Rotem's Revenge 2

Israeli ambassador, Yuval Rotem, has been busy of late, cutting and pasting. What appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald on 4/2/08 as Voices missing from Gaza debate (See my previous post, Rotem's Revenge), had popped up across the Tasman in The New Zealand Herald on 3/2/08 as Try wearing Israeli shoes.

I'll return to the courageous Kiwi, who dissed Yuval's boss and had to be sorted, later. For the nonce, being a bloodhound for official Israeli talking points, I'll examine those bits of Rotem's response which were spun exclusively for the NZ Herald:

"Would New Zealanders ask their Government to sit idly by while a terrorist organization fires missiles on the towns of Tauranga or Hamilton?" asked Rotem. Now where had I seen this little rhetorical trick before? Of course - in Greg (Jerusalem Prize) Sheridan's plucking silly paean to Israel, Deep inside the plucky country (See my post Gullible's Travels): "For Gilot [sic] to be fired on from Bethlehem is like Sydney's Surry Hills being fired on from Redfern, or Richmond being fired on from the Melbourne Cricket Ground." As Israel's official Spinmeister, Mark Regev, must have laid down: 'The teensy weensy dimensions and oh-so-vulnerable character of Israel can perhaps best be brought home to the parochial ignoramuses of the world by the addition of a touch of local colour. If you're slapping down an offender in Australia, you could for example... If in New Zealand, try...'

Now, that contagion of looking at Gaza and seeing only that other ghetto, surely it hasn't also flared up in the Land of the Long White Cloud? I'm afraid so: "To draw parallels between Nazi Germany and Israel's current actions is offensive and undermines the indignity that the Jewish people suffered. The security fence was erected along a border for which the sole purpose was to protect the people of Israel against terrorism. What Matt McCarten fails to understand [here Rotem switches from the innocents of Sderot to those of Jerusalem and other parts] is the horror caused by these extremists using themselves as human bomb carriers; of climbing on buses, seeing innocent children and still pulling the trigger. Of seeing these same children maimed, blinded and killed by the screws and nails the terrorists have embedded in their bombs to cause the utmost pain possible." But there's only one little problemo here: The "security fence" does not always follow the internationally recognised border known as the Green Line, but often diverges deep inside the occupied West Bank, snaffling up Palestinian land and water resources in the process. And we won't mention those Palestinians maimed, blinded and killed by Israel's version of the nail bomb - the flechette shell.

Rotem's conclusion wields the Zionist propaganda weapon of last resort - the false allegation of anti-Semitism - further cheapening this already degraded currency: "[I]t is not asked that Matt McCarten, in his opinion piece on Gaza, be denied the right to express his views, nor is it asked that a newspaper limit the freedom of speech by refusing to print them. With the right to freedom of speech comes a responsibility not to distort the facts or inflame and play to prejudices. There is a fine line between fair and just criticism, and blunt anti-Israel sentiment which is a camouflage for anti-Semitism." Matt can wear it with pride.

Speaking of whom, Matt McCarten is a regular columnist for the NZ Herald. His column, extensively quoted below, reminds us here in the Land of the Bitten Tongue & the Minced Word that yet again New Zealand is light years ahead of us in so many things, including the ability to speak plainly and fearlessly in the ms media about the vicious and relentless destruction of Palestine:-

West stands by while a whole population is illegally jailed 27/1/08 (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/)

"After this week, does anyone doubt that Israel is a terrorist state? Our televisions couldn't hide the truth last week that 1 1/2 million civilians are imprisoned behind walls Israel has built around them. The entire Gaza population is cut off from the world, with no one permitted to leave or enter their compound. All goods, including oil, have been cut. The entire population is starving and without electricity.

"This imprisonment follows a decision by Israel to collectively punish Palestinian civilians. The reason is that members of the Gaza resistance - mainly Hamas militants - have been causing a nuisance by lobbing homemade missiles over the prison wall into Israel. Damage is minimal but the Israeli Government and its military are embarrassed by these acts of public defiance.

"What Israel doesn't admit is that its military constantly carries out air raids and 'surgical strikes' that kill and maim hundreds of Palestinian civilians, with the blessing of the US administration. The world takes the word of the Israeli Government when it claims it is targeting militants. When innocent victims, including children, are killed and maimed that is accepted as collateral damage.

"Television shots last week showing tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians streaming into Egypt through holes blown through the wall that encircles Gaza show Israel's huge crime against the Palestinian people.

"One of the chilling crimes committed by the Nazis when occupying Poland was walling off a large part of the city of Warsaw, forcing all Jews into it.

"Inside these walls there was a Jewish resistance that ran attacks against its jailers. The Nazi occupiers took retaliation by carrying out collective punishment against the civilian population, which included shelling, assassinating their leaders and cutting off supplies.

"What's the next move for Israeli leaders? They could have to follow the example of the Nazis who in the end massacred everyone inside the compound...

"The truth is Israel is a terrorist state and is able to wage crimes on an innocent people because it is funded and abetted by the world's only superpower. Watching the television images of the Palestinians breaking through to freedom surely must make everyone in the world realise we are being sold a great lie about Israel wanting to negotiate peace."

Yes, New Zealand is different. Thank God.