The weakest link

It turns out that the weakest link in Prime Minister Naphtali Bennett’s eight party coalition government is Naphtali Bennett. Read more

‘Believe more in the threats of our enemies than in the promises of our allies’

Some years ago, I heard the head of an Israeli think tank say, that Jewish life is a constant tension between two, often clashing, narratives. Read more

Amnesty apartheid

It is amazing just how disconnected from reality the latest Amnesty International report is.

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Israel: a check on the political temperature

Suddenly, there are two issues that have arisen which have the potential to shorten the life of the Israeli coalition government. Read more

Political challenges

As we close out 2021 there are two key areas that continue to be at the centre of Israel’s diplomatic and internal political challenges, as well as a third emerging issue of quite a different colour. Read more

Political life after the budget

For the first time in three years, the State of Israel has a budget. Read more

Politics Israeli-style

All opinion polls show that Likud voters, by very large margins, prefer to keep Netanyahu as leader and stay in opposition, rather than go back into government, but with someone else in the top position. Read more

Israel’s government functioning

Prime Minister Bennett has now been in office for three months and the sky has not fallen. Read more

So far, so good

The Israeli government coalition of eight parties, where not only can any one party bring the government down, but even a disaffected individual MK is able to do so, has survived its first two months. Read more

Almost a month in – Israel’s latest government

And they said it couldn’t last……… Read more

The closing of an era?

Barring last-minute surprises, this Sunday will see the closing of an era. Read more

The Kashrut of Israeli politics

Fifty years ago this year, I first joined the Zionist Council of NSW as a youth movement representative and in all of these years, I have never written an article or opinion piece about kashrut (Jewish dietary laws) or more particularly, kosher certification. Until now. Read more

73rd birthday and 73% of Israel’s population is Jewish

Israel at 73 years, an amazing feat. Read more

Israeli election: First thoughts

Whilst this is being written immediately post-election with incomplete results, there are a few things we can say. Read more

Will Netanyahu be caught in a downpour?

Predicting the end of Benjamin Netanyahu’s tenure as Prime Minister of Israel is like predicting the coming of rain during a drought. You know it has to come sometime, but the question is when? Read more

Netanyahu: the politician, the man

Prime Minister Netanyahu has suddenly shifted the goalposts and his political future may depend on how his imaginative and daring initiative shapes up. Read more

Political parties, political games

Although it is Chanukah, it very much seems as if we are witnessing a Purim spiel in two arenas. Read more

The upcoming administration

President Rivlin and Prime Minister Netanyahu have both spoken with President-elect Joe Biden and for the first time have referred to him with that descriptor. Read more

Understanding contemporary Mid-East politics

Direct Etihad passenger flights to Israel; the formation of Kosher Arabia which will apparently make it easier to get kosher food in Abu Dhabi and Dubai than in Sydney or Melbourne; a public sukkah in front of the world-famous Burj Khalifa Tower; and normalisation with Sudan around the corner. Read more

The two faces of Israel

It’s quite amazing how the State of Israel at this moment in time, has become a mirror image of the two sides of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s operating styles. Read more

Zionism is in good shape

Almost everywhere one turns today, there are debates about the condition Zionism is in. Read more

Two worlds in Israel

In Israel we currently see two worlds clashing. Read more

Two leaders, two styles

It would be hard to find two more contrasting leadership styles than those of Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defence Minister/Prime Minister in waiting, Benny Gantz. Read more

Annexation: who will play the lead roles?

We stand just weeks after celebrating that the Balfour Declaration of 1917 moved from a statement of British intent to the legal process of affirmation of the Jewish Homeland at the San Remo Conference in April 1920 – and its then formal ratification by the League of Nations. Read more

A look at the upcoming Knesset

Well, if nothing changes between now and Wednesday, we will finally see an actual Israeli government being sworn in. Read more

Unprecedented

When people discussed the need for Israel to finally form some sort of unity government after three election attempts in order to deal with real matters of government, almost no-one imagined that as Bill Gates had predicted already in 2015 – the next danger facing mankind would not be something as big as a nuclear bomb, but rather something as small as the coronavirus. Read more

Election number three – What was different?

Exit polls, having twice underestimated Prime Minister Netanyahu and his block’s number of Knesset seats in April 2019 and September 2019, now overestimated them. Read more

The ‘Deal of the Century’ – the Weiser view

There has been a consistent pattern to the “peace process” for 100 years from when the Palestine Arab Executive Committee met in 1921 and declared – “Either us or the Zionists. There is no room for both” Read more

Image and perception – beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Devastating drought and bushfires in Australia and extreme flooding in Israel. Read more

A disappointing end to 2019

Well, the unthinkable has happened. Read more

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