From a profile of Israeli writer Etgar Keret in Saturday's Spectrum by Susan Wyndham, wife of the execrable Paul Sheehan:
"Keret is on a month-long publicity tour, finishing in Australia, with Gessen (wife)and Lev (son), who has been obsessed with visiting a country that his father tells him 'is just like Israel except that everyone speaks English and they don't kill each other'." (Telling tales, Sydney Morning Herald, 27/2/16)
What rubbish this is! Like referring to Germans and French, in German-occupied France, killing each other.
Monday, February 29, 2016
Sunday, February 28, 2016
Gormless LibLab Yoof Who Just Can't Say No
Along with the dismal failure of this year's NSW Labor conference to come up with a simple NO to Zionist lobbyists touting free propaganda tours to the apartheid state, comes this year's first rambamming:
"A young political leaders mission to Israel brought a group of politically inclined young people face to face with the conflicts of the region when it took place in January. The Israel/Palestine Political Study Tour comprised 15 participants, representing both the Liberal and Labor parties, and who, for the most part, were not Jewish. As well as seeing some of the sites of the country, over 9 days the group met with high-level officials via visits to the Australian Embassy, the Knesset and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs... This is the fourth time this mission has run. It was launched in 2013 by Joshua Koonin, a Sydney-based lawyer and former political adviser who sought to bring politically minded people to Israel to gain a better understanding of the political issue that Israel* faces. From 6 liberal delegates on the inaugural mission, it has grown to encompass both sides of politics, as well as growing in numbers." (Young pollies visit Israel, Australian Jewish News, 19/2/16)
The AJN features testimonials from 2 of the rambammed in its report: Daniel Weil, Lib, Caulfield branch vice-chair, and Adrian Wong, Lab, adviser to Chris Hayes MP for Fowler**and Chief Opposition Whip. After reading these, all I can say is, thankyou, Joshua Koonin, for getting the show on the road, because without it the following profundities from Daniel and Adrian would never - perish the thought! - have seen the light of day:
Weil: "Standing at the Syrian border we could clearly see and hear the civil war going on... Seeing that really emphasised the instability of the whole region... Everybody who participated came away thinking that this is a much more complex conflict than they otherwise would have thought. Without having been in Israel, you can't be an armchair expert."
So anything you want to know about Israel, Danny Boy's yourman boy! We also learn from his on-tour tweets that for authentic hummus you need go no further than Tel Aviv:
Hey@Ostrov_A -where is the best place for good authentic hummus in Tel Aviv? (2/1/16)
And that building in Jerusalem with the golden dome you've often wondered about? Well, that's not the Dome of the Rock but Al Aqsa Mosque:
#jerusalem, the Holy City. Western Wall with the Al Aqsa mosque behind (31/12/15)
Wong: "Many of us have read about the Israeli and Palestinian conflict in the Middle East, however, to be able to meet everyday people on the ground and hear their personal experiences was very insightful and informative in this debate. I found Israel to be a very hardworking and technologically successful country. After the visit, I remain committed to two states for Israelis and the Palestinian people to live in peace."
Thanks Adrian, if you hadn't told me, I would never have guessed that the Israeli and Palestinian conflict was in the Middle East. Or that the MKs and Israeli Foreign Ministry officials are everyday people on the ground. Or that Israel was so hardworking.
But Adrian has saved his most penetrating insight for a tweet:
Travelling around #Israel and inside the #Palestine territories has been an interesting experience (9/1/16)
So these are our future MPs. Good to know the ship of state will be in such good hands going forward.
[*So much for the Palestine part of the 'Israel/Palestine Political Study Tour equation'; **Julia Irwin's old seat!]
"A young political leaders mission to Israel brought a group of politically inclined young people face to face with the conflicts of the region when it took place in January. The Israel/Palestine Political Study Tour comprised 15 participants, representing both the Liberal and Labor parties, and who, for the most part, were not Jewish. As well as seeing some of the sites of the country, over 9 days the group met with high-level officials via visits to the Australian Embassy, the Knesset and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs... This is the fourth time this mission has run. It was launched in 2013 by Joshua Koonin, a Sydney-based lawyer and former political adviser who sought to bring politically minded people to Israel to gain a better understanding of the political issue that Israel* faces. From 6 liberal delegates on the inaugural mission, it has grown to encompass both sides of politics, as well as growing in numbers." (Young pollies visit Israel, Australian Jewish News, 19/2/16)
The AJN features testimonials from 2 of the rambammed in its report: Daniel Weil, Lib, Caulfield branch vice-chair, and Adrian Wong, Lab, adviser to Chris Hayes MP for Fowler**and Chief Opposition Whip. After reading these, all I can say is, thankyou, Joshua Koonin, for getting the show on the road, because without it the following profundities from Daniel and Adrian would never - perish the thought! - have seen the light of day:
Weil: "Standing at the Syrian border we could clearly see and hear the civil war going on... Seeing that really emphasised the instability of the whole region... Everybody who participated came away thinking that this is a much more complex conflict than they otherwise would have thought. Without having been in Israel, you can't be an armchair expert."
So anything you want to know about Israel, Danny Boy's your
Hey@Ostrov_A -where is the best place for good authentic hummus in Tel Aviv? (2/1/16)
And that building in Jerusalem with the golden dome you've often wondered about? Well, that's not the Dome of the Rock but Al Aqsa Mosque:
#jerusalem, the Holy City. Western Wall with the Al Aqsa mosque behind (31/12/15)
Wong: "Many of us have read about the Israeli and Palestinian conflict in the Middle East, however, to be able to meet everyday people on the ground and hear their personal experiences was very insightful and informative in this debate. I found Israel to be a very hardworking and technologically successful country. After the visit, I remain committed to two states for Israelis and the Palestinian people to live in peace."
Thanks Adrian, if you hadn't told me, I would never have guessed that the Israeli and Palestinian conflict was in the Middle East. Or that the MKs and Israeli Foreign Ministry officials are everyday people on the ground. Or that Israel was so hardworking.
But Adrian has saved his most penetrating insight for a tweet:
Travelling around #Israel and inside the #Palestine territories has been an interesting experience (9/1/16)
So these are our future MPs. Good to know the ship of state will be in such good hands going forward.
[*So much for the Palestine part of the 'Israel/Palestine Political Study Tour equation'; **Julia Irwin's old seat!]
Friday, February 26, 2016
Journalists in Glass Houses
"A tissue of lies: Paul Sheehan & 'Louise': The most perfunctory of checks would have shown Paul Sheehan's allegations were almost certainly untrue. But he couldn't help himself"
So runs the headline for Richard Cooke's 25/2 post on The Monthly's Greasy Pole blog.
According to Richard's twitter account, he writes for "The Monthly, The Saturday Paper, The Guardian, The Chaser & The Check Out."
Although I saw nothing in his piece that I'd disagree with (and even learnt a few things about loopy Louise), I nonetheless found myself wondering whether he was really the best qualified to write it, given the old adage that people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
I mean, I can overlook a young scribbler's working for Morry Schwartz's 'Don't talk about the Occupation' publications. Jobs are hard to find after all.
But that crap he once wrote for the Sydney Morning Herald in 2005 about Gaza and Hamas, where he referred to occupied Gaza as a "troubled territory," and the Islamic resistance movement, Hamas, as a "terrorist organization," (Hamas vs The Lions Club, 13/9/05), was a classic example of a smartarse journalist tackling a serious subject that he knew absolutely SFA about.
However, it's an episode from 2006, in which Richard managed to display what seems to me something of a malicious streak (as well as confirming his truly abysmal ignorance of the Palestine problem), that reminded me of the old injunction about glass houses and stones. Did he, I wonder, even for a moment, recall his own particular fall from journalistic grace at this time as he wrote about Sheehan's?:
"Asked why he sent a cartoon by Michael Leunig to a Holocaust cartoon competition launched by an Iranian newspaper, freelance journalist Richard Cooke pauses. He is an articulate person, and the pause is an awkward break in an otherwise fluid conversation. 'I'm not sure a can give you a good answer to that,' he said yesterday. He was, however, able to explain how the cartoon, which was rejected by former Age editor, Michael Gawenda, in 2002, found its way onto the Hamshahri website. The newspaper contest - to find a cartoon on the Holocaust - came after a Danish newspaper published caricatures of the prophet Muhammad, angering Muslims around the world.
"Cooke, 26, who contributes to the satirical website The Chaser and has been a contributor to various Fairfax publications said he read about the Holocaust competition on the web and remembered the Leunig cartoon. He then found himself wondering 'what would happen if these two things were brought together.' The Leunig cartoon stirred 'multiple feelings, some of them conflicting' within him, he said. The first frame, Auschwitz 1945, shows a man with the Star of David on his back walking towards an arched entrance bearing the words 'Work Brings Freedom.' The second frame, Israel 2002, shows a man with the Star of David and a rifle. He also walks towards an arched entrance, this one bearing the words 'War Brings Peace.' Cooke says he is personally unsympathetic to the sentiments in the cartoon. Of Leunig he says: 'I don't think he is an anti-Semite but I think that work could be interpreted by some people... in a way that he hadn't intended it to be taken.'
"Cooke did not send the cartoon itself to the Hamshahri competition, but he sent the link to Media Watch and an accompanying note purporting to be from Leunig. The consequences of writing a note in the cartoonist's name was not something he thought about because 'it never occurred to me that it would be quoted.' But Cooke was seriously mistaken. He saw the cartoon - the first entry in the competition - and the faked note posted on the site about 1am on Tuesday. At 2am he rang the Fairfax switchboard in Sydney wanting to pass on the anonymous message that the words on the irancartoons.com website did not belong to Leunig but he could not raise anyone. At News Ltd he found only a security guard at the Daily Telegraph. Later on Tuesday morning, when he checked Google, he found 150-related stories on the Leunig story.
"Cooke knew that because he had left the telephone number of The Chaser on the email - 'not the smartest move' - the hoax would be traced to him. 'If I had gotten a second opinion I probably wouldn't have done something so stupid.' He spent much of Tuesday watching more stories on the hoax being posted on the web. 'My feelings at this point were confused,' he says. 'A lot of them were nervous feelings.'
"On Tuesday evening, Cooke received a telephone call from Julian Morrow, executive producer of the television satire, The Chaser, who asked what he knew about the hoax. Morrow said he knew nothing of it until he received a call from The Age that night. Morrow advised Cooke to apologise to the cartoonist, something Cooke said he had wanted to do when the controversy began to erupt. Cooke does not remember exactly what he said to Leunig, but he recalls 'that he mainly seemed to be relieved that it wasn't a neo-con pressure group who had posted the cartoon, just a dipshit from The Chaser.' He also admits he has played pranks before... Morrow said when he found out on Tuesday night that a person connected to The Chaser website had perpetrated the hoax, he was particularly unhappy that Leunig had been misrepresented. He was pleased that Cooke's apology had been accepted by the cartoonist." (Satirist wishes he got a second opinion before starting Leunig hoax, Katherine Kizilos, The Age, 16/2/06)
What a goose...
