Finessing It in the Victorian & NSW Knessets

Is there anything Australian politicians will not do at the urging of an overweening Israel lobby?

Apparently not: Whether it's throwing a birthday bash for Israel in federal parliament,* making moan over BDS protests,** observing a minute's silence in memory of Israeli athletes killed at the 1972 Munich Olympics,*** or observing the usual eternal silence on the subject of Israel's crimes against the Palestinian people, no form of kowtowing is too undignified. And that's just on the federal level!

With the feds in the bag, the lobby has lately turned its attention to state politicians.**** Herewith the latest twists and turns in the Zionist fine tuning of our state political institutions:

Down Victoria way, when faced with a judicial decision not to the liking of Israel lobbyists, Premier Ted Baillieu will make subverting it, through a legislative fiddle, top priority. A judicial confirmation of the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly? Now don't you worry about that. We can fix it:

"The Victorian government will investigate whether tougher legislation is needed to prevent political protests closing down businesses, after a magistrate found in favour of anti-Israel demonstrators targeting the Max Brenner chocolate shop chain. Premier Ted Baillieu yesterday led a condemnation of the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions campaign, as the activists plan to celebrate their court victory with another protest outside the Melbourne shop on Friday. 'The BDS group in my opinion is better titled as bigoted, dangerous and shameful,' Mr Baillieu said. 'They have sought to close down businesses just because they are associated with the state of Israel.' 

"Magistrate Simon Garnett dismissed trespass charges against 16 BDS protesters on Monday, finding they had a lawful right to be in the public space outside the store, and their demonstration in July last year was also lawful and did not present a threat to public order. Mr Garnett refused to dismiss charges of assaulting, hindering and resisting police against 5 of the protesters, with guilty verdicts entered against some yesterday.

"Mr Baillieu said he had asked Attorney-General Robert Clark to work with police to determine what action needed to be taken, refusing to rule out legislative changes to prevent a repeat of Mr Garnett's decision on the trespass charges. 'I remain very concerned when there's any protest that seeks to close down a business,' Mr Baillieu said." (Baillieu seeks to toughen protest laws, Pia Akerman & John Ferguson, The Australian, 25/7/12)

Meanwhile, north of the border in NSW, while you weren't looking (but then this sort of stuff never seems to find its way into the ms media, so don't be too hard on yourselves):

"The President of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies Yair Miller has been appointed to the state's Parole Authority. State Labor MP, Mr Walt Secord has congratulated Miller on his appointment as a Community Member of the State Parole Authority... Mr Secord, who is deputy chair of the NSW Parliamentary Friends of Israel said: 'This is an important appointment and an outstanding one. It carries a high level of responsibility. It requires the authority members to balance the need to protect the community with the need to rehabilitate offenders. It requires the wisdom of Solomon, and Yair Miller is well-suited for this position.'" (Yair Miller appointed to Parole Authority, jwire.com, 24/7/12)

Yair Miller, you might remember, was one of the two hugely entertained spectators who sat in the gallery of the NSW Legislative Council and watched as that body whipped itself into a lather over BDS in September last year (See my Witches Brew series 1-9, 17/9/11 - 23/11/11). And by golly we're lucky to get him I can tell you. After all, he's a very busy man. For example, he's not long back from the first Global Israel Diaspora Summit held by the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem where "150 young Jewish leaders from around the world" discussed "the most pressing issues facing Israel today, including" - you guessed it! - BDS. (See Miller heads to Israel, jwire.com, 9/7/12)

[*See my March 2008 series The Israeli Occupation of Federal Parliament 1-5; **See my 15/9/11 post Wielding Zionism's Big Stick in the Senate; ***See my 2/7/12 post Massacre Inc; ****See my Witches Brew series 1-9 (17/9/11-23/11/11)]