Zionist Dreaming

What Zionists say among themselves can often be of more interest than what they say to the rest of us.

This observation came to me as I was perusing Yom Ha'atzmaut (Independence Day) 2015, a glossy 24-page supplement that came with the Australian Jewish News of April 24.

One particular item, The state of the State at 120, was of particular interest. It began thus:

"It's Yom Ha'atzmaut 2068. The Israeli sports minister's rocket-boosted El Al flight has just touched down at Ben-Gurion Airport. Nothing remarkable about that. What is remarkable is that only minutes earlier, this regular commercial flight had taken off from Damascus Airport, where the minister was in talks with her Syrian counterpart, making final arrangements for Syrian venues that will be part of the Tel Aviv Olympics... As The AJN celebrates its 120th anniversary, Peter Kohn asks several community members to look into the crystal ball and share their visions of Israel for Yom Ha'atzmaut of 2068, when the Jewish State reaches its 120th birthday."

Well, bully for Israel, I thought, after reading this, but where were the Palestinians in all this navel crystal ball gazing? You know, the ones whose hopes and dreams lie buried under the rubble of dispossession, apartheid and rampant colonisation.

In a word, absent.

Of the 7 contributors, 4 had nothing whatever to say about them. For the record these were Hallely Kimchi (editor of Eton, a newspaper serving Israelis in Australia), Amit Tzur-Tal (executive director and shlichah of the United Israel Appeal Victoria), Richard Balkin (president of the Zionist Council of Australia), and Danny Lamm (president of the Zionist Federation of Australia).

And the remaining 3, those who could at least pay lip service to the 'P' word?

First, there was Ran Porat, who teaches Israel and Middle East Studies at Monash University:

"... the Palestinian issue is solved, thanks to technological developments and perception changes. Both these advances enable Palestinians to prosper in a viable and lively entity, in harmony and cooperation with the economy and culture of the State of Israel."

Technological developments and perception changes?

What, give them laptops and vouchers to see a shrink?

A viable and lively entity?

Entity? Porat can't even bring himself to utter the word 'state'!

And where may this entity be located? In Jordan? On the moon?

Then came Colin Rubenstein, executive director of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC):

"Palestine, having emerged after the international community started supporting direct negotiations between the parties, leading to a comprehensive peace agreement, has partnered with Israel in attempts to build a viable economy and democratic institutions. The vast amount of global and Palestinian effort that had been used to demonise Israel, to support the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine and perpetuate the refugee issue before the agreement, has been redirected into modernising Palestinian society and its economy."

The international community, so-called, has returned to the good old 'peace process' for more interminable jaw jaw (as more and more settlers flood onto what's left of Palestinian land); UNRWA, if not the UN, has been terminated; and the issue of Palestinian refugees and their right of return has disappeared into the dustbin of history. Problem solved.

Finally, there's Sam Tatarka, president of the Zionist Council of Victoria:

"The path to Palestinian statehood began in earnest with the passing of the last of the old guard of Palestinian rejectionists and a realisation that the 'right of return' and other demands made in the seemingly endless peace process begun in the closing years of the last century were never going to succeed. Jerusalem remains the undivided capital of Israel... Palestinian government offices in the city barely raise an eyebrow as residents and visitors alike enjoy the freedom and spirit of this wonderful city... The Jerusalem light-rail extension to Ramallah built in the early 2030s continues to serve as a reminder of the baby steps taken between Israel and the Palestinians as they moved to broad economic cooperation and integration over the past three decades."

Just hang in there until the Palestinians have dropped all of their demands, the right of return, East Jerusalem and the rest. Say around 2030. No mention of the settler hordes, of course. Palestinian hewers of wood and drawers of water will ride the light rail from Ramallah into Israel to do all the shit work.

Delusional. 

The Herald Awakes

The Sydney Morning Herald has finally bestirred itself to report on the subject of the scandalous persecution of Sydney University's Professor Jake Lynch.

Mind you, the Zionist 'Get Lynch' campaign has been going on now for at least two years, as this, my forty-first post on the subject, testifies.

In brief, Lynch has been under sustained attack by a baying pack of Israeli and Israel lobby outfits (Shurat HaDin/AUJS/AIJAC), assorted Israel-besotted federal politicians, both 'serving' and former (Danby/Bishop/Baldwin), Murdoch's Zionist mouthpiece, The Australian, and lately by a vice-chancellor cluelessly manoeuvred and/or pressured into mounting a witch-hunt against him in the form of an 'investigation' into his conduct at a protest by student activists against a visiting British apologist for Israeli war crimes in March. 

Better late than never, you might argue. The trouble is, however, that the Herald's coverage of the affair is confined solely to the university's witch-hunt against Lynch and ignores the vital context of his Federal Court ordeal last year at the hands of the Mossad-linked Israeli lawfare outfit, Shurat HaDin (motto: 'Bankrupting Terror, One Law Suit at a Time'), a case happily won by Lynch with undisclosed costs awarded in his favour:

"Professor Lynch, a proponent of the Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions campaign against Israel, was advised by the university this month that it was not satisfied his conduct 'constituted anti-Semitic behaviour or unlawful harassment on the grounds of an individual's religious belief (or perceived religious belief)'."  (Academic Jake Lynch cleared of anti-Semitism in ugly stoush at Sydney University, Peter Munro, 27/4/15)

It goes without saying that the false allegation of anti-Semitism routinely hurled at defenders of Palestine by Zionist dead-enders (Sydney Morning Herald cartoonist Le Lievre was also a recent victim) should never have been taken seriously in the first place.

Anyone familiar with Lynch's hounding by Shurat HaDin would instantly see that the now notorious 'money-waving incident' had nothing whatever to do with anti-Semitism:

"A separate stoush was sparked in the audience between Professor Lynch and Diane Barkas, a Jewish semi-retired English lecturer and stand-up comedian, after she threw water on a protestor. Professor Lynch threatened to sue Ms Barkas - waving a $5 note in her face and saying 'This is going to cost you a lot of money' - after she allegedly kicked him in the groin, a claim she denies."

