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‘No Rush to Declare for Palestine’

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Foreign Minister Penny Wong has labelled the recognition of Palestine as a “hypothetical”, ­despite Labor agreeing at national conference doing so would be an “important priority”.

Senator Wong said she was “not going to engage in hypotheticals” about the timing of recognising Palestine as a state and would not explain why the government was not moving on the issue.

However, she said she had been a chief advocate within the party on the wording in the ­national platform that has been criticised by pro-Israel groups.

“One of the reasons I’ve ­argued so strongly inside our party for that wording, and I have been probably the principal advocate of that wording for some years now, is that I do believe that this is something the party is entitled to express a view on, but ultimately, these are sensitive diplomatic decisions,” she told the ABC. “A cabinet should make such decisions when considering all of the diplomatic issues that would necessarily be before it.”

With Labor concerned it would face a push to put a timeline on recognising Palestine at ­national conference, the government changed its policy on the issue and declared the West Bank and Gaza as “Occupied Palestinian Territories” and Israeli settlements as ­“illegal”.

The change prevented a public stoush on the issue at last week’s policy forum in Brisbane although there were two speeches on the floor reflecting different views within the party.

Labor MP Susan Templeman said the issue of recognising Palestine would be an “issue of priority for our government”.

But former ACTU vice-president Michael Easson said viewing the conflict from a one-eyed perspective could not achieve any lasting solutions.

Article link: todayspaper.theaustralian.com.au/infinity/article_popover_share.aspx?guid=9605f1d1-bdea-4497-a29e-69f1ac836b11
Article source: The Australian | Greg Brown - Sarah Ison | 21.8.23

2023-10-24 01:28:30.000000
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Palestine needs two-state solution

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Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s description of Palestinian recognition as hypothetical is significant after the controversy about the issue before the ALP national conference.

The minister’s comment, hopefully, is a sign of greater realism within the Albanese government over extremist anti-Israel demands that Australia immediately recognise a currently non-existent “state of Palestine” that has neither internationally defined and accepted borders nor a central government or any other criteria for statehood stipulated in the 1933 Montevideo Convention on Rights and Duties of States.

Senator Wong is right to describe the current status of Palestinian statehood as hypothetical. But her assertion that recognising a Palestinian state remains an “important priority” for Australia is not reassuring. Neither is her admission that she was a chief advocate on the wording in the national platform that has been criticised by pro-Israel groups. “One of the reasons I’ve argued so strongly inside our party for that wording, and I have probably been the principal advocate of that wording for some years now, is that I do believe that this is something the party is entitled to express a view on, but ultimately these are sensitive diplomatic issues,” she said.

She is entitled to her views. But when an issue is as wrong as advocating Australian recognition of a non-existent Palestinian state, Senator Wong should avoid backing for anti-Israel ideologues in the ALP demanding immediate recognition. In the end, the conference drew back from extremists’ demands for recognition. It opted to maintain the status quo, drawing acknowledgment from the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council. AIJAC executive director Colin Rubenstein said the decision was “positive, given the circumstances”. But asserting that recognition of a non-existent Palestinian state remains an “important priority” is not in our national interest or that of our Western partners as they defend Israel’s right to exist. Agreeing to statehood without the Palestinian leadership agreeing to a negotiated two-state peace agreement with Israel would destroy decades of Australian bipartisanship.

Article link: todayspaper.theaustralian.com.au/infinity/article_popover_share.aspx?guid=c47ae9cb-579c-4226-a39d-a11c05b50134
Article source: The Australian | Editorial | 22.8.23

2023-10-24 01:28:30.000000
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Woman killed, man seriously wounded in West Bank

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A suspected Palestinian attacker has killed an Israeli woman and seriously wounded a man in the south of the occupied West Bank, Israeli authorities say.

The latest attack is part of a sharp escalation in the region in recent months involving Palestinian militants, Israeli security forces and radical Jewish settlers.

It took place on Monday as Israeli forces were already on high alert and searching for a gunman who had killed two Israelis in the northern West Bank on Saturday.

Late on Sunday, Israeli settlers threw stones and firebombs at a Palestinian home south of Nablus near the site of Saturday’s deadly attack, local officials reported, causing damage but no injuries.

Israeli security forces said in the latest attack the suspected Palestinian gunman opened fire at an Israeli car on the main north-south road in the West Bank, near the major city of Hebron. The army said the apparent drive-by shooting killed an Israeli woman and seriously wounded a man as the two were driving.

The Israeli rescue service reported the two victims were in their 40s and that a six-year-old girl who was also in the car was unharmed. The man, it said, was found semi-conscious and taken to the hospital.

Images from the scene showed the victims’ car riddled with more than a dozen bullet holes. The gunman fled, prompting Israeli security forces to embark on their second manhunt in three days.

The Hamas militant group and Palestinian Islamic Jihad praised the attack as a response to Israel’s expanding settlement enterprise in the West Bank, but stopped short of claiming responsibility.

The deadly shooting came just days after another Palestinian attack killed an Israeli father and son who were washing their car in the northern Palestinian town of Hawara, putting the West Bank on edge.

