Ever wanted to respond forthrightly - even directly - to some swinish letter or opinion piece but knew it'd be a case of casting pearls before some swine of a letters or opinion editor with a distinct inability to distinguish a sow's ear from a silk purse? Sows' ears such as the following, for example, each followed by a silk purse from yours truly:
"If it is indeed true that Mossad were able to find and dispose of Hamas terrorist leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, instead of the UK criticising Israel it should be asking Mossad to find and dispose of Osama bin Laden (Mossad suspected of forging passports, 18/2)." Michael Burd, Toorak, Vic (The Australian, 19/2/10)
Michael, your repeated and tiresome sniping on behalf of Israel always manages to miss the mark. 'Hamas tewworist leader' may have been all the go way back when, but following Israel's wilding in Gaza, and Justice Goldstone's finding that it was a "deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorise a civilian population," it's like sooo dated. And as for Mossad disposing of Osama, shouldn't they first clean up Israel - beginning with its war criminal leaders and ending with themselves?
"It is an unfashionable thing to say, but I have a considerable admiration for the Israeli way of doing things. They want something, they get it. They perceive someone as their deadly enemy, they kill them. They get hit, they hit back. They don't waste time explaining or justifying or agonising; nor do they allow their detractors to enter their country and then afford them generous welfare payments. They just act. No messing. No scruples. Not even a shrug and a denial, just a rather magnificent refusal to debate anything." (Mossad act beats box office fare, Melanie Reid, The Times/The Australian, 19/2/10)
Dear Melanie, as a spruiker for the thugs and assassins of an apartheid terror regime, simple solidarity with its victims dictates that I perceive you as my deadly enemy, and who better than yourself to know what that entails. So be warned - your time is up. And no, I won't waste time explaining, justifying or agonising over my decision, I'll just act, with no mess, no scruples, not even a shrug and a denial, just a magnificent refusal to debate anything. You do understand, don't you? [1]
"It's fantastic that the Dubai authorities are leaving no stone unturned in trying to figure out how a group of Israelis of varying ages and baldness was able to kill a terrorist on their soil. Perhaps when they have finished this, an investigation can commence into how a self-proclaimed murderer was able to freely travel there and procure Iranian arms under their noses. The passport fraud is the ultimate moral deflection." Dr Doron Samuell, Woollahra, NSW (The Australian, 20/2/10)
Hey Doc, wasn't that latest Mossad 'hit' in Dubai absolutely awesome! For doddering, balding, walking stick-wielding old codgers like us, a Mossad hit beats a shot of Viagra every time, right? Talk about the ultimate erection.
"If only, Geoff Saunders (Letters, February 19), Western intelligence operatives were as clever as Mossad. Then Saddam and Osama would have been 'hit' without nations going to war." Alice Khatchigian [2], Ryde (SMH, 20/2/10)
If only, Alice Khatchigian (Letters, February 20), Western intelligence operatives were as 'clever' as you and Mossad. Then nobody would be safe. Following Mossad's excellent example, in addition to your approved Israeli and Western assassins, just from Asia alone we might well have, say, Chinese, Sri Lankan [3], Burmese and North Korean assassins strutting their stuff in this country. Not even the streets of Ryde would be safe. Now wouldn't that be fun, Alice?
Now back to pigs. Pigs will fly if ever I see the following kind of root and branch analysis of Mossad in the ms Australian media [4]:
"Israel's policy of overseas assassination raises profound issues that threaten the basis of the modern state: sovereignty, rule of law and national and personal security. Israel has a publicly-stated policy of violating the sovereignty of any and all countries in order to kill its opponents. In both proclamation and actual practice, Israeli law, decrees and actions abroad supersede the laws and law enforcement agencies of any other nation. If Israel's policy becomes the common practice world-wide, we would enter a savage Hobbesian jungle in which individuals would be subject to the murderous intent of foreign assassination squads unrestrained by any law or accountable national authority. Each and every state could impose its own laws and cross national borders to murder other nations' citizens or residents with impunity. Israel's extraterritorial assassinations make a mockery of the very notion of national sovereignty. Extra-territorial secret police elimination of opponents was a common practice of the Nazi Gestapo, Stalin's GPU and Pinochet's DINA and has now become the sanctioned practice of the US 'Special Forces' and the CIA clandestine division. Such policies are the hallmark of totalitarian, dictatorial and imperialist states, which systematically trample on the sovereign rights of peoples. Israel's practice of extra-judicial, extra-territorial assassinations, exemplified by the recent murder of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in a Dubai hotel room, violates all the fundamental precepts of the rule of law. Extra-judicial killings ordered by a state, mean its own secret police are judge, jury, prosecutor and executioner, unrestrained by sovereignty, law and the duty of nations to protect their citizens and visitors. Evidence, legal procedures, defense and cross examinations are obliterated in the process. Liquidation of opponents abroad is the logical next step after Israel's domestic show trials, based on the application of its racial laws and administrative detention decrees, which have dispossessed the Palestinian people and violated international laws. Mossad death squads operate directly under the Israeli Prime Minister (who personally approved the recent murder). The vast majority of Israelis proudly support these assassinations, especially when the killers escape detection and capture. The unfettered operation of foreign state-sponsored death squads, carrying out extra-judicial assassinations with impunity, is a serious threat to every critic, writer, political leader and civic activist who dares to criticize Israel." (Mossad's Murderous Reach: The Larger Political Issues, James Petras, intifada-palestine.com, 21/2/10)
[1] Sadly, the times being what they are, I hasten to add that this 'threat' is merely satire.
[2] Alice has recently become a favourite of the letters editors. See my 3/12/09 post Revolted.
[3] See my 20/10/09 post Exporting Zionism 2. [4] For an insight into what is curiously called 'quality Australian journalism' on this subject see my 8/2/10 post Disinformation Services.]
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4 comments:
James Petras brilliant as ever, a joy to read.
Michael Burd has had so many letters published that he must be on the payroll as "letter writer in residence".
Michael Burd has so much form in this area throwing stones from his Toorak mansion, one wonders why he still calls Australia home?
@ Alex's "one wonders why he still calls Australia home?"
some have argued that it is rooted in a pyschological syndrome developed by the post-1945 zionists (ben gurion and the like), which goes something like this:
the israeli jews are braver, more committed - frankly just plain better jews than those of the diaspora. the latter are second-rate cowards who are not really committed to israel and, by their failure to come to israel, therefore give succour to the latent anti-semites among whom they live.
this generates a horrible sense of guilt and inferiority. the only way to assuage that sense (while not going to israel to live - after all, it is a foreign country that is 2nd rate compared to comfy australia) is to become a more fearce and irrational supporter of israel than israeli jews themselves. this in some sense tips the psychological scales back into an uneasy equilibrium which must be constantly monitored.
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