Israel's Arameans are a small, indigenous Christian minority reclaiming their ancient Semitic heritage, preserving Aramaic in their liturgy and culture.

As founder and chairman of the Israeli Christian Aramean Association, Shadi Khalloul's life’s work has focused on empowering Israel’s Christian Aramean minority and reviving traditions lost to history. His experience as an IDF paratrooper, combined with deep cultural roots, gives him a unique perspective on coexistence and democracy in Israel. His mission is to build bridges between Christians and Jews and to promote military integration for young Aramean Christians.

Shadi’s leadership in achieving official Aramean Christian recognition, his ongoing language revival efforts, and his commitment to interfaith dialogue made for a thoughtful conversation. (0:27-29:06)

Just over a month ago senior fellow of Strategic Analysis Australia Anthony Bergin had returned from a trip to Israel when he together wth his director Peter Jennings penned an article for The Australian titled ‘In Israel, Australia’s betrayal is evident everywhere you go’. Both had travelled to Israel to participate in the Australia-Israel Strategic Dialogue with the support of the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council.

I spoke with Anthony about impressions he gleaned from his recent trip to Israel, the deterioration of the relationship between Israel and Australia, the Liberal Party's tepid response to 'Jewish' issues at the moment and how Israel can best manage its strategic interests going forward.

Anthony has just today had another article 'We should work with the US to make the Gaza plan work' published in The Australian newspaper. (29:12-57:36)

 

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