The Israel Connexion

Israel Innovation Fund Adam Scott Bellos  is a revolutionary voice in Jewish innovation, identity, and culture. As Founder and CEO of  The Israel Innovation Fund  (TIIF), Adam is reshaping how the world connects to Israel—through wine, language, self-defense, and a cultural revival rooted in Hebraization. A media-savvy strategist and visionary builder, Adam has created bold pl...

The Jewish Independent is hosting Sir Mick Davis and Mike Prashker of  The London Initiative  (TLI) in collaboration with The Melbourne Hebrew Congregation and the Great Synagogue in Sydney. This community-wide conversation purports to be one that will explore the future of Israel’s democracy and the role of the Jewish Diaspora in shaping it.  However as the noted pro-Israel a...

Ariella Noveck  is a broadcast journalist and the co-founder of  BottomLine Media  and the nonprofit ShieldGiving. She brings over a decade of experience in news, public affairs, and nonprofit communications, contributing to CNN, Bloomberg, CNBC, ABC, FOX, MSNBC, and CBS News. Ariella specializes in political and strategic communications and is deeply committed to combating antisemi...

Ariella Noveck  is a broadcast journalist and the co-founder of  BottomLine Media  and the nonprofit ShieldGiving. She brings over a decade of experience in news, public affairs, and nonprofit communications, contributing to CNN, Bloomberg, CNBC, ABC, FOX, MSNBC, and CBS News. Ariella specializes in political and strategic communications and is deeply committed to combating antisemi...

Sharren Haskel MK  recently completed a six-day historic diplomatic tour in the Pacific region visiting Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Nauru, Palau, Tuvalu, Tonga and New Zealand.  I discussed the significance of her trip, the current challenging relationship between Israel and Australia and the outfall from the ICJ's non-binding decision obligating Israel to lift restrictions on UNRW...

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) resoundingly supported UNRWA’s mandate and continued operations in the so-called Occupied Palestinian Territories. The Court stated that Israel is obliged to lift restrictions on  UNRWA’s operations  and agree to and facilitate relief provided by the agency.  David Bedein  runs the website  Israel Behind the News , repor...

In this complete interview you hear top Israeli film director  Erez Tadmore  talking about his latest film Soda which is  showing at JIFF Support the show: https://www.j-air.com.au/get-involved/membership/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The  2025 Australia-Israel Innovation Summit  is an essential update for leaders across business, government & community grappling with the challenges of business and rapidly changing technologies, a significantly heightened cyber security threat landscape, and pivoting to the hyper-speed adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), now essential to competitive advantage. Lior Handelsma...

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF)  is committed to delivering critical emergency food aid to the people of Gaza safely and directly. Working in partnership with NGOs and local Palestinian communities, GHF has aimed to ensure food aid reaches those who need it most. GHF’s process of securely moving aid into a network of Secure Distribution Sites...

[Full interview] Belle Jarniewksi is an expert on the weaponisation of Anti-Palestinian Racism in Canada. She is the key Canadian representative on IHRA's Committee on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial, and in her day job she is Executive Director at the  Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada . Dr Andre Oboler  is an internationally recognised expert in combating online hate and...

Pro-Israel activist Ran Bar-Yoshafat   is a special forces soldier, author, attorney, historian and international speaker. Married on Oct 11, 2023 he returned to the battlefield the very next day. After nearly 400 days of reserve duty on Israel's frontlines - in Gaza, Lebanon, and along Israel's borders - Ran brings powerful firsthand insights, untold stories and hard-won lessons fr...

Pro-Israel activist Ran Bar-Yoshafat   is a special forces soldier, author, attorney, historian and international speaker. Married on Oct 11, 2023 he returned to the battlefield the very next day. After nearly 400 days of reserve duty on Israel's frontlines - in Gaza, Lebanon, and along Israel's borders - Ran brings powerful firsthand insights, untold stories and hard-won lessons fr...

[Full interview] I speak to another film director Yoav Paz  about his film  The Ring , to be shown soon at JIFF, which explores themes of memory, family bonds, reconciliation across generations, and the legacy of the Holocaust in a Holocaust-themed Israeli dramedy. Support the show: https://www.j-air.com.au/get-involved/membership/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

[Full interview] Israeli filmmaker  Tom Shoval  has won rave reviews for his sharp visual style and storytelling abilities. In 2007, he graduated with honours from Jerusalem’s Sam Spiegel Film & Television School. Shoval’s award-winning short films have been screened at film festivals worldwide. His latest film ' Letter to David ' will be shown at  JIFF  very so...

Israeli filmmaker  Tom Shoval  has won rave reviews for his sharp visual style and storytelling abilities. In 2007, he graduated with honours from Jerusalem’s Sam Spiegel Film & Television School. Shoval’s award-winning short films have been screened at film festivals worldwide. His latest film ' Letter to David ' will be shown at  JIFF  very soon. Back in 2013,...

Mike Wagenheim  is a politic​al reporter, currently serving as Senior U.S. Correspondent for the i24NEWS television network, covering American government, diplomacy, religion, business and culture, all through the lens of the Middle East. He was previously based in the network's headquarters in Israel, where he covered the Israeli government and religious issues. ​Additionally, Mike is&n...

On ‘The Israel Connexion’ this week because it overlaps with Rosh Hashana I am taking time off from my regular programming to bring you instead some audio excerpts from The Shabtai Shavit World Summit on Counter-Terrorism on the theme “Israel in the Eye of the Global Storm” which took place from September 15-18, 2025 at the Jusidman Conference Center, Reichman University, I...

Mordechai Nisan  is a retired lecturer from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He also taught at Bar-Ilan University, the Open University, and the pre-army Lachish academy at Beit Guvrin. Among his books are  Minorities in the Middle East ,  Toward a New Israel ,  The Crack-up of the Israeli Left ,  The Conscience of Lebanon , and  Identity and Civilization . We were...

Neil Drao  is a Middle Eastern affairs analyst at the Australian Centre for International Studies in Canberra. He specialises in the Israel-Palestine conflict and holds degrees in Middle Eastern Studies from the Australian National University and History from the University of Edinburgh.  Lately he has been publishing extensively on  The Times of Israel and has suggested that Israel...

I spoke at length with Michael Gencher,  the CEO for  StandWithUs in Australia , about the a clash between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel protesters that took place at Bondi Beach last Sunday morning. Support the show: https://www.j-air.com.au/get-involved/membership/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sara E. Brown  is the director of the  American Jewish Committee office in San Diego . She holds the first Ph. D. in comparative genocide studies from the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University. She was also a director of  Chhange , a Holocaust, human rights and genocide education nonprofit.  Sara Brown is a genocide scholar, who has been a memb...

Sara E. Brown  is the director of the  American Jewish Committee office in San Diego . She holds the first Ph. D. in comparative genocide studies from the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University. She was also a director of  Chhange , a Holocaust, human rights and genocide education nonprofit.  Sara Brown is a genocide scholar, who has been a memb...

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, pr...

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...

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...