In South Africa, one step forward, two steps back

“Not as much as we had hoped, but we have advanced nonetheless!” With these words, the “Palestine Solidarity Forum” of South Africa last week greeted the news that the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) top decision-making body had voted, for the moment at least, against an academic boycott of Israel. Read more

Shalom Chaver

Just over a year ago we had the pleasure of hosting Rabbi John Levi, Emeritus Rabbi of TempleBeth Israel in Melbourne, at our home in Efrat…writes Michael Kuttner. Read more

On the other hand

Whether we have more of the same or forge ahead on new paths is in the hands of the voters every few years. Read more

‘Invented Lives’ by Andrea Goldsmith: a book review by Geoffrey Zygier

The Western world today is a place where victimhood is a badge of honour, one where people compete in public arenas to be among the elite of those who suffer. Read more

What would Menachem Begin think about Israel’s elections?

Respect is always slow in coming for national leaders who are labelled as conservatives. Read more

No stone left unturned…

In the world of intelligence, the saying goes, reality often exceeds the imagination, and yet the operation to return Zachary Baumel’s remains to Israel in a mission that spanned the globe can easily be considered one of the most impressive in the country’s history. Read more

Of compromise and betrayal: From the Golan to Brexit

Two current sources of uproar tie Britain, the United States and Israel into a matrix of hypocrisy, double standards and spinelessness. Read more

Will Trump’s ‘deal of the century’ lead to change?

Since the 1993 Oslo accords, there have been many attempts to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Read more

Adapting the Law

The Bible emerged in, and out of, a world that was predominantly agricultural. A world where seasons and produce determined how societies flourished or perished Read more

Lucky dip on election day

When we were growing up in Wellington many years ago (a bygone era – never to return) the highlight of the Jewish community’s social calendar and Zionist fundraising was the annual Jewish National Fund garden party. Read more

The City of David and the problem with dividing Jerusalem

Those who continue to deny the historical facts about Jewish Jerusalem got more bad news this week. Archeologists working at the City of David site in Jerusalem revealed some of their latest finds, among them was a bulla or small seal that can be dated to the sixth century B.C.E. and before the Babylonian destruction of the First Temple. Read more

Ludwig and Pyotr step up again: a music review by Fraser Beath McEwing

An SSO Masters Series concert with two sure-fire blockbuster works would usually leave room for something quirky from artistic director, David Robertson’s black book of offbeat music he likes to share, but it didn’t happen last night. We got the Beethoven violin concerto and Tchaikovsky’s fourth symphony neatly divided by interval. Both these works are favoured with plenty of playtime around Australian orchestras because they are so popular. Read more

Trump exposes United Nations as world’s epicentre for Jew-hatred

President Trump’s Proclamation recognising Israel’s sovereignty in the Golan Heights – and the condemnation issued by the United Nations Security Council in response – has exposed the United Nations (UN) as the world’s epicentre for rabid Jew-hatred. Read more

‘Institutionally antisemitic’: The British Labour Party’s cautionary tale

There is, in Britain, a long tradition of holding public inquiries to establish the facts and learn the appropriate lessons from a host of social and political challenges. Read more

Hard to call

These elections are perhaps the most interesting in recent times, even though there are really only two candidates running. Read more

What should vegans do on Pesach? – ask the rabbi

Rabbi Raymond Apple was for many years Australia’s highest-profile rabbi and the leading spokesman on Jewish religious issues. Read more

‘Institutionally antisemitic’: The British Labour Party’s cautionary tale

There is, in Britain, a long tradition of holding public inquiries to establish the facts and learn the appropriate lessons from a host of social and political challenges. Read more

Anti-Israel vote in the German Bundestag spurs criticism of Germany’s mixed Israel policies

The Free Democratic Party has challenged the federal government to reverse anti-Israel German voting patterns at the United Nations. Read more

On the other hand

Our neighbours in Gaza spend all their time trying to devise new ways to cause murder and mayhem. Read more

UIA VIC Women’s Division

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop was the keynote speaker at the Women’s Division in Melbourne. Were you there? A J-Wire photo gallery. Read more

Hamas ‘war of attrition’ against Israel’s south could resume on ‘Land Day’

Hamas is set to hold a mass march this Saturday to the Gazan-Israeli border to mark “Land Day,” an event that has the potential to transform into mass disturbances, which, in turn, could reignite Gazan rocket fire and Israeli military strikes. Read more

The Yabloner Rebbe

Usually, I write my own material. This time I am taking it from Pini Dunner, another British rabbi now living in the USA. His hobby is collecting Judaica and researching Jewish history. Read more

Al Chet – for the sins we may have committed

Although as individuals it is unlikely we have transgressed every one of them we nevertheless accept collective responsibility for the possibility that as a community we may have. Read more

Old City Jerusalem now largest accessible historic site in world

The Old City of Jerusalem just became the largest accessible historic city in the world. Read more

By recognizing the Golan, Trump revives the idea that aggression shouldn’t be cost-free

When U.S. President Donald Trump recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, foreign-policy experts keened in chorus that he was destroying a fundamental principle of the world order: that territory can’t be acquired through force. Let’s hope they’re right—because that principle, far from deterring aggression, actually rewards it. Read more

The French pilot who stayed with his Jewish passengers at Entebbe

We live in a time when it seems as if the guard rails that briefly deterred the spread of antisemitism have collapsed. Read more

Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon: Anti-Zionism, BDS are the new forms of antisemitism

The Jewish state has seen remarkable diplomatic success in recent years—from the U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as its official capital last year to Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights this week, to emerging relations with countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. For many observers, Israel has gone from a shunned country to a respected member of the international community. Read more

UIA NSW Women’s Division 2019 Champagne Breakfast: photo library

UIA NSW Women’s Division hosted 600 women at its 2019 Champagne Breakfast on 24 March at Doltone House Jones Bay Wharf with guest speakers Julie Bishop MP and Arielle Di Porto – Acting Director Aliyah & Absorption at The Jewish Agency. Were you there? Read more

NIF says “the best way to see a new side of Israel”

Applications have opened for the fifth cohort of the New Israel Fund Australia’s Naomi Chazan Fellowship. Read more

Bright Swallow by Vivian Bi: a book review by Geoffrey Zygier

Among the major threats to our planet’s wellbeing is tribalism. Read more

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