Limmud-Oz breaking records
There will be a record 17 international presenters at this year’s Limmud-Oz in Sydney to be held next month. Read more
Israel and Australia in joint stamp issue
Stamps bearing tribute to the heroic Australian Light Horse Brigade and the monumental battle fought by the ANZACs in Beersheba in 1917 will be jointly issued by Israel and Australia on 10 May. Read more
Koved zayer ondenk – Lest We Forget in Yiddish
Parliamentary Secretary for the Arts Michael Danby visited Germany for ANZAC day and to attend a ceremony at which indigenous remains were returned to Aboriginal leaders. Read more
University condemns antisemitic remarks about campus Max Brenner store
The University of New South Wales has issued a statement commenting on antisemitic remarks posted on social media following the announcement that a Max Brenner chocolate store will open on campus. Read more
South African organisation facilitates Aliyah for Australians
The Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA) has signed an arrangement with Telfed, the South African Zionist Federation’s Israeli arm, to facilitate immigration for Australian olim. Read more
Jerusalem Prize for David Zwartz
Long time Wellington community stalwart David Zwartz has been awarded the Jerusalem Prize…the first New Zealand recipient. Read more
Kiwis Kosher Again
The New Zealand Government has cleared the direct transportation of pets from Israel following a two year ban. Read more
Travelling South African rabbi to visit Australia
A rabbi whose career focused in being the spiritual leader of Jewish communities in rural areas of South Africa will visit Australia next month. Read more
Jewish ANZAC commemoration in Melbourne
The Victorian Association of Jewish Ex & Servicemen & Women Australia has held its memorable ANZAC commemoration service. Read more
B’nai B’rith and Hatzolah participate in drugs forum
More than 150 members of the Melbourne community have attended a “Drugs Without Borders: Rethinking Responses”, forum organized by B’nai B’rith Victoria. Read more
Jewish Anzac commemoration
Over 170 guests attended a wreath-laying ceremony commemorating Anzac Day at the NSW Jewish War Memorial as the Last Post was played in memory of those Jewish servicemen and women who lost their lives fighting for Australia. Read more
The Other Son – an interview with Lorraine Levy
French filmmaker Lorraine Levy directed “The Other Son”, a warm, thought-provoking and sensitive film on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is a film no-one should miss. She answers questions about the project. Read more
A Terrorist’s Dream – To have Jews as the Enemy.
From Gil Solomon:
It must be any Arab terrorist’s dream come true that they have Jews as their enemy.
If you are a terrorist facing Israel, you can fire rockets by the thousands and finally receive a response you know will end prematurely and inconclusively. You face an Israeli enemy which, during a war, gives advance notice by flyers and phone calls to apartment residents that a specific building is being targeted, giving so called “innocent” civilians and yourselves enough time to escape with your life.
Recently a US drone targeted a known terrorist in Pakistan and according to media reports even after confirming the man’s wife and extended family were present, the missile launch went ahead killing the terrorist and nine of those present with him and not a peep from anyone. This should serve as an example of the blatant experiences Israel should highlight the next time she faces her accusers. No country on the face of the earth goes to the extent Israel does in trying to avoid civilian casualties but one must ask, what benefit has it gained?
If you are a terrorist facing Israel, you can fabricate stories of a supposed massacre (e.g. Jenin), knowing full well that nothing occurred but that it will cast dispersions on an enemy which foolishly states that it will investigate the claim and thereby, to the rest of the world, implies there may be something to the story. In this regard, if you are a terrorist you know that in respect to your Israeli enemy, that they have not a clue how to counter the Hasbara war you are waging against them and wouldn’t even know that Hasbara is a war.
If you are a terrorist facing Israel, you will certainly know that her enemies can make the most outrageous and heinous statements, such as, according to media reports that “Jews are the offspring of pigs and apes”, knowing full well that the Israelis will still offer to sit down with you in talks with no preconditions! Not even the demand that the indoctrination of children in hate must stop.
If you are a terrorist facing Israel, you will know that if captured, as in the case of case of Barghouti, a terrorist “with blood on his hands” sitting in an Israeli prison, you can still be given access to the world media!
If you are a terrorist facing Israel, you will rejoice in that country’s decision of allowing the Muslim Waqf to take control of the Temple Mount after the 1967 war, all for a dubious halachic ruling which is not universally accepted today. This will allow you to go on excavating under the Temple Mount with a bulldozer, destroying any remaining Jewish artefacts in order to rid the place of any trace of the first and second Temple periods and in the process build a mosque there for future proof of claim to the land.
If you are a terrorist facing Israel, you will know that so successful is your propaganda, that your enemy will still be held responsible by the world media for so called settlement “expansion” even though it is clearly only building a new house or an extension to an existing home but within the boundaries of the existing settlement.
