We're keeping you updated ahead of Israel's national elections on Tuesday 9 April.

This episode looks at some of the developments in Israel over the last week – including a horrific homophobic ad – and also shines a spotlight on representation of women in the Knesset.

In the next few days parties have to submit their candidate lists, which means we'll finally get to see which parties will merge and who'll be serving in the next parliament – so stay tuned to our Facebook and Twitter pages to keep up to date.

In 2019, we celebrated Steven's legacy through the "Steven Glass Truth to Power Award", which was given to Knesset member Tamar Zandberg. We produced this video to share memories from some of Steven's friends.

With just two months until Israel's elections we bring you another update. In this edition we cover the release of Benjamin Netanyahu's ads featuring President Donald Trump, as well as Benny Gantz's campaign launch speech and ad. We also share an update on the polls (spoiler: Benny Gantz rises, Labor falls, Likud stays the same).

In the second episode of our Israeli election preview, we have an update on some of the discussions happening between party leaders, as well as polling on who Israelis prefer as their prime minister. We also give a quick overview of Israel's electoral system and the parties representing Israel's 20% Palestinian minority.

Prime Minister Netanyahu has called Israeli elections for 9 April and we're here to give you the the details on everything that's happening in the lead up.

"Everything that enhances tolerance, civil rights, the recognition of rights of minorities, has a direct implication on the efforts for peace, because the opposite of progress, open-mindedness, and pluralism is, always and everywhere, fanaticism, fundamentalism, and extremism." – Amos Oz

In response to Prime Minister Morrison’s announcement yesterday about the Australian government’s policy towards Jerusalem and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, New Israel Fund Australia executive director Liam Getreu released the following statement.

“Prime Minister Morrison’s announcement is all about political spin and ignores the realities on the ground faced by Jerusalemites.

“Anyone who has been to Israel can see that West Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. But instead of focusing on how Australia can move Israelis and Palestinians closer to a peaceful resolution the Morrison government has spent months tidying up a controversy of its own making.

“While it was busy tying itself in semantic knots, the government overlooked the reality that Jerusalem is a divided city. Though the Israeli government may speak about Jerusalem as the ‘undivided’ capital of Israel, it is in fact anything but. Since the Six-Day War, more than fifty years ago, the Israeli government has de facto created two cities: a prosperous, modern city for Jews in West Jerusalem and a poor and underdeveloped city for 300,000 Palestinians in East Jerusalem.

“Others may be distracted by politics, but NIF Australia has continued its partnership with Israeli civil society groups to bring education, healthcare, water and other critical services to residents of East Jerusalem to redress the inequity.

“We commend Labor’s announcement that it will increase funding to UNRWA, an important agency providing much needed humanitarian aid to Palestinians, and urge the Morrison government to not only match this new funding, but also ask the Trump administration to reconsider its decision to slash $200m from UNRWA’s budget.

“If Prime Minister Morrison wants a positive legacy on this issue, he should leverage the trust and goodwill Australia has with both parties and enact really important steps towards peace.”

Liam Getreu was on ABC AM this morning discussing the Morrison government’s announcement. You can listen on the ABC website.

Today is international Human Rights Day, when we come together to celebrate the passage of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948.

Today is going to be a big day for women's rights and the struggle to end violence against women in Israel. It may well be a moment we never forget.