Nearly 180 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank since the start of this year, according to a tally by The Associated Press.  Israel says most of the Palestinians killed were militants. But stone throwing youths protesting the incursions and those not involved in the confrontations have also been killed.

Some 30 people have been killed by Palestinian attacks against Israelis during that time. Israel says the raids are meant to dismantle militant networks and thwart future attacks.

Palestinians say the raids undermine their security forces, inspire more militancy and entrench Israeli control over lands they seek for a hoped-for future state. Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

Article link: https://www.sheppnews.com.au/world/woman-killed-man-seriously-wounded-in-west-bank/
Article source: Shepparton News / AAP | Aug 21, 2023

2023-10-24 01:28:30.000000
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Opinion | Israel’s ‘Dirty War’: The Dark Side of the Abraham Accords – and Why Saudi Arabia Wants to Join

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In view of conflicting media reports about the chances of success of the tripartite negotiations between the Biden administration, the State of Israel and Saudi Arabia to draw up a normalization agreement between the latter two countries, one should look at the last decades and understand that such an accord is inevitable – but has a dark underside to it. A historical examination of how other countries have severed and renewed their relations with Israel indicates that the danger to the rights and freedoms of hundreds of millions of civilians should normalization be achieved.

Relations severed

After the State of Israel’s founding in 1948, it immediately engaged in providing military and civilian aid to countries worldwide, many of them with dictatorial and military regimes, with the aim of establishing diplomatic relations, and counteracting what would become an ongoing campaign to eliminate Israel physically and politically.

In a nutshell, the main spoiler of Israel’s international aspirations was Egypt, under the leadership of Gamal Abdel Nasser, who became its ruler in 1956; subsequently Libya played a similar role, after Muammar Gadhafi came to power, in 1969. Egypt wielded its political, military and economic power to dissuade other states from establishing relations with Israel, or to cut or downgrade existing ties. Gadhafi used mafia-type methods, threatening to destabilize regimes that had ties to Israel. The Arab pressures were successful, and after the wars of 1967 and 1973, dozens of states, with both non-Arab Muslim and non-Muslim populations, officially severed or downgraded their relations with Israel. These were not just African countries. While today BDS, the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, is successful in preventing international pop stars from performing in Israel, Arab countries, under the leadership of Egypt and Libya, over the years, for example, successfully imposed oil embargoes on countries and sanctions on companies that did business within Israel, and even managed to force European governments to limit their relations with it in certain realms.

Following the waves of severed relations with Israel after the wars, Israel looked elsewhere and was largely successful in keeping and strengthening its ties with regimes ostracized by other countries, among them the leadership of apartheid South Africa. Israel also established strong ties with military juntas in Latin America during their various “dirty wars” – the internal campaigns they waged from the mid-1970s to the early ‘80s to eliminate domestic political opponents. The military regimes in the so-called Southern Cone of Latin America launched an effort called Operation Condor, in which they cooperated in locating, capturing, torturing and eliminating opposition and guerrilla activists. For its part, Israel helped each junta separately in implementing Operation Condor in its territory, but unlike the involvement of the United States in that effort, there is no evidence that Israel was involved in the overall coordination of the operation.

Relations renewed

After Israel and Egypt signed the Camp David Accords, in September 1978, Israel was liberated from its main “spoiler,” and slowly, other states began renewing or establishing relations with Jerusalem. As has been reported over the years in Haaretz and other media outlets, with many countries, this renewal was based on Israel selling military services and equipment, and more recently surveillance technology, even to murderous regimes.

In the 1990s, with the end of the Cold War, the signing of the Oslo Accords with the PLO and the peace agreement with Jordan, what was a trickle became a wave. Israel was able to resume and build relations with most countries of the world, but still encountered difficulty in normalizing its ties with Arab and non-Arab Muslim countries. However, it became clear that the continued demand of the Palestinian leadership that such countries avoid joining this wave, was lacking any credibility. The PLO not only normalized its relationship with Israel, but the Palestinian Authority became an important subcontractor in administering Israel’s apartheid regime in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. That made it politically easier for other countries to negotiate with Israel and agree with it on normalization steps.

This bogus nature of such anti-normalization didn’t begin during the Oslo period, but several decades earlier, when many countries may have severed formal relations with Israel, but continued doing business with it. One example is Chad, a country with a Muslim majority that officially cut ties with Israel in 1972, and renewed them only in 2019. Yet, a document prepared by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in May 1985 and recently declassified by the State Archives, states that as early as 1982 Israel, initiated contact with Chad’s then-dictator, Hissène Habré. The following February 1983, an agreement was signed with him, according to the 1985 document, on “Israeli military assistance to Chad in manpower and equipment, and also for establishing a secret Israeli mission in Chad.”

At the time, President Habré was responsible for mass murder, disappearances and rape within his own country, leading in 2016 to his conviction by an international tribunal for crimes against humanity. Habré was overthrown in a 1990 coup, but in 2008, his successor, Idriss Déby, bought armored vehicles from Israel whose roofs were fitted with devices for mounting machine guns. Déby, a former head of the country’s military, was in the midst of a bloody civil war when he purchased the vehicles. After the publication of reports and images of these vehicles in the media, Chad admitted their purchase from Israel and reported it to the United Nations.