So runs the headline for Richard Cooke's 25/2 post on The Monthly's Greasy Pole blog.
According to Richard's twitter account, he writes for "The Monthly, The Saturday Paper, The Guardian, The Chaser & The Check Out."
Although I saw nothing in his piece that I'd disagree with (and even learnt a few things about loopy Louise), I nonetheless found myself wondering whether he was really the best qualified to write it, given the old adage that people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
I mean, I can overlook a young scribbler's working for Morry Schwartz's 'Don't talk about the Occupation' publications. Jobs are hard to find after all.
But that crap he once wrote for the Sydney Morning Herald in 2005 about Gaza and Hamas, where he referred to occupied Gaza as a "troubled territory," and the Islamic resistance movement, Hamas, as a "terrorist organization," (Hamas vs The Lions Club, 13/9/05), was a classic example of a smartarse journalist tackling a serious subject that he knew absolutely SFA about.
However, it's an episode from 2006, in which Richard managed to display what seems to me something of a malicious streak (as well as confirming his truly abysmal ignorance of the Palestine problem), that reminded me of the old injunction about glass houses and stones. Did he, I wonder, even for a moment, recall his own particular fall from journalistic grace at this time as he wrote about Sheehan's?:
"Asked why he sent a cartoon by Michael Leunig to a Holocaust cartoon competition launched by an Iranian newspaper, freelance journalist Richard Cooke pauses. He is an articulate person, and the pause is an awkward break in an otherwise fluid conversation. 'I'm not sure a can give you a good answer to that,' he said yesterday. He was, however, able to explain how the cartoon, which was rejected by former Age editor, Michael Gawenda, in 2002, found its way onto the Hamshahri website. The newspaper contest - to find a cartoon on the Holocaust - came after a Danish newspaper published caricatures of the prophet Muhammad, angering Muslims around the world.
"Cooke, 26, who contributes to the satirical website The Chaser and has been a contributor to various Fairfax publications said he read about the Holocaust competition on the web and remembered the Leunig cartoon. He then found himself wondering 'what would happen if these two things were brought together.' The Leunig cartoon stirred 'multiple feelings, some of them conflicting' within him, he said. The first frame, Auschwitz 1945, shows a man with the Star of David on his back walking towards an arched entrance bearing the words 'Work Brings Freedom.' The second frame, Israel 2002, shows a man with the Star of David and a rifle. He also walks towards an arched entrance, this one bearing the words 'War Brings Peace.' Cooke says he is personally unsympathetic to the sentiments in the cartoon. Of Leunig he says: 'I don't think he is an anti-Semite but I think that work could be interpreted by some people... in a way that he hadn't intended it to be taken.'
"Cooke did not send the cartoon itself to the Hamshahri competition, but he sent the link to Media Watch and an accompanying note purporting to be from Leunig. The consequences of writing a note in the cartoonist's name was not something he thought about because 'it never occurred to me that it would be quoted.' But Cooke was seriously mistaken. He saw the cartoon - the first entry in the competition - and the faked note posted on the site about 1am on Tuesday. At 2am he rang the Fairfax switchboard in Sydney wanting to pass on the anonymous message that the words on the irancartoons.com website did not belong to Leunig but he could not raise anyone. At News Ltd he found only a security guard at the Daily Telegraph. Later on Tuesday morning, when he checked Google, he found 150-related stories on the Leunig story.
"Cooke knew that because he had left the telephone number of The Chaser on the email - 'not the smartest move' - the hoax would be traced to him. 'If I had gotten a second opinion I probably wouldn't have done something so stupid.' He spent much of Tuesday watching more stories on the hoax being posted on the web. 'My feelings at this point were confused,' he says. 'A lot of them were nervous feelings.'
"On Tuesday evening, Cooke received a telephone call from Julian Morrow, executive producer of the television satire, The Chaser, who asked what he knew about the hoax. Morrow said he knew nothing of it until he received a call from The Age that night. Morrow advised Cooke to apologise to the cartoonist, something Cooke said he had wanted to do when the controversy began to erupt. Cooke does not remember exactly what he said to Leunig, but he recalls 'that he mainly seemed to be relieved that it wasn't a neo-con pressure group who had posted the cartoon, just a dipshit from The Chaser.' He also admits he has played pranks before... Morrow said when he found out on Tuesday night that a person connected to The Chaser website had perpetrated the hoax, he was particularly unhappy that Leunig had been misrepresented. He was pleased that Cooke's apology had been accepted by the cartoonist." (Satirist wishes he got a second opinion before starting Leunig hoax, Katherine Kizilos, The Age, 16/2/06)
What a goose...
Thursday, February 25, 2016
It's Time for Paul Sheehan to Go
On Monday the Sydney Morning Herald published a highly dubious piece on its opinion pages by its highly dubious columnist Paul Sheehan: The horrifying untold story of Louise. It was the story of an alleged 2002 rape/ bashing, by alleged Arabs (behind Sydney's St Mary's Cathedral of all places), of an alleged nurse known only as 'Louise'. Louise's 'experience', as related by Sheehan, was so horrific that it was reminiscent of a wartime enemy atrocity story.
Red flags, bells, and whistles abounded, unheard by Sheehan. Among them (in order of appearance):
1) Louise, having just completed back-to-back shifts at St. Vincent's Hospital, was too tired to drive home, and so decided to park her car in a secluded lane behind SMC, as you would, and sleep in it - without, unbelievably, locking the doors. Sheehan didn't ask about this elementary precaution.
2) The gang who dragged her from her car spoke "Arabic." Sheehan didn't ask how Louise knew it was Arabic.
3) One of the gang allegedly sodomised Louise whilst simultaneously cutting her throat with a knife. Sheehan didn't question either the Herculean strength or the - ahem - multi-tasking needed to accomplish this incredible feat.
4) Of the next lurid detail I will say only that while I've heard of synchronised swimming, I've never heard of synchronised, pinpoint urination.
5) "It was August 2002." I see. How convenient that the alleged atrocity should fit neatly within the 2001-06 timeframe of Sheehan's book 'Girls Like You.'
6) Sheehan writes that: "After I gave a speech at a gathering at NSW Parliament, I was approached by someone who told me that hers [Louise's] was a story that had never been told, given that I had written Girls Like You..." Sheehan doesn't tell us what this gathering was about or who had convened it, although it should be pointed out that Fred Nile's Christian Democrats call for a moratorium on Muslim immigration. Details of this meeting have been ommitted. Why?
7)
Louise: A couple of homeless guys had seen it... One of them told me later, 'I'll never forget what happened when the MERCS got you. We thought you were dead.'
Sheehan: MERCs?
Louise: It had been going on for years and was so frequent it had a name: MERCs. Middle Eastern raping c__...
So frequent were these MERC atrocities, apparently, that until Louise had told him about them, Sheehan, who had written an entire book on the subject of rape by men of 'Middle Eastern appearance', knew nothing of them. Right...
Today, we get this apology from Sheehan:
"At 6pm on Monday I had a heart-sinking conversation with Louise... In my third conversation with her that afternoon, as I was saying she needed to talk to the police... she told me I was 'oppressing' her. Then she said: 'I don't want to continue this conversation,' and hung up. She has remained incommunicado ever since. This led quickly to 3 realisations. First, I was countenancing the near certainty that in the areas of her story where I had given her the benefit of the doubt, I had been wrong to do so. Second, I had not considered the possibility that her story had been carefully constructed on a foundation of embellishments, false memories and fabrications. Third, I owed an apology to the NSW Police... After publication I learnt that a woman had made very similar claims of rape during two rallies last year organised by Reclaim Australia... In the story recounted to me by Louise, she made insulting references to rapes committed by Middle Eastern men. I had wrongly amplified this insult by including her words in the column. Had I known on Sunday what I knew by Wednesday, the column would not have been written..." (The story of Louise: police have no case to answer, but I do)
Sheehan certainly does have a case to answer: for years of Islamophobic, Arabophobic and Zionist columns carefully constructed on a foundation of embellishments and fabrications. Simply scan my Sheehan posts and you'll see why he fell for Louise's story - it fitted so well with his prejudices. The opinion editor and those higher up the Fairfax food chain also have a case to answer: for enabling him all these years.
Frankly, it's time for Sheehan to go, time for the Herald to publicly apologise for his nastiness over the years, and time for its management to get down on its knees, and beg Mike Carlton to come back in Sheehan's place.
Red flags, bells, and whistles abounded, unheard by Sheehan. Among them (in order of appearance):
1) Louise, having just completed back-to-back shifts at St. Vincent's Hospital, was too tired to drive home, and so decided to park her car in a secluded lane behind SMC, as you would, and sleep in it - without, unbelievably, locking the doors. Sheehan didn't ask about this elementary precaution.
2) The gang who dragged her from her car spoke "Arabic." Sheehan didn't ask how Louise knew it was Arabic.
3) One of the gang allegedly sodomised Louise whilst simultaneously cutting her throat with a knife. Sheehan didn't question either the Herculean strength or the - ahem - multi-tasking needed to accomplish this incredible feat.
4) Of the next lurid detail I will say only that while I've heard of synchronised swimming, I've never heard of synchronised, pinpoint urination.
5) "It was August 2002." I see. How convenient that the alleged atrocity should fit neatly within the 2001-06 timeframe of Sheehan's book 'Girls Like You.'
6) Sheehan writes that: "After I gave a speech at a gathering at NSW Parliament, I was approached by someone who told me that hers [Louise's] was a story that had never been told, given that I had written Girls Like You..." Sheehan doesn't tell us what this gathering was about or who had convened it, although it should be pointed out that Fred Nile's Christian Democrats call for a moratorium on Muslim immigration. Details of this meeting have been ommitted. Why?
7)
Louise: A couple of homeless guys had seen it... One of them told me later, 'I'll never forget what happened when the MERCS got you. We thought you were dead.'
Sheehan: MERCs?
Louise: It had been going on for years and was so frequent it had a name: MERCs. Middle Eastern raping c__...
So frequent were these MERC atrocities, apparently, that until Louise had told him about them, Sheehan, who had written an entire book on the subject of rape by men of 'Middle Eastern appearance', knew nothing of them. Right...
Today, we get this apology from Sheehan:
"At 6pm on Monday I had a heart-sinking conversation with Louise... In my third conversation with her that afternoon, as I was saying she needed to talk to the police... she told me I was 'oppressing' her. Then she said: 'I don't want to continue this conversation,' and hung up. She has remained incommunicado ever since. This led quickly to 3 realisations. First, I was countenancing the near certainty that in the areas of her story where I had given her the benefit of the doubt, I had been wrong to do so. Second, I had not considered the possibility that her story had been carefully constructed on a foundation of embellishments, false memories and fabrications. Third, I owed an apology to the NSW Police... After publication I learnt that a woman had made very similar claims of rape during two rallies last year organised by Reclaim Australia... In the story recounted to me by Louise, she made insulting references to rapes committed by Middle Eastern men. I had wrongly amplified this insult by including her words in the column. Had I known on Sunday what I knew by Wednesday, the column would not have been written..." (The story of Louise: police have no case to answer, but I do)
Sheehan certainly does have a case to answer: for years of Islamophobic, Arabophobic and Zionist columns carefully constructed on a foundation of embellishments and fabrications. Simply scan my Sheehan posts and you'll see why he fell for Louise's story - it fitted so well with his prejudices. The opinion editor and those higher up the Fairfax food chain also have a case to answer: for enabling him all these years.
