Call It Quits! Now!

The highs and lows of the Australian government's shameless cavortings with Israel must surely make us a laughing stock at the United Nations: "At a vote in the UN General Assembly - where Australia has been one of Israel's strongest supporters - the government abstained from a resolution demanding that Israel and the Palestinians investigate possible war crimes during the [Israeli] assault on Gaza... in December 2008. Three months ago, Australia voted against a similar resolution which sought to endorse the Goldstone report - a UN-sponsored paper which accused Israel and Hamas of war crimes. The Foreign Affairs Minister, Stephen Smith, said yesterday that the change was not related to the passport scandal and that Australia abstained because the latest resolution did not specifically endorse the Goldstone report. (Australia abandons Israel in UN vote, Jonathan Pearlman/Jason Koutsoukis, Sydney Morning Herald, 1/3/10)

Butter wouldn't melt in this coquette's mouth: "'Our vote on the resolution was neither determined nor influenced by recent events', he said. The Australian government always considers UN resolutions on a case-by-case basis and on their merits. Australia abstained on this resolution because, unlike previous resolutions, it did not endorse the Goldstone report'." (ibid)

The little minx is fooling herself and playing us all for fools: "One Department of Foreign Affairs source told the Herald there was no doubt the decision to abstain was intended as a sign to Israel not to take Australian support for granted. 'A number of things made it easier for us to switch our vote', the source said. 'Firstly, the Americans helped [helped! helped!!] the Palestinians to soften the wording of this resolution compared to the last one. Secondly, a number of other countries had indicated that they were toughening their own positions on Goldstone*. But there is no question that the debacle surrounding our passports being used in Dubai helped to make up the government's mind to abstain. The final decision was taken late on Friday, Australian time, just a few hours before the vote. Our pattern in the past has been to vote with the US when it comes to Israel, to show as much support for Israel as possible. We were also aware that the UK's decision to vote in favour of the resolution was influenced by the fact that so many of their citizens had been caught up in the Dubai assassination'." (ibid)

[* Mark Latham's "conga line of suckholes" is in disarray at the UN: "Six other countries also changed their votes, including Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. Some countries, such as Britain, France and New Zealand, shifted from abstention to support. Others, such as the United States and Canada, voted against both resolutions." (ibid) After its experiences with Israeli passport hunters, NZ's shift is hardly surprising. (See my 27/2/10 post Israel: The Ultimate Identity Fraud) Note too, that after helping the Palestinian Quislings soften the wording of the resolution, the US voted against it! You couldn't make this stuff up.]

The Australian government always considers UN resolutions... on their merits?!!! Did you know that if you stand close enough to Stephen Smith you can actually hear the ocean?

But there's worse. Don't forget that other, even more shameless, tart waiting in the wings. The more Israel slaps her around, the more ardent she gets. One snort of those Israeli pheromones and she's literally legless: "The opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman, Julie Bishop, yesterday accused the government of downgrading its support for Israel as part of its campaign to win a UN Security Council seat. 'I don't understand the government's change of heart... The Coalition's position has been consistent. Having voted against the Goldstone report, we would continue to vote against it... Since coming to office the government has weakened Australia's long-held position of supporting Israel at the UN'." (ibid)

And the object of their misplaced affections? While his two Australian bitches snarl and claw at one another, he's typically above it all: "Privately, Israeli officials expressed little concern at the vote, saying the new UN resolution simply expanded a plan for internal Israeli investigations of the allegations raised by the Goldstone report." (ibid)

Do Australia and Israel deserve each other? It's hard sometimes to resist that unpalatable conclusion. What is to be done? as Lenin put it. Unfortunately, even a commentator as savvy as Amin Saikal, who concluded his perfectly correct prescription in yesterday's Herald - "It is time for the international community, specifically those states friendly to Israel (Australia included) to condemn Israeli state terrorism... and put pressure on it to behave within international norms and laws"* - with the inanity - "And thus stop being a delinquent actor, but one with a claim of being democratic, in world affairs" - can't quite say what has to be said. Delinquency, I'm afraid, is integral to the Zionist project of wiping Palestine off the map, and Israel as an ethnographic, Jewish, state, which has condemned the bulk of its indigenous population to exile or occupation, is inherently and irretrievably undemocratic. [* It is time for Israel's friends to condemn its acts of terrorism]

Two signs of an unhealthy relationship are the feeling that you're being emotionally abused and that you no longer have strong feelings about your partner, but reminisce about the feelings you used to have. Australia's relationship with Israel is displaying those signs. The abuse is only going to continue. It's time to end this deeply sado-masochistic relationship.