While Israel was busy 'casting lead' over Gaza in January a number of World War 1 war graves, including those of Australian troops, sustained damage, some beyond repair. The UK Daily Telegraph reported on January 22 that "the cemetery was hit by at least 5 Israeli shells and its grass singed in places by white phosphorus. It is believed that at least one unexploded shell is still under the soil at the cemetery, meaning no visitors can be allowed until it is dealt with." Predictably, the Israelis blamed a Hamas 'weapons cache' for the damage.
A google search on same led to this entry: "Australian soldiers' graves damaged in Gaza - ABC News (Australian... The Federal Government will consider asking either Israel or the Palestinians to pay for damage to Australian war graves. www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/02/25/2501523.htm - 22k Cached - similar pages"
Click on that and you get "Sorry, Page not Found The page you are looking for... cannot be found. It might have been removed, had its name changed, or be temporarily unavailable."
What is one to make of this? If the story's been pulled, there are two possible explanations, the second of which seems the more likely: 1) The idea of the Australian government putting the hard word on the massacred people of Gaza to pay for the damage was too grotesque to stand and so was scotched in a damage control exercise; 2) If word got out that the government was considering going the Israelis for damages to its war graves, this would do serious damage to the local lobby's carefully constructed myth, trotted out last Anzac Day, that Australian troops in Palestine in WW1 were somehow in the business of dying for Israel. To see what I'm getting at here, I refer you to the following two posts on this blog: Anzac Day Special: Diggers Die for Israel (25/4/08) & Zionist Myth In-formation (1/5/08).
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This kind of complaint about Australian reporting in the area:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/tv--radio/abc-kids-news-angers-jewish-group/2006/07/31/1154198063457.html
is still easily found, however.
I think our media is more stitched up than any of the other western powers at present (not that we are that powerful, but we are not that weak, either). The scary thing is that at least in the U.S. there is knowledge of how strong the Israeli lobby is. Within Australia there is little comprehension or awareness.
I've been following this story on my blog - see http://www.kadaitcha.com/2009/02/07/australian-war-graves-in-gaza-shelled-dva-only-just-realises/
I'm starting to think the Zionist lobby has our politicians by the short and curlies.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is to seek compensation from Israel for the damage they caused. Will that include Australian war graves' damage?
Anon, relevance to post? Jinjirrie, wouldn't it be interesting if some politician with spine were to raise the matter in federal parliament?
Congratulations, anon, you're on topic for once, though I'm still at a loss to know what a "Shea," a "Palestinain," and "grave sights" are. And when are you going to do something about your punctuation? A member of the master race who's not on top of his punctuation only lets his side down.
Hm, Israel 'compensating and apologizing'? Can't quite get my head around that one. You really mean Israel, the 'Up You!' state? Bare-faced denial of responsibility, yes, blatant stonewalling, yes - we're all familiar with those, but compo & sorry - surely you jest. Would you be so kind as to supply us with an instance of same?
Your so obsessed with the punctuation rather than the substance or is it your want to avoid the issue under question? Your can't hide your academic qualifications , you write like Muhgrabi perhaps you are him?
Substance? What substance? Have you come up with that compensating/apologizing Israel yet? Come on, just one example.
Before you start worrying about Muslim infighting, Anon, I suggest that you remove the mote from the Israeli eye. Start with "51 Documents: Zionist Collaboration With the Nazis" by Lenni Brenner (2002). This was a lot more serious than the bombing of a few synagogues.
Its returned from the dead http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/02/06/2484130.htm
The one you cite (Diggers'graves damaged in Gaza unrest) is dated 6/2 and reads "the Government has not yet decided whether to make any formal representations to the Israeli Government or the Palestinian Authority about the damage." It's not the one I wrote about (Australian soldiers' graves damaged in Gaza, 25/2), which now seems to have disappeared completely as an abc.net.au citatation, although I notice it's available on a handful of sites such as efarming.com.au, and news.yahoo.com.au.
Hi Merc
Have you noticed whether the Australian war graves at Gaza Cemetery have been fixed yet?
I've added a few more references in comments at my blog post at http://www.kadaitcha.com/2009/02/07/australian-war-graves-in-gaza-shelled-dva-only-just-realises/
That ABC story btw has disappeared from the google cache. Odd?
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