Frankly, it's time for Sheehan to go, time for the Herald to publicly apologise for his nastiness over the years, and time for its management to get down on its knees, and beg Mike Carlton to come back in Sheehan's place.
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Lobbyotomised
The power of the Israel/Palestine issue to remove the mask and reveal the true face of our political representatives was evident once again on Monday night's Q&A.
The following ludicrous question, in compere Tony Jones rephrasing, was lobbed at Labor's shadow foreign affairs minister Tanya Plibersek:
"What do you say to the general notion that... the Israeli mentality, the Israeli way of dealing with [terrorism] is something that Australia should learn from?"
You will of course recall Plibersek's 2002 assertion (in federal parliament) that, in so many words, Israel was a US-funded rogue state which massacres civilians. (See my 17/10/13 post A Heretic Recants)
That, it goes without saying, was a rare case (as was Liberal MP Craig Laundy's December 2014 speech in the same place) of a simple, bleeding obvious truth spoken by a political neophyte who, critically, had not yet undergone a lobbyotomy.
Now listen to the opening two sentences of Plibersek's Q&A response - the only ones of any consequence in her entire performance:
"I'm not sure that the premise of the question that Israel hasn't been attacked by IS holds, as Eldad [Beck] has said. There has been a series of knife attacks at bus stops and so on as well."
The rogue state and the massacres of 2002, obviously, are conspicuous by their absence, seemingly erased from memory.
The opportunity to reference a representative of the rogue state which massacres civilians, thoughtfully provided by Q&A, is taken full advantage of.
Desperate acts of resistance (those not concocted by the rogue state itself, that is) by a people groaning under the tyranny of a brutal near 60-year occupation are vilely and casually tarred with the IS brush.
And the incredible hold of the Israel lobby over the minds of our elected representatives is once again manifest.
The following ludicrous question, in compere Tony Jones rephrasing, was lobbed at Labor's shadow foreign affairs minister Tanya Plibersek:
"What do you say to the general notion that... the Israeli mentality, the Israeli way of dealing with [terrorism] is something that Australia should learn from?"
You will of course recall Plibersek's 2002 assertion (in federal parliament) that, in so many words, Israel was a US-funded rogue state which massacres civilians. (See my 17/10/13 post A Heretic Recants)
That, it goes without saying, was a rare case (as was Liberal MP Craig Laundy's December 2014 speech in the same place) of a simple, bleeding obvious truth spoken by a political neophyte who, critically, had not yet undergone a lobbyotomy.
Now listen to the opening two sentences of Plibersek's Q&A response - the only ones of any consequence in her entire performance:
"I'm not sure that the premise of the question that Israel hasn't been attacked by IS holds, as Eldad [Beck] has said. There has been a series of knife attacks at bus stops and so on as well."
The rogue state and the massacres of 2002, obviously, are conspicuous by their absence, seemingly erased from memory.
The opportunity to reference a representative of the rogue state which massacres civilians, thoughtfully provided by Q&A, is taken full advantage of.
Desperate acts of resistance (those not concocted by the rogue state itself, that is) by a people groaning under the tyranny of a brutal near 60-year occupation are vilely and casually tarred with the IS brush.
And the incredible hold of the Israel lobby over the minds of our elected representatives is once again manifest.
Monday, February 22, 2016
Ideas? What Ideas?
OFFS:
"[Howard] Jacobson is a novelist of ideas. Shylock is My Name ponders why Jews aren't at home in nature, why the People of the Word prefer order to disorder, why Jews have a kosher frame of mind even without a kosher kitchen, why the stereotype of the masturbating Jew persists, why reading the Guardian newspaper makes an enraged Manchester man a Zionist..." (From Louise Adler's review - The villain's response to Shakespeare - of Howard Jacobson's Shylock is My Name, Sydney Morning Herald, 20/2/16)
How can anybody take this Howard Z Jacobson bloke seriously? This is the Guardian of C.P. Z Scott who introduced Chaim Z Weizmann to David Z Lloyd George, co-daddy with M'Lord Z Balfour of the bloody Balfour Z Declaration, and is today run by Jonathan Z Freedland, who has given the keys of the shop to the likes of Hadley Z Freeman, Nick Z Cohen and Rafael Z Behr etc. Seriously, Howard, what's not to like about the Guardian?
"[Howard] Jacobson is a novelist of ideas. Shylock is My Name ponders why Jews aren't at home in nature, why the People of the Word prefer order to disorder, why Jews have a kosher frame of mind even without a kosher kitchen, why the stereotype of the masturbating Jew persists, why reading the Guardian newspaper makes an enraged Manchester man a Zionist..." (From Louise Adler's review - The villain's response to Shakespeare - of Howard Jacobson's Shylock is My Name, Sydney Morning Herald, 20/2/16)
How can anybody take this Howard Z Jacobson bloke seriously? This is the Guardian of C.P. Z Scott who introduced Chaim Z Weizmann to David Z Lloyd George, co-daddy with M'Lord Z Balfour of the bloody Balfour Z Declaration, and is today run by Jonathan Z Freedland, who has given the keys of the shop to the likes of Hadley Z Freeman, Nick Z Cohen and Rafael Z Behr etc. Seriously, Howard, what's not to like about the Guardian?
Sunday, February 21, 2016
A Year is a Long Time in Federal Politics
Craig Laundy MP said this in federal parliament on 1/12/14:
"We hear the constant reference to the two-state solution [but] I believe this is used as a line to hide behind..." & "If you look at the Middle East [today]... we can trace it pretty much back to this region some 60 or 70 years ago. Anyone who stands in this place and argues differently is not being fair dinkum." (See my 18/2/16 post Craig Laundy MP Gets It)
Now, in The Australian Jewish News of 19/2/16, we read:
"He later told The AJN that he supported a two-state solution and he meant to convey that he would like to see more done. 'I never have, nor will I, place the blame for the range of current issues in the region solely with Israel or any other state,' he said. Laundy reiterated his support for a two-state solution this week. 'Both the Australian government's and my long-standing position is that we remain committed to Israel and a Palestinian state existing side by side in peace and security, within internationally recognised borders,' he told The AJN. 'As Assistant Minister for Multicultural Affairs, I very much look forward to working side by side with the Australian Jewish community and building on the wonderful relationships that I have established during my time in Parliament within the community'." (Laundy's controversial past)
Is The AJN's coverage kosher? If so, what happened?
Did the lobby perhaps follow the advice of the always charming and forever lovely Liat Kirby-Nagar?
"You [Colin Rubenstein] should have come out fighting on this one, not pander... in smarmy tones to a man whose sum of experience rests in his own electorate, and always will. The only way to deal with him is full on. He should be forced to consider the Israeli perspective... Our Jewish leaders need to command respect, and maintain dignity; this will not happen by playing diplomatic games with a man whose sympathies lie elsewhere and whose intellectual capacity appears limited. If Laundy can't broaden his horizon he should go. Is he still the co-chair of The Friends of Palestine? If so, he should relinquish that position as it's not appropriate to his new role..." (Comment to Eager to meet a new member of the ministry, jwire.com.au, 17/2/16)
Craig... are you OK?
"We hear the constant reference to the two-state solution [but] I believe this is used as a line to hide behind..." & "If you look at the Middle East [today]... we can trace it pretty much back to this region some 60 or 70 years ago. Anyone who stands in this place and argues differently is not being fair dinkum." (See my 18/2/16 post Craig Laundy MP Gets It)
Now, in The Australian Jewish News of 19/2/16, we read:
"He later told The AJN that he supported a two-state solution and he meant to convey that he would like to see more done. 'I never have, nor will I, place the blame for the range of current issues in the region solely with Israel or any other state,' he said. Laundy reiterated his support for a two-state solution this week. 'Both the Australian government's and my long-standing position is that we remain committed to Israel and a Palestinian state existing side by side in peace and security, within internationally recognised borders,' he told The AJN. 'As Assistant Minister for Multicultural Affairs, I very much look forward to working side by side with the Australian Jewish community and building on the wonderful relationships that I have established during my time in Parliament within the community'." (Laundy's controversial past)
Is The AJN's coverage kosher? If so, what happened?
Did the lobby perhaps follow the advice of the always charming and forever lovely Liat Kirby-Nagar?
"You [Colin Rubenstein] should have come out fighting on this one, not pander... in smarmy tones to a man whose sum of experience rests in his own electorate, and always will. The only way to deal with him is full on. He should be forced to consider the Israeli perspective... Our Jewish leaders need to command respect, and maintain dignity; this will not happen by playing diplomatic games with a man whose sympathies lie elsewhere and whose intellectual capacity appears limited. If Laundy can't broaden his horizon he should go. Is he still the co-chair of The Friends of Palestine? If so, he should relinquish that position as it's not appropriate to his new role..." (Comment to Eager to meet a new member of the ministry, jwire.com.au, 17/2/16)
Craig... are you OK?
Saturday, February 20, 2016
America's 'Strategic Asset' in the Middle East
"In the early years of the Obama administration, the United States developed an elaborate plan for a cyber attack on Iran in case the diplomatic effort to limit its nuclear program failed, according to a forthcoming documentary film and interviews with military and intelligence officials... The US military develops contingency plans for all kinds of possible conflicts, but this one took on far greater urgency, in part because White House officials believed there was a good chance that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would decide to strike Iran's nuclear facilities, and the US would be drawn into the hostilities that followed." (Cyber strike plan if Iran talks failed, David Sanger, New York Times/Sydney Morning Herald, 19/2/16)
Here Comes the Rain!
M'Lord Turnbull's elevation of Craig Laundy, the member for Reid, to the post of Assistant Minister for Multicultural Affairs has triggered alarm bells in Lobbyland.
Is there no rest for these eternally vigilant warriors for Zionism?
No sooner have they staved off one existential threat from the NSW Labor grassroots, than M'Lord Turnball throws them this Liberal curveball. At any rate, loins have been girded and talking points sharpened. Operation Inundation has begun.
Here are those talking points, both text and subtext:
Peter Wertheim (Executive Council of Australian Jewry - ECAJ):
"The ECAJ will be seeking a meeting with the Assistant Minister for Multicultural Affairs at the earliest opportunity. Many of our community's most pressing concerns fall within his portfolio - the recrudescence of antisemitism, communal security costs and threats to religious freedoms... We believe that the Asst Min well understands that the responsibility of government is to promote social cohesion, not discord." (Eager to meet a new member of the ministry, jwire.com.au, 17/2/16)
Translation:
It's all about us, ourselves and we. And us, ourselves and we is all about Israel. You see, Mr Laundy, airing doubts about Israel is merely how it begins. Then, before you know it, the social fabric, which rests entirely on love of Israel, is rent and life in Australia will become solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short in the Hobbesian manner. Now you wouldn't want to be responsible for that, would you, Mr Laundy?