And yet, the Herald continues to give oxygen to those with a vested interest in flogging this particular dead horse:

"But Julian Kowal, of the Australian Union of Jewish Students, claimed Professor Lynch had compromised the reputation of Sydney University as a 'safe space for Jewish students' and should be sacked. 'In so far as the money-waving actions in the face of a Jewish woman evoked strong images of historically anti-Semitic stereotypes, his actions were undoubtedly highly inappropriate,' he said."

More generally, the initiation of the witch-hunt by vice-chancellor Michael Spence raises the question of how an individual can rise to such a level (salary: $911,575 pa) but apparently have little or no understanding of the issues which underlie the 'Get Lynch' campaign: such basics, for example, as the underlying dynamics of the Palestine/Israel conflict (occupied/occupier); the elementary difference between Judaism and Zionism (religion/political ideology); and the perennial modus operandi of Zionists, on or off campus, (conflating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism and using the charge to silence legitimate dissent). A simple knowledge of these matters, absent other factors, of course, should enable any vice-chancellor worth his salt to see through the 'Get Lynch' mob and avoid becoming their unwitting accomplice:

"But Prof Lynch... was warned he still faced dismissal or other disciplinary action for possible breaches of the university's code of conduct, under which staff must treat visitors 'with respect, impartiality, courtesy and sensitivity'."

Question is, will Peter Munro's piece be a once-off or will the Herald be returning to this test case for academic freedom and free speech at our universities?

'Kissing Foreign Backsides'

Thank God Australian journalist Alan Ramsey is back, drawing our attention to things that really matter and asking all the right questions:

"Seven months ago, at Washington's request, the Abbott cabinet sent 200 special forces troops, plus 400 military support staff and 6 Australian jet fighters, to Iraq to join a US-led multinational force to 'assist' the Iraqi government in its campaign against Islamic fanatics, whom Abbott prefers to call 'the death-cult.'

"After a 'formal request' from Washington with the 'support of the Prime Minister of Iraq', the Abbott government last month agreed to commit another 340 ground troops, in tandem with 143 New Zealand troops, who will join the Australian 'training' force at a base north of Baghdad next month.

"It was these additional Australian troops Abbott was farewelling in Brisbane this week. What he doesn't seem to realise is that his government's piecemeal decisions on military deployments to Iraq eerily mirror what the Menzies and Holt governments said and did exactly 50 years ago as they persisted with the pretence that they were reacting to appeals from South Vietnam's besieged government rather than colluding with Washington in an escalating Asian civil war that, unlike Australia, Washington's European allies wanted nothing to do with.

"Doesn't anybody in this ridiculous government of ours pay any attention to the mistakes, blunders, lies etc of their predecessors when it comes to forever knuckling under, previously, to London, and now to Washington?

"Don't we have any self-respect in what we do and how we're seen when we persist in kissing foreign backsides?

"No Australian under 50 today was alive when we went to war in Vietnam in April, 1965. Our London-born Prime Minister was just 3 when his parents migrated here in 1960 and 7 years old that April night Menzies announced we were sending ground troops to Vietnam.

"Is lack of firsthand knowledge, of having lived through those often dramatic and hugely divisive times, political and social, any excuse for repeating the folly of Australia having joined the United States in Washington's war there?

"Or are the lives of 500 dead Australians seen as acceptable in keeping favour with the White House when the United States sorely needed, for political and strategic reasons, other white faces alongside American ones in an otherwise wholly Asian war?" (Knuckling under in other people's wars ignores blunders of the past, Sydney Morning Herald, 25/4/15)

Blair Inc.

Behold Fiona Capp's review of Blair Inc.: The Man Behind the Mask in yesterday's Sydney Morning Herald:

"Few political leaders have provoked as much controversy after leaving office as Tony Blair. Blair Inc. is a combative investigation of the way Blair has gone about 'making himself seriously rich'. The gravest allegation concerns conflicts of interest between his public role as Middle East special envoy to promote economic growth in Palestine and his private commercial interests. The authors argue that Blair's work as envoy has been compromised by his position as an adviser to the bank JP Morgan - whose clients benefited from the two major deals Blair brokered for the Palestinians - and that the Palestinians regard him as Israel's mouthpiece. Overall, Blair emerges as a secretive, self-serving hollow-man. The hostile tone, however, makes it difficult to assess or entirely trust the claims being made."

OK... so Bush's poodle emerges "as a secretive, self-serving hollow man," but the authors of Blair Inc. should have toned down the hostility.

Sure, he may have been complicit in reducing Iraq to the status of a vile, sectarian hell-hole, sending over 500,000 souls to their doom and creating millions of refugees in the process, but hey, that "hostile tone," that's going way too far, guys!

Jeeesus!

My Problem with Amira Hass

I thought I'd tune in to Phillip Adams' Late Night Live program on 22/4/15 to hear visiting Israeli journalist Amira Hass, "the only Jewish journalist who has lived among the Palestinians, both in Gaza and now full-time in the West Bank." (Amira Hass: An Israeli journalist living in Palestine)

Adams was, of course, his usual blunt self - 'blunt', that is, in the sense that his interviewing style, particularly with Jewish Zionists, totally contradicts the program's claim to be about "razor-sharp analysis of current events [which] puts you firmly in the big picture."

But it's mainly Hass (unexpectedly I might add) that I have the bigger problem with this time around. While sound on the occupation of 1967, I found the following words more than a little problematic:

"In my lectures here in Australia, I'm speaking to you as one settler to another. This institutionalisation of colonial times I see it everywhere here in Australia. Everywhere. And I also say different things to different audiences. So for people who tell me the solution is to dissolve Israel, I say 'Why don't you dissolve Australia?' And just because you got away with most of the indigenous people... and luckily and happily Israel and Zionism did not decimate the Palestinians. So... it's an extension of London. So I see the whites here and your colonialism is still fresh and the thing is how we look at the future and not the past. We cannot undo the past, but the future has to be worked on..."

Now, to take up my razor...

What does she mean by 'dissolve Israel/dissolve Australia'? Typically Adams didn't ask her.

Was this in response to a questioner who had suggested that Israel's apartheid structure be dismantled? That Israel be de-Zionised? That it become a state of its citizens, with equal rights for all, regardless of ethno-religious affiliation, rather than continue to be reserved as the exclusive domain of those Jews who see themselves as belonging to that entity, 'the Jewish people'? That Israel's outrageous, biology-based, apartheid Law of Return be scrapped? That the indigenous people of Palestine, ethnically cleansed in 1948 and 1967, be allowed to return to their homes and land?

