A Heretic Recants

One of the Labor cult's most bizarre features, particularly for devotees on the rise, involves the recanting of any criticisms of Israel that may have been made in the past, and the subordination thereafter of independent thought on the subject (best exemplified by such criticisms) to the party's prevailing Zionist groupthink.

Some years back, for example, a rising Labor star, Rose Jackson, was 'discovered' by The Australian (of course!), to have proclaimed, whilst a student politician, that she opposed a Jewish state because all states should be secular, not Jewish, Islamic or Christian.

When outed in the thick of a council election campaign, however, Rose recanted thus:

"Looking back, I think I just bought the prevailing polemic on campus at the time that Israel was some sort of quasi-theocracy. Having explored the subject more deeply since then, I understand this is nonsense. I realise I just misunderstood." (Just click on the 'Rose Jackson' label below for details of the saga.)

Now it's deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek's turn to recant - for a second time, in fact.

She once said, in 2002, in response to the US labelling Saddam Hussein's Iraq a rogue state:

"I can think of a rogue state which consistently ignores UN resolutions, whose ruler is a war criminal responsible for the massacres of civilians in refugee camps outside its borders. The US supports and funds this country. This year it gave it a blank cheque to continue its repression of its enemies. It uses US military hardware to bulldoze homes and kill civilians. It is called Israel and the war criminal is Ariel Sharon. Needless to say, the US does not mention the UN resolutions that Israel has ignored for 30 years; it just continues sending the money."

Plibersek recanted this flawless analysis in 2011:

"Ms Plibersek told The Australian in 2011 that she no longer held such views and had spoken 'injudiciouslly'. Like most Labor Part members and supporters, I'm in favour of a two-state solution, she said." (Israel attack threatens Tanya Plibersek's choice of foreign affairs, Ben Packham, The Australian, 16/10/13)

Now, having put her hand up for the shadow foreign affairs portfolio, she's recanted again - apparently bowing to Foreign Minister Julie Bishop's demand that she "make amends" by "publicly retract[ing] those statements." (ibid):

"A spokesman for Ms Plibersek confirmed yesterday that she still stood by her 2011 comments." (Carr set to quit Senate in a week, Mark Coultan & Joe Kelly, The Australian, 17/10/13)

Can a penitential pilgrimage to the holy shrines of Sderot and Yad Vashem be too far off?