Colin Rubenstein (Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council - AIJAC):
"While we have certainly had our concerns about Craig Laundy in the past, especially in terms of his poorly-informed, one-sided comments on Israel and the Middle East we look forward to constructively engaging with him in his new role... We hope his knowledge of Israel and the broader Middle East... will grow, and anticipate he will both better understand and endorse his Government's commendable policies towards Israel and the peace process..."
Translation:
We've got a 5-starre-education camp study tour in the vibrant Land of Our Dreams lined up for you, Mr Laundy. All the right people have been there and done that, and all have returned with the right ideas and singing like canaries. Take Ms Plibersek for instance. She too started out frothing at the mouth. That we could ignore from a mere MP, but once she began to rise through the ranks we had no option but to, as we like to put it - constructively engage - with her. Constructive engagement, you see, is our specialty. We've had almost a hundred years of experience at it. No 'immovable object' has ever been able to withstand our irresistable force. Oh, yes, Mr Laundy, initially she kicked and she screamed, but a few constructive engagement sessions soon wore her down and she eventually took the cure tour. Now look at her! Almost Labor leader! Do you see my point, Mr Laundy? Think about it...
Michael Danby MP:
"Malcolm Turnbull might charm Jewish audiences in Wentworth by joking about being a member of Mishpocha,' but I think the community has a right to be disappointed with his choice for the Multicultural Affairs portfolio... His APAN-inspired 2014 speech on 'International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People,' during which he claimed 'the lobby' was restricting free speech on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; and that Israel's creation was the source of all today's unrest in the Middle East, was as ugly a sentiment as it was factually and historically incorrect. But more than that, inflammatory comments like that are the antithesis of Multiculturalism, and can only serve to create division between communities..."
Translation:
Listen up, Laundy. First, do you know who I am? Right! I'm sooo disappointed in you. Not to mention Mishpocha Malcolm. Second, how very, very dare you! Third - and let's get this straight once and for all - because you obviously weren't paying attention in Sunday school - my mob wrote the script on the Middle East, OK? G-d gave it to us, not them, not just 60 or 70 years ago, but thousands of years ago. So don't think you can just swan around in this joint, shooting off your mouth, without hearing from me, OK?
Pray for the soul of Craig Laundy.
Is there no rest for these eternally vigilant warriors for Zionism?
No sooner have they staved off one existential threat from the NSW Labor grassroots, than M'Lord Turnball throws them this Liberal curveball. At any rate, loins have been girded and talking points sharpened. Operation Inundation has begun.
Here are those talking points, both text and subtext:
Peter Wertheim (Executive Council of Australian Jewry - ECAJ):
"The ECAJ will be seeking a meeting with the Assistant Minister for Multicultural Affairs at the earliest opportunity. Many of our community's most pressing concerns fall within his portfolio - the recrudescence of antisemitism, communal security costs and threats to religious freedoms... We believe that the Asst Min well understands that the responsibility of government is to promote social cohesion, not discord." (Eager to meet a new member of the ministry, jwire.com.au, 17/2/16)
Translation:
It's all about us, ourselves and we. And us, ourselves and we is all about Israel. You see, Mr Laundy, airing doubts about Israel is merely how it begins. Then, before you know it, the social fabric, which rests entirely on love of Israel, is rent and life in Australia will become solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short in the Hobbesian manner. Now you wouldn't want to be responsible for that, would you, Mr Laundy?
Colin Rubenstein (Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council - AIJAC):
"While we have certainly had our concerns about Craig Laundy in the past, especially in terms of his poorly-informed, one-sided comments on Israel and the Middle East we look forward to constructively engaging with him in his new role... We hope his knowledge of Israel and the broader Middle East... will grow, and anticipate he will both better understand and endorse his Government's commendable policies towards Israel and the peace process..."
Translation:
We've got a 5-star
Michael Danby MP:
"Malcolm Turnbull might charm Jewish audiences in Wentworth by joking about being a member of Mishpocha,' but I think the community has a right to be disappointed with his choice for the Multicultural Affairs portfolio... His APAN-inspired 2014 speech on 'International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People,' during which he claimed 'the lobby' was restricting free speech on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; and that Israel's creation was the source of all today's unrest in the Middle East, was as ugly a sentiment as it was factually and historically incorrect. But more than that, inflammatory comments like that are the antithesis of Multiculturalism, and can only serve to create division between communities..."
Translation:
Listen up, Laundy. First, do you know who I am? Right! I'm sooo disappointed in you. Not to mention Mishpocha Malcolm. Second, how very, very dare you! Third - and let's get this straight once and for all - because you obviously weren't paying attention in Sunday school - my mob wrote the script on the Middle East, OK? G-d gave it to us, not them, not just 60 or 70 years ago, but thousands of years ago. So don't think you can just swan around in this joint, shooting off your mouth, without hearing from me, OK?
Pray for the soul of Craig Laundy.
Thursday, February 18, 2016
Craig Laundy MP Gets It
On December 1, 2014, a motion was moved in the House of Representatives by Labor MP Maria Vamvakinou that the House acknowledge the UN's designation of 2014 as the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People (IYSPP).
This is what Craig Laundy, the Liberal member for the Western Sydney seat of Reid, who seconded Vamvakinou's motion, had to say on that occasion:
"I rise today both to second the motion that the member for Calwell has brought to the chamber and to speak in favor of it. My predecessor spoke about going to Palestine. I have not had the opportunity to go to Palestine, but in a weird twist of events in the electorate I represent I did not have to, because people of Palestine came to me. I have lived in this part of Sydney my entire life... Being Catholic you are cursed, I think, with leaning right on values and leaning very left on social justice. If you were to talk about this topic in my electorate, this is one that resonates. It is the social justice side of this that particularly resonates with me. I learn better by immersion and, after I was elected, the member for Calwell contacted me, I guess on a hunch that the demographics of my electorate would have over time given me exposure to this cause - and I am very thankful she did that. What I did do once I agreed to be the co-chair of the Friends of Palestine was that, because I am a simple character who learns better by immersion, I contacted friends of the member for Calwell and I asked to basically go and sit and listen, as I learn a lot better when I listen. I went one step further. It was a Saturday afternoon in Auburn and around 50 or 60 people had gathered together. I took my wife and my two daughters with me to spend an afternoon with some truly amazing people and to listen to their stories.
"We hear the constant reference to the two-state solution; both parties refer to it. But I am as frustrated as the previous speakers are on this topic, because quite often, I believe, this is used a line to hide behind; it does not get past that. The sole motivation of everyone in this place is to make this country and this world a better place for our kids - and to do so, this is an issue we need to tackle; we need to be real about it. I have great faith in the hearts of Australians - I always have had and I always will have. A slang term we use is 'fair go.' For the last almost 60 years, the people of Palestine have not had a fair go. What my wife and daughters and I heard that afternoon over 3 hours was story after story from first generation and second generation Palestinians. We heard about the impact that the situation in Palestine has had on the parents. Imagine, if you will, going home this afternoon and putting your key in the door and it doesn't fit. You think, 'Hang on a minute. What's happened here?' You knock on the door, and someone you don't know opens it. They are in your home That is what happened in Palestine. That is what happened all those years ago. A people were displaced and they have been fighting for their identity ever since. That is it, simply. If you look at the Middle East and the issues that we as a globe confront today, we can trace it back pretty much to this region some 60 or 70 years ago. Anyone who stands in this place and argues differently is not fair dinkum.
"We got back in the car after 3 hours. I am blessed with 3 beautiful children, and all of them, fortunately, look like and take after their mum. In the safety of our own car, where we could voice our opinions and talk among ourselves about this issue, my 15-year-old daughter, Sophie, said from the back seat, 'Dad, you've got to do something to help.' You cannot listen to the stories of people who were directly impacted on this front and not come away with any other desire than to help - and to do that we must be fair dinkum. We must raise our soft, diplomatic voice through both the UN and the halls of these chambers. The things discussed in this chamber should not be influenced by the power of the lobby; they should be influenced by what is right.
"Member for Calwell, in the Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People - many of whom call my electorate home - what you propose here is right. I will stand side by side with you at all times on this issue. I will debate this topic and yell for change - because the definition of insanity is doing the same thing every day and hoping for a different solution."
Clearly, Craig Laundy, bless him, gets Palestine, and spoke eloquently about his Palestinian immersion. However, as we know, any Australian politician who speaks out on this issue, can expect to cop it, as we say. Could a Zionist inundation be on its way? Stay tuned...
This is what Craig Laundy, the Liberal member for the Western Sydney seat of Reid, who seconded Vamvakinou's motion, had to say on that occasion:
"I rise today both to second the motion that the member for Calwell has brought to the chamber and to speak in favor of it. My predecessor spoke about going to Palestine. I have not had the opportunity to go to Palestine, but in a weird twist of events in the electorate I represent I did not have to, because people of Palestine came to me. I have lived in this part of Sydney my entire life... Being Catholic you are cursed, I think, with leaning right on values and leaning very left on social justice. If you were to talk about this topic in my electorate, this is one that resonates. It is the social justice side of this that particularly resonates with me. I learn better by immersion and, after I was elected, the member for Calwell contacted me, I guess on a hunch that the demographics of my electorate would have over time given me exposure to this cause - and I am very thankful she did that. What I did do once I agreed to be the co-chair of the Friends of Palestine was that, because I am a simple character who learns better by immersion, I contacted friends of the member for Calwell and I asked to basically go and sit and listen, as I learn a lot better when I listen. I went one step further. It was a Saturday afternoon in Auburn and around 50 or 60 people had gathered together. I took my wife and my two daughters with me to spend an afternoon with some truly amazing people and to listen to their stories.
"We hear the constant reference to the two-state solution; both parties refer to it. But I am as frustrated as the previous speakers are on this topic, because quite often, I believe, this is used a line to hide behind; it does not get past that. The sole motivation of everyone in this place is to make this country and this world a better place for our kids - and to do so, this is an issue we need to tackle; we need to be real about it. I have great faith in the hearts of Australians - I always have had and I always will have. A slang term we use is 'fair go.' For the last almost 60 years, the people of Palestine have not had a fair go. What my wife and daughters and I heard that afternoon over 3 hours was story after story from first generation and second generation Palestinians. We heard about the impact that the situation in Palestine has had on the parents. Imagine, if you will, going home this afternoon and putting your key in the door and it doesn't fit. You think, 'Hang on a minute. What's happened here?' You knock on the door, and someone you don't know opens it. They are in your home That is what happened in Palestine. That is what happened all those years ago. A people were displaced and they have been fighting for their identity ever since. That is it, simply. If you look at the Middle East and the issues that we as a globe confront today, we can trace it back pretty much to this region some 60 or 70 years ago. Anyone who stands in this place and argues differently is not fair dinkum.