 Was she seriously suggesting that there are no differences between Israel and Australia? Typically, Adams didn't ask her whether she saw Australia as an apartheid state (that is, a state based, like former apartheid South Africa and today's Israel, on a raft of discriminatory legislation), and if so, which discriminatory laws made it so. Nor did he ask her whether indigenous Australians were languishing in exile in refugee camps in neighbouring countries, denied the right of return to Australia.

Why was she using the old Zionist whataboutery: You dare criticise Israel? What about Australia?

And when she said, Israel and Zionism (that is, almost 100 years of Zionist colonisation, dispossession, expulsion and occupation of Palestinians) did not decimate the Palestinians, what the hell was she on about? Typically, there was no response, razor-sharp or otherwise, from Adams.

Finally, in saying that we cannot undo the past, was she implying that Israel was set in concrete in 1948 and must forever remain a Jewish state, and that the Palestinian refugees of 1948 and 1967 must therefore remain in exile?

In the Burning Sands of the Middle East

Life can be very confusing and sooo complicated. We're lucky, then, we have Tone around to guide us through its complexities. I mean where would we be without such helpful shortcuts as these?

Climate science=crap
Australia before the White Man=nothing but bush
Australians=Israelis
The war in Syria=baddies vs baddies

What more do you need to know about those 4 issues after that?

Thankfully, Tone's come up with a newie: The Middle East=sand

"In the sands of the Middle East, Australian soldiers fought with skill and determination alongside British troops to capture Jerusalem and Damascus." (Worst of times brought out the best in Anzac troops, Tony Abbott, The Sydney Morning Herald, 22/4/15)

That being the case, the Australian War Memorial's website cannot be allowed to get away with the following any longer:

"Unlike their counterparts in France and Belgium, the Australians in the Middle East fought a mobile war in conditions completely different from the mud and stagnation of the Western Front. The light horsemen and their mounts had to survive extreme heat, harsh terrain, and water shortages." (awm.gov.au)

Hello, where's the bloody sand, AWM? You have until April 25 to fix it, OK? Better get moving!

As for Australian soldiers fighting [up-to-their-undies, or at least knee-deep, through the burning sands of Palestine ie, before Israel made the desert bloom!] alongside British troops to capture Jerusalem,  the following from Roger Ford, author of Eden to Armageddon: World War I in the Middle East (2009) my heretofore trusty guide to boots on the ground in the burning sands of Palestine in World War I, is going to have to revisit this:

"In fact, in keeping with Falkenhayn's instructions, the Turkish defences around Jerusalem were withdrawn during the early hours of 9 December [1917]. The first the British knew of this was a report from two mess cooks of the 2/20th Londons, wandering in search of water, who stumbled into the southern suburbs and upon a party led by the Mayor of Jerusalem, looking for someone to whom he could surrender his city. They declined to accept, and returned to their lines. Next the mayoral party happened upon two sergeants of the 2/19th Londons, on outpost duty, but they likewise declined the honour. Next it came upon two officers from the 60th Division's artillery, who promised to telephone the news to their headquarters but respectfully refused to take a more active part in the proceedings... Finally the mayor made contact with the commander of the 303rd Brigade, RFA, himself out on a reconnaissance mission, and managed to convince him of his bona fides. Lt.-Col. Bayley sent back for additional personnel, and was eventually joined by Brig.-Gen. Watson, the 180th Brigade's commander. Some while later Shea arrived and formally took the surrender in Allenby's name. British troops were henceforth confined to the suburbs, outside the city walls, until the commander-in-chief had made his own entrance. He did so - on foot, with no pomp and little ceremony - on 11 December." (p 359)

Not happy, Roger! Where are our Aussie diggers? And how about a bit of bloody action, mate? I want this passage Toned up, NOW, OK?

As for Australian troops fighting [again through the burning sands]... alongside British troops to capture... Damascus, I refer you to my 13/12/11 post Daley of Damascus, upon the reading of which, I'm sure you'll agree, that that uppity dune-coon George Antonius needs a thorough whipping. 

Jeremy Jones for UN Secretary-General

Jeremy Jones, the author of a recent Murdoch opinion piece, is described in its biographical footnote as "the director of international and community affairs, Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council; co-chairman of the Global Forum for Combating Anti-Semitism; and former president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry."  (Bullies, dissemblers & slanderers: BDS movement is a magnet for prejudice, The Australian, 18/4/15)

Now I know what you're thinking. Sure, there's heaps of BS in it about BDS standing for "bullying, dissembling and slander" and being "a magnet for the malicious and a podium for prejudice," and so forth.

But before you dismiss Jeremy as just another Israel lobby grunt out to defend the indefensible, read this:

"If I thought boycotts and related strategies would contribute in any way to peace and justice in the Middle East, or that this campaign would make evildoers suffer, and prompt them to reform, I would back them. If I believed it assisted Palestinians in the process of state-building or improving their human rights position, I would not oppose this. But with decades of working towards these ideals, I am convinced it does the opposite: it reinforces the worst instincts, it rewards obstinance and it inflames tensions."

OMG!  What a surprise!

Honestly, I had no idea until I read the above that, far from being a good Zionist footsoldier, Jeremy was really a fighter for "peace and justice in the Middle East," a dedicated foe of "evildoers," and a true friend of the Palestinians!

Bugger Kevin Rudd! Jeremy Jones has my vote for next UN Secretary-General.

America's Great White Hope

Now isn't this the BLEEDING obvious:

"A direct line can be drawn from NATO's 2011 intervention in Libya to the turmoil currently engulfing the country; a chastening thought for anyone now contemplating another to tackle the twin threats of Islamic State and mass migration. A bombing campaign helped to dislodge Muammar Gaddafi, empowering the multiple rebel forces - including radical Islamists - who then looted his massive arsenal of heavy weapons and turned the guns on each other, battling it out for their share of the nation's vast oil wealth." (Gaddafi's ouster led to splintered, failed state, Catherine Philp, The Times/The Australian, 18/4/15)

Factor in this week's mass drowning of 700 wretched-of-the-earth, fleeing the mayhem, and the takfiri throat-slitting of others, and the ghastly picture of Libya libre is complete.

