"A large contingent of school leavers from NSW this week departed to Israel on the Shnat 2015 gap year program. Almost 50 teenagers from around the state are participating in the year-long educational and leadership program, together with 91 other young adults from Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and New Zealand. The teenagers - who are all part of local Zionist youth movements... will partake in various movement-run Jewish learning activities, including leadership training, touring, hiking, ulpan, kibbutz experiences and volunteer work." (Shnatties set off for Israel, The Australian Jewish News, 30/1/15)
Other mothers don't:
"On January 21st, 14-year-old Malak Khatib was sentenced by the Israeli military courts to two months in Israeli jails. Malak has been in Hasharon prison for over a month now as her family continues to endure the unbearable absence felt in their small apartment home in the West Bank village of Beitin. Malak was arrested by Israeli forces one morning on her way to school. Her imprisonment came based on a testimony from Israeli soldiers. Regardless of her young age, she was interrogated without legal representation or the presence of a legal guardian. Today Malak continues to remain incarcerated in Israeli jails. The court has also sentenced the family to approximately $US1,500 in fines. If they are not paid her release may be prolonged by the court. Malak Khatib is one of 700 Palestinian children to be arrested and interrogated by Israeli forces annually... Prior to her arrest, Malak enjoyed playing soccer and sketching... She is the youngest of 8 children and, despite her age, continued to enjoy sitting on her mother's lap. She found refuge in it... Malak now sleeps in a jail cell with blue barred doors and grey concrete walls." (International Solidarity Movement)
Fuck, some of them don't even have mothers:
"Diana and Mohammed Ayad were orphaned after their widowed mother was killed during [Israeli] shelling of Gaza City's Shejaiya neighbourhood as the family tried to evacuate their home. Neither child has received psychological testing or support, despite experiencing enduring mental health problems, according to relatives, in addition to physical injuries that left Diana, 15, needing extensive skin graft surgery, and Mohammed, 10, having a toe amputated. Diana, who once wanted to be a doctor, no longer attends school because of the incident and is confined to the family's shell-ravaged home by her injuries. 'I feel very bad psychologically because of the incident and suffer badly from my leg injuries,' she said. 'I'm not glad I survived. I wish I had died'." (Hundreds of thousands of children shell-shocked after the war in Gaza, Robert Tait, telegraph.co.uk, 28/1/15)
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"A large contingent of school leavers..
..NSW...Vic...Qld...WA...NZ..".
Call me neurotic , if you will , but I feel that liberties are being taken with Australia's hospitality with this project which , I fear has implications relevant to Australia's foreign policy.
I distinctly dislike and distrust this project , and I am asking , whoever wants to answer, to what end?
I mean , after all , it is not as though : -
* Australia's & the foreign state of Israel's foreign policy interests are on all fours.
* Australia & Israel are true friends
- look at the abundant evidence to the contrary .
* Israel has Australia's best interests at heart , over & above its own interests , is it ?
(cont)
* It is not as though the AUSTRALIAN Israel Lobby is inclined to be Australia-First (look at its consistent past behaviour) OR even inclined to be middle-of-the-road .
The hyperactive AUSTRALIAN Israel Lobby is over the top hard hard right , in lock step with the current insane Israeli Likud government - ie. the Israel Lobby here is ISRAEL-FIRST .
My view is they are dudding us & should stop .
Look at the openly hostile interference, by Israel , in the domestic politics and foreign policy of its "great friend" the US (who pays Israel's bills and wipes its bottom for it).
Israel's PM ,Netanyahu, intends to address the US Congress , the White House , and AGAINST WH's WISHES , on the issue of US foreign policy on Iran - a policy on which the White House and Israel intractably disagree .
(cont)
Q/ Would Israel ever commit such an outrageous act of aggression against Australia ?
A/ Ha Ha ! Who doubts that ?
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