NIF Australia Podcast

For many years, activists have joined together across sectors to fight for land and rights for those in the occupied Palestinian territories and within Israel. This work has been made all the more challenging today, by major increases in settler violence, enabled by Israel's most right wing government in history that only this week, continued to expand its authority to advance its "unreasonable" agenda.

In the face of these very challenges, Israelis and Palestinians continue to come together to fight back with a message of hope and peace. In the past year, Rabbis for Human Rights (RHR), launched a project to use resources and plant trees to help communities rebuild and thrive.

The project has also extended to Bedouin communities in the Negev who are consistently prevented from accessing running water and electricity and denied building permits. Working with NIF grantee, the Regional Council of Unrecognised Villages (RCUV), the project is a true testament to fighting for values of justice, equality and peace.

NIF is excited to invite you to join our conversation at this urgent time for human rights in Israel and the occupied territories.

You can watch the event here on Youtube.

It is a dramatic time in Israel. With Netanyahu's government determined to proceed with their legislation seeking to reform Israel's democratic infrastructure, we have witnessed Israel's largest protest movement ever.

This broad protest movement turned into an inspiring non-violent uprising. Hundreds of thousands of citizens woke up, stood up and shouted – demanding freedom, equality and democracy – some for the first time in their lives. Many across the globe did the same. So what is next?

Join NIF's international leadership for a briefing at this vital time.

After two Israelis were murdered in the occupied Palestinian territories on Sunday evening, Israeli settlers rampaged through the village of Huwara, killing one Palestinian resident and injuring 98 more.

This horrific night – which news organisations including the Times of Israel and Jerusalem Post have called a 'pogrom' – comes amid growing violence in the West Bank, with Israel's far-right government and Jewish supremacist ministers, as well as settlers themselves, calling for an increased Jewish presence, actively encouraging and inciting violence and approving large swathes of illegal settlements.

Join us for a briefing from activists on the ground, Shira Livne from the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), Avner Gvaryahu from Breaking the Silence and Issa Amro from Youth Against Settlements, Hebron.

As we reflect on our own election results in Australia, yet another Israeli election and the changes in the US since 2020, multiple Pulitzer Prize winning author and New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman joined NIF Australia for a wide-ranging discussion.

You can watch this event as a video on YouTube.

Join Anshel Pfeffer, one of Israel's leading political journalists, for a detailed update ahead of Israel's fifth election in four years.

With Anshel's expertise and unique analysis, this is a great opportunity to understand the latest news, candidates, party mergers and new government possibilities, and ask your questions about what it means for Israeli democracy, the likelihood of ongoing instability and the future for peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

This is an audio recording of a live stream hosted by NIF Australia on Monday 5 September. You can watch the video on our YouTube channel at this link.

Join two leading journalists from Haaretz, Israel's oldest daily newspaper and one of its most influential media outlets, for in-depth analysis on Israeli politics one year into the new coalition government, reflections on the state of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and a discussion on future of Israel's relationship with Diaspora Jewry.

Noa Landau, Haaretz's deputy editor-in-chief, and Judy Maltz, a thirty year veteran of the paper who covers the Jewish world, join this special event, recorded in Sydney. (You can also watch it on YouTube if you prefer.)

The conversation was moderated by Debbie Whitmont, a Walkley winning journalist and former Middle East correspondent for the ABC.

A note on production: the day after this event was hosted the Israeli government announced it would dissolve and new elections would be held. You can read more at Haaretz.com.

Join our special discussion with Ehud Olmert, Israel's 12th prime minister, about his new book Searching for Peace.

You can watch this podcast as the original video even, if you prefer. Click through to watch on YouTube.

Written during his 16 month incarceration for receiving a bribe, the book charts his journey from young Knesset member for the Likud party, to mayor of Jerusalem and finally to prime minister, and his thoughts on the future of relations between Israelis and Palestinians.

While in government Olmert supported Ariel Sharon's disengagement from Gaza and breakaway to the new Kadima party, led Israel's 2008-09 military campaign in Gaza, and was the last Israeli leader to support the establishment of a Palestinian state and conduct serious negotiations to achieve one.

He announced his resignation as prime minister in 2008 under a corruption cloud and was subsequently convicted for offences related to his time as mayor of Jerusalem and Israel's trade minister.

The conversation reflects on his political and personal journey, the ongoing cycle of violence in Gaza and his personal legacy as a prime minister and thoughts on the future for Israel and Palestine.

Listen to our event with Israel Prize winning choreographer and contemporary dancer Ohad Naharin.

You can watch the full event on our YouTube page.

Over the last month, calls to boycott the Sydney Festival after it received sponsorship from the Israeli embassy for a production of Naharin's Decadance have featured prominently on social and mainstream media.

One of Israel's most celebrated cultural identities, our conversation with Naharin will canvas his work over more than three decades at the Batsheva Dance Company, the founding of the Gaga movement, his political activism, and the ongoing debate about the Sydney Festival and the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement.

You can watch this event as a video on YouTube.

Join NIF's global CEO Daniel Sokatch for a Q&A and discussion about his newly released book, "Can We Talk About Israel?"

Written from his front row seat running NIF, the book grapples with the many fraught conversations that we have about modern Israel today – the settlements, the status of Arab-Israelis, Evangelical support for Israel, the BDS movement and more – in an accessible format, introducing readers to inspiring Israeli activists working for change and breaking down the highly charged polemics of the region.

"Can We Talk About Israel?" is a must read for those looking for a nuanced take on Israel's history and its contemporary challenges.

Professor Emerita Ilana Snyder, president of NIF Australia and a member of the global New Israel Fund board, will be facilitating the discussion.

This is the audio version of an event we ran on Tuesday 23 November. You can watch it in full on YouTube.

If the last few years have taught us anything, it's that antisemitism remains a real threat to Jews around the world. Yet, the push to codify the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism in law and policy – a move recently embraced by the Morrison government – has been opposed by leading Jewish American organisations and others who fear it has been weaponised to silence criticism of the Israeli government's treatment of Palestinians.

Join the definition's lead drafter Kenneth Stern, former director of the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation Mark Baker, and student activist at the University of Sydney Nell Cohen for a discussion on the definition's origins, how it is playing out in governments and on universities and how we can best commit to opposing antisemitism today. The conversation will be facilitated by Jo Kalowski.

Read more about this issue at https://www.nif.org.au/ihra_resources