So what does US presidential wannabe Hillary Clinton have to say about all this?

Nothing.

Which is probably just as well considering what she's already said:

"Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shared a laugh with a television news reporter moments after hearing deposed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had been killed. 'We came, we saw, he died,' she joked when told of Qaddafi's death by an aide in between formal interviews." (Clinton on Qaddafi: 'We came, we saw, he died' Corbett B. Daly, CBS/informationclearinghouse.info, 21/10/11)

Setting the Bar Too High

"Beijing has raised the bar for fresh talks with the Dalai Lama - requiring him to defer publicly to contentious historical claims. China has published a new white paper on Tibet, which demands that if negotiations were to resume about his return after 56 years of exile, he must first make 'a public statement that Tibet has been an integral part of China since antiquity'." (Beijing sets bar too high for Lama, Rowan Callick, The Australian, 18/4/15)

Outrageous! Completely unacceptable! A demand not to be contemplated. 

But Israel's demand that the Palestinians give up on their homeland and concede that it really belongs to 'the Jewish people' - based again on some obscure, antique connection (formulated hyperbolically these days as 'Israel's right to exist' as a Jewish state) - now that's a different matter.

Unlike the Chinese demand, however, our Zionised msm pundits and scribblers invariably find Israel's demand not only eminently reasonable, but the Palestinians' acquiescence in it absolutely essential if peace is ever to come to the Holy Land.

And that's why you'll never see a headline like Tel Aviv sets bar too high for Palestinians.

RIP Eduardo Galeano 1940-2015

The great Uruguayan journalist, historian and writer Eduardo Galeano, author of The Open Veins of Latin America and the Memory of Fire trilogy, passed away last week. Needless to say, Galeano had no trouble passing the Palestine test:

Si yo fuera palestino
If I were Palestinian (2009)

Desde 1948, los palestinos viven contenados a humillacion perpetua.
Since 1948, the Palestinians have been condemned to live in never-ending humiliation.

No pueden ni respirar sin permiso.
They can't even breathe without permission.

Han perdido su patria, sus tierras, su agua, su libertad, su todo.
They have lost their homeland, their lands, their water, their freedom, everything.

Ni siquiera tienen derecho a elegir a sus gobernantes.
Even the right to elect their own government.

Cuando votan a quien no deben votar, son castigados.
When they vote for whom they shouldn't, they are punished.

Gaza esta siendo castigada.
Gaza is being punished.

Se convertio en una ratonera sin salida, desde que Hamas gano limpiamente las elecciones en el ano 2006.
It has become a dead-end mousetrap since Hamas won the 2006 elections fairly.

Algo parecido habia occurido en 1932, cuando el Partido Comunista triunfo en las elecciones de El Salvador.
Something similar happened in 1932 when the Communist Party won the elections in El Salvador.

Banados en sangre, los salvadorenos expiaron su mala conducta y desde entonces vivieron sometidos militares.
The people atoned for their misbehavior with a bloodbath and lived under military dictatorships from then on.

La democracia es un lujo que no todos merecen.
Democracy is a luxury deserved by just a few.

Son hijos de la impotencia los cohetes caseros que los militantes de Hamas, acorralados en Gaza, disparan con chambona punteria sobre las tierras que habian sido palestinas y que la occupacion israelita usurpo.
The homemade rockets that Hamas combatants, cornered in Gaza, shoot with sloppy aim at formerly-Palestinian lands currently under Israeli rule are born out of helplessness.

Y la desesperacion, a la orilla de la locura suicida, es la madre de las bravatas que niegan el derecho a la existencia de Israel, gritos sin ninguna eficacia, mientras la muy eficaz guerra de exterminio esta negando, desde hace anos, el derecho a la existencia de Palestina.
And desperation, the kind that borders on suicidal madness, is the mother of the threats that deny Israel's right to exist with ineffective cries while a very effective genocidal war has long denied Palestine's right to exist.

Ya poca Palestina queda.
Very little is left of Palestine.

Paso a paso, Israel la esta borrando del mapa.
Step by step, Israel is wiping it off the map.

Los colonos invaden, y tras ellos los soldados van corrigiendo la frontera.
The settlers invade, followed by soldiers who retrace the borders.

Las balas sacralizan el despojo, en legitima defensa.
Bullets shot in self-defence consecrate the plundering.

No hay guerra agresiva que no diga ser guerra defensiva.
No aggression fails to claim its purposes are defensive.

Hitler invadio Polonia para evitar que Polonia invadiera Alemamania.
Hitler invaded Poland to prevent Poland from invading Germany.

Bush invadio Irak para evitar que Irak invadiera el mundo.
Bush invaded Iraq to prevent Iraq from invading the world.

En cada una de sus guerras defensivas, Israel se ha tragado otro pedazo de Palestina, y los almuerzos siguen.
With each of its defensive wars, Israel swallows another piece of Palestine, and the feast goes on.

The Trouble With Colonel Kemp

I've just been reading the report Investigation into potential breaches of University Codes of Conduct, posted on Sydney University's website, sydney.edu.au/news. I find it a disturbing document with grave implications for universities once renowned as havens for free speech and dissent.

In it we learn that Sydney University is threatening "disciplinary action" against a group of pro-Palestine student protesters, who disrupted a lecture last month by visiting British apologist for Israeli war crimes Colonel Richard Kemp, and pro-Palestine academic Jake Lynch, who sought to challenge the aggressive actions of security staff towards the students whilst fending off the unwanted attentions of a "semi-retired English literature lecturer and sometime stand-up comedienne Diane Barkas, 73," to quote the Australian's description of this enraged, water-hurling, camera-grabbing harpy. (See Woman denies kicking BDS guru in groin, Ean Higgins, 15/4/15).

The threat comes in response to complaints over the incident(s) submitted to the university's vice-chancellor Michael Spence by 386 individuals - only 34 of whom had actually been present at the lecture - as part of an "investigation" into the matter. (See my 18/3/15 post Anatomy of a Beat-Up.)

