Fifty years of impact and innovation

The Australian Friends of Tel Aviv University (AFTAU) Victoria recently celebrated 50 years of connection, community, and impact with a special evening that brought together friends, supporters and special guests.

AFTAU was delighted to welcome Tel Aviv University (TAU) president Professor Ariel Porat and vice-president Amos Elad, and to honour the many supporters and volunteers who have helped shape AFTAU since the very beginning.

Guests enjoyed an engaging and thought-provoking conversation between Senator Dave Sharma, a former Australian ambassador to Israel and Rebecca Davis, digital media editor at the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council.

Asked about the deterioration of the bilateral relationship between Australia and Israel, Sharma said he found it “heartbreaking”.

“I spent four years of my professional life strengthening and building the relationship between Australia and Israel … because I believed it’s in both our countries’ interests that a strong partnership helps both the nations … and to see what I think has been a reckless and aggressive trashing and degrading of that relationship by this federal government has been, I think, a terrible exercise,” he said.