Egypt’s chaos/ West Bank realities
February 14, 2013
This Update features two pieces related to the increasing street violence in Egypt, and the Muslim Brotherhood-led government’s response to it, plus an important piece on the sad reality behind the Palestinian Authority’s state building efforts in the West Bank, led by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.
Palestinian Activist: Gaza’s real problem is too much high quality food
February 13, 2013 | Talia Katz
Gaza is under siege and Gazans are struggling to get in basic items to feed their families, right? You might think so if you follow most of the coverage and comment and you see on the Gaza situation, but it is actually far from the reality. Don’t take my word for it – read the Al-Monitor article by Rana Baker, who lives and studies in Gaza and writes for the vehemently and violently anti-Israel website Electronic Intifada.
The Truth about Iraq WMD “Lies”
February 11, 2013 | Talia Katz
The release of The Art of Betrayal, by Gordon Corera, the highly-regarded veteran BBC journalist, should, if our media indeed has the commitment to truth which it constantly proclaims, rightfully see the last decade of often conspiratorial rhetoric about the 2003 war in Iraq fade to reveal a different and more complex and nuanced reality.
Israel’s crop of fresh political faces
February 10, 2013 | Or Avi Guy
This past Tuesday, February 5, the 19th Knesset, Israel’s parliament, convened for its inaugural session in Jerusalem, and all 120 members pledged their allegiance to the State. The composition of the new Knesset can reveal, and for some affirm, a change in priorities in the national agenda among the Israeli public.
Media Week – Sensible on Syria; Lazy lines; Neither doom nor gloom
February 8, 2013 | Allon Lee
Israel’s attack on a Syrian weapons convoy generated considerable interest on ABC Radio.
Radio National‘s “Breakfast” (1/2) spoke to Ehud Yaari via telephone in Israel.
Yaari told Fran Kelly that Israel attacked a convoy carrying weapons that would give Hezbollah capabilities such as the “Yakhont coast-to-sea missiles that could threaten, for example, the Israeli gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean.”
He also said that the Assad regime accused anti-government Islamist rebels in Syria of co-responsibility for the Israeli attack, “a collusion, which does not exist, of course.”
Mr. Obama goes to Jerusalem
February 8, 2013
US President Barack Obama has now announced that he will be visiting Israel in March, after coming under some criticism for failing to do so during his first term in office. Details on the visit and what US officials hope will accomplish are reported here. (It is worth noting the White House has been clear that a new peace plan is not part of their agenda.) This Update looks at some of the issues likely be raised during the Presidential visit, or to affect it.
Melbourne newspaper readers left in the dark about alleged Aussie Hezbollah terrorist
February 7, 2013 | Allon Lee
The revelation that an Australian passport holder was allegedly involved in last year’s bus bombing coordinated by Hezbollah which killed five Israeli tourists in Bulgaria understandably garnered much local media coverage. In addition to numerous radio and TV reports, news briefs in yesterday’s newspapers were followed up with more extensive reports today.
Except, bizarrely, there was no mention of the allegation by Bulgarian authorities in the hard copy editions of the national Australian Financial Review (AFR) or in either of Melbourne’s two daily newspapers – the Age and Herald Sun.
An Australian Hezbollah terrorist? No great surprise
February 6, 2013 | Ahron Shapiro
Revelations by Bulgarian investigators that one of the suspects in last July’s terrorist bombing of a bus carrying an Israeli tour group near the airport in Burgas, Bulgaria last July was both a Hezbollah operative and an Australian national should unfortunately not come as any great surprise.
Those who have closely followed the operations of Iran’s terror proxy in southeast Asia and Australasia in recent years know that its presence in the region is substantial, and that Australia is regularly listed as one of the countries in which Hezbollah operates.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s mission “To set Israel on fire”
February 5, 2013 | Talia Katz
The principle argument being made by opponents of strong action against Iran’s nuclear program is that Iran is a “rational” actor, whose regime values survival above all else and a nuclear Iran can be contained just as the Soviet Union was during the Cold War.
Now a new report offers yet more evidence to doubt whether Iran’s “rationality” is so obvious and assured. And the report concerns not the loud-mouthed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but the man everyone agrees has ultimate control over Iran’s nuclear program, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Briefing on the Problematic UN Human Rights Council Report on Israeli Settlements
February 1, 2013 | Daniel Meyerowitz-Katz
Earlier today, this blog noted that Israel has been boycotting the United Nations Human Rights Council due to the Council’s habitual singling-out of Israel for unfair, unwarranted, and utterly biased criticism.
A report on settlements in the West Bank, the commission of which spurred Israel’s decision to cease cooperation with the Council, has just been released. Sadly, the Report entirely vindicates Israel’s position on the matter.
Below is an itemised critique of the Report, highlighting numerous examples of errors and misinformation…