"We got back in the car after 3 hours. I am blessed with 3 beautiful children, and all of them, fortunately, look like and take after their mum. In the safety of our own car, where we could voice our opinions and talk among ourselves about this issue, my 15-year-old daughter, Sophie, said from the back seat, 'Dad, you've got to do something to help.' You cannot listen to the stories of people who were directly impacted on this front and not come away with any other desire than to help - and to do that we must be fair dinkum. We must raise our soft, diplomatic voice through both the UN and the halls of these chambers. The things discussed in this chamber should not be influenced by the power of the lobby; they should be influenced by what is right.
"Member for Calwell, in the Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People - many of whom call my electorate home - what you propose here is right. I will stand side by side with you at all times on this issue. I will debate this topic and yell for change - because the definition of insanity is doing the same thing every day and hoping for a different solution."
Clearly, Craig Laundy, bless him, gets Palestine, and spoke eloquently about his Palestinian immersion. However, as we know, any Australian politician who speaks out on this issue, can expect to cop it, as we say. Could a Zionist inundation be on its way? Stay tuned...
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Surefire Bet
I know who I'm betting on:
"Israel is looking to increase the US aid it receives from $3bn to $5bn each year, Haaretz newspaper reported yesterday." (Israel seeks to increase US aid by $2bn a year, middleeastmonitor.com, 15/2/16)
"Israel is looking to increase the US aid it receives from $3bn to $5bn each year, Haaretz newspaper reported yesterday." (Israel seeks to increase US aid by $2bn a year, middleeastmonitor.com, 15/2/16)
Monday, February 15, 2016
NSW ALP Elephant Gives Birth to Mouse
The NSW ALP elephant labored... and brought forth a mouse (to the sound of champagne corks popping at Israel lobby HQ):
"The final version passed by the NSW conference said that 'in addition to' the travel arrangements in place for NSW state MPs, it 'encourages all party members visiting the region for the purpose of understanding the conflict to spend substantial time in both Israel and Palestine'." (Compromise struck on Israel trips, Mark Coultan, The Australian, 15/2/16)
- encourages... for the purpose of understanding the conflict... substantial time... LOL
Motions "calling on Labor to immediately recognise Palestine," "ban sponsored trips to Israel," and "boycott products from Israel or Israel's West Bank settlements," were "headed off by the party's international relations policy committee, which crafted a resolution supporting a compromise policy carried at the last national ALP conference."
- headed off by the party's international relations policy committee... LOLOL
And the chair of the party's heading the Palestinians off at the pass committee is?
Former senator and 2008 rambammer, Michael (Nothing to see here) Forshaw... LOLOLOL
Meanwhile, in Israeli-occupied Palestine:
"Over 170 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers since a wave of unrest spread across the occupied Palestinian territory in October." (Israeli forces shoot, critically injure 14-year-old girl, maannews.com, 14/2/16)
"The final version passed by the NSW conference said that 'in addition to' the travel arrangements in place for NSW state MPs, it 'encourages all party members visiting the region for the purpose of understanding the conflict to spend substantial time in both Israel and Palestine'." (Compromise struck on Israel trips, Mark Coultan, The Australian, 15/2/16)
- encourages... for the purpose of understanding the conflict... substantial time... LOL
Motions "calling on Labor to immediately recognise Palestine," "ban sponsored trips to Israel," and "boycott products from Israel or Israel's West Bank settlements," were "headed off by the party's international relations policy committee, which crafted a resolution supporting a compromise policy carried at the last national ALP conference."
- headed off by the party's international relations policy committee... LOLOL
And the chair of the party's heading the Palestinians off at the pass committee is?
Former senator and 2008 rambammer, Michael (Nothing to see here) Forshaw... LOLOLOL
Meanwhile, in Israeli-occupied Palestine:
"Over 170 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers since a wave of unrest spread across the occupied Palestinian territory in October." (Israeli forces shoot, critically injure 14-year-old girl, maannews.com, 14/2/16)
Sunday, February 14, 2016
Off to Israel with Him!
Strewth, just how long has this bloke been in the party? Talk about loose lips:
"The new head of the NSW union movement will criticise federal Labor for following Malcolm Turnbull's push to make Australia a 'start-up nation,' in a speech to the ALP's state conference on Saturday. 'Start-ups often pay much less than established companies [...] getting a mortgage is harder [and they] don't always offer decent employment rights,' Mark Morey, the new secretary of Unions NSW, will say in a speech to the state Labor conference on Saturday." ('Start-up nation' can mean a raw deal for workers: Unions NSW boss Mark Morey, James Robertson, Sydney Morning Herald, 12/2/16)
But, Mark, Labor's not just blindly following M' Lord Turnbull here.
It's acting out of its own DNA, mate. As a Zionist party, the ALP cannot help but lap up and regurgitate anything that comes out of Israel. It used to be the kibbutz, but that's sooo yesterday. Now that we're all agile, innovative, neo-liberal go-getters, it's Upstart Nation.
As Zionist elder Mark Leibler once put it:
"Bill Shorten embodies the traditional core values of the Labor Party, and his solid support for Israel reflects that." (See my 21/10/13 post Danby to Keep Young Bill on Straight & Narrow.)
Mark, mate, zip it! Don't go there! Workers be buggered! It's Israel, mate! Israel!
Remember what they did to Tanya (Once was Warrior) Plibersek? Not a pretty picture these days, eh?
Mark, I'm telling you, utter one word against Upstart Nation and they'll have you marked down... for a right rambamming.
"The new head of the NSW union movement will criticise federal Labor for following Malcolm Turnbull's push to make Australia a 'start-up nation,' in a speech to the ALP's state conference on Saturday. 'Start-ups often pay much less than established companies [...] getting a mortgage is harder [and they] don't always offer decent employment rights,' Mark Morey, the new secretary of Unions NSW, will say in a speech to the state Labor conference on Saturday." ('Start-up nation' can mean a raw deal for workers: Unions NSW boss Mark Morey, James Robertson, Sydney Morning Herald, 12/2/16)
But, Mark, Labor's not just blindly following M' Lord Turnbull here.
It's acting out of its own DNA, mate. As a Zionist party, the ALP cannot help but lap up and regurgitate anything that comes out of Israel. It used to be the kibbutz, but that's sooo yesterday. Now that we're all agile, innovative, neo-liberal go-getters, it's Upstart Nation.
As Zionist elder Mark Leibler once put it:
"Bill Shorten embodies the traditional core values of the Labor Party, and his solid support for Israel reflects that." (See my 21/10/13 post Danby to Keep Young Bill on Straight & Narrow.)
Mark, mate, zip it! Don't go there! Workers be buggered! It's Israel, mate! Israel!
Remember what they did to Tanya (Once was Warrior) Plibersek? Not a pretty picture these days, eh?
Mark, I'm telling you, utter one word against Upstart Nation and they'll have you marked down... for a right rambamming.
Saturday, February 13, 2016
Einstein's Other Discovery
Einstein scores:
"Scientists have for the first time observed elusive gravitational waves - tiny ripples in the fabric of space-time caused by violent astronomical events. The discovery, announced overnight in Washington DC, confirms the last outstanding prediction made by Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity." (Einstein was proven right, 100 years on, Marcus Strom, Sydney Morning Herald, 12/2/16)
Now you don't have to be an Einstein to reach the following conclusion, but here it is from the horse's mouth anyway:
"We had great hopes for Israel at first. We thought it might be better than other nations, but it is no better." (Einstein's Last Media Statement, New York Post, 12/3/55)
That was in 1955.
You can imagine Einstein's 'Last Media Statement' today:
'We once had great hopes for Israel. Then we used to console ourselves with the thought that at least it was better than apartheid South Africa. But not anymore. It is no better - in fact, it's worse, far worse.'
"Scientists have for the first time observed elusive gravitational waves - tiny ripples in the fabric of space-time caused by violent astronomical events. The discovery, announced overnight in Washington DC, confirms the last outstanding prediction made by Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity." (Einstein was proven right, 100 years on, Marcus Strom, Sydney Morning Herald, 12/2/16)
Now you don't have to be an Einstein to reach the following conclusion, but here it is from the horse's mouth anyway:
"We had great hopes for Israel at first. We thought it might be better than other nations, but it is no better." (Einstein's Last Media Statement, New York Post, 12/3/55)
That was in 1955.
You can imagine Einstein's 'Last Media Statement' today:
'We once had great hopes for Israel. Then we used to console ourselves with the thought that at least it was better than apartheid South Africa. But not anymore. It is no better - in fact, it's worse, far worse.'
Friday, February 12, 2016
The Bodies in the Basement
Now here's a hardworking Labor man who's clearly had enough and just won't take it anymore:
"West Australian Labor senator Glenn Sterle has accused the party's NSW branch of trying to introduce an indefensible 'back-door ban' on MP visits to Israel by mandating a 'ludicrous and deeply insulting' condition that half the trip be spent in the Palestinian territories. Senator Sterle said the push was really an attempt to render sponsored trips to Israel unviable by increasing travel costs, and amounted to an admission that Israel was seen only within the context of the ongoing Middle East conflict. 'The idea is to learn about the country, not merely the conflict in which it is involved,' he told The Australian. 'To saddle participants with an arbitrary requirement that they cut their time in half would make it almost impossible to learn anything worthwhile...' Former Labor foreign minister... Bob Carr has backed a system under which MPs would be 'obliged to spend an equivalent time ' inspecting the conditions of Palestinians on trips to Israel. Mr Carr said opponents of this plan did not want MPs to see 'the conditions that apply to Arab residents of the West Bank' who were 'living under an Israeli occupation that has lasted 49 years.' Senator Sterle - who has been on six sponsored visits to Israel - slammed Mr Carr's comments, accusing him of implying that MPs lacked the 'intelligence and integrity' to make a 'proper assessment' of what they were shown and told..." (ALP's 'backdoor ban' on Israel, Joe Kelly, The Australian, 11/2/16)
Look, I can see Glenn's point. When you go to Bibi's place - and who can resist an invite, or two, or three, or four, or five, or six, to Bibi's, right? - you're going for a good time. You're not going for the bodies in the basement, dammit.
"West Australian Labor senator Glenn Sterle has accused the party's NSW branch of trying to introduce an indefensible 'back-door ban' on MP visits to Israel by mandating a 'ludicrous and deeply insulting' condition that half the trip be spent in the Palestinian territories. Senator Sterle said the push was really an attempt to render sponsored trips to Israel unviable by increasing travel costs, and amounted to an admission that Israel was seen only within the context of the ongoing Middle East conflict. 'The idea is to learn about the country, not merely the conflict in which it is involved,' he told The Australian. 'To saddle participants with an arbitrary requirement that they cut their time in half would make it almost impossible to learn anything worthwhile...' Former Labor foreign minister... Bob Carr has backed a system under which MPs would be 'obliged to spend an equivalent time ' inspecting the conditions of Palestinians on trips to Israel. Mr Carr said opponents of this plan did not want MPs to see 'the conditions that apply to Arab residents of the West Bank' who were 'living under an Israeli occupation that has lasted 49 years.' Senator Sterle - who has been on six sponsored visits to Israel - slammed Mr Carr's comments, accusing him of implying that MPs lacked the 'intelligence and integrity' to make a 'proper assessment' of what they were shown and told..." (ALP's 'backdoor ban' on Israel, Joe Kelly, The Australian, 11/2/16)
Look, I can see Glenn's point. When you go to Bibi's place - and who can resist an invite, or two, or three, or four, or five, or six, to Bibi's, right? - you're going for a good time. You're not going for the bodies in the basement, dammit.
