Keneally and co return from Rambam
Labor Senators Kristina Keneally and Anthony Chisholm addressed an Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council briefing earlier this month after participating in a recent Rambam study program to Israel.
LABOR Senators Kristina Keneally and Anthony Chisholm addressed an Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) briefing earlier this month after participating in a recent Rambam study program to Israel.
Former NSW premier Keneally discussed the challenges Israel faces maintaining its Jewish and democratic character and adherence to the rule of law while guaranteeing its security in such a volatile region.
Senator Chisholm, from Queensland, praised the remarkable accomplishments of Israel in its first 70 years.
He said Labor needs to formulate policy based on Australia’s national interest and international standing, including its supportive commitment when it comes to Israel.
AIJAC’s Jeremy Jones – who accompanied the delegation that also included Liberals Amanda Stoker and Jonathon Duniam plus the Centre Alliance’s Stirling Griff and New Zealand MP Alfred Ngaro – noted that the senators not only had a rich diet of briefings, but also visited crucial geopolitical locations.
He said they took every opportunity to explore how they and Australia can play a constructive role in the region.
In other AIJAC news, a complaint lodged with the ABC in relation to a July 21 online report “What is terrorism?” has been upheld.
A sidebar about terrorist groups on Australia’s list had said: “Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, have been designated for their continued resistance against Israeli occupation.”
ABC’s Audience and Consumer Affairs unit said it did not accurately reflect the description by Australian National Security and the article had been amended to read the groups “have been designated for their attacks on Israeli citizens”.
AIJAC executive director Colin Rubenstein said, “We hope that, in the future, the ABC will take more care to ensure that there are no more instances of this type of blatant misrepresentation, resulting from what seems to be biased advocacy journalism.”
He also expressed disappointment that the ABC’s response did not refer to AIJAC’s request that the article as a whole be labelled as opinion.
AIJAC this week also thanked The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age for changing an online headline “Mother and child killed by air strike” to “Talk of ceasefire between Israel, Hamas interrupted by cross-border fire”.
AJN STAFF
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