Media Week – Lyons – 11, Pollard – 1; Tony talks, facts walk; Bruce the goose; A bit of a downer
January 25, 2013 | Allon Lee
In a story for the Age/Canberra Times/Sydney Morning Herald (21/1) on Israeli Arab voters Ruth Pollard spoke to the controversial anti-Zionist Israeli MK Haneen Zoabi – an interview best described as softer than cashmere.
After Israel’s elections, where to now?
January 25, 2013
With all the ballots counted and the horse-trading beginning to see which parties will join what will almost certainly be a Netanyahu-led governing coalition, today’s update looks at what it means for the moribund peace process.
First up, Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz reveals his initiative last December to convince Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to restart peace talks.
Making sense of Israel’s election results
January 23, 2013 | Talia Katz
Contrary to predictions prior to the election by many that Israeli politics is increasingly right-wing, with 99 per cent of the vote already counted the Knesset’s character is looking decidedly centrist, with an almost even split predicted in early television exit polling.
AIJAC comments on Carr/Hague AUKMIN 2013 Communique
January 22, 2013 | Colin Rubenstein
On Friday January 18 at the close of the Australia-UK Ministerial Consultations (AUKMIN) conference in Perth, Foreign Minister the Hon Senator Bob Carr and UK Foreign Secretary William Hague released a joint statement on the Middle East peace process, condemning Israel’s settlements as “illegal under international law”.
AIJAC released the following media statement to the press in response on Friday 18 January.
Right turn for Israel?/ An Insider on Iran’s nuclear plans
January 22, 2013
The theme of most Australian media coverage of the Israeli election taking place tonight, Australia time, is that Israel seems to be shifting towards the right. This Update contains two attempts to challenge this conventional wisdom – as well as a unique eyewitness report from an Iranian regime insider about Iran’s nuclear plans.
Insights into the Israeli election campaign
January 17, 2013
Today’s Update features three articles on aspects of the Israeli election campaign – and especially devoted to correcting some myths about the campaign and its likely outcome.
First up is Barry Rubin, commenting on some strange features of the election campaign, but also the exaggerated claims being made about Israel moving toward the right. He notes that current PM Binyamin Netanyahu’s opponents appear to be doing a poor job of challenging him, relying too much on American political consultants, fighting amongst themselves, and boxing themselves into a corner by ruling out involvement in a Netanyahu coalition.
Breaking through the silence on the plight of Middle Eastern Christians
January 15, 2013 | Ahron Shapiro
Up to 100 million Christians are facing persecution globally, mostly by Islamic extremists, and especially in the Middle East and African regions, according to a new report by the Christian NGO Open Doors.
According to the organisation, of the top 10 countries on their list – North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Maldives, Mali, Iran, Yemen and Eritrea – eight are majority Muslim states threatened by Islamic extremism, with North Korea and Eritrea being the sole exceptions.
The report puts a spotlight on the underreported plight of minority Christians worldwide, particularly in the Islamist-dominated Middle East, where the number of Christians relative to the global Christian population has plunged to less than one percent. This is in contrast to a century ago, when the Middle East was home to 20 percent of the world’s Christians.
Media Week – Half-cocked; Nuclear handwringing; Off key; The value of values
January 11, 2013 | Allon Lee
In the Sun-Herald (30/12), Paul McGeough penned a long article devoted to offensively comparing pro-Israel voices concerned over President Barack Obama’s possible nomination of former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel as his next Defence-Secretary to those Americans who defend their right to own guns in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook school massacre.
Iran’s war on human rights
January 11, 2013 | Sharyn Mittelman
Following the Iranian regime’s violent crackdown on Iranians who protested the June 2009 election result, Iran’s repression continued against anyone deemed to be a supporter of the ‘velvet revolution’. As a result, citizens who dare to speak out against Iran’s violation of human rights including lawyers, journalists, bloggers have been arrested and often tortured. While this issue has mostly faded from global attention, the death while in custody of a 35-year-old Iranian activist blogger Sattar Beheshti in November 2012 has put this issue back in the headlines.
Settlements – International Law and the physical and political realities
January 11, 2013
This Update features some information and argument related to the always contentious issue of Israeli West Bank settlements.
First up is noted Israeli international law expert Alan Baker looking at the arguments about the legality of the settlements. He summarises the case that they are legal in the most concise way I have yet seen. He also has a strong discussion of the relationship between the settlement question and the Oslo accords, noting that the Palestinian demand for a settlement freeze as a precondition for talks is actually a violation of Oslo, just as the recent UN decision to upgrade Palestinian status to a “non-member state” was.