Changing interests

It was not only a lack of credibility that undermined Palestinian leaders’ demands that Arab and non-Arab Muslim countries avoid normalization with Israel, but also a lack of feasibility due to the changing interests of those countries. Two historical events in the second decade of the 21st century changed the picture in the direction of rapid normalization with Israel. One was Iran’s decision to increase its regional provocations and other subversive activity, and the other was the Arab Spring of 2011. Despite their disputes, most Arab and non-Arab Muslim countries have come to the conclusion that they must cooperate in order to fight Iran’s regional power grab and also to rebuff any signs of a resurgence of the Arab Spring: that is, they must fight movements seeking to instigate regime change. One of the most prominent players among those latter groups is the political-Islam movement and ideology, and in particular the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliates, although the greater movement’s ostensible commitment to democratic values differs from country to country, and in some of them its “success” means only replacing one dictatorial regime with another.

Since the Oslo Accords, and in light of increasing involvement and activity on the part of Iran and political Islam – and specifically the radical Palestinian version of the Muslim Brotherhood, the militant Islamic Hamas organization – those forces have replaced the PLO as Israel’s main archnemeses. This is a historic reversal. If David Ben-Gurion invented the doctrine of the “alliance of the periphery” – which included extending Israeli aid to regimes like that of the shah in Iran – now Israel is working with Arab and non-Arab Muslim countries to rein in Iran, while helping those countries maintain the stability of their own tyrannical regimes, while they in turn help Israel maintain its own own tyrannical regime in the West Bank.

The United States fully shares Israel’s opportunistic position and strategy regarding this historic reversal of interests; this was not just a whim of former President Donald Trump. Evidence of this was mentioned by Maj. Gen. (ret.) Amos Gilad, a former longtime senior member of the Israeli security establishment, who for years was involved in building Israel’s relations with Arab and non-Arab Muslim countries, as well as maintaining ties with America, in an interview aired in political commentator Nadav Perry’s podcast, on April 16, 2023 .

In response to the question of how Israel should relate to Saudi Arabia in light of the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the dismembering of his body, Gilad answered, “I, who have dealt a lot with Arab countries, have come to the conclusion that the State of Israel should do everything to strengthen ties with Arab countries without really considering the regimes there. There is no chance of there ever being a democracy in the Middle East, except for Israel… The regimes, such as in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the principalities and the Emirates, are stable regimes, [and] their stability serves the national security interests of Israel and the entire free world, even the Americans understand this.

“The difference between the United States and China is that the United States doesn’t need oil, unlike in the past, and an administration like that of President Biden gives high priority to democratic values. But I see a moderation in the American attitude toward the Arab world… Biden also reached out to [Saudi Crown Prince] Mohammed bin Salman… I detect a more sober attitude there, even vis-à-vis Egypt; they [the Americans] hardly condemn the Egyptians.”

In an article that Gilad published in Cyclone (a Hebrew publication of the The Institute for Policy and Strategy) in February 2021 to mark the 10th anniversary of the Arab Spring, he wrote: “The understanding has been internalized both in Israel and in large parts of the international community that an accelerated opening of the political systems in the Arab world to democratic processes could lead to the rise of radical forces, led by representatives of extreme political Islam.” Prior to that, at a December 2019 conference of the Israeli military industries, Gilad had said: “The problem is, how do you deal with revolutions? … Any Israeli military equipment that contributes to building a force that could be used to attack Israel, given a revolution there [in an Arab country], is undesirable and should be prevented. Everything related to regime stability – and here moral questions arise about using it against opponents [of those regimes] – I support preservation in Israeli aid.” Moreover, Gilad added, “We also have incredible security cooperation with the Gulf countries, Saudi Arabia.” That is, as long as there is no fear that Israeli knowledge and weaponry will be used against Israel itself, Israel should not limit its exports for fear that it will be used for internal repression.

The concept, Gilad explained, stands at the heart of the Abraham Accords and of emerging agreements with other Arab and non-Arab Muslim countries. According to this arguably racist strategy, since the states in question are not ripe for democracy, and in order to help preserve the “free world” and/or Western civilization – the United States and Israel should help their tyrannical regimes when they resort to violence to suppress opposition elements, journalists, women and other minorities. Political Islam has replaced the “communist threat” and Iran has replaced the USSR. These are the same self-righteous arguments that were used to justify America’s war in Vietnam, and the military aid the U.S. and Israel provided, for example, to the Pinochet junta in Chile when it perpetrated crimes against humanity in the 1970s and ‘80s. Now they are being summoned to support the geopolitical reorganization of the Middle East and North Africa.

‘Operation Condor 2.0’

Long shuttered is the School of the Americas in the Panama Canal, where the United States trained tens of thousands of officers from across Latin America, many of whom returned to their countries during the Cold War to participate in military coups, mass torture, murder, rape, genocide and terrorism. But, according to what Maj. Gen. Gilad noted in Perry’s podcast, most of the officers in the Arab countries’ military are still being trained in the United States, in an effort to preserve their regimes’ dependence on the latter, and to prevent their transition to full reliance on China. It is clear that the spreading of democratic values is not of high priority in the American officer training program. The nonprofit news organization Intercept has confirmed that U.S.-trained military officers, most of them in Muslim-majority states, have taken part in 11 coups in West Africa since 2008, most recently in Niger. Following the Abraham Accords and other normalization agreements entered into by Israel, in addition to its providing sophisticated surveillance and weapons systems to a variety of problematic regimes, army officers from those regimes will likely receive training and intelligence from Israel as well, which the latter has acquired and developed also thanks to its oppression and control of the Palestinian population.

