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.
Discussing Islamism and anti-LGBT bigotry in the wake of Orlando
June 16, 2016
In the wake of the murderous attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, which took place on Sunday, and was claimed by ISIS (details on the ISIS claim are dissected here) this Update explores some of the debates that have broken out since: on the link to ISIS and Islamist ideology more generally in the attack and how it should be talked about, and on the connection between Islamism and anti-LGBT bigotry.
Media Week – Lessons to be learned; Samah lingers on
June 10, 2016 | Allon Lee
Israeli author and former Associated Press reporter Matti Friedman told ABC Radio National “Late Night Live” host Phillip Adams (June 2) that he wrote his new book, “Pumpkin flowers” because “understanding in the West of the complexities of Israel’s situation lags behind the realities of the region.”
The Paris Conference/ Hamas’ Mentality
June 10, 2016
This Update deals with analysis of the French-organised international conference on promoting Israeli-Palestinian peace that took place, without either Israeli or Palestinian participation, last weekend. In the end, the conference issued a fairly unremarkable communique re-asserting the importance of advancing a two-state peace – you can read it here. As Herb Keinon of the Jerusalem Post reports, the fairly uncontroversial outcome was the result of intense Israeli and US diplomatic efforts to get France to water down language that Israel would have found much more unpalatable.
Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati – the real face of the Iranian post-election regime
June 8, 2016 | Ari Wenig
The results of the parliamentary election in Iran at the end of February have often been represented as a victory for the moderates, reformists, and other supporters of 2013-elected President Hassan Rouhani. And it is true that, according to unofficial election results, Rouhani’s allies look to have gained a plurality in the 290-seat parliament, holding the most sway since 2004 and therefore, in theory, apparently carrying the potential to challenge the influence of the hard-line conservatives, who suffered humiliating losses in the elections. (Never mind that many of the candidates now considered part of the reformist bloc were previously identified as hardliners and only were named as affiliated with the reformist bloc just before the election after most genuine reformists were prevented from running.)
Why plans to “moderate” the Iranian regime are failing
June 3, 2016
It is now widely being acknowledged that there is little sign that the Iranian regime is moderating its internal or external policies in the wake of the nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), signed last year and supposedly implemented in January. This Update features three pieces which each suggest some explanations of why moderating the Iranian regime is likely much more difficult than policymakers in Washington and elsewhere realised.
Media Week – All Shook up; Telling Tales
June 2, 2016 | Allon Lee
Anyone might have thought that Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman had just become Australia’s new defence minister such were the ripples in our media.
An opportunity for peace – if the Lieberman hype can be ignored
June 2, 2016 | Ahron Shapiro
To believe the hyped-up accounts of some media reports, the addition of Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu coalition has made the current government the “most right-wing ever” in Israel. But do the facts support this, especially after Tuesday’s historic news that Netanyahu is prepared to enter negotiations based upon the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative?
Future of Sinai’s MFO in Question
June 1, 2016
The future of the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) is being called into question amidst further deterioration of the security situation in the Sinai Peninsula…
This is a concerning development for Israeli-Egyptian bilateral relations and Middle Eastern peace more broadly.