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
Palestinian-Proof Fence
The Ziomind at work:
"Israel's prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has announced his intention to 'surround all of Israel with a fence' to protect the country from infiltration by both Palestinians and the citizens of surrounding Arab states, whom he described as 'wild beasts'." (Netanyahu plans fence around Israel to protect it from 'wild beasts', Peter Beaumont, theguardian.com/au, 10/2/16)
Looks like Ted Cruz's 'fence' will just have to wait.
"Israel's prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has announced his intention to 'surround all of Israel with a fence' to protect the country from infiltration by both Palestinians and the citizens of surrounding Arab states, whom he described as 'wild beasts'." (Netanyahu plans fence around Israel to protect it from 'wild beasts', Peter Beaumont, theguardian.com/au, 10/2/16)
Looks like Ted Cruz's 'fence' will just have to wait.
Border? What Border?
This puts a whole new complexion on Frank Sinatra's old song, 'South of the border, down Mexico way':
"After his evangelical-fuelled victory in the Midwest, Senator Ted Cruz faces losing momentum in a primary typically swayed by less ideological voters. Yet he backed away from a chance to repeat his criticism that Mr Trump lacks the proper temperament and judgment to serve in the White House. 'I think that is an assessment the voters are going to make.' He also tipped his hat to the real-estate mogul's clarion call for a wall along the entire southern border, saying 'I've got somebody in mind to build it'." (Republicans turn attack on rising Rubio, The Wall Street Journal/The Australian, 8/2/16)
"After his evangelical-fuelled victory in the Midwest, Senator Ted Cruz faces losing momentum in a primary typically swayed by less ideological voters. Yet he backed away from a chance to repeat his criticism that Mr Trump lacks the proper temperament and judgment to serve in the White House. 'I think that is an assessment the voters are going to make.' He also tipped his hat to the real-estate mogul's clarion call for a wall along the entire southern border, saying 'I've got somebody in mind to build it'." (Republicans turn attack on rising Rubio, The Wall Street Journal/The Australian, 8/2/16)
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
Scoop: Temple Mount Now Holy to Christians
Now here's a newie:
"The latest wave of violence was sparked last October by unsubstantiated rumours that Israel intended to exert control over the Noble Sanctuary precinct of the Old City, revered by Muslims. Containing the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque, it tops what is known to Jews and Christians as Temple Mount, and is holy to them, too." (Israel's Arab MPs warned of expulsion, Jamie Walker, The Australian, 6/2/16)
So, in addition to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Christans now want a slice of the Haram ash-Sharif.
As I always say: Only in The Australian...
"The latest wave of violence was sparked last October by unsubstantiated rumours that Israel intended to exert control over the Noble Sanctuary precinct of the Old City, revered by Muslims. Containing the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque, it tops what is known to Jews and Christians as Temple Mount, and is holy to them, too." (Israel's Arab MPs warned of expulsion, Jamie Walker, The Australian, 6/2/16)
So, in addition to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Christans now want a slice of the Haram ash-Sharif.
As I always say: Only in The Australian...
Monday, February 8, 2016
Sow Confusion
The subject of the following report - an email sent to Fairfax Media - has Mossad PSYOP written all over it. Note the highlighted items:
"An international hacking gang who claim to be behind some of the hoax bomb threats at Australian schools claim they are about to attack again. On every school day since Friday, dozens of schools across the country have been evacuated after receiving similar computerised phone messages warning of a device on school grounds.
"A group calling themselves Evacuation Squad have claimed responsibility for some of the attacks, and say they are just about to launch more. However, they also claim some attacks in Australia have been the work of copycats. 'In fact we just hit several Sydney schools today, and we are going to hit various cities in Perth,' a spokesman for the group calling himself Viktor Olyavich told Fairfax Media by email. 'I don't think we're cowards. What would constitute that? Just for making threats? That is silly.' Fairfax Media has not been able to confirm Evacuation Squad's claims. Since his email on Thursday morning, schools in Adelaide and Sydney have been evacuated due to bomb threats.
"Mr Olyavich said the group had previously focused on the US, UK, Norway, Britain, France, Japan and Sweden. He said one member had a 'particular bias' for attacking schools in Massachusetts because he lived there before returning home to Iran. He claimed responsibility for Monday's attacks across NSW, Victoria and Queensland, but said a copycat was behind calls made on Tuesday and Wednesday. 'We are responsible for Monday's threats in Sydney, but we are not exactly sure who is behind the other threats. He said the calls would continue 'for as long as possible' and Australia was being targeted because 'it is an ally of the US and Britain.' The group has publicly offered to shut down schools in exchange for bitcoin payments. Mr Olyavich claimed the Australian attacks were requested by local students." (School bomb hoaxers say they will strike again, Liam Mannix & Rachel Olding, Sydney Morning Herald, 5/2/16)
For those interested in such matters see also Unmasking a troll: Aussie 'jihadist' Australi Witness a 20-year-old American nerd, Elise Potaka & Luke McMahon, Sydney Morning Herald, 12/9/15
"An international hacking gang who claim to be behind some of the hoax bomb threats at Australian schools claim they are about to attack again. On every school day since Friday, dozens of schools across the country have been evacuated after receiving similar computerised phone messages warning of a device on school grounds.
"A group calling themselves Evacuation Squad have claimed responsibility for some of the attacks, and say they are just about to launch more. However, they also claim some attacks in Australia have been the work of copycats. 'In fact we just hit several Sydney schools today, and we are going to hit various cities in Perth,' a spokesman for the group calling himself Viktor Olyavich told Fairfax Media by email. 'I don't think we're cowards. What would constitute that? Just for making threats? That is silly.' Fairfax Media has not been able to confirm Evacuation Squad's claims. Since his email on Thursday morning, schools in Adelaide and Sydney have been evacuated due to bomb threats.
"Mr Olyavich said the group had previously focused on the US, UK, Norway, Britain, France, Japan and Sweden. He said one member had a 'particular bias' for attacking schools in Massachusetts because he lived there before returning home to Iran. He claimed responsibility for Monday's attacks across NSW, Victoria and Queensland, but said a copycat was behind calls made on Tuesday and Wednesday. 'We are responsible for Monday's threats in Sydney, but we are not exactly sure who is behind the other threats. He said the calls would continue 'for as long as possible' and Australia was being targeted because 'it is an ally of the US and Britain.' The group has publicly offered to shut down schools in exchange for bitcoin payments. Mr Olyavich claimed the Australian attacks were requested by local students." (School bomb hoaxers say they will strike again, Liam Mannix & Rachel Olding, Sydney Morning Herald, 5/2/16)
For those interested in such matters see also Unmasking a troll: Aussie 'jihadist' Australi Witness a 20-year-old American nerd, Elise Potaka & Luke McMahon, Sydney Morning Herald, 12/9/15
Sunday, February 7, 2016
Beattie's Obsession with Israel
"Mr Beattie described a proposed ban on politicians travelling to Israel on trips funded by Jewish organisations as an 'extreme view' counter-productive to a two-state solution, which he supports. It smacks of [a] single-minded obsession with Israel. This is becoming an obsession and I don't think that's healthy politically,' Mr Beattie said." (Beattie blasts ALP's 'Stalinist' stance on Israel, Sharri Markson, The Australian, 4/2/16)
A single-minded obsession with Israel? Beattie should know:
"A Queensland-based Corporate Research Centre for software company SAP has become the primary IT solutions provider for the Israeli Government. Under the contract Queensland centre staff would collaborate with SAP Portals in Israel to develop software for SAP's global customers. Queensland Premier Peter Beattie congratulated the centre, saying 'A contract of this size is a tremendous coup for SAP and a glowing endorsement of SAP Australia's decision to choose the Smart State as the base for this Corporate Research Centre in 2001. I am told the Brisbane centre has quickly grown in status to become one of the major contributors to SAP'a global research arm,' Beattie said." (QLD provides IT solution for Israel, itnews.com.au, 25/3/04)
"A new drive by small and medium size exporters is beginning to impact on one of Australia's curious trading anomalies: our relatively modest export sales to Israel... But fresh enthusiasm is emerging for sales to Israel, driven partly by friendly rivalry between Queensland and Victoria for a greater slice of the export pie. Queensland Premier, Peter Beattie, has declared he wants his state to become the major focus of Australian business with Israel..." (Israel export, Joe Parkes, dynamicbusiness.com, 1/2/06)
That was then. How about now?
Seems his single-minded obsession with the apartheid state has only grown:
"In her second Sydney appearance, ex MK Einat Wilf shared a platform with past Queensland Premier Peter Beattie before an audience of Labor and union stalwarts at Trades Hall. The two former Labor parliamentarians appeared together to launch the Australia-Israel Labor Dialogue, a new organisation which aims to foster dialogue and fraternal links between the Australian and Israeli Labor parties... Beattie argued for a future of creative partnership with Israel which he cited as the world's best model of the innovative high-tech based entrepreneurial spirit that he had hoped to foster with his 'Smart State' reforms while Premier of Queensland. In his speech Beattie gave pride of place to 'six perspectives to appeal to a new generation of Labor moderates' from a widely circulated recent article 'Labor must not turn its back on Israel' by former Union NSW Secretary, Michael Easson." (Australia-Israel Labor Dialogue launched, jwire.com.au, 18/2/15)
So what, pray, are these 6 "perspectives" which have been widely circulated among Labor moderates? Here's number one:
"The single greatest reason for continuing Israel-Palestine conflict remains Jew-hatred within Palestinian society. Until Palestinians find their Mandela moment, this long, tragic conflict will continue. In slogans on every public wall in Gaza and in much of the West Bank, in Arabic-language television shows, in Palestinian school classes, there is incitement to kill Jews as Jews not just Israelis. How can there be real peace in that atmosphere?"
The Palestine/Israel conflict is a colonial conflict, the natural and inevitable outcome of a British attempt (1917-48) to impose a European settler-colonial movement, Zionism, on an unwilling indigenous people. It has nothing whatever to do with Jews as such. The simple truth is that even if the colonists had been Buddhists, we'd have had the same outcome.
If perspective 1 is fundamentally flawed, why bother with the rest? That Beattie is prepared to swear by Easson's poppycock speaks volumes about him.
Beattie+Easson=Grin & Spin
A single-minded obsession with Israel? Beattie should know:
"A Queensland-based Corporate Research Centre for software company SAP has become the primary IT solutions provider for the Israeli Government. Under the contract Queensland centre staff would collaborate with SAP Portals in Israel to develop software for SAP's global customers. Queensland Premier Peter Beattie congratulated the centre, saying 'A contract of this size is a tremendous coup for SAP and a glowing endorsement of SAP Australia's decision to choose the Smart State as the base for this Corporate Research Centre in 2001. I am told the Brisbane centre has quickly grown in status to become one of the major contributors to SAP'a global research arm,' Beattie said." (QLD provides IT solution for Israel, itnews.com.au, 25/3/04)
"A new drive by small and medium size exporters is beginning to impact on one of Australia's curious trading anomalies: our relatively modest export sales to Israel... But fresh enthusiasm is emerging for sales to Israel, driven partly by friendly rivalry between Queensland and Victoria for a greater slice of the export pie. Queensland Premier, Peter Beattie, has declared he wants his state to become the major focus of Australian business with Israel..." (Israel export, Joe Parkes, dynamicbusiness.com, 1/2/06)
That was then. How about now?
Seems his single-minded obsession with the apartheid state has only grown:
"In her second Sydney appearance, ex MK Einat Wilf shared a platform with past Queensland Premier Peter Beattie before an audience of Labor and union stalwarts at Trades Hall. The two former Labor parliamentarians appeared together to launch the Australia-Israel Labor Dialogue, a new organisation which aims to foster dialogue and fraternal links between the Australian and Israeli Labor parties... Beattie argued for a future of creative partnership with Israel which he cited as the world's best model of the innovative high-tech based entrepreneurial spirit that he had hoped to foster with his 'Smart State' reforms while Premier of Queensland. In his speech Beattie gave pride of place to 'six perspectives to appeal to a new generation of Labor moderates' from a widely circulated recent article 'Labor must not turn its back on Israel' by former Union NSW Secretary, Michael Easson." (Australia-Israel Labor Dialogue launched, jwire.com.au, 18/2/15)
So what, pray, are these 6 "perspectives" which have been widely circulated among Labor moderates? Here's number one:
"The single greatest reason for continuing Israel-Palestine conflict remains Jew-hatred within Palestinian society. Until Palestinians find their Mandela moment, this long, tragic conflict will continue. In slogans on every public wall in Gaza and in much of the West Bank, in Arabic-language television shows, in Palestinian school classes, there is incitement to kill Jews as Jews not just Israelis. How can there be real peace in that atmosphere?"
The Palestine/Israel conflict is a colonial conflict, the natural and inevitable outcome of a British attempt (1917-48) to impose a European settler-colonial movement, Zionism, on an unwilling indigenous people. It has nothing whatever to do with Jews as such. The simple truth is that even if the colonists had been Buddhists, we'd have had the same outcome.
If perspective 1 is fundamentally flawed, why bother with the rest? That Beattie is prepared to swear by Easson's poppycock speaks volumes about him.
Beattie+Easson=Grin & Spin
Saturday, February 6, 2016
Why Peter Beattie?
As readers of this blog will know, Murdoch's Israel fanzine The Australian routinely and relentlessly campaigns against any and every manifestation of public support, however small, timid or symbolic, for the rights of the Palestinian people.
The latest such manifestation, of course, is a proposal by NSW Labor Friends of Palestine to call for the adoption at this month's NSW Labor conference of a ban on party members joining Israel lobby-sponsored propaganda tours (aka rambammings) of Israel.
An integral feature of these campaigns is the trotting out of a handful of Zionist spear-carriers (so far we've heard from Vic Alhadeff, Michael Danby, Warren Mundine & Michael Forshaw) to 'slam' or 'blast' - the preferred terminology - the pro-Palestine initiative as 'misguided' or 'divisive' or 'counter-productive,' and/or smear the offending party as 'anti-Semitic' or 'verging on the anti-Semitic.'
Which is where Peter Beattie now comes in:
"Former Queensland premier (1998-2007) Peter Beattie says the Labor Party risks becoming politically irrelevant over its 'Stalinist' approach to Israel, which he argues has become obsessive." (Beattie blasts ALP's 'Stalinist' stance on Israel, Sharri Markson, 4/2/16)
Now let's not get too excited over what Beattie says - 'Stalinist' is just another smear in the arsenal after all. What's far more interesting is what kind of public figure in this day and age, when the verdict is well and truly in on the matter, is still prepared to go into bat for Israeli apartheid?
If Wordsworth's principle that 'The Child is father of the Man' is any guide to an individual's conduct in later life, maybe we should be examining Beattie's childhood for signs which might herald a future going over to the dark side.
Fortunately, Courier-Mail journalist and novelist, Matthew Condon,* has sketched Beattie's early years. It seems that the lad had, as they say, a few issues:
"Beattie targeted the humanitarian stream in his final two years in school. One classmate recalled: 'He used to say to me - why are you studying those subjects? He would only study what would get him the best results. Peter Beattie was always for Peter Beattie. He always did everything so he looked the best. He wasn't very popular. We always thought he was up himself. He was a crawler that's for sure, and he always knew who to influence and who to make friends with.' Another classmate said Beattie was almost addicted to trophies and tangible symbols of achievement. 'In the scouts he had so many badges on his sleeves they were actually curling underneath the sleeve hem,' he said. 'In his bedroom at the house in Robert Street you couldn't see the walls for all the ribbons and pennants he'd put up. There was everything there on display; even those little minor ribbons you wouldn't think twice about, going right back to primary school. He loved to surround himself with symbols of success. Another student recalled a young myth-maker already at work: 'He used to say he was related to (Otto von) Bismarck (founder of the German Empire), or had some German aristocratic background. It was ridiculous. He'd make up the most fantastic stories'."
And now he's calling NSW Labor - not the Qld mob, note - 'Stalinist'.
"In 1970 - his final year of high school - two issues involving Beattie left a sour note amongst his fellow students, and are still heatedly debated amongst them today. The first was a question of loyalty. Peter Beattie was school captain, and his female counterpart was Jenny Whebell. In the middle of that year a young boy was ordered by a prefect to pick up some papers he had dropped in the schoolyard. He refused. The boy was the son of the principal Morrie Harnell. When the matter was brought to Mr Harnell's attention, the prefect was stripped of her badge. Jenny Whebell and the other prefects felt the principal's actions were unjust. They all resigned their positions until a meeting of the school council could be held. The only one not to turn in his badge was Peter Beattie. 'Peter wouldn't hand his badge in,' one source said. 'Being a small town, the whole thing hit the fan over the weekend. He had his gold medal and he wouldn't let it go. He lost a lot of face over that. The rest of them were prepared to put everything on the line, but not Peter Beattie. Jenny Whebell, now Jenny Butler, confirmed the incident but declined to comment. Another contemporary of Beattie also said the story was accurate. She added: 'I never had much to do with him. I didn't associate with him outside of school. I do know he was interested in himself. That will stick in my brain forever.'
Me, myself & I. So telling that.
"The second issue was the awarding of School Dux to Peter Beattie. His name is painted in gold on the wooden honour board at Atherton State High School today. Some contemporaries still believe the award was granted to Beattie 'by default.' The 1970 Barrinean records that the only academic awards Beattie was granted in that final year were for English and Geography. As is custom, Beattie's final year results as Dux were published in the following year's school magazine. He achieved a single 7, three 6's, one 4 and one 3. In the senior exam at the end of the tear, several former students claimed Beattie was only third or possibly fourth in the class. The School Dux honour was awarded by Principal Harnell, as was tradition, prior to the final senior exam. 'He was very ordinary, academically,' one former student said 'We always felt he was Dux by default'." (Peter Beattie: The Atherton Years, Moo Ink, mathewcondon.blogspot.com.au, 25/11/05)
Very ordinary, academically? Sounds about right. Take Beattie's grasp of history, for example.
Markson quotes him in her 'report' thus:
"Mr Beattie said Australia had played a crucial role in the formation of Israel and should continue to play that constructive role."
This, of course, is a reference to Labor's 1945-49 foreign minister, 'Doc' Evatt, who, as head of the United Nations Ad Hoc Committee on the Palestine Question in 1947, was instrumental in recommending the partition of Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state as opposed to referring the matter to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for an opinion. The resulting UNGA partition resolution emboldened the Zionist movement in Palestine to embark on a campaign of ethnic cleansing that reduced the Palestinian majority to a minority and led to the Palestinian refugee problem which is still with us 67 years later.
And that, according to the Dux of Atherton High, was constructive?
Next post: Beattie's Obsession with Israel
[*Matt Condon is the author of a 3-volume (2013-15) study of the corrupt former Qld Police Commissioner, Terry Lewis.]
The latest such manifestation, of course, is a proposal by NSW Labor Friends of Palestine to call for the adoption at this month's NSW Labor conference of a ban on party members joining Israel lobby-sponsored propaganda tours (aka rambammings) of Israel.
An integral feature of these campaigns is the trotting out of a handful of Zionist spear-carriers (so far we've heard from Vic Alhadeff, Michael Danby, Warren Mundine & Michael Forshaw) to 'slam' or 'blast' - the preferred terminology - the pro-Palestine initiative as 'misguided' or 'divisive' or 'counter-productive,' and/or smear the offending party as 'anti-Semitic' or 'verging on the anti-Semitic.'
Which is where Peter Beattie now comes in:
"Former Queensland premier (1998-2007) Peter Beattie says the Labor Party risks becoming politically irrelevant over its 'Stalinist' approach to Israel, which he argues has become obsessive." (Beattie blasts ALP's 'Stalinist' stance on Israel, Sharri Markson, 4/2/16)
Now let's not get too excited over what Beattie says - 'Stalinist' is just another smear in the arsenal after all. What's far more interesting is what kind of public figure in this day and age, when the verdict is well and truly in on the matter, is still prepared to go into bat for Israeli apartheid?
If Wordsworth's principle that 'The Child is father of the Man' is any guide to an individual's conduct in later life, maybe we should be examining Beattie's childhood for signs which might herald a future going over to the dark side.
Fortunately, Courier-Mail journalist and novelist, Matthew Condon,* has sketched Beattie's early years. It seems that the lad had, as they say, a few issues:
"Beattie targeted the humanitarian stream in his final two years in school. One classmate recalled: 'He used to say to me - why are you studying those subjects? He would only study what would get him the best results. Peter Beattie was always for Peter Beattie. He always did everything so he looked the best. He wasn't very popular. We always thought he was up himself. He was a crawler that's for sure, and he always knew who to influence and who to make friends with.' Another classmate said Beattie was almost addicted to trophies and tangible symbols of achievement. 'In the scouts he had so many badges on his sleeves they were actually curling underneath the sleeve hem,' he said. 'In his bedroom at the house in Robert Street you couldn't see the walls for all the ribbons and pennants he'd put up. There was everything there on display; even those little minor ribbons you wouldn't think twice about, going right back to primary school. He loved to surround himself with symbols of success. Another student recalled a young myth-maker already at work: 'He used to say he was related to (Otto von) Bismarck (founder of the German Empire), or had some German aristocratic background. It was ridiculous. He'd make up the most fantastic stories'."
And now he's calling NSW Labor - not the Qld mob, note - 'Stalinist'.