All these developments will not guarantee the stability of Arab and non-Arab Muslim dictatorial regimes, as their existence will always be conditional and challenged. A clear example of this is Egypt, which receives the most U.S. military aid after Israel, and is still one of the most unstable countries in the region. The greatest enemy of the Egyptian people is their own regime, which wastes its huge human and natural resources and is focused on a ceaseless war against the majority of citizens who do not belong to the elite that rule the country. To maintain the appearance of stability in Egypt and other regimes in the region, an endless cycle of oppression and violence is necessary. In situations like these, if they feel it is necessary, such regimes won’t blink – that is, there will be many more horrific cases like the murder of journalist Khashoggi.

Unlike the role it played in the 1970s and ‘80s in Latin America, nowadays, as part of “Operation Condor 2.0” in the Middle East and North Africa, Israel will not be a secondary actor but one with a leading role in its overall coordination. As with heroin, these regimes will become addicted to Israeli surveillance equipment, weaponry, training and intelligence, and will only pay lip service to the Palestinian issue. This time the fight to maintain the stability of the regimes, including the stability of Israel’s own apartheid regime vis-à-vis the Palestinian population, will be waged with more advanced technology than the Uzi machine guns and Galil rifles that were peddled by Israel for the elimination of masses of opposition and leftist activists in Latin America. And yet, in its essence, it will still be the same “dirty war.”

Eitay Mack is a human rights lawyer and activist specializing in the issue of Israel’s arms trade.

Article link: https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-08-18/ty-article/.premium/israels-dirty-war-the-abraham-accords-dark-side-and-why-the-saudis-want-to-join/0000018a-03ad-dfb4-a5cf-efbfcab80000
Article source: Haaretz | Eitay Mack |Aug 18, 2023

2023-10-24 01:28:30.000000
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Suspected Palestinian gunmen kill two Israelis: army

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The Israeli army says it is looking for suspects after two people were shot dead in the West Bank. -EPA

A suspected Palestinian shooting attack has killed two Israelis in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli military says.

The two men, a father and son, were shot at close range at a car wash in the Palestinian village of Huwara, according to Israel’s public broadcaster Kan.

The Israeli military said it was searching the area for the assailants and had set up blockades in the vicinity of the attack.

Israel’s ambulance service confirmed two people had died in the shooting.

Violence in the West Bank has worsened over the past 15 months with stepped up Israeli raids, Palestinian street attacks and assaults by Jewish settlers on Palestinian villages.

Prospects of reviving US-brokered peace talks that collapsed almost a decade ago and had aimed to establish a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, remain dim.

Israel captured the West Bank in a 1967 war and has since built dozens of settlements there that are considered illegal by most countries, a view Israel disputes.

The Palestinians have limited self-rule in the West Bank and remain split between a foreign-backed administration there and armed Hamas Islamists who control Gaza and reject co-existence with Israel.

Hamas and other armed groups praised the Huwara attack on Saturday.

Article link: https://www.sheppnews.com.au/world/suspected-palestinian-gunmen-kill-two-israelis-army-2/
Article source: Shepparton News / AAP | Aug 20, 2023

2023-10-24 01:28:30.000000
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Israel will supply $5.4b missile shield to Germany

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By Julia Frankel
Jerusalem: Israel’s Defence Ministry has secured its largest-ever defence deal, selling a sophisticated missile defence system to Germany for $US3.5 billion ($5.4 billion) in a move that could have repercussions for the war in Ukraine.

Although Israel has long had close economic and military links with western European countries, the deal, which the United States approved, could draw the attention of Russia. Israel has maintained working relations with Russia throughout the war in Ukraine and has repeatedly rebuffed requests to sell arms to Kyiv for fear of antagonising Moscow.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, and then US ambassador to Israel David Friedman watch a video showing the launch of the Arrow 3 hypersonic anti-ballistic missile in Jerusalem in 2019.

Germany will buy the advanced system, coined Arrow 3, which is designed to intercept long-range ballistic missiles armed with nuclear or other warheads. Israel sought approval for the deal from the US State Department because the system was jointly developed by the two countries through the Israel Aerospace Industries and Boeing. Israeli defence officials said the system would extend Germany’s defence capability while strengthening the defence relationship between Israel and the US.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the deal “historic”.

“Seventy-five years ago the Jewish people were ground to dust on the soil of Nazi Germany,” Netanyahu said. “Seventy-five years later, the Jewish state gives Germany – a different Germany – the tools to defend itself.”

