Israeli election results appear to be surprisingly strong win to Netanyahu’s Likud
March 18, 2015
With more than 99% of the vote now counted, the Israeli election, which occurred yesterday Israel time (meaning overnight Australia time) has led to a resounding victory for incumbent Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his Likud party. This is a surprise – contrasting not only with the polls of recent weeks, which suggested the opposition Zionist Camp party was somewhat ahead, but even the exit polls from yesterday, which showed the two largest parties virtually neck and neck.
Antisemitism on Campus: Has Sydney University’s Jake Lynch Finally Gone Too Far?
March 17, 2015 | Glen Falkenstein
Suppose a person jumps up in a lecture theatre, stands on his chair, waves money at an old Jewish woman and yells in the faces of students – would such a person be permitted to remain in the room? Now imagine it was a professor that did these things – should such a person be allowed to remain at the University?
Should the ABC have given advocacy journalist Sophie McNeill the keys to its Jerusalem bureau?
March 13, 2015 | Ahron Shapiro
There are serious questions that must be raised about whether Sophie McNeill, who has recently been appointed the ABC’s exclusive Jerusalem-based Middle East correspondent, can comply with the obligations contained in ABC’s Code of Practice.
Israel Election Update
March 13, 2015
Today’s Update focuses on some new analysis of the state of the Israeli election campaign, now in its final week. The polls have been very varied (an excellent compilation of all significant election polls comes from “Jeremy’s Knesset Insider” website) and show that the competition between the two main parties remains close – though it is worth noting that the larger balance of forces between the various parties in the centre right-religious and centre left-Arab blocs is at least as important as the specific votes for the main Likud and Zionist Camp parties.
Bailed Al Jazeera journalist reveals the truth about the network’s agenda and role in his fate
March 12, 2015 | Allon Lee
Mohammed Fahmy is an Al Jazeera journalist currently on bail awaiting retrial in Cairo on ludicrous terrorism related charges, and a close colleague of Australian Al Jazeera journalist Peter Greste, who was released after imprisonment on the same trumped-up charges in late January. Fahmy, an Egyptian-born Canadian, has just joined the chorus of Al Jazeera employees revealing that the Qatari royal family, which owns and runs the news organisation, sets and interferes with the organisation’s editorial line, and says that this interference has damaged his ability to defend himself from the Egyptian charges.
This is, of course, hardly news to AIJAC readers and is merely further confirmation from an insider that Al Jazeera is nothing like an independent news service.
Video: Melanie Phillips on the threat of radical Islam
March 12, 2015
British author and columnist Melanie Phillips addresses the threat posed to Western Civilisation by Radical Islam, at an event co-sponsored by the United Israel Appeal and Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council in Melbourne…
Anti-Israel agitators disrupt expert presentation
March 11, 2015 | Glen Falkenstein
Protesters have disrupted a lecture, fighting with security guards, at the University of Sydney. The lecture was being given by retired British military officer Colonel Richard Kemp, a world-renowned expert on armed conflict, the Middle East and a prolific media commentator.
The ABC’s anti-Netanyahu script on Iran speech
March 6, 2015 | Allon Lee
The ABC used to promote itself with the tagline “it’s your ABC”.
But as an ABC consumer who wanted to know exactly what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial address to the US Congress contained and to hear analysis from experts who weren’t automatically going to rubbish the speech, it isn’t my ABC.
Netanyahu’s US Congress speech on Iran
March 6, 2015
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu gave his long-discussed and controversial address to the US Congress on Tuesday, Washington time (this was early Wednesday morning in Australia.) This Update deals with the effect and aftermath of that speech.
The full text of what Netanyahu said is below – video of it can be seen here. We recommend it be read or viewed in full, not least because much of the media coverage in Australia of the speech has frankly been less than helpful – and sometimes even less than truthful – in helping media consumers understand the gist of what Netanyahu said.
Islamism and the US Administration’s campaign against “violent extremism”
February 27, 2015
US President Barack Obama and his Administration have come under fire from numerous sources for their refusal to identify the Islamist ideology that motivates groups like Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and al-Qaeda – especially in the wake of the Summit on Violent Extremism he convened last week – instead insisting, in President Obama’s words, that “there is no one profile of a violent extremist or terrorist. Around the world, and in the United States, inexcusable acts of violence have been committed against people of different faiths, by people of different faiths, which is, of course, betrayal of all of our faiths.” Below, we include some of the more informative critiques of the Administration’s stance on this issue. (An op-ed based on Obama’s speech is here, a similar op-ed from US Secretary of State John Kerry is here.)
