Women Wage Peace

A fifth generation Australian, Peta Jones Pellach made aliyah in 2010. She is the director of educational activities for the Elijah Interfaith Institute, secretary of the Jerusalem Rainbow Group for Jewish-Christian Encounter and Dialogue and a co-founder of Praying Together in Jerusalem. 

She is active in Women Wage Peace, Israel's largest grass-root peace movement, promoting and demanding women's involvement in negotiations.

She is visiting Australia in company with Riman Barakat, a Palestinian Muslim from East Jerusalem and I hope to be able to speak with her as well. (0:34-34:26)

Combat Antisemitism Movement

Dr Ron Weiser is Member of the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency (The Sochnut), Life member of the Zionist Federation of Australia Executive, Board member of the Australian Branch of the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) and a founding director of OHPI, the Online Hate Prevention Institute.

The 2025 Australian Mayors Summit Against Antisemitism, hosted by CAM will bring together more than 250 local government leaders, and community advocates from across Australia in a collective effort to secure and nurture common understanding and safety in our communities.(34:32-57:28)

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I have a long conversation with two men who are highly motivated to be writing about Jewish issues.

Shane Shmuel is based in Melbourne, Australia, He is a proud Zionist and grandson of 4 Holocaust survivors. A finance professional, he is passionate about Israel, Zionism, the Holocaust and politics as it relates to Israel. Since October 7, he began writing, advocating for Israel and fighting for Jews in Australia.

Gideon Cohen is a journalist based in Melbourne. He writes regularly for The Jewish Independent, Broadsheet and has also been published in Right Now, The Citizen and The Junction.

[Full interview]

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Trevor Asserson is the author of the Asserson report that indicated that the BBC is heavily biased against Israel by means of a thorough investigation into how the BBC covered the Israel–Hamas war from 7th October 2023 until 7th February 2024. According to the report which utilised AI, the BBC breached its own editorial guidelines over 1,500 times, showing significant bias against Israel. The analysis was based on a review of over 9 million words of content across English and Arabic broadcasts.

The ABC's programming structure and style have historically been modelled on the BBC, leading to a natural synergy in content acquisition, so it could be said that findings about anti-Israel media bias in relation to the BBC might very likely apply to the ABC.

[Full interview]

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Trevor Asserson is the author of the Asserson report that indicated that the BBC is heavily biased against Israel by means of a thorough investigation into how the BBC covered the Israel–Hamas war from 7th October 2023 until 7th February 2024. According to the report which utilised AI, the BBC breached its own editorial guidelines over 1,500 times, showing significant bias against Israel. The analysis was based on a review of over 9 million words of content across English and Arabic broadcasts.

The ABC's programming structure and style have historically been modelled on the BBC, leading to a natural synergy in content acquisition, so it could be said that findings about anti-Israel media bias in relation to the BBC might very likely apply to the ABC. (0:33-30:47)

I have a long conversation with two men who are highly motivated to be writing about Jewish issues.

Shane Shmuel is based in Melbourne, Australia, He is a proud Zionist and grandson of 4 Holocaust survivors. A finance professional, he is passionate about Israel, Zionism, the Holocaust and politics as it relates to Israel. Since October 7, he began writing, advocating for Israel and fighting for Jews in Australia.

Gideon Cohen is a journalist based in Melbourne. He writes regularly for The Jewish Independent, Broadsheet and has also been published in Right Now, The Citizen and The Junction. (30:53-57:29)

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Simcha Rothman MK has had his visa to Australia revoked and has been banned from visiting Australia for 3 years. Rothman had been invited by the Australia Jewish Association as part of s solidarity tour to show support for Australia's Jewish community. 

Australian Jews are experiencing unprecedented antisemitism. Many feel that the Australian Government has abandoned the Jewish community and is pandering to bellicose anti-Israel activists in Australia, who would undoubtedly have caused trouble if Rothman had been allowed to visit.