The sale still requires additional procedural steps by both Israel and Germany, including approval by both parliaments, according to the director of the Israeli Missile Defence Organisation, Moshe Patel. Patel told reporters the components of the missile system would be fully delivered to Germany by 2025, with the system reaching full capability by 2030. An initial allocation of $US600 million will enable work on the project to begin immediately and the full contract will be ready to sign by the end of this year.

Germany launched the European Sky Shield Initiative – a long-term project to create a European anti-missile shield – last year with 17 other nations, including the United Kingdom and Sweden, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius welcomed the US approval.

“This procurement plan is essential for us in order to be able to protect Germany from ballistic missile attacks in the future,” he said in a statement posted by his ministry on X, formerly known as Twitter. He added that “the project also constitutes a signal of our special German-Israeli relations.”

Uzi Rubin, the former director of Israel’s missile defence program, said Arrow 3 could be moved to act as a long-range ballistic missile shield for other European countries. He said it was the best defence available against the threat of ballistic missiles but did not protect against cruise missiles or others flying at lower altitudes.

ly $5.4b missile shield to Germany
By Julia Frankel
August 18, 2023 — 2.30pm

Jerusalem: Israel’s Defence Ministry has secured its largest-ever defence deal, selling a sophisticated missile defence system to Germany for $US3.5 billion ($5.4 billion) in a move that could have repercussions for the war in Ukraine.

Although Israel has long had close economic and military links with western European countries, the deal, which the United States approved, could draw the attention of Russia. Israel has maintained working relations with Russia throughout the war in Ukraine and has repeatedly rebuffed requests to sell arms to Kyiv for fear of antagonising Moscow.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, and then US ambassador to Israel David Friedman watch a video showing the launch of the Arrow 3 hypersonic anti-ballistic missile in Jerusalem in 2019.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, and then US ambassador to Israel David Friedman watch a video showing the launch of the Arrow 3 hypersonic anti-ballistic missile in Jerusalem in 2019. AP/File

Germany will buy the advanced system, coined Arrow 3, which is designed to intercept long-range ballistic missiles armed with nuclear or other warheads. Israel sought approval for the deal from the US State Department because the system was jointly developed by the two countries through the Israel Aerospace Industries and Boeing. Israeli defence officials said the system would extend Germany’s defence capability while strengthening the defence relationship between Israel and the US.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the deal “historic”.

“Seventy-five years ago the Jewish people were ground to dust on the soil of Nazi Germany,” Netanyahu said. “Seventy-five years later, the Jewish state gives Germany – a different Germany – the tools to defend itself.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin in March.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin in March. Getty

The sale still requires additional procedural steps by both Israel and Germany, including approval by both parliaments, according to the director of the Israeli Missile Defence Organisation, Moshe Patel. Patel told reporters the components of the missile system would be fully delivered to Germany by 2025, with the system reaching full capability by 2030. An initial allocation of $US600 million will enable work on the project to begin immediately and the full contract will be ready to sign by the end of this year.

Germany launched the European Sky Shield Initiative – a long-term project to create a European anti-missile shield – last year with 17 other nations, including the United Kingdom and Sweden, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius welcomed the US approval.

“This procurement plan is essential for us in order to be able to protect Germany from ballistic missile attacks in the future,” he said in a statement posted by his ministry on X, formerly known as Twitter. He added that “the project also constitutes a signal of our special German-Israeli relations.”
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Uzi Rubin, the former director of Israel’s missile defence program, said Arrow 3 could be moved to act as a long-range ballistic missile shield for other European countries. He said it was the best defence available against the threat of ballistic missiles but did not protect against cruise missiles or others flying at lower altitudes.

While Israel has turned down requests to provide Ukraine with weapons, it has sent humanitarian aid.

Israel has a delicate relationship with Russia, with which it coordinates on security issues in neighbouring Syria. Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes against Iranian military positions in recent years in Syria. Russia is also home to a large Jewish community.

By moving ahead on Arrow 3 with Germany, Israel appears to be counting on the fact that the deal, as well as a sale of a different missile defence system to NATO member Finland, involves only defensive weapons – and will not fundamentally disrupt cordial relations with Russia.

“Relations are a bit strained,” said Rubin, who is also an expert at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, a think tank. “But still, we are not supplying Ukraine with any weapons. We do that because we want to keep relations with Russia at an acceptable level.”

AP

Article link: https://amp.theage.com.au/world/middle-east/israel-will-supply-5-4b-missile-shield-to-germany-20230818-p5dxnj.html
Article source: The Age

2023-10-24 01:28:30.000000
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Israel haters aren’t ‘cool’, they are mostly just plain ignorant

