Tag Archives: Israel

It is difficult not to savour the irony of two United States congresswomen who advocate boycotts of Israel crying foul at being denied entry into the very country they seek to erase.  Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, two members of the Democratic Party’s “Squad” of neophyte congresswomen from the Party’s …

As writer of this letter I am not someone who makes it her life’s mission to bring others down.  In fact quite the opposite.  I look for positives wherever I can and try not to be critical. I have read with interest the different opinions on all sides of the …

The Palestinians have only themselves to blame for unifying the bulk of the Israeli public and for not being a hot issue of division in the forthcoming Israeli elections. A century of unbroken Palestinian intransigence is best expressed by the Palestine Arab Executive Committee’s statement in 1921, “Either us or …

My North African Jewish-Amazigh* grandparents came from Djerba, Tunisia, to Israel in the early 1950s. Around the same time that my father’s parents arrived in Israel from North Africa, my mother’s parents came to Israel from Baghdad, Iraq.  They were also forced out of their country.  They had been part …

The Jewish connection to the Land of Israel did not begin in the wake of the Holocaust or with Zionism in the late 19th century. The Jewish people have lived in the Land of Israel for 3,000 years.  If one does not want to accept the Bible as a source …

The terminology used by the United Nations that Israel is “illegally occupying Palestinian Land” has angered Israelis for a long time. The Israelis do not believe that the land is “Palestinian,” that they are “occupying it” or that living in and controlling such land is “illegal.” The Trump Administration agrees …

There are many misconceptions about the Temple Mount, the Kotel and the Al Aqsa mosque. Confusion and even much conflict can be dispelled when the facts are made clear! 1. What is the holiest site on earth for Jews? Did you answer, “the Kotel”? If you did, that’s a mistake …

This is not so much a review of the book “The Rage Less Traveled: A Memoir of Surviving a Machete Attack,” it’s more a summary of my experience reading it and why I believe this is a must read for everyone, including those not specifically interested in Israel.  Choosing to …

And a source of sadness, as well. I refer, of course, to the current political situation in Israel. For days, I held off posting because I was waiting for resolution with regard to formation of a coalition. Now the time to write has come. ~~~~~~~~~~ I want to begin by …

In the US today, “white people” are being shamed into feeling that somehow they, and all their forebears, are directly responsible for the persecution of whoever makes it onto the accepted list of the “oppressed.” Israel does not relate to that. The recent Conservatism Conference in Jerusalem, sponsored by the …

Apartheid. Just the mention of the word is emotive, evocative and provocative. For millions of South Africans who suffered under the apartheid regime, the word is synonymous with suffering, discrimination and racism. Today the word apartheid has been hijacked by Israel’s detractors as a way to launch a well-orchestrated assault …

It’s a difficult time for pollsters. Whether it be in the USA, Israel or Australia, it seems that the common denominator is that they are not an accurate indicator of too much at all. Moreover, exit polling which was usually regarded as being more exact, also proved to not be …

Israel is one of the most misunderstood, misrepresented and maligned countries on earth.  The question is, why? Jew hate?  Or because our “hasbara” is terrible?  In pro-Israel circles either (or both) of these are go-to explanations however neither are enough to explain the dissonance between Israeli reality and the concepts …

It’s Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day, and, as remarked upon by both local and foreign observers, the country swings in a schizophrenic kind of way from the mourning, sorrow and remembrance of Yom Hazikaron to the flag-waving patriotism and general merry-making of Yom Ha’atzmaut. Prayers marking the transition from the …

ECAJ condemns latest Hamas rocket attacks on Israel.   5 May2019 The Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) condemns the actions of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other terrorist groups in Gaza which over the last two days have fired more than 450 rockets, mortars and other explosive projectiles targeted at civilian …

In the memory of June 5th 1967, some recall defeat others celebrate victory, but very few remember the tragedy of the forgotten ones.  After the war between Israel and Egypt started in 1967, the Egyptian government took the decision to take Egyptian Jews into custody until they evacuated them from …

For many American Jews it is a source of profound discomfort and embarrassment that Jews actually carry weapons and fight. In a deliciously ironic move, the same folks who loathe the president of the United States are beseeching him to restrain his best friend in the Middle East, Israeli Prime …

Consumers of the media in Australia were adequately informed of the events of the last few days in Israel and the Palestinian territories – whereby a large rocket fired from Gaza into central Israel on March 25, injuring seven people, triggered a round of violence. Israeli retaliated with air-raids against …

I am a child of the Diaspora, the son of Holocaust survivors.  I grew up in the sheltered Jewish community of Sydney Australia.  As a teen and during my student years in Australia I was active in the Jewish community, Jewish youth movements and Jewish and general student politics. The …

Israel and Samoa Agreement Strengthens Ties.​ Israel was pleased to host Prime Minister of Samoa, H.E. Tuilaepa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi for his first trip to Israel. Prime Minister Malielegaoi, accompanied by Ambassador to Samoa H.E. Itzhak Gerberg, highlighted the strong friendship between the two countries. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu​ held a successful meeting …