We Shall Not See His Like Again...

... hopefully:

"Victorian Labor MP Michael Danby left the parliament yesterday as he had entered it - a champion of Israel, of the world's persecuted..." ('Straya, what a country' Danby bows out, Richard Ferguson, The Australian, 3/4/19)

Forget the Murdoch propaganda about "the world's persecuted," which, it goes without saying, excludes one of the most persecuted and tormented people on the planet - the Palestinians - Danby's role has, first and foremost, been one of keeping Labor Party MPs on the Zionist straight and narrow.

As The Australian Jewish News once put it:

"Jewish voters needed a Jewish MP... to keep in line a Labor opposition flying with an unsecured left-wing, and after November 2007, to act as a watchdog within the new Rudd Government... He corrals his parliamentary colleagues and forces them to think long, hard and seriously about matters that often conjure knee-jerk reactions. 'During a recent political controversy, we had 11 federal MPs get together on an Israel issue. Mike Kelly [MP] convened them and I organised with the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), who had a delegation up there, to sit down with us and we strategised together', Danby said. That is like America - people being part of the normal run of Australian politics and that's the way it should be'." (See my 1/3/09 post Nipping at their Heels)

Danby reportedly had this to say in his valedictory speech:

"'As all of the wog kids who are now members of parliament, on both sides, will intrinsically appreciate, our presence also says something about the pluralistic, inclusive nature of most Australians. We all made it'." (ibid)

One cannot help wondering whether any MPs present were moved to reflect on the blatant contradiction inherent in Danby's tribute to Australia's pluralism and inclusivity on the one hand, while, as an ardent Zionist, supporting just the opposite in occupied (river to sea) Palestine on the other.

Not to mention how many Labor MPs may be glad to see the last of this yapping terrier "watchdog".