Sensationalising ‘settlement announcements’
June 25, 2014 | Ahron Shapiro
In my blog post from June 2, I showed how construction in Israel’s West Bank settlements had slowed, but that the media had failed to report it.
This month, two pieces of commentary by former Bush Administration deputy national security advisor Elliott Abrams – who was the official in charge of monitoring Israel’s settlement policies – reinforced some of the very same points I made.
The reality of Hamas-Fatah “unity”
June 23, 2014 | Gabrielle Debinski
It has become clear over recent days that the crisis created by the kidnapping of three Israeli teens is severely straining the Fatah-Hamas unity pact, signed in April, and implemented via a new “technocratic cabinet” earlier this month. A senior Fatah official was quoted as saying that if Hamas was responsible for the kidnapping, the unity deal will be “void”. Meanwhile, Hamas and Fatah have been trading barbs about whether the Palestinian security forces should be helping find the missing teens.
Clinton reveals some vital peacemaking home truths
June 23, 2014 | Allon Lee
It has not received much coverage in Australia, but Hillary Clinton’s new book “Hard Choices” chronicling her time as US Secretary of State in President Barack Obama’s first administration, upends the oft-made assumption that Israeli-Palestinian peace talks were stillborn between 2009-2012 because of the stances of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
Australia’s Jerusalem stance welcomed in Israel, Washington, mostly ignored in Arab world
June 19, 2014 | Ahron Shapiro
Attorney General George Brandis’ and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop’s recent terminological clarification – that the Abbott Government would not refer to east Jerusalem with any pejorative descriptor, and explicitly not “Occupied East Jerusalem” – was welcomed in the Israeli press but drew limited attention elsewhere, including, tellingly, in most Arab and Muslim countries.
Fatah Gloats: Kidnapping and Palestinian Discourse
June 18, 2014 | Or Avi Guy
Immediately after reports emerged that three Israeli teens, Eyal Yifrach, Gil-Ad Shaer and Naftali Frenkel, had apparently been abducted last Friday, speculation began as to who was responsible, and where blame lay for this crime. There is one aspect though, in the background of this event, which also deserves our attention – the disturbing reaction of official outlets of the Palestinian Authority (PA), and the Fatah movement.
The Kidnapping of three Israeli Teens and the Fatah-Hamas Unity Deal
June 18, 2014
Israeli security forces are engaged in an operation to find three Israeli teenagers apparently kidnapped in the West Bank last Thursday night. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has said Israel has strong evidence Hamas was responsible and it is clear that Israeli security forces are engaging in a broader crackdown on Hamas in the West Bank, as well as searching for the three missing teens. This Update looks at both Israeli efforts and the implications for the Hamas-Fatah unity deal of the kidnapping and Israeli response.
Sweden: Surveying Antisemitic Attitudes
June 17, 2014 | Glen Falkenstein
The recent survey on worldwide antisemitism conducted by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) labelled Sweden as one of the world’s least antisemitic countries and as the least antisemitic country in Europe, with just 4% or those surveyed classified as having “antisemitic attitudes.”
The Crisis in Iraq
June 13, 2014
This Update is devoted to analysis of the crisis in Iraq, where this week an extremist Islamist group, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), took control of the second largest city, Mosul, and then moved to take other major towns, with the Iraqi Army apparently doing little to stop them. (The ISIS success is illustrated in maps here.) Moreover, reports say the ISIS not only captured major weapons stockpiles in the process, but as much as US$425 million from the Iraqi central bank and other banks in Mosul.
At crucial point in #AJtrial, al-Jazeera provokes Egypt
June 12, 2014 | Ahron Shapiro
Many Australians have been following the lamentable plight of Peter Greste, the Australian journalist working for al-Jazeera who has been jailed along with two other al-Jazeera colleagues in Egypt since December on charges of conspiring with the banned Muslim Brotherhood to harm Egypt’s reputation.
They should now be doubly worried about both their fate and about the judgment of al-Jazeera which published an inflammatory report this week alleging wrongdoing in Egypt’s energy trade with Israel that could only serve to fan the flames of Egyptian anger against the Qatari-owned news organisation.
ABC breaks the silence on inanity
June 12, 2014 | Ahron Shapiro
ABC Newsradio Drive host Tracey Holmes is an accomplished journalist with Middle East experience. As such, it was puzzling that she would use the controversial NGO Breaking the Silence – an organisation dealing exclusively with IDF conduct in the West Bank – as her source for a lengthy interview regarding Australian policy towards east Jerusalem, a territory both she and her subject should be well aware is covered by Israeli law and not subject to military administration.
