SBS Hebrew

 Tunnels dug from Lebanon under the Israeli border...Find out more with SBS Jerusalem correspondent Peta Jones Pellach

Find out the latest from the Australian Jewish community, with Shane Desiatnik, senior Journalist of the AJN talking to Nitza Lowenstein: 

Israel, Australian Jewish leaders and many in the Australian Jewish community welcomed the Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s statement that the Australian Government would recognise West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and East Jerusalem as a Palestinian capital should a Palestinian State arise in the future, however this change in policy drew some criticism in Israel as well from the Israeli Minister for Regional Affairs Tzachi Hanegbi...

Israel, Australian Jewish leaders and many in the Australian Jewish community welcomed the Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s statement that the Australian Government would recognise West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and East Jerusalem as a Palestinian capital should a Palestinian State arise in the future, however this change in policy drew sharp criticism from the Israeli Minister for Regional Affairs Tzachi Hanegbi, the Malaysian PM, Indonesian Foreign Office, the Arab league and the Palestinians amongst others.

The Australian Labor Party, which is in a strong position to take government in 2019, moved closer to recognising a future Palestinian State, whilst continuing to fully support Israel’s rights, when it passed a motion to that effect at its annual national conference.

Jewish Schools in Sydney and Melbourne were united in rejecting the Australian Government’s Religious Freedom Review recommendation that faith-based schools be allowed to discriminate against students and staff on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, and despite the roof Jewish body ECAJ cautious acceptance of the review, re-affirmed their opposition to discrimination against LGBTI+ staff and students.

Australia formally recognized West Jerusalem as Israel capital- but will not be immediately moving its embassy in Israel there. Our guest will be Alex Ryvchin, the Co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, to discuss the reaction of the Australian Jewish community, also the Labor's policies that says that it will reverse the government’s recognition of W Jerusalem if it wins the next elections and briefly we will also talk about anti-Semitism today in Australia

The Australian Mothers' Milk Bank provides screened and pasteurized donor mothers' milk, to Australian families where a mother's own milk is not available for their baby. This service was just introduced in Israel with the assistance of Magen David Adom, MDA the Israeli equivalent of the Red Cross. Dr Sharron Bransburg- Zabary 

Find out the latest from Jerusalem with Peta Jones Pellach, reporting from Jerusalem

Australian Jewish leaders and community were optimistic regarding a report that the Australian Government would recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a report tempered by subsequent statements by the Prime Minister Scott Morrison, but in either case precluding the shifting of the Australian embassy from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem, due to the high costs such a move would entail.

Australia was among the majority of nations that voted in favour of a UN General Assembly Resolution, which condemned Hamas for its attacks on Israel and the Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Prime Minister Scott Morrison strongly criticised Hamas for being a terrorist organisation and the UN for its gross bias against Israel.

A granddaughter of a Sydney couple who was seven months pregnant, was shot while waiting at a bus stop with her husband, in Ofra on the West Bank and barely survived the subsequent operation and cesarean birth, although the prem baby died a few days later.

A controversial academic from the Uni of Sydney, Dr Tim Anderson, who frequently accuses Israel of genocide and other crimes, may face termination of his position for having distributed and posted learning materials that included an image of the Israeli flag with a swastika superimposed on it.

Posters claiming to belong to the Antipodean Resistance group, featuring Nazi era images with references to the C21 Hitler Youth and calling for “joining the fight”, were stuck to poles in Williamstown, west side of Melbourne, in what is seen as an emboldened increase of such activities by the Neo-Nazi and White Supremacist group.

Controversy over Sydney’s Moriah College’s confirmation of its policy, to only accept students deemed to be Jewish according to the Orthodox Halachic rules, continued this week following their rejection of a daughter of a former student whose mother-in-law converted to Judaism via the progressive-reform Temple Emanuel process.

The Gandel family has funded the William Cooper Scholarship program for Aboriginal Students at Monash University, in honour of the Aboriginal Yorta-Yorta and Human Rights activist, who led a protest march to the German Consulate in Melbourne in 1938, to protest the Kristallnacht pogrom against Jews in Germany and Austria, a march that was re-enacted on the 6th December in the City with the participation of Jewish and Aboriginal leaders and community members.

Udi Nir is the director of the documentary, Madam Prime Minister. An opportunity for our English speaker to listen to the interview with the young director that realized that forty years after her death, Golda Meir's image is still polarizing and clouded by controversy. While perceived as a feminist icon in many places in the world, in the country she led as Prime Minister for five years she's regarded by many as a failure. 

Controversy over Sydney’s Moriah College’s confirmation of its policy, to only accept students deemed to be Jewish according to the Orthodox Halachic rules, continued this week following their rejection of a daughter of a former student whose mother-in-law converted to Judaism via the progressive-reform Temple Emanuel process. Listen to Nitza Lowenstein talking to Shane Desiatnik from the AJN

Prof. Rafi Mann, with his report on the latest events in Israel as for December 9th 2018