2008 Australia-Israel Hawke Lecture

Old-New Lands: Ancient Spirits, Cutting-edge Modernity and Europes Complex
Legacy in Israel and Australia

Wednesday 13 August 2008, 5.45pm

Jointly presented by the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce and The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre at UniSA

To be delivered by Dr Fania Oz-Salzberger
Professor and Leon Liberman Chair of Modern Israel Studies, Monash University (2007)

Audio (mp3 format 24.5Mb) 

Two young and dynamic modern democracies, Israel and Australia, are constantly faced with the profundity and pain of their pasts, the energy and challenge of their future visions, and their rich and difficult European legacies. What can Australians learn from Israelis, and Israelis from Australians, about belonging to an old-new land?

Professor Oz-Salzberger was appointed Leon Liberman Chair of Modern Israel Studies in May 2007. She also lectures in history at the University of Haifa, and is the Founding Director of the Posen Research Forum for Jewish European and Israeli Political Thought at the Faculty of Law. A highly respected academic with a prominent public profile, Professor Oz-Salzberger's articles on politics, culture and current affairs have appeared in Israeli, European and American periodicals, including International Herald Tribune, Wall Street Journal and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. She regularly contributes opinion pieces to Ha'aretz. Professor Oz-Salzberger's public activities in Israel include voluntary work for the Israeli Association for Civil Rights, membership of the Public Council of the Israel Democracy institute and the new Public Council on Israel's Jewish Identity. She has spoken on current European-Israeli relations to audiences throughout Europe, including the European Commission in Brussels. She engages in numerous public and media discussions on current affairs and political ideas, serves as panel member on Israeli Channel 10's prime political talk show, and frequently comments on historical and current affairs on television. 

While the views presented by speakers within the Hawke Centre public program are their own and are not necessarily those of either the University of South Australia or The Hawke Centre, they are presented in the interest of open debate and discussion in the community and reflect our themes of: strengthening our democracy – valuing our cultural diversity and building our future.