While we are not party to the names of the 352 "other staff, students and members of the public" who lodged those complaints, or to their content, it is safe to assume that the vast majority are the result of yet another (*sigh*) Israel lobby campaign of confected outrage targeting supporters of Palestine on campus, and, in particular, Professor Lynch, a prominent advocate of boycotting institutional ties between Sydney University and Israeli universities, a brave and principled stance that saw him hauled up before Sydney's Federal Court by the Mossad-connected, Israeli lawfare outfit Shurat HaDin last year.

It'd be most interesting to know whether some of these 'complaints' contained threats of some kind, along the lines of those described in my 26/8/14 post How Zionists Enforce the Party Line on Israel.

Central to the "investigation" are "potential breaches of University's Codes of Conduct," which "require all staff, students and affiliates to be tolerant, honest, respectful and ethical at all times."

Even to the likes of Kemp, it seems, who must be enjoying the progress of the witch-hunt, sorry investigation, immensely, seeing that "the university will send correspondence to Dr Kemp and other initial complainants present at the lecture providing them with an update."

Far from retiring (after also helping out with NSW's United Israel Appeal) to lick wounds supposedly inflicted by an intolerant, dishonest, disrespectful and unethical "BDS guru" and his student minions, Kemp will be appearing at a Shurat HaDin talkfest in Israel in May, Towards a New Law of War Conference.

Apparently, the glorious Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are finding that the Hague and Geneva Conventions, as presently constituted, are cramping their style and hence in dire need of a makeover.

It seems (I'm quoting the conference blurbs here) that "democratic armies" are pretty pissed that "large portions of the Western public and world media have come to assume that any civilian casualties are unacceptable and unlawful," and that the "Rules of Engagement in conflicts such as Afghanistan, Syria, South Lebanon and Gaza are too restrictive and irrelevant to safeguard military forces pursuing legitimate objectives in a terrorist war." (israellawcenter.org)

My fave sentence from these blurbs is this from Panel 5: "[Targeted killings] is an issue that demonstrates the influence of the Israel Defense Forces' position in shaping international law."

The influence of the Israel Defense Forces' position in shaping international law???!!!

That, my dears, is the nightmare vision to which Kemp would be a party. I wonder what Sydney University's Codes of Conduct, with their call for tolerance, honesty, respect and ethics, have to say about such matters.

From Leeton to Libya

The Sydney Morning Herald yesterday led with a report on the accused killer of Leeton High school teacher Stephanie Scott. In it we learned that the accused:

"[Vincent] Stanford maintained a secret online life, hiding behind fantasy characters to indulge his obsession with computer games, violent videos and neo-Nazi propaganda." (Secret life of accused killer, Rachel Olding & Nick Ralston, 14/4/15)

None of which, as you'd expect in a case such as this, would have come as much of a surprise. One item, however, further into the piece, did. I've rendered it here in bold:

"In between the dozens of Stargate video clips that he 'liked' on YouTube, he also liked pro-Nazi clips, clips supporting Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi and clips about the 2011 military science fiction shooter game, Gears of War 3."

Clips supporting Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi... Really?

So, taking these words at face value, we're expected to believe that, in addition to being a closet neo-Nazi obsessed with tales of "violent galactic warfare," Stanford had a soft spot for Colonel Gaddafi, as opposed to, say, the NATO air raids that brought his regime down and sealed his fate.

Are we seriously to believe that he took time out from "indulging" his aforementioned "obsessions" to admire the fact that Libya under Gaddafi ranked No. 1 in Africa on the United Nations Development Program's Human Development Index in 2010? Or is it more likely that he merely 'liked' the Israeli-made video parody of Gaddafi that went viral in 2011?*

If so, who is responsible for the words "supporting Libyan Dictator Muammar Gaddafi," which distort the truth of the matter by introducing into it an element of gratuitous Arabophobia?

[* The so-called 'Zenga Zenga Song'. See my 14/3/15 post If Only We Had Gaddafi to Kick Around Some More.]

Gross Ignorance at Guardian Australia

Mehdi Hasan may have gone to Oxford, read Philosophy, Politics and Economics there, and played the pundit at, variously, the BBC, the New Statesman, the Huffington Post, Al-Jazeera, and the Guardian, but he clearly knows SFA about the Palestine problem:

"[The] plight [of the Palestinians still left in Damascus' Yarmouk refugee camp] should matter to us all - regardless of whether their persecutors happen to be Israelis, Syrians, Egyptians or, for that matter, fellow Palestinians..." (The refugees of Yarmouk deserve better than silence, Guardian Australia, 13/4/15)

OK...

"This is far from a cynical exercise in pro-Israel whataboutery. There are very good reasons that Israel attracts such widespread criticism and condemnation in the West. Israel is our ally and claims to be a liberal democracy, unlike both Assad and ISIS. Israel is also armed, funded and protected from UN censure by the US government; again, unlike both Assad and ISIS."

OK...

"Those who try to use the tragedy of Yarmouk to excuse or downplay Israel's 48-year occupation of Palestine should be ashamed of themselves."

Excuse me, Mehdi? Shouldn't that be Israel's 66-year occupation of Palestine (1948-2015)?

"But what of the rest of us? Can we afford to stay in our deep slumber, occasionally awakening to lavishly condemn only Israel? Let's be honest: how different, how vocal and passionate, would our reaction be if the people besieging Yarmouk were wearing the uniforms of the IDF?"

Hello? How the fuck do you think they ended up in Yarmouk REFUGEE camp in the first place?

Do the words 'historical context', 'root cause', and 'primary responsibility' mean anything to you?

"Our selective outrage is morally unsustainable. Many of us who have raised our voices in support of the Palestinian cause have inexcusably turned a blind eye to the fact that tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed by fellow Arabs in recent decades: by the Jordanian military in the Black September conflicts of the early 1970s; by Lebanese militias in the civil war of the mid-1980s; by Kuwaiti vigilantes after the first Gulf war, in the early 90s."

Again, did it ever occur to you to ponder how these Palestinians ended up in Jordan, Lebanon and Kuwait in the first place?

Furthermore, would you mind documenting that alleged blind eye to the fate of Palestinians in Jordan, Lebanon and Kuwait? Baseless assertions just don't cut it, I'm afraid.

And is it too much to get the date(s) right for the Lebanese bit?

So what's the take-home message of your piece on Yarmouk?

Basically, that the Palestinians have been everyone's punching bag at some stage, so why pick on Israel?