If you are a terrorist facing Israel, you will know that no nation in the Western world will call you to account for your ongoing perpetrated myths and lies.
If you are a terrorist facing Israel, you know that your enemy will indulge your ludicrous and incessant claims and still be willing to sit down with you in good faith.
If you are a terrorist facing Israel, you should pray that your enemy will continue treating you as they do now, that is, not as any “normal” country would do. If your enemy was a “normal” country like Russia, China or the USA facing barrage after deadly barrage of missiles, you could rest assured that parts of the Gaza Strip and West Bank would have been reduced to rubble long ago.
Finally and most disgusting of all, if you are a terrorist facing Israel you will know that within the Jewish Diaspora, you will have countless numbers who have fallen for your propaganda, fallen for your attempts to rewrite history, who will flock to your side and denounce Israel for every step it takes in its defence. In short, you will be able to count on many of those who you call the “offspring of pigs and apes” who will defend your every move and pronouncement. If this is not obscene enough, these same “offspring of pigs and apes” will devise ways of bring economic hardship to Israel by such devious campaigns as a BDS.
Gil Solomon
Sydney
Happy birthday, Israel!
Today, Israel celebrates the 65th anniversary of its independence (Yom Haatzmaut)…writes Sharyn Mittleman Read more
Aussie on 1000km run in Israel
An English-born Australian is running the length of Israel’s National Trail…a journey of 1009 kms which he hopes to complete in 12 days. Read more
Basketball team makes the finals
Northside Maccabi Basketball Club Mens ‘C’ grade team, The Maccabi Kings have made the Grand Final. Read more
AUJS at odds with Sydney uni students
The Australasian Union of Jewish Students (AUJS) has criticised the University of Sydney’s Student Representative Council (SRC) for passing a “divisive and counterproductive” motion calling on the University to end all ties with the Technion. Read more
Lunch with Tony Abbott…what was on the menu?
Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has addressed a luncheon with Jewish leaders in Sydney. Read more
Yom Hazikaron in Australia
Thousands of members of Jewish communities throughout Australia attended commemoration events for Yom Hazikaron, the day of remembrance for the fallen military personnel of the IDF and victims of terror. Read more
Israel and New Zealand fail to protect investors
With nervous investors concerned about the health of their banks in many European countries , the New Zealand Greens have said that New Zealand and Israel are the only two countries in the OECD which do not offer protection to those whose who have deposits in those nations’ banks. Read more
AJDS and the JCCV
It doesn’t surprise me that the JCCV is considering disaffiliating AJDS. This possibility has been on the agenda for a while. Not surprisingly, I have mixed feelings about this course of action. Read more
ADC speaks out against online hate
Dr Dvir Abramovich, Chairman of the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission ADC), has spoken out against the ever-growing proliferation of online hate speech, in particular on Facebook. Read more
L’hitrahot Shemi
Ambassador Shemi Tzur headed the diplomatic team which re-opened the embassy in Wellington ending a hiatus created by economic cuts made by Israel’s Foreign Ministry. Read more
Al-Durah: A lethal narrative and the innocent lives it continues to destroy…writes Arnold Roth
A court of appeal in Paris will hand down an important judgment today that serves as a kind of microcosm of how the media establishment can act in a co-ordinated way to protect its members’ perceived interests. It also, by the way, throws a sharp light on the way Israel’s interests are under attack far from the physical battlefield – while the casualties are all too real. Read more
Subscribing and registering
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Yad Vashem commemorates 70th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
The central theme for this year’s Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day is Defiance and Rebellion during the Holocaust: 70 Years Since the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Read more
Waks’s testimony made public
Manny Waks and his father Zephaniah gave their testimonies to the Victorian Government Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and Other Organisations late last year. They have been made public. Zephaniah Waks talks of Yeshiva intimidation of the sexually abused in Brooklyn being harsher than that meted out by the mob and Manny Waks goes on the front foot in dealing with communal leadership…. Read more
Auckland farewells ambassador
Israel’s ambassador to New Zealand Shemi Tzur’s posting is drawing to a close. The Auckland Jewish community has bade him farewell. Read more
A Muslim, a Christian and a Jew picked up an instrument….
While a Jew, a Christian and a Muslim meeting on the internet to record an album might sound like the start of a joke, these curious beginnings led to the formation of The Bridge Project, and their truly remarkable debut album. Read more
No dramas at the Australian Islamic Peace Conference
The Jewish Community Council of Victoria campaigned to support multiculturalism in order to avoid antisemitism, religious intolerance or racial vilification from speakers at last weekend’s Australian Islamic Peace Conference. Read more
