File under 'once a rooster, today, a feather duster':
"The place was the House of Representatives. The day: Thursday, July 25, 2019. The time, 3pm. This will go down in Australian political history as the Day that Dorothy Dixers, which are embarrassing at the best of times, finally committed political harakiri. Liberal backbencher Dave Sharma took to his feet to deliver the pre-approved question - the last question in what, remarkably, was only the fifth question time of the 46th parliament. 'My question is to the Prime Minister,' he read. 'Will the Prime Minister update the house on further action the government has taken this week to deliver on its priorities?" (The day the Dorothy Dixer died... surely, Alice Workman, The Australian, 26/7/19)
"Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity." (Ecclesiastes 1:2) - Sharma's bizarre ambassadorship to Israel, the Wentworth by-election surprise - moving our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem - his pro-Israel advocacy pieces for Murdoch's Australian. All in the past. Now this...
Showing posts with label Dave Sharma. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dave Sharma. Show all posts
Saturday, July 27, 2019
Friday, June 14, 2019
The Morning After the Night Before
We all know what it's like, that dreadful after-party hangover when all is unmasked by the cold, clear light of day and reality sets in with a vengeance. So it would appear to some/many (?) in the seat of Wentworth after the razzmatazz of election night fever abated:
"Didn't Dave Sharma pledge to tackle issues like climate change? It's only been a few weeks since the election, though long enough for recalling such particulars to become hazy, but isn't that what his letters, calls and pamphlets promised? So issues of national importance, have they fallen by the wayside? Dave now says he will focus on local issues, because that's what we want ('The promise of things to come', Courier, May 29). But do we need three layers of government focusing on local issues simultaneously? As our new member, the first thing he's done is earmark $15 million for the construction of a new headquarters for the Sydney Swans. Thinking of all the issues facing us right now, I could think of a lot more pressing than that one." (Patricia O'Neill, Paddington, Wentworth Courier, 12/6/19)
You get the sense from O'Neill's letter to the editor that that some/many (?) in Wentworth are feeling somewhat underwhelmed by the election of their new Liberal MP. Is this it? they seem to be saying. Is Sharma a complete dud?
But just to clarify, according to the aforementioned Wentworth Courier of May 29, another direct funding commitment, apart from that to the Sydney Swans h/q, was also made:
"Mr Sharma, who returned the seat to the Liberals just over a week ago, ran primarily on promises to deliver on local issues though offered no direct funds towards them. The only other direct funding commitment was $143,000 for more CCTV along the Bondi Beach promenade after a spate of anti-semitic graffiti." (The promise of things to come: MP Dave Sharma's commitments were mostly cost-free)
No surprises there, eh?.
"Didn't Dave Sharma pledge to tackle issues like climate change? It's only been a few weeks since the election, though long enough for recalling such particulars to become hazy, but isn't that what his letters, calls and pamphlets promised? So issues of national importance, have they fallen by the wayside? Dave now says he will focus on local issues, because that's what we want ('The promise of things to come', Courier, May 29). But do we need three layers of government focusing on local issues simultaneously? As our new member, the first thing he's done is earmark $15 million for the construction of a new headquarters for the Sydney Swans. Thinking of all the issues facing us right now, I could think of a lot more pressing than that one." (Patricia O'Neill, Paddington, Wentworth Courier, 12/6/19)
You get the sense from O'Neill's letter to the editor that that some/many (?) in Wentworth are feeling somewhat underwhelmed by the election of their new Liberal MP. Is this it? they seem to be saying. Is Sharma a complete dud?
But just to clarify, according to the aforementioned Wentworth Courier of May 29, another direct funding commitment, apart from that to the Sydney Swans h/q, was also made:
"Mr Sharma, who returned the seat to the Liberals just over a week ago, ran primarily on promises to deliver on local issues though offered no direct funds towards them. The only other direct funding commitment was $143,000 for more CCTV along the Bondi Beach promenade after a spate of anti-semitic graffiti." (The promise of things to come: MP Dave Sharma's commitments were mostly cost-free)
No surprises there, eh?.
Wednesday, May 22, 