Hamas “moderates” don’t accept Israel
March 18, 2013 | Ahron Shapiro
Following the Israeli elections and just ahead of US President Barack Obama’s first visit to Israel, last Tuesday The New Republic published a lengthy feature examining the current state of the peace process, penned by Ben Birnbaum.
In part, the essay “The end of the two-state solution: Why the window is closing on Middle-East peace”, looked at the prospective problem of Fatah uniting with the terror group Hamas, which remains in sole control of Gaza and maintains considerable support among the population in the West Bank.
The new Israeli coalition in a nutshell
March 15, 2013 | Talia Katz
After six weeks of haggling, Israel’s thirty-third Knesset was reported on Wednesday to include 22 cabinet ministers (down from 30 in the previous cabinet) and several deputy ministers from the 68-strong coalition of Likud-Beiteinu, Yesh Atid (There is a Future), HaBait Yehudit (The Jewish Home) and HaTnua (The Movement) The new government is due to be sworn in on Monday, and there are already signs that its agenda will be administered with pragmatism.
Media Week – Friendly advice; Immoral equivalence
March 14, 2013 | Allon Lee
When Australia’s federal government decided to abstain and not oppose a UN vote to upgrade Palestinian representation, Foreign Minister Bob Carr justified the move explaining how “a good friend will share with his friend reservations about that friend’s behaviour”.
It would be interesting to know if Carr feels similarly after reading the Australian foreign editor Greg Sheridan’s very public and eye watering critique of his and predecessor Kevin Rudd’s attempts “to put more distance between Australia and Israel” (March 9).
The take down was even more startling given Sheridan’s acknowledgement that he is broadly admiring of both Carr and Rudd in most respects.
Australians for Palestine’s graphic prejudice
March 14, 2013 | Daniel Meyerowitz-Katz
In Australia and elsewhere, proponents of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (‘BDS’) campaign against Israel consistently claim that the campaign is about human rights and has no racial element. … Yet time and again, leading BDS figures are exposed for supporting various neo-Nazi and/or Islamist thinkers because of what those thinkers say about Jews. … The degree to which casual antisemitism has become acceptable in the pro-BDS discourse is probably what led to Australians for Palestine (‘AfP’) deciding that this was an appropriate image to use on their website…
The Economist discusses al-Jazeera’s biases
March 12, 2013 | Sharyn Mittelman
Al-Jazeera‘s credibility as an editorially independent news provider is increasingly under the spotlight. AIJAC has previously blogged about growing concerns that al-Jazeera, owned by Qatar, is being used by Qatar to promote its foreign policy interests – in particular the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood and Sunni Islamism generally. There have also been a number of reports of journalists resigning from al-Jazeera citing its lack of editorial independence.
Now even the venerable Economist has endorsed these concerns in its piece “The Muslim Brotherhood: It’s hard being in charge”. The article notes that despite the early success of the Muslim Brotherhood in the beginning of the ‘Arab Spring’, the Brotherhood’s popularity is now falling, and with it, the popularity of a key sponsor – al-Jazeera.
Israel offers positive water policy example to the region – the Palestinians, sadly, offer the opposite
March 10, 2013 | Or Avi Guy
Through resource management, innovation and planning, the Israeli water authorities … have now beaten the intense drought which has gripped the country for several years. Now, the Israeli example stands ready to help others in the region to do the same. Unfortunately, not everyone is ready to take advantage of this opportunity.
AIPAC: Looking for signs regarding the Obama Administration’s second term agenda
March 8, 2013 | Sharyn Mittelman
This year’s annual AIPAC Policy Conference attracted more than 13,000 delegates, and heard from an array of speakers including Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu (via satellite), Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak, US Vice President Joe Biden, Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird, US House Leader Eric Cantor (R) and US Senator John McCain (R).
A this year’s conference observers attempted to gauge the Obama Administration’s possible policies and preferences for the next four years – regarding US-Israel relations, efforts to advance the two state solution, the so-called “Arab Spring”, and particularly regarding Iran’s nuclear program
The ‘segregated buses’ canard
March 8, 2013 | Ahron Shapiro
How did the story about a goodwill gesture by Israel in the form of increased Palestinian employment inside Israel, combined with another goodwill gesture of improved bus service for some of these workers, became twisted into another story of Israeli “injustice” against Palestinians?
Media Week – Springtime for Khaled; All the news that’s fit to Tweet
March 7, 2013 | Allon Lee
Maybe it’s the fact that Hamas’ outgoing leader Khaled Meshal and Fairfax’s Paul McGeough both have a penchant for beards, or that they are both persona non grata in Israel but their bromance spilled over into three separate articles in the Age and Sydney Morning Herald on March 2 and 3.
Why Hugo Chavez will not be missed by Venezuela’s Jews
March 7, 2013 | Daniel Meyerowitz-Katz
The numerous obituaries and eulogies being written for the recently deceased Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez all seem to agree on one thing: the man was polarising.
One group that was driven relentlessly towards the hostile pole is Venezuela’s Jews. In addition to his generally poor rights record, Chavez had an ugly and long-standing habit of fostering enmity towards the Jewish community of Venezuela for his own political advantage…