Unfortunately Mr Rothman did not appear on the show because of some issues. Nonetheless the interview has been conducted separately and will be made available on this program's YouTube channel. In its stead I did some general commentary around the topic of Simcha Rothman and other related matters. (0:47-27:06)

Eli Bernstein is a technology entrepreneur and lawyer, partner of Moto Legal, chair of the Technology and Law Committee of the Law Society of WA and founder of Lawyers for Israel, who were instrumental in raising concerns over the controversial appointment of Antoinette Lattouf to a role at the ABC. (27:12-55:30)

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I spoke with Jewish insider Elahn Zetlin about his experience working at the ABC and how he found the broadcaster to be biased against Israel and biased against him.

Concerns about the institutionalised anti-Israel media bias at the publicly funded ABC and SBS have been mounting. It has become more and more imperative to call out the propaganda emanating from the ABC that is tainting perceptions about Israel's war in Gaza and leading to an overwhelming avalanche of antisemitism.

[Full interview]

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Dr Andrew Thomas is a lecturer in International Relations and Middle East Studies at Deakin University specialising in Middle East politics and non-Western international relations theory.

Just prior to what was meant to be the UN conference sponsored by France and Saudi Arabia looking to canvas more nations to recognise a state of Palestine Andrew Thomas wrote an article 'A two-state solution is gaining momentum again for Israel and the Palestinians. Does it have a chance of success?' 

[Full interview]

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Palestinian State Recognition (0:33-25:33)

Dr Andrew Thomas is a lecturer in International Relations and Middle East Studies at Deakin University specialising in Middle East politics and non-Western international relations theory.

Just prior to what was meant to be the UN conference sponsored by France and Saudi Arabia looking to canvas more nations to recognise a state of Palestine Andrew Thomas wrote an article 'A two-state solution is gaining momentum again for Israel and the Palestinians. Does it have a chance of success?' 

ABC anti-Israel bias (25:39-57:26)

I spoke with Jewish insider Elahn Zetlin about his experience working at the ABC and how he found the broadcaster to be biased against Israel and biased against him.

Concerns about the institutionalised anti-Israel media bias at the publicly funded ABC and SBS have been mounting. It has become more and more imperative to call out the propaganda emanating from the ABC that is tainting perceptions about Israel's war in Gaza and leading to an overwhelming avalanche of antisemitism.

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On today’s program I was moderating a live discussion on the topic ‘IDF actions in Gaza directly contradict Jewish ethical tradition’ based on an article and extensive supplementary documentation produced by Paul Komesaroff, Professor of Medicine at Monash University and Executive Director of the international NGO Global Reconciliation and his colleague Jeremiah Kenner a public servant, employed by an Australian government agency. 

They will be participating alongside Rabbi Daniel Rabin, the chief rabbi from Caulfield synagogue in Melbourne and Brigadier General (Res) Amir Avivi, who is the founder and chair of the Israel Defence and Security Forum, otherwise known as Habithonistim, who will together be opposing the proposition that IDF actions in Gaza contradict Jewish ethical principles.

I believe that this event presented a rare opportunity to have a meaningful conversation among members of our community, who have been generally unwilling to talk directly to one another. In the Jewish spirit of constructive engagement, I am trying today to conduct a dialogue that will uphold Jewish values and Jewish identity in difficult times.

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Daniel Seaman was a senior Israeli Government Official in the Prime Minister's Office. These days he hosts an early morning show on Galey Israel radio and a podcast on JNS TV. 

We will consider the current situation with the war in Gaza and the media war that is putting increasing pressure on Israel to agree to a ceasefire. (0:50 - 30:34)

Dr Einav Levy is the founding director of the Israeli School of Humanitarian Action and the Lucien Research Center for Humanitarian Action. He will reflect on dilemmas Israel faces: balancing national security with its humanitarian obligations to Gaza’s civilian population, including women, children, and the elderly.  

We will be considering a document that Dr Levy produced a year ago on the topic 'Humanitarian Strategy in the Israel-Hamas War'. (33:12 - 56:21)

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