Bloody hell, Mehdi, who do you think it was who created that punching bag in the first place?

Of course the refugees of Yarmouk deserve better than silence, but they also need better advocacy than this!

Don't Hold Your Breath

The Mike Baird election promise the msm never bothered to report on:

"One of my first undertakings as Premier was at the wonderful Israel Independence Day celebration last year, less than a week after I became Premier, where I pledged to become the first NSW Premier in living memory to visit Israel if my government is returned to office." (Premier's plea for your vote at the polls, The Australian Jewish News, 27/3/15)

And if it happens, will the msm report the fact and ask WHY Israel?

Judeo-Jesus

The following ad, from eTeacherBiblical.com - JEWISH BACKGROUND OF NEW TESTAMENT, makes interesting reading in light of Geraldine Doogue's Easter in Jerusalem:

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The faculty for this course was carefully chosen by Dr. Eli Lizorkin-Eyzenberg, Head of Jewish History Department at eTeacherBiblical. It now boasts some of the best and the brightest multi-lingual lecturers that concentrate their studies in the history of the Early Jesus movement in its original Jewish setting.

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Jesus Wept 2

Then there was the following segment, where Geraldine surveys the East Jerusalem skyline under the guidance of Sr Mary Reaburn:

GD (on camera): Wowee!
GD (off camera): The first step on my quest to learn more is the Ecce Homo Convent overlooking the ancient city.
GD (on camera): Oh, look at it. Isn't it fantastic?
MR: So these two dark domes on the horizon are the Holy Sepulchre.
GD: Yes.
MR: That's still within the Old City. And then of course here's the piece de resistance, the Dome of the Rock.
GD: Wow! It sure is.
MR: And now today it's a Moslem [her pronunciation] shrine...

Unfortunately, we didn't get to hear the rest of Sr Mary's words, but I can't help wondering about the somewhat provisional nature of her comment about the Dome of the Rock (now, today), sort of 'Today it's a Moslem shrine, but tomorrow...'

What follows is what the French call folie a deux (a shared folly):

GD (off camera, interrupting): I'm here to meet Sr Mary Reaburn from Melbourne. Mary spends half her year teaching biblical history here in Jerusalem... Mary belongs to a unique French convent, the Sisters of Our Lady of Sion, an order dedicated to understanding the Jewish roots of Christianity.
MR: Mary is a Jewish woman.
GD: A Jewish mother.
MR: A Jewish mother. And raising a Jewish son. I like to tell people sometimes Jesus was never a Christian, a Catholic. He remained, born, lived and died a Jew.
GD: Well that's what I'm fascinated by, you see, that's what I'm really interested in that...
MR: Do you know why?
GD: Why am I interested? Well, how the heck did this Jewish man become this source of this amazing international religion. I find it more and more and more interesting.
MR: If we believe in the incarnation, and that's central, we have to understand the particularity of Jesus, which is his Jewishness, as well as the universality of Jesus, which is his mission... for 1900 years we forgot about Jesus's Jewishness.
GD: I think we did.

Now precisely what this is all supposed to signify is anyone's guess, but I'm sure it's all welcome Judeo-Christian grist to the Zionist propaganda mill. The problem here, of course, is that the locals have effectively been erased from the production. Geraldine is in Jerusalem, not Israeli-occupied Arab East Jerusalem. And you can forget about occupied Palestinians, there aren't even any Arabs here.

In the following segment, our clueless gusher is actually surprised to find that most of those doing the Stations of the Cross on the Via Dolorosa are actually "from the area." It's as though she's only just become aware that there are Palestinian Christians, which she only ever refers to (and then only once) as "Middle East Christians":

GD (on camera): What an extraordinary experience. I mean pilgrims have been coming here to the Holy Land since before the 8th century. In the 12th the Crusaders came and controlled the place for 100 years. Then in the 18th it was all the sea pilgrimage which became fashionable. And then of course by air, which means that pilgrims come by the millions as we've just seen, but, mind you, this was very much a Middle Eastern experience. Most of the people involved mainly were from the area. A lot of us were looking on but it belonged to them. That wasn't quite what I expected.

The ugly reality of Israeli apartheid and occupation is also conspicuous by its absence in the following segment with the passing strange Sr Mary:

GD: How do you find the overt displays of piety?
MR: It teaches me something of the variety of the world. It doesn't have to be my piety...
GD: But, you know, how some deep faith is frankly deeply terrifying. Does that cross your mind?

It's obvious that Geraldine's thinking here about the incident involving the Judeo-fascist in the Cenacle, because none of the Christians in the film have so much as blinked an eyelid. Still, listen to Sr Mary's response, and remember that this is a woman who spends half of every year in Jerusalem:

MR: It does because we know in our own church history the deep faith of the Crusaders who brutally murdered people here on their way to try to regain the Holy Land... sometimes I think God must have a little chuckle.(Chuckles)

!!!!????

This woman's the 3 wise monkeys all wrapped in one.

Finally, Geraldine invites viewers to "join me later this year when I explore the Jewish roots of Christianity."

What? More of Sr. Mary's maunderings? I can hardly wait.

Jesus Wept 1

When someone says, 'He wouldn't know the truth if it hit him in the face,' we are seldom witness to an actual incidence of the phenomenon.

Well, I was.

It was last Sunday night, while watching the invariably gushing, always clueless, and unfailingly Israel-friendly Geraldine Doogue star in her own ABC Compass doco, Easter in Jerusalem.

There was clueless Geraldine, gushing away as usual, when the inconvenient truth of a situation, rudely entered her charmed circle, smacked her fair across the face, and then was gone, leaving her, unbelievably, still gushing, and worse, still clueless.

Here's a transcript of this most extraordinary event:

GD (off camera): The next stop on my journey, just outside the city walls on Mt Sion is the building known as the Cenacle, the site of the Last Supper. Now according to Christian tradition this is the upper room where the Last Supper took place, where Jesus had his final meal with his apostles and he gave them the immortal message - really emphasised it - love one another as I have loved you.
GD (on camera): But look, it's incredible this place because it's a church, a synagogue and a mosque all in one. The Crusaders built the church over this holy ground... then the Ottomans came and made it a mosque and they dedicated a little prayer area to King David. So it's an amazing example of interfaith, and you can hear the chanting 'cause we're waiting now for one of the great ceremonies of Holy Thursday, the Washing of the Feet where, effectively, aping Jesus washing of the feet of his disciples, the great act of service of a leader, of humility...

