Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council

Those supporting a motion at the upcoming ALP NSW State Conference calling for recognising a Palestinian state argue they are aiming to advance prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace. Yet an informed look at the current situation would make it clear that premature recognition of "Palestine" as a st

For years, ABC has defended its use of Al Jazeera's English language news programming, despite mounting evidence that its use violates the editorial policy that the taxpayer-funded ABC must respect, according to its charter.

FIFTY years ago and 19 years after the 1948 War of Independence, Israel was once again dragged into an existential war. Recently, Israel's state archives released detailed original transcripts of Cabinet discussions before the war. Conquest wasn't on the minds of Israel's leaders. Survival was.

This month marks 50 years since the Six Day War - which is pivotal to understanding the modern Middle East, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. While it did not start that conflict, which began with Arab rejection of Israel's existence prior to its establishment in 1948, it has drawn the map from

For the sake of the Australasian region, the North Korean nuclear threat must be contained. For the sake of the world, the Iranian nuclear threat must be neutralised, not only in the short term but the long term as well.

As North Korea once again comes to the fore of the world's conscious, the lesson should be clear. What matters is not short-term talk, deal, and negotiations, but whether Iran's long-term ambitions have changed. For now, this does not seem to be the case. And, if this is allowed to fester, the long

Hamas leaders have been clear the new policy document neither replaces or amends Hamas' homicidal and antisemitic founding charter nor accepts Israel's existence.

Now that the Parliamentary Joint Committee Inquiry into Freedom of Speech has handed down its findings, it's time to put the idea of making changes to Sections 18C or 18D of the Racial Discrimination Act (RDA) to bed.

Australia has been a good friend to Israel since before the establishment of the Jewish state. The friendship has transcended partisan politics, and been enhanced and promoted by successive leaders of both nations. Against this conducive backdrop, last week's historic first visit by Prime Minister

To read Mark Kenny's analysis of Israel and Palestine ("Blind support for Israel unhelpful", February 19), one would think the West Bank was a place where arrogant, lawless Israelis tormented and oppressed innocent Palestinians almost for sport, while steadily undermining the only real chance of pea

AS Australia prepares to welcome the first ever visit by an Israeli Prime Minister, cooperation and dialogue between our two nations have never been stronger. It's a record of friendship over a hundred years that few countries can match - marked by shared democratic and egalitarian values, common c

Former Prime Minister Bob Hawke is correct that, as former Israeli PM Golda Meir said, there can be no peace for Israel without an honourable settlement of the aspirations of the Palestinian people. However, there can also only be peace if both parties negotiate that honourable settlement in good fa

New Zealand's role in co-sponsoring United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 2334 isn't anything to cheer about for those who care more about peace than symbolism. In fact, it damages prospects for peace.

The City of Jerusalem, holy to the Jewish, Christian and Islamic faiths, is known to cause its own particular kind of madness. About 50 foreign visitors to the city a year experience what is known as "Jerusalem Syndrome" - psychotic delusions that they are biblical figures or harbingers of Armageddo

Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop are to be admiringly applauded for demonstrating courageous and astute political leadership in making it clear that Australia would have opposed the appallingly flawed and one-sided United Nations Security Council Resoluti

Freedom of speech is essential to democracy; so is the freedom to debate. No significant voice in Australia argues otherwise. It is also the case that Freedom of Speech is not an absolute right in Australia nor in other similar liberal democracies - even if some voices in Australia pretend otherwi

Clause 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act has recently been subject to intense criticism on ideological grounds, but many opponents misrepresent the actual operation of the Act. These efforts have been overwhelmingly rejected by a broad cross-section of Australia's diverse communities - reflected

Diverting humanitarian aid is despicable. Diverting it to a militant organisation that carries out attacks against civilians is simply evil. It is now common knowledge that Hamas - the designated terrorist organisation which rules the Gaza Strip - has for years been diverting cement and other mater

The rise of abrasive populist figures and movements around the world, including Donald Trump, has featured much demagoguery alleging the Muslim community as a whole shares collective responsibility for the crimes of Islamist extremists. A good local example is the return to prominence of Pauline Ha

The Iran nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was officially "implemented" in January this year when world powers lifted sanctions on Iran. So is the Iranian nuclear problem now solved, with the only problem for the international community to continue implementing the JCPOA?