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By Gemma Tognini
Belal was barely out of his teens when he met his first Israeli Jew. He’s sitting in an old plastic chair in the centre of a dusty, shaded courtyard at a community centre in the West Bank, not far from the Gush Etzion interchange. The sounds of an early Israeli summer and traffic from the nearby highway hum gently under the sound of his voice.
This quiet and considered young Palestinian who studied accounting at university explains how he went from being raised in an environment of conflict and suspicion to being part of a powerful grassroots partnership between Jews and Palestinians that is determined to pursue peace.
Called Roots, its members refuse to accept the conflict that surrounds them or the false narratives that feed it. In their own words, they challenge assumptions that communities in Israel and the disputed territories hold about one another, building trust and creating a new model for change, from the bottom up. In many ways, the group is the everyday face of the Abraham Accords.
The assumptions Belal spoke of are, in reality, centuries in the making. They are steeped in history, conflict and, of course, at various times occupation by peoples near and foreign. It makes sense to me, in many ways, that the issues in the broader Middle East remain as fraught today as they have been for thousands of years.
But what doesn’t make sense to me is how it’s become cool to hate Israel. When did this happen? Thinking back, I can’t recall this narrative being present during my own education and time at university, and I was in an arts faculty.
Today, though, being anti-Israel has almost become a celebrity cause du jour among certain sections of the media, academia and the political far left.
This hatred, this anti-Israel sentiment, is impossible to miss. The most recent case, courtesy of our government, was the decision to revert to describing East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza as “occupied Palestinian territories”. Going by the government’s logic, if we’re to revert to the pre-1967 status quo then Jordan gets the West Bank and Egypt can swan back into Gaza. It is embarrassing in its ­historical illiteracy.
So, too, is the decision not to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Can you imagine if a foreign entity said to the Australian government, look, we don’t believe Canberra should be recognised as Australia’s capital city (not an unreasonable view, to be honest). From now on, we are going to recognise Melbourne. It’s ludicrous, obviously, but here’s Australia deigning to tell Israel where it’s capital should be.
Some of you will assume I’m suggesting Israel and it’s current Knesset are beyond reproach. Far from it. Having recently spent time in Israel I saw and heard first hand what Israelis think of this government. Israelis of all faiths and backgrounds are making their ­voices heard democratically, and in growing number.

What I am challenging here is the hypocrisy of a viewpoint that conveniently ignores the obvious, as well as the entrenched ideological groupthink that has spread unchallenged through government, academia and sections of the media.
For example, the federal government’s decision was welcomed warmly by the Palestinian Authority. This is the same authority that spends $300m annually on various payments and financial incentives for suicide bombers, terrorists and their families under the so-called Pay for Slay policy.
This institutionalised commitment to violent acts of terror is conveniently ignored by government and academia. When has our government challenged this abhorrent practice? They defend it with their silence. What a terrible sin of omission.
Not two months ago, I, along with others, walked the streets of the Am’ari Refugee Camp in Ramallah, which was built in 1947 under Jordanian occupation. Guided by a local Fatah leader, I wondered where the hell have the UN billions gone? Not to the families in that camp, I promise you.
Ah, it’s so inconvenient, isn’t it, when the reality is all manner of conflicted? When a position can’t be sustained by anything other than ideology? Perhaps that’s the real disease of our age. We can no longer interrogate, analyse, approach an issue, any issue, with sober-minded judgment.
I wonder did it become fashionable to hate Israel around the same time as it became fashionable to assert that gender is but a social construct?
Academia is culpable in this mess. Australian universities were once places where young minds were sharpened by the contest of ideas. Would that they still were.
In June, University of Sydney Vice-Chancellor Mark Scott publicly condemned that college’s student council for anti-Semitic language and behaviour. The student council had passed a motion endorsing the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel (more on this in a second) and denouncing the “Israeli … system of militarised apartheid and ethnic cleansing”. Ethnic cleansing? The shame of them, using that phrase in this context. The embarrassing intellectual failure.
But back to the BDS movement. For context, BDS aims to penalise Israel financially via a worldwide boycott of Israeli products, businesses and services. It has been exposed, in layman’s terms, as a spectacular own goal.
Just one recent example, an analysis by global business publication Forbes, found that BDS has a negligible impact on Israel. It’s hurting Palestinians badly, though. What a shocking plot twist. It quoted global analysts Moody’s as saying the BDS movement completely ignores economic data, as well as a trove of evidence that trade between conflicted parties reduces the chance of war and conflict. Well done, ­ideologues. Well done indeed.
These territories have been disputed since the burning bush. You don’t have to be a person of faith to acknowledge biblical history and, moreover, every group of people involved in this conflict believes it.
But for people like Belal? Unlike most of the actors in this play, he and fellow members of Roots are not interested in power or ­control, just the same kind of life we enjoy here in Australia. One of peace.

Article link: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/israel-haters-arent-cool-they-are-mostly-just-plain-ignorant/news-story/efc67840e46913ddd7e4e28b39724a34
Article source: The Australian

2023-10-24 01:28:30.000000
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Labor stays the course over Palestine recognition

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Labor is facing calls for the recognition of Palestine to become a priority for the government, with a commitment to statehood already in the party’s policy platform.
No timeline has been attached to implement the policy, with some pro-Palestinian Labor delegates pushing to have it expedited.
But pro-Israel elements of the party threatened to try and strip the policy from the platform if the other side attempted to alter it at the national conference in Brisbane.
No amendments were moved and the same wording remains in the policy platform with no timeline attached.
Labor MP Susan Templeman spoke in favour of recognition at Labor’s national conference on Friday, saying the actions of Israel’s extreme right-wing government were “deeply concerning”.
“The extreme right-wing policies of the Netanyahu government that speed up the expansion of settlements are a serious impediment to the two-state solution that we are all committed to,” she told Labor’s national conference on Friday.
She said she supported “the call our platform makes for the recognition of Palestine as an issue of priority” as Palestinians suffered inequality at the hands of Israeli settlements.
Trade unionist Michael Easson said good people could disagree on the issue and called for a nuanced approach to an age-old conflict.
He told the conference there could be “no justice without truth”.