At this point an American voice, rudely interrupting Geraldine's exposition, can be heard above the din of the thronging faithful:  'This is not a Church!'

GD (off camera): Then an unexpected arrival...

The camera pans to a a newly-arrived, black-hatted, black-garbed Orthodox Jewish fanatic, ranting at the faithful:

Zionist Fanatic: This is not a church! This is a Jewish state! Medinat yahudi. This is not a church! It's a museum! We don't need your dirty money! We don't need your [inaudible]

Palestinian Christian: Go out!

ZF: No, you go out!

PC: Go out!

ZF: You go out! This is the Land of the Jews!

PC: I'll call the police.

ZF: Go ahead...

PC: I will!

GD (on camera, gobsmacked): Well, that was certainly unplanned. He doesn't think it's a church and he will not be evicted. So this is... he's really quite dramatically changed the complexion of events. I think the Washing of the Feet is still going to continue but, you know, it's really quite extraordinary to hear that level of passion up close and very personal. 'This is the land of the Jews. This is a museum. It is not a church. Do not pray here.' Quite something. He was later evicted by Israeli police and the prayers continued.

So even when the ugly truth of Zionist fanaticism knocks her down, scattering her interfaith fantasies all over the floor and leaving her gasping, Geraldine Doogue still doesn't get it.

'It's really quite extraordinary to hear that level of passion up close and very personal,' is the best she can manage.

Jesus wept!

To be continued...  

Dumber & Dumber

The sad decline of SBS, Australia's 'multicultural' broadcaster, goes on:

"Hollywood stars and church cults were likely fodder for SBS World News, where newsreader Lee Lin Chin was among staff told to feature 'quirky' stories to attract viewers. News teams were urged to avoid 'turn-off' reports about the Middle East, Ebola, asylum seekers and indigenous Australians. Exceptions include soccer playing refugees with dreams of performing at Eurovision. Research reportedly revealed older viewers preferred stories about fish oil to those about Ukraine. 'Quirky yarns are preferable,' SBS management said, prompting special news features on omega-3 in the Black Sea and Chin's top 10 asymmetrical outfits." (Six degrees of separation of the week's news, Peter Munro, Sydney Morning Herald, 4/4/15)

Fudging the Palestinian Nakba at The Australian

I'm afraid the Australian's new Middle East correspondent Jamie Walker has blotted his copybook again.

In yesterday's report on the Islamic State takeover of Damascus' Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk, we get a gratuitous, unattributed factoid like this:

"Assad is said to have sponsored the rise of Islamic State in Syria in a cynical double play to persuade the West that his war was with the Islamists, not his own people." (Call for blood donations echoes from camp minarets, 6/4/15)

Is said to have? How authoritative is that? So USrael, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf states, Jordan, and Turkey have nothing whatever to do with sponsoring the rise of IS? It's all Asad's doing? Seriously?

On the other hand, when it comes to the fact of Palestine's ethnic-cleansing by Jewish State in 1948, he manages to pull not one, but two punches:

*"Yarmouk used to be a byword for the tragedy that had overtaken Palestinians displaced by war with Israel."

*"The descendants of Palestinian refugees from Israel's 1948 war of independence..."

Applying the expression displaced by war to the Palestinian nakba (catastrophe) of 1948 is a fudge for the deliberate and systematic uprooting and expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians by Zionist terror gangs, one of the 20th century's most heinous, but consistently denied, crimes against humanity. 

And as for referring to the nakba as Israel's war of independence (against whom exactly?), that's just deploying grandiloquent Zionist hype, an appropriation of America's war of independence. Just imagine white, settler-colonial America referring to its genocide of Native Americans as its 'war of independence' and you'll get the idea.

Bogan's 4 Israel

It seems that no festival of bogan racism (such as yesterday's 'Reclaim Cronulla Australia' rallies) is complete these days without an Israeli flag or three. So no surprise then to see the following heart-warming, taxpayer-funded Jacky Jacqui Lambie advert in the Australian Jewish News of 27/3:

JACQUI LAMBIE

PUP Independent Senator for Tasmania

PUTTING JACQUI LAMBIE TASMANIA FIRST

Wishing you a Happy & Peaceful Passover!

I support the Jewish people's right to live freely and without fear, and condemn anti-semitism.

I would also like to acknowledge your loyalty and support for the Israeli and Australian defence forces.

senatorlambie.com.au

'Deeply Concerned'

I wonder if Sydney University vice-chancellor Michael Spence realises just how energising and entertaining his song and dance routine must be to the usual suspects. I suspect not:

"Like Peter Baldwin, Sydney University is deeply concerned about events that occurred during Richard Kemp's lecture on March 11 (Where the right to speak is howled down, 2/4). We are in the process of finalising an investigation into the incident, having interviewed more than 20 people and reviewed extensive material.

"I'd like to reassure Mr. Baldwin, and all those concerned by the events, that we are committed to defending free speech and the right of all staff, students and invited guests to express their views without fear of bullying, harassment or discrimination.

"Following thorough processes in such cases is vital. It is imperative that we complete these processes before appropriate actions can be taken. We are committed to ensuring this investigation is concluded as quickly as is possible, and will not hesitate to take appropriate action." (Letter to The Australian, 4/4/15)

One likely lad with more than a keen interest in the matter is Dean Sherr of the Australian Australasian Union of Jewish Students (AUJS). Sherr has reportedly "helped start an online petition calling for Professor Lynch to be sacked." (Pro-Palestinian protest investigated by Sydney University, PM, abc.net.au, 2/4/15)

He may or may not read The Australasian Australian Jewish News, but I wonder what he'd make of their 27/3 online poll Should the University of Sydney fire Jake Lynch? and its 58% No vote.

As for the vc's vaunted investigation, Professor Jake Lynch has his doubts: "I've been interviewed by a lawyer whom the university informed me was a neutral person working for an outside law firm. It turned out she was actually moonlighting from her job with the university's own legal department. So my union has written a letter to the vice-chancellor calling that a duplicitous attempt to entrap members. And I fully endorse that view." (ibid)

For the context, see my posts Anatomy of a Beat-Up (18/3/15) and Baldwin's Balderdash (3/4/15).

