were violently attacked.
Justice for Holocaust Survivors Before It’s Too Late
June 28, 2016 | Aaron Torop
June brought two developments of note to the Australian Holocaust survivor community. First, we express our deep sadness at the passing of Masha Zeleznikow, the 89-year-old Holocaust survivor and founder of Café Scheherazade in Melbourne, known for helping Holocaust survivors and other refugees. The second development is the conviction of Reinhold Hanning, a former Auschwitz guard, in Germany.
Same old Mahathir
June 28, 2016 | Gareth Narunsky
One could have been forgiven for thinking, during a 60 Minutes interview with former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in March, that the one-time strongman of Malaysian politics had mellowed out significantly.
Reviving the Arab Peace Initiative
June 27, 2016 | Glen Falkenstein
Shifting dynamics in the Middle East may have presented a rare opportunity to establish the groundwork for a lasting, regionally-backed peace between Israel, the Palestinian Authority and their Arab neighbours.
Terror Wave subsides amid worrying signs in Palestinian society/ Discrediting ISIS
June 24, 2016
This Update features some pieces on some worrying developments in Palestinian society – even as the current wave of knife violence seems to be subsiding overall (notwithstanding the Tel Aviv Sarona market attack earlier this month). Plus, following up on the last Update on the aftermath of Orlando, it also includes an important piece on his to discredit ISIS from veteran American Middle East mediator Amb. Dennis Ross.
Palestinians Celebrate Terror Attacks- Again
June 17, 2016 | Aaron Torop
As we have reported on this blog in the past, large elements of the Palestinian leadership and much of the Palestinian public routinely celebrate terror attacks. The June 8 shooting in Tel Aviv that killed four is no different. Similar to responses after the Jerusalem bus bombing this past April, many parts of Palestinian society welcomed this most recent attack.
McNeill twists story about Egyptian border with Gaza to blame Israel
June 17, 2016 | Allon Lee
It’s been a while, but ABC TV “7.30” on Wednesday witnessed the full-blown reappearance of Sophie McNeill the advocacy journalist, in a story entitled “Rafah border crossing opens to sick Gazans seeking medical treatment in Egypt.”
The whole story was shallow and contradictory – and it was clear neither McNeill nor the show’s producers were going to allow the facts to interfere with a narrative they wanted to tell. Despite the fact that the story was ostensibly about a rare opening by the Egyptian government of its shared border with Hamas-ruled Gaza, that theme was that the suffering in Gaza is Israel’s fault and nobody else’s – not Egypt’s, not Hamas’ and not the Palestinian Authority’s. A veneer of balance was offered by speaking to an Israeli spokesperson, but the slant of the story was very clear.