“The central and tragic truth of the Israel-Palestine conflict is that two people – the Jewish people and the Palestinian – have deep, centuries-long, historical ties to a territory no larger than half of Tasmania,” he said.
“Viewing the conflict from a one-eyed perspective will not achieve peace, any lasting solution cannot be at the expense of Palestinians or Israelis.”
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry welcomed the decision to not change the policy platform or add “further hostile policy pronouncements”.
It said Palestine did not exist as a state and any recognition would impact peace negotiations.

It comes after Foreign Minister Penny Wong strengthened Australia’s objection to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and expressed concerns about what they would mean for peace in the region.
Senator Wong led Labor’s foreign policy debate on Friday but the only contentious push the government faced on the conference floor was around its commitment to nuclear submarines and the AUKUS agreement.
Its position was ultimately reaffirmed by delegates.
The foreign policy session was largely rubber-stamped by rank-and-file members who also voted in favour of the reunification of Ireland and reaffirmed support for Ukraine against Russian aggression.
Resolutions also called out human rights abuses in Iran and China.
Labor will also review whether Australia’s two territories should have more representation in parliament.
The three-day national conference continues until Saturday.
Australian Associated Press

Article link: https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8313403/labor-stays-the-course-over-palestine-recognition/?cs=14264
Article source: Canberra Times

2023-10-24 01:28:30.000000
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Palestine, nuclear submarines cause rift within Labor

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A fight over nuclear submarines and Palestinian statehood will engulf the Labor Party as delegates go head to head at its primary policy conference.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong will lead Friday’s debate about recognising Palestine as a state, something which is already party policy but has no timeline attached.
Australian Palestine Advocacy Network vice president Nasser Mashni told Labor delegates recognition was “the least we can do”.
“Recognising Palestine uplifts the community and empowers them to take their place in this beautiful multicultural country and allows them to sit as equals with every other immigrant community,” he said on the sidelines of the national conference.
While successful motions moved by Labor delegates become binding party policy, it remains up to the parliamentary wing to determine how and when they are implemented.
The outcome of Friday’s AUKUS debate is less certain with unions and left-wing delegates pushing to strip mention of the pact from the policy platform.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signalled he could take part in the debate, and said he was not concerned by some party members speaking out against the deal.
“We’re a democratic party, and the difference between us and the Liberal Party is they hold conferences and no one focuses on anything they’re talking about because they’re essentially just fundraisers,” he told ABC 7.30.
“The message of the conference is that we’re working for Australia, that what we’ve done is implement almost every one of the policies that we took to the election.”
Mr Albanese said there would be no imminent announcement about the treatment of nuclear waste from future submarines.
Defence Minister Richard Marles, who is attempting to counter dissent within the party, will introduce a 32-paragraph statement outlining how the pact fits with Labor’s values and will protect Australian interests.
His statement includes assurances about local jobs and manufacturing.
“Labor will uphold its proud history of championing practical disarmament efforts, its commitment to high non-proliferation standards and its enduring dedication to a world without nuclear weapons,” it reads.
Labor Against War national convenor Marcus Strom says the pact, which outlines a pathway to Australia acquiring nuclear-powered submarines, goes against Labor’s traditional anti-nuclear stance.
The government is adamant the submarines are in line with non-proliferation restrictions and will not lead to a civil nuclear industry or weapons.
Mr Marles’ statement is not an amendment to the party’s platform, something some unions and delegates are seeking.
It remains unclear what will make it to the floor as any debate on Friday needs to be decided by the agenda committee.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said the prime minister wanted to shut down debate about nuclear power to avoid “a bloodbath on the floor of the conference” as he pushes for the government to consider a civil nuclear energy industry, which it has expressly ruled out.
He also accused the government’s of being “dictated to” by unions on key policy.
“Australians saw the influence of the unions on the Labor Party and and I’m pleased that we don’t have that influence on our party,” he told the Nine Network.
“We want the jobs but we don’t want the unions running the show.”
The three-day national conference in Brisbane continues until Saturday.
Australian Associated Press

Article link: https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8313403/palestine-nuclear-submarines-cause-rift-within-labor/?cs=14264
Article source: Canberra Times

2023-10-24 01:28:30.000000
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‘Undergraduate politics’: Penny Wong’s pointless posturing on Palestine is undermining Australia’s reputation as a trusted peace broker

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Former Labor MP Michael Danby says Australians have to ask the question why is Penny Wong and Tony Burke “obsessed” with the Israel and Palestine issue and it is all about the “socialist left”.

Alongside a quiet street in Be’er Sheva, lies the Be’er Sheva Anzac Memorial Centre, a place dedicated to the ANZAC units, including the famous 4th Australian Light Horse Brigade, which fought in the Battle of Beersheba against the Ottoman Empire in 1917.