Baldwin's Balderdash

The Australian's tedious Zionist crusade against Professor Jake Lynch of Sydney University's Centre for Peace & Conflict Studies continues in the form of an opinion piece by a former Labor politician with a Zionist bee in his bonnet about Hamas.  

Peter Baldwin "was minister for higher education (1990-93) in the Hawke-Keating government." (Where the right to speak is howled down, 2/4/15)

There's the usual tiresome tripe about "mob rule" at Sydney University, "genocide by Hamas," and "the vicious persecution of Christians [presumably by Hamas] most of whom have now fled the territories."

Then there's the following eye-rolling stuff and nonsense: 

"Riemer gave a detailed defence of the disruption in a long article in the online journal New Matilda. This piece of casuistic nonsense..."

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. What's casuistry compared to the confusion that stems from a failure to distinguish between polar opposites? (Remember that this bloke's the convener of something called the Blackheath Philosophy Forum): 

"My sense is that increasingly anti-Zionism is a mask for occulted anti-Semitism."

Which, of course, is merely the obverse of the classic Zionist conflation of Judaism (faith) with Zionism (political ideology).

Just as bad is Baldwin's failure to see the issue of Gaza in its historical context:

"As for the stuff about failing to promote human flourishing, perhaps Riemer should consider that by turning Gaza into an armed camp... Hamas and its supporters and apologists are failing to 'promote human flourishing'."

Leaving aside the hypocrisy of describing Gaza as an "armed camp" while ignoring the Zionist movement's turning of what was once Palestine into the Middle East's largest and most powerful armed camp, Baldwin blithely ignores the fact that the rise of an armed resistance movement in the Gaza Strip was the inevitable result of Israel's ethnic cleansing of southern Palestine in 1948, the population of which was not only forced to seek refuge there but forced to remain there in violation of international law and common humanity so that their ethnic cleansers could get on with the business of stacking their former homes with Jews from all over. 

Maybe he thinks those refugees should have set up a 'Gaza Philosophy Forum' instead.  

First the Apology, Then the Re-Education

The Zionist bullying of the Red Rattler Theatre continues:

"The AJN understands that the Red Rattler's board is taking steps to ensure that the situation is not repeated." (Theatre apologises for rejecting Hillel show, The Australian Jewish News, 27/3/15)

The "situation," of course, being that someone from the board told a "Jewish organisation" (Hillel) that the RRT does "not host groups that support the colonisation and occupation of Palestine." (See my 23/3/15 post Back to Marrickville.)

Now if Hillel were merely a Jewish organisation, all it had to do was point out that it has nothing whatever to do with Israel or its colonisation and occupation of Palestine.

Except that then it would have had to explain away its Vision Statement, which advocates "an enduring commitment to Israel" and its promotion of Israel's Jews-only Taglit-Birthright Israel program, both indicating an explicitly Zionist agenda.

No, bluff and bully's obviously the way to go here:

"That includes a new process for approving events, education for the staff member who sent the response, including a visit to the Sydney Jewish Holocaust Museum, and a meeting between Mendelevich, Alhadeff and employees and board members from The Red Rattler." (ibid)

Think about this for a moment. A holocaust museum doubling as a re-education camp, not for anti-Semites, but for anti-Zionists! It doesn't get much more Orwellian than that.

Nor is entry to the camp voluntary for our hapless anti-Zionist. Please note the opening word of the penultimate paragraph of the AJN's editorial on the subject:

"When the employee attends the Sydney Jewish Museum and learns about the Holocaust, we only hope he/she understands the slippery slope that anti-Semitism can lead to." (Rattled by theatre, AJN, 27/3/15)

Let me conclude with the following enlightening analysis of Hillel by Arab-American academic Steven Salaita:

"Hillel is almost always involved in the promotion of Israel on campus either as a sponsor or an organizer. Hillel is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and has a presence on every major campus in the United States. A close reading of its educational materials illustrates that it is deeply committed to Israel and eager to promote the state as a beacon of modernity through slick promotional campaigns. Criticism of Israel is verboten in Hillel discourse. The organization has been working hard since the emergence of pro-Palestine voices to prepare its local chapters for what it conceptualizes as an onslaught of perplexing and aggressive opposition. It is also invested in marketing strategies for Israel that ignore its military occupation of the West Bank and emphasize instead its wealth of American-style modernity. Hillel doesn't treat the Israel-Palestine conflict as a solvable dispute that requires dialogue and a just resolution. It approaches the conflict as a propaganda contest in which Israel must be defended as a matter of principle. Hillel's depoliticization of Israel's colonial mandate facilitates its marketing strategy. When groups opposed to Israel's policy criticize the state, Hillel relies on a decontextualized victimology, one that evokes the Holocaust and anti-Semitism without mentioning Jewish violence in Israel, to reframe the issue from one of decolonization to one of unfair persecution. Because Israel is inscribed in the daily observance of Jewish culture, to criticize it is to simultaneously perform an attack against the Jewish people. This logic underlies Hillel's claims to multicultural belonging.

"In campus promotions, Israel is usually described as follows:

*A land that's fun and effervescent
*A fabulous place for study abroad
*A great opportunity for American Jews to connect to their culture
*A promised land of multicultural splendor, representing Jews from over 50 countries
*A thriving democracy surrounded by hostile, undemocratic enemies
*An exotic nation housing an uninterrupted ancient culture
*A place with a punchy, unlikely origin as a David against intractable Arab Goliaths
*The exclusive territory of Jews from around the world

"The most noteworthy facet of these representations is of Israel is not what they describe, but what they omit. There is rarely mention of Arabs and Palestinians as anything other than existential threats to Israel. There is never acknowledgment of Israel's military occupation or even of its colonial origin; Israel is invented as a timeless entity liberated from the tyranny of Great Britain and the obstructionism of the Arabs. These portrayals represent more than just putting a good foot forward. They arise from a meticulous campaign to market Israel on college campuses as a modern antidote to the barbarity of the Arabs and their dubious supporters." (Israel's Dead Soul, 2011, pp 18-19)