A noted Arab journalist reveals the biases of al-Jazeera English
September 3, 2013 | Or Avi Guy
Claims that al-Jazeera, the Qatari-based media outlet, is biased would hardly be considered news to those who follow Middle East media coverage. Al-Jazeera in Arabic has been preaching anti-Jewish, anti-Israel and anti-Western “analysis” masked as journalism for a while now, and is facing criticism around the world, often from its own former employees. Al Jazeera in English has attempted to be more subtle in the way it slants its reporting and thus distance itself from the obvious advocacy of its Arabic counterpart.
New evidence of Iranian terror in Southeast Asia
August 30, 2013 | Sharyn Mittelman
The recent convictions of two Iranians – Saeid Moradi and Mohammad Kharzei – in a Bangkok court for a botched bomb attack last year, highlights the ongoing terrorist threats posed by Iran around the world, especially in our own region.
Israel prepares for possible attack by Syria
August 30, 2013 | Sharyn Mittelman
Israel has largely avoided public comment on what to do about the Syrian situation, but the possibility of US military strikes nonetheless singificantly impacts Israelis, because the Assad regime has threatened that if attacked, it will target Israel.
Media Week – Behind the Times; The plagues of Egypt
August 30, 2013 | Allon Lee
A news brief in the Sydney Morning Herald and Age (Aug. 22) reporting that a Palestinian man in the Jenin refugee camp was killed by Israeli soldiers who “faced protesters” as they tried to arrest an Islamic Jihad member suspected of planning terrorist attacks lacked context and balance.
Another ABC fact-checking fail: Gaza and Breast Cancer
August 30, 2013 | Ahron Shapiro
Why does the ABC continue to improperly fact-check its stories about the Gaza Strip?
In her report for Newsline, “Charities raising breast cancer awareness in Gaza”, the ABC‘s reporter/producer Rania Zaydan abandoned her critical faculties, offering up a story riddled with inaccuracies and baseless anti-Israel innuendo.
Syria burns as the UN turns its gaze to Israel
August 28, 2013 | Daniel Meyerowitz-Katz
As everyone digests the harrowing reports of nerve gas being used by the Syrian regime against its own people, and the US boosts its military posturing, one story that has seemingly been pushed to the side is the increasing irrelevance of the United Nations. … After more than two years of dithering as Syria burns, the Security Council has patently failed in its mission to maintain international peace and security…
At the same time, UN activity has been continuing unabated over on Syria’s south-western border. Earlier this month, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon addressed a model UN forum in Jerusalem. During his address, he reportedly made a rare admission of the unfair treatment which Israel receives…
The Egypt Policy Dilemma
August 23, 2013
This Update discusses the major policy dilemmas posed for Western leaders – and especially the US – by the situation in Egypt in the wake of the bloody crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters by the military government there over the past week and a half.
First up is Harvard University’s Chuck Freilich, formerly deputy national-security adviser in Israel, who says that Egypt today places US policymakers where they least like to be – caught in a conflict between US values and US interests.
AIJAC letter responds to inaccurate article on Israeli settlements
August 17, 2013
A letter in Melbourne’s Herald Sun by AIJAC Executive Director Dr Colin Rubenstein responds to an important inaccuracy regarding Israeli settlements in the West Bank…
Two AIJAC letters responding to factually inaccurate reporting on Israeli settlements
August 16, 2013
Two letters from AIJAC staff members were published today responding to erroneous headlines and reporting in Australian newspapers regarding Israeli settlements in the West Bank….
Media Week – Hand wringing over Iran; Tom after Tom
August 16, 2013 | Allon Lee
Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, is a good guy the West can do business with according to an Age editorial (Aug 9).
Whilst it admitted that Rouhani was vetted by “Iran’s overlords”, that “he is not signalling capitulation on the issue that triggered sanctions – a uranium enrichment program that raises the spectre of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons”, the paper still places its faith in his ability to make a deal because “he wants to resume talks ‘with seriousness and without wasting time'”.
However, as Rouhani himself noted in 2004 when he was Iran’s main nuclear negotiator, time wasting with a smile is his forte – “While we were talking with the Europeans in Tehran, we were installing equipment in parts of the nuclear conversion facility in Isfahan. By creating a calm environment, we were able to complete the work there.”