That was a pivotal moment in the history of the Land of Israel, and marked the beginning of a warm and enduring relationship between Australia and Israel.

But that relationship has now been put under severe strain with the current Australian Labor Government’s decision to adopt a one-sided policy of referring to all the areas of Judea and Samaria (West Bank), including east Jerusalem, and Gaza as “occupied Palestinian territory”.

It will also refer to all Jewish communities in these areas as “illegal”.

Former Labor MP Michael Danby has called the Albanese-Labor government “pathetic” for not standing up for Israel during its civil unrest with Palestinians. “The reason we’re not doing it is it’s a genuflection – a bowing down to Penny Wong’s socialist…

Foreign Minister Penny Wong says that the Government’s decision was “guided by the principle of advancing the cause of peace and progress towards a just and enduring two-state solution.”

If so, its approach is wholly misguided and ahistorical.

It completely ignores the recent history of Palestinian intransigence, indeed, often outright violent antipathy to the “peace and progress” that Minister Wong seems to think she is promoting.

From the Oslo peace accords of 1993 to the Camp David summit in 2000, to the generous concessions in 2008, to the US mediated efforts in 2013-2014, every single offer of a two-state peace has not only been rejected without even the pretence of a serious counter-offer, but often met with murderous violence, resulting in the deaths of thousands of Israelis.

Even when Israel completely left Gaza in 2005, uprooting all Jewish communities and withdrawing all soldiers, the territory became a terror base under the control of Hamas – which used it to fire tens of thousands of missiles into Israeli communities and build cross-border terror tunnels, something it still tries to do today.

Unfortunately, what the Government has done is to tilt the balance in favour of the Palestinian Authority – a corrupt entity that incites antisemitic hatred, denies Jewish history, encourages and glorifies terrorism with monuments to murderers and offers cash incentives to terrorists and their families.

More than this, even if this entity were to, improbably, decide it genuinely wanted to make a two-

As noted above, it does not control Gaza, and a large portion of the Palestinian population – the rejectionist Hamas does.

Foreign Minister Wong says her Government has “rebalanced” Australia’s position in international forums and is aligning itself with key partners such as the United Nations and the European Union.

But this is more a misalignment than a realignment, because to use an organisation like the UN, with its unbalanced anti-Israel obsession, as a moral barometer is like asking the Taliban to lead a campaign on women’s rights.

The UN’s politicisation and domination by undemocratic regimes serving their own narrow interests has led to it becoming a significant obstacle to a two-state peace – so Australia adopting the UN stance is hardly going to help bring peace closer.

While Wong maintains that that the “conflict is a matter to be resolved through negotiations between the parties,” she then decided to unilaterally designate the territories as “occupied Palestinian territory”. So, in terms of territory, what is there to negotiate?

The elusive and inconvenient truth is that there has never been an independent, sovereign country called “Palestine”, so the idea that Israel is somehow occupying the land of a fictitious entity that never existed is both dishonest and dangerous, representing a complete distortion of the historical record.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says damaging Australia’s international relations – particularly with Israel – is not in the country’s best interest. Mr Dutton’s remarks come after Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced that Labor would reverse…

When Israel was attacked by the Arab world in 1948, the area known as the West Bank was captured and illegally annexed by Jordan in a move recognised only by the UK and Pakistan.

And when Israel captured those areas during its defensive 1967 war, the area remained, at the very least, disputed, given the last legal sovereign over the area was the Ottoman Empire, which no longer existed.

For the Australian Government to suddenly assign itself the ability to confer a legal status of a long-disputed area of land half way around the world smacks of ill-informed virtue signalling, rather than serious policymaking.

Moreover, it is a real poke in the eye for Australian Jews and Jews worldwide.

Jews are not foreign to these lands.

Shadow Attorney-General Julian Leeser says Labor’s decision to reverse West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel shows the “shambolic nature of their policy making”. Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced earlier this week Labor would reverse…

There is a historical, emotional and religious connection dating back thousands of years with places that contain Judaism’s holiest sites – especially Jerusalem and Hebron.

By designating them all as “occupied Palestinian territory” the Government is engaging in historical revisionism, as well as tacitly endorsing the ethnic cleansing of all Jews from Hebron and other parts of the West Bank, as well as east Jerusalem, mostly by the Jordanians

It is simply ugly and discriminatory for the Government to insist that all Jewish communities living in these areas are “illegal”, with, apparently, only ethnic Palestinian Arabs allowed to live there.

Where else in the world would we support such a blatantly racialist interpretation of “international law”?

Australia has always been seen as a strong respected democracy, so it is unfortunate that our Government now appears to have decided to engage in pointless, undergraduate-style politics rather than serious foreign policy –  damaging its own image as a fair, balanced and trusted broker internationally.

Justin Amler is a policy analyst at the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC).

Article link: https://www.skynews.com.au/insights-and-analysis/undergraduate-politics-penny-wongs-pointless-posturing-on-palestine-is-undermining-australias-reputation-as-a-trusted-peace-broker/news-story/b0c4432d8ac44b0be6256d51e5d701e5
Article source: Sky News | Justin Amler, Policy Analyst at the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council | 14.8.23

2023-10-24 01:28:30.000000
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