Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council

These are the children whose funerals are tragically considered to be a greater celebration than their weddings, or graduations.

Since 2011, Indonesia - home to the largest Muslim community in the world - has been conducting a dialogue on democracy with Egypt and Tunisia. This has largely been triggered by Indonesia's ambition to advance democracy in the Muslim, and especially Arab, states and to prove in the international ar

A new constitution has been adopted in Tunisia, and many in the media were quick to rejoice that women's rights were enshrined in the document, as headlines announced. But is that enthusiasm perhaps exaggerated and premature?

When the Tunisian tennis federation ordered the country's no. 1 player, Malik Jaziri, not to play against Israeli tennis player Amir Weintraub in the Tashkent Challenger tournament quarter final last month, they probably failed to predict the full implications of their discriminatory decision. Not o

This Update deals with increasing signs across the Middle East that - independently of the overthrow of the Egyptian government by the military in July -  the Muslim Brotherhood, the parent organisation for all modern Islamists, is on the skids. If this trend persists, it would

The Pew Research Centre's Global Attitudes Project has just released the results of surveys it conducted throughout the Middle East in the wake of the "Arab Spring." The surveys reveal some interesting insights about attitudes in the Middle East in the wake of the recent uprisings, including how Mid

Since the outbreak of the protests in Tahrir Square, which were led by liberal, secular youth and which led to the ouster of Egyptian President Husni Mubarak, a lot of water has flowed through the Nile. An ailing Mubarak is on trial, possibly for his life, and his declaration that only his regime co

Will the Arab revolutions bring freedom for women? So far the signs are bad. Many women in post-revolution Egypt, Libya and Tunisia are concerned. During the Arab Spring they played a key part in the protests by taking to the streets, marching and protesting alongside men. As the old order fell, ho

In the aftermath of the Arab Spring, expressions of explicit anti-Semitism and anti-Jewish sentiments are beginning to surge. In Middle East politics, it has long beem traditional to point a finger at Israel, "the Zionists" and "the Jews", who were blamed for all the problems of the Muslim and Arab

As the AP reported on Sunday, the final results of the recent Moroccan elections confirm a victory, if not a majority, for Morocco's Islamist party. These elections form a part of the series of reforms implemented by the Moroccan King in order to quell the country's brief spell of Arab Spring-style

Historically, following many of the revolutions in the Arab and Muslim world, previous traditions hindering women's rights and limiting their role in politics and society have been reinstated. The deterioration in women's rights after the revolution in Algeria ended in 1962, and the Iranian Islamic

Rioting in Tunisia and Egypt in early 2011 unleashed a tidal wave of unrest across the Arab world that was soon designated the "Arab Spring." Enthusiasts in the West hailed a new birth of freedom for a giant slice of humanity that has been living in despotic darkness for centuries. But historians in

This Update features some comment on the outcome of the Tunisian elections last week, and their wider implications. First up is the Jerusalem Post arguing in an editorial that Tunisia demonstrated why it is the most promising candidate for democracy in the Arab world - as shown by the f

On Sunday, October 23, Tunisia held the first democratic elections resulting from this year's regional political upheaval, choosing a new Constituent Assembly with a vaguely defined mandate to govern the country and write a new constitution within a year. With results still coming in at press time,

Here is something that I would not have been able to write until today: with election results pouring in, Tunisia's Enahda party has declared victory. In its breakdown of the results thus far, Tunisia's fledgling English-language news agency Tunisia Live has reported that Enahda has won 43 of the 10

On Sunday 23 October, Tunisia held its first truly free election since its independence. Tunisian Hadiya Al Sabie said: "It's the first time I have voted from my heart....Not for something that I am forced to vote for, but from my heart." The polls have now closed after a voter turnout out of

This Update deals with the sudden overthrow of the Ben Ali dictatorship in Tunisia over the weekend. It focuses especially on two questions about the aftermath of this event: Is democracy now in the cards for Tunisia, and what are the implications of the regime change in Tunis for other Middle Easte