Rabbis voice their support

In the wake of the passing of United Nations Security Council resolution 2334, the Rabbinic Council of Australia and New Zealand (RCANZ) has applauded the efforts made by the religious and lay leadership of New Zealand’s Jewish community to reach out to their Prime Minister Bill English, expressing their condemnation of the resolution, particularly in light of the New Zealand Government’s involvement in it.  Read more

Holidays don’t stop JNF

While most are taking a well deserved break,  not even the holidays will stop the JNF Education Shaliach, Yigal Nisell, from bringing the message of Israel and Zionism to Jewish youth. Read more

First public Menorah lighting in Paddington

Since its establishment in the mid 1800’s, there has never been a public Menorah lighting held in Paddington…until this year. Read more

‘Chanukah in the City’ Pays Tribute to Victims of the Sydney Siege

To honour the victims of the Lindt Café tragedy, the public Menorah lighting at Martin Place, Sydney, was imbued with emotional messages of peace and compassion. Read more

Rotem takes the top spot at Israeli Foreign Ministry

Former ambassador to Australia Yuval Rotem has been appointed as director general of the Israeli Foreign Ministry. Read more

Australian students celebrate Chanukah in Israel

More than 200 students from Sydney and Melbourne currently enrolled at the Alexander Muss High School in Israel (AMHSI) have celebrated Chanukah. Read more

New Year expectations…writes Michael Kuttner

As the civil year of 2016 draws to a close we look with uncertainty towards 2017 and wonder whether it can be worse than this year. Read more

Responding to Obama’s malicious betrayal of Israel…writes Isi Leibler

As predicted, on the eve of his retirement President Barack Obama betrayed Israel. The former long-standing congregant of the paranoid antisemitic pastor Rev. Jeremy Wright who has a penchant for supporting to the Moslem Brotherhood, broke with forty years of U.S. bipartisan policy of protecting the Jewish state from the wolves at the United Nations. Read more

Australia consistently does not support one-sided resolutions targeting Israel

Australia’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has reaffirmed the country’s record in not supporting U.N. resolutions targeting Israel. Read more

Obama and Kerry open door for Palestine Mandate Solution

US Secretary of State John Kerry – perhaps unwittingly – has now opened the door to reviving the solution contained in the 1922 League of Nations Mandate for Palestine – one homeland for the Jews and one homeland for the Arabs (“Palestine Mandate Solution”)…writes David Singer. Read more

A Palestinian defeat is good for all…writes Daniel Pipes

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was photographed Dec. 21 carrying a copy of “Nothing Less than Victory: Decisive Wars and the Lessons of History,” by John David Lewis (Princeton University Press, 2010). In that book, Lewis looks at six case studies and argues that in them all “the tide of war turned when one side tasted defeat and its will to continue, rather than stiffening, collapsed.” Read more

Netanyahu responds to Kerry’s speech

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has “deep disappointment” with John Kerry’s speech condemning a policy of enabling Jews to live in Jerusalem. Read more

Kerry slams Israel, Netanyahu hits back in wake of UN vote against settlements

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry slammed the Israeli government over settlement building, warning that the two-state solution is “in jeopardy,” in a lengthy speech Wednesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu swiftly called “almost as unbalanced” as the United Nations Security Council’s recent anti-settlement resolution. Read more

NZ pro-Israel Christians to protest at parliament

Two busloads of people from the Flaxmere Christian Fellowship and other Churches in Hawkes Bay will  leave Hastings tomorrow to lead a protest on the grounds of Parliament in front of the Richard Seddon Statue. Read more

The Edge of Seventeen – a movie review by Roz Tarszisz

Angst and tantrums – the teenage years are a challenge for all involved.  This well drawn portrait from writer/director Kelly Fremon Craig is worth a look for its depiction of a girl who has yet to work out her place in the world, or indeed, if she even has one.

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The chanukah oil

Rabbi Raymond Apple writes on Chanukah… Read more

Israel bans New Zealand ambassador

New Zealand’s ambassador to Israel has been banned from entering the country as Israel continues to retaliate against a UN decision to condemn settlements. Read more

Security Council resolution on Israel and Palestine will just make the standoff worse

In his last address to the United Nations Security Council on December 16, outgoing Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon recognised that the UN is egregiously biased against Israel…writes Peter Wertheim and Alex Ryvchin Read more

UN Security Council Resolution 2334 will undermine peace prospects

Last week’s United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSC) 2334 was shameful and totally counterproductive…says the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council. Read more

Year in review: 10 Israel news storylines that defined 2016

President Barack Obama sprang his much-anticipated “December surprise” on Israel at the United Nations, capping off 2016 with a bang as it relates to the Gregorian calendar year’s major events surrounding the Jewish state. Read more

Tackling Holocaust denial and Fake News

The internet had become our go to place for information and search engines serve as its gateway…writes Dr Andre Oboler. Read more

Google relegates Holocaust denial sites

The B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission has welcomed the decision by Google to tweak its algorithms so as to ensure that the Holocaust denial and white-Supremacist website Stormfront and its article “Top 10 reasons why the Holocaust didn’t happen” has been removed as the top result. Read more

Palestine: Bob Carr’s Mistakes Need Correcting

Australia’s former Foreign Minister has entered the debate concerning Security Council Resolution 2334 passed on 23 December with his article in the Sydney Morning Herald “The Genius of the UN’s Resolution on Israeli settlements” (December 27). Read more

Bibi’s chutzpah

Netanyahu’s hutzpa is breathtaking. Read more

Netanyahu: “no diplomatic wisdom in being ingratiating”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spoken of complaints about his stand against those countries which voted against Israel in the U.N. condemning Israel’s continued settlement building. Read more

Did Amona play a role in the U.N. settlements vote?…asks Ron Weiser

Over the past month or so Israel’s  Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Lieberman have cautioned members of their own government against making any rash statements or legislative proposals in anticipation of what President-elect Trump might or might not give a green light to next year, in order to avoid inciting President Obama in his last few weeks in office. Read more

New Zealand’s shameful charade…writes Michael Kuttner

In a fitting finale to a year marked by international hypocrisy and double standards, Christmas and Chanukah are being celebrated by Christians and Jews in the very places where the original historical events took place. Read more

Netanyahu: At the cabinet meeting and at the Wall

Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke of the U.N. resolution condemning Israeli condemning Israel’s continued settlement building at the weekly cabinet meeting and at the second Chanukah lighting. Read more

Now What? UN Votes to Expel 400,000 Jews…writes Gidon Ben-Zvi

The United Nations Security Council vote regarding Israeli settlements, made possible to by the Obama administration’s historic decision to abstain, has effectively nullified the Oslo Accords that had been based on the concept of bilateral negotiations between Jerusalem and Ramallah. Read more

UN Security Council and Obama Revive Palestine Mandate Solution

United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 passed on 23 December 2016 has buried any lingering hopes for the creation of a second Arab State in former Palestine in addition to Jordan (”the two-state solution”)…writes David Singer. Read more

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