"In 1970 - his final year of high school - two issues involving Beattie left a sour note amongst his fellow students, and are still heatedly debated amongst them today. The first was a question of loyalty. Peter Beattie was school captain, and his female counterpart was Jenny Whebell. In the middle of that year a young boy was ordered by a prefect to pick up some papers he had dropped in the schoolyard. He refused. The boy was the son of the principal Morrie Harnell. When the matter was brought to Mr Harnell's attention, the prefect was stripped of her badge. Jenny Whebell and the other prefects felt the principal's actions were unjust. They all resigned their positions until a meeting of the school council could be held. The only one not to turn in his badge was Peter Beattie. 'Peter wouldn't hand his badge in,' one source said. 'Being a small town, the whole thing hit the fan over the weekend. He had his gold medal and he wouldn't let it go. He lost a lot of face over that. The rest of them were prepared to put everything on the line, but not Peter Beattie. Jenny Whebell, now Jenny Butler, confirmed the incident but declined to comment. Another contemporary of Beattie also said the story was accurate. She added: 'I never had much to do with him. I didn't associate with him outside of school. I do know he was interested in himself. That will stick in my brain forever.'
Me, myself & I. So telling that.
"The second issue was the awarding of School Dux to Peter Beattie. His name is painted in gold on the wooden honour board at Atherton State High School today. Some contemporaries still believe the award was granted to Beattie 'by default.' The 1970 Barrinean records that the only academic awards Beattie was granted in that final year were for English and Geography. As is custom, Beattie's final year results as Dux were published in the following year's school magazine. He achieved a single 7, three 6's, one 4 and one 3. In the senior exam at the end of the tear, several former students claimed Beattie was only third or possibly fourth in the class. The School Dux honour was awarded by Principal Harnell, as was tradition, prior to the final senior exam. 'He was very ordinary, academically,' one former student said 'We always felt he was Dux by default'." (Peter Beattie: The Atherton Years, Moo Ink, mathewcondon.blogspot.com.au, 25/11/05)
Very ordinary, academically? Sounds about right. Take Beattie's grasp of history, for example.
Markson quotes him in her 'report' thus:
"Mr Beattie said Australia had played a crucial role in the formation of Israel and should continue to play that constructive role."
This, of course, is a reference to Labor's 1945-49 foreign minister, 'Doc' Evatt, who, as head of the United Nations Ad Hoc Committee on the Palestine Question in 1947, was instrumental in recommending the partition of Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state as opposed to referring the matter to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for an opinion. The resulting UNGA partition resolution emboldened the Zionist movement in Palestine to embark on a campaign of ethnic cleansing that reduced the Palestinian majority to a minority and led to the Palestinian refugee problem which is still with us 67 years later.
And that, according to the Dux of Atherton High, was constructive?
Next post: Beattie's Obsession with Israel
[*Matt Condon is the author of a 3-volume (2013-15) study of the corrupt former Qld Police Commissioner, Terry Lewis.]
Thursday, February 4, 2016
Such Tender Concern
And the (drum)beat(up) goes on...
Murdoch's Australian is sooo worried aboutIsrael NSW Labor:
"As a former national president of the ALP, Warren Mundine is correct to suggest it is NSW Labor that will suffer from its anti-Israel escapade. Israel is the only vibrant democracy in the Middle East; it can look after itself. But, as Mr Mundine says, NSW Labor risks becoming a fringe party." (Editorial: Labor's anti-Israel obsession, 3/2/16)
Now we know why the paper calls itself 'The Heart of the Nation'.
A letter to the Australian fromdingaling John Bell, Heidelberg Heights, Vic:
"When a party luminary such as Warren Mundine is sickened by the move and says it has a political agenda verging on anti-Semitism..." (3/2/16)
So even if your twice-rambammed "party luminary" jumps ship for Tony Abbott, who famously characterised the British invasion and colonisation of Aboriginal Australia as "a form of foreign investment by the British Government,"* he's not a rat but a "party luminary"?
OK... So what does that make Ben Chifley?
BTW, have you noticed the form taken by the anti-Semitism smear these days? How no one in the Labor Party who supports Palestinian rights is called an anti-Semite directly? That's reserved for people outside the Labor Party. Inside, they're always accused of "verging on anti-Semitism," or "supporting an anti-Semitic agenda." Neat, eh?
[*Tone's words were: "I guess our country owes its existence to a form of foreign investment by the British Government in the then unsettled Great South Land."]
Murdoch's Australian is sooo worried about
"As a former national president of the ALP, Warren Mundine is correct to suggest it is NSW Labor that will suffer from its anti-Israel escapade. Israel is the only vibrant democracy in the Middle East; it can look after itself. But, as Mr Mundine says, NSW Labor risks becoming a fringe party." (Editorial: Labor's anti-Israel obsession, 3/2/16)
Now we know why the paper calls itself 'The Heart of the Nation'.
A letter to the Australian from
"When a party luminary such as Warren Mundine is sickened by the move and says it has a political agenda verging on anti-Semitism..." (3/2/16)
So even if your twice-rambammed "party luminary" jumps ship for Tony Abbott, who famously characterised the British invasion and colonisation of Aboriginal Australia as "a form of foreign investment by the British Government,"* he's not a rat but a "party luminary"?
OK... So what does that make Ben Chifley?
BTW, have you noticed the form taken by the anti-Semitism smear these days? How no one in the Labor Party who supports Palestinian rights is called an anti-Semite directly? That's reserved for people outside the Labor Party. Inside, they're always accused of "verging on anti-Semitism," or "supporting an anti-Semitic agenda." Neat, eh?
[*Tone's words were: "I guess our country owes its existence to a form of foreign investment by the British Government in the then unsettled Great South Land."]
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
Send in the Clowns
Murdoch's campaign to head off a move to ban rambamming at this month's NSW Labor conference grinds on:
"Former labor national president Warren Mundine has launched a blistering attack on the party, saying its move to ban sponsored trips to Israel is 'verging on anti-Semitic' and is 'sickening to watch'." (Anti-Jew Labor bid 'sickens' Mundine, Sharri Markson, The Australian, 2/2/16)
Seriously, does anyone really care what Gerald Gollum Henderson's twice-rambammed (2006/2009) son-in-law, who deserted Labor in 2012 to join Abbott's Indigenous Advisory Council, thinks?
I mean, what are we to make of a bloke with supposed expertise on indigenous issues in Australia, who emerges from the woodwork on occasions like this for a froth & bubble defence of the apartheid state in occupied Palestine? Talk about sickening to watch!
Then there's this numbers man:
"The NSW ALP international relations policy committee chairman Michael Forshaw told The Australian yesterday that 39 resolutions had been received concerning Israel and Palestine, compared with 17 resolutions dealing with other international issues, such as the Syrian war, the Myanmar junta, Paris terror bombings, China free trade and foreign aid. There were none on Saudi Arabia or Iran." (ibid)
39 to 17?
It couldn't possibly be because, unlike all the other issues, Palestine dates back to 1917, now could it?
Finally, we have 'Senior Writer' (LOL) Sharri Markson "commenting" that:
"The NSW branch of the Labor party should be focusing on refining its health, education and transport policies before it begins to get involved in the Middle East." (Racist views pushing ALP's stand on Israel)
Followed by this rider: "Sharri Markson last year travelled to Israel with the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council."
Sickening, eh?
"Former labor national president Warren Mundine has launched a blistering attack on the party, saying its move to ban sponsored trips to Israel is 'verging on anti-Semitic' and is 'sickening to watch'." (Anti-Jew Labor bid 'sickens' Mundine, Sharri Markson, The Australian, 2/2/16)
Seriously, does anyone really care what Gerald Gollum Henderson's twice-rambammed (2006/2009) son-in-law, who deserted Labor in 2012 to join Abbott's Indigenous Advisory Council, thinks?
I mean, what are we to make of a bloke with supposed expertise on indigenous issues in Australia, who emerges from the woodwork on occasions like this for a froth & bubble defence of the apartheid state in occupied Palestine? Talk about sickening to watch!
Then there's this numbers man:
"The NSW ALP international relations policy committee chairman Michael Forshaw told The Australian yesterday that 39 resolutions had been received concerning Israel and Palestine, compared with 17 resolutions dealing with other international issues, such as the Syrian war, the Myanmar junta, Paris terror bombings, China free trade and foreign aid. There were none on Saudi Arabia or Iran." (ibid)
39 to 17?
It couldn't possibly be because, unlike all the other issues, Palestine dates back to 1917, now could it?
Finally, we have 'Senior Writer' (LOL) Sharri Markson "commenting" that:
"The NSW branch of the Labor party should be focusing on refining its health, education and transport policies before it begins to get involved in the Middle East." (Racist views pushing ALP's stand on Israel)
Followed by this rider: "Sharri Markson last year travelled to Israel with the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council."
Sickening, eh?
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
Australia's Dogs of War in Yemen
The Australian mainstream media, asleep at the wheel as usual, has NOT reported this:
"An Australian citizen is the commander of an elite UAE military force deployed in Yemen as part of the Saudi-led coalition which human rights groups accused of war crimes. Mike Hindmarsh, 59, is a former Australian army officer who is publicly listed as commander of the UAE's Presidential Guard... a unit of marines, reconnaissance, special forces and mechanised brigades according to the US State Department website... The Presidential Guard has been lauded for playing a key role in the Saudi-led coalition seeking to reinstall the exiled Yemeni government of President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi... While the Arab coalition fighting in Yemen is widely described as being led by Saudi Arabia, one Gulf official told Middle East Eye on condition of anonymity that the external ground forces were in reality being steered by the UAE... [I]n October 2009 it was announced that the Australian government had approved Hindmarsh's retirement from the army to take up a new role commanding the UAE Presidential Guard... [A] quick search through LinkedIn throws up numerous results of experienced soldiers - mainly from Australia - who occupy senior roles in the elite force..."
That's the gist of Revealed: the mercenaries commanding UAE forces in Yemen, Rori Donaghy, middleeasteye.net, 23/12/15.
"An Australian citizen is the commander of an elite UAE military force deployed in Yemen as part of the Saudi-led coalition which human rights groups accused of war crimes. Mike Hindmarsh, 59, is a former Australian army officer who is publicly listed as commander of the UAE's Presidential Guard... a unit of marines, reconnaissance, special forces and mechanised brigades according to the US State Department website... The Presidential Guard has been lauded for playing a key role in the Saudi-led coalition seeking to reinstall the exiled Yemeni government of President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi... While the Arab coalition fighting in Yemen is widely described as being led by Saudi Arabia, one Gulf official told Middle East Eye on condition of anonymity that the external ground forces were in reality being steered by the UAE... [I]n October 2009 it was announced that the Australian government had approved Hindmarsh's retirement from the army to take up a new role commanding the UAE Presidential Guard... [A] quick search through LinkedIn throws up numerous results of experienced soldiers - mainly from Australia - who occupy senior roles in the elite force..."
That's the gist of Revealed: the mercenaries commanding UAE forces in Yemen, Rori Donaghy, middleeasteye.net, 23/12/15.
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