Sunday, March 12, 2017

Mystery Solved

Politicians are nothing if not consummate actors. Almost invariably, whether they're embroidering a talking point or delivering a speech, what they say has invariably been scripted by someone else.

This is especially true on the subject of Palestine/Israel. It hardly matters whether the speaker is, say, a Trumble or a Short-on, pretty much the same, tired, pro-Israel talking points are trotted out, again and again and again.

Far more interesting than what these actors say is the question of who actually writes their pro-Israel script.

Whether it's today in Australia:

"Ted [Lapkin] then spent three years as Director of Policy Analysis for the Australia-Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) before working as a speechwriter/political advisor for the Howard Government during its final year [2007] in power. Over the following decade Ted bounced in and out of Coalition politics, serving both in opposition and government as a media and policy advisor for various Liberal frontbenchers." (Former Abbott Government advisor, abc.net.au, 27/2/17)

Or decades ago in the UK:

"Two days later, Ben-Gurion, writing to his wife from London, was exultant: 'The speeches by Lloyd George, Leopold Amery, Tom Williams, Creech Jones, Herbert Morrison, James de Rothschild and Victor cazalet were wholly or partly prepared by us... But the best speech was by Herbert Morrison'." (The British left & Zionism: History of a Divorce, Paul Kelemen, 2012. p 31)

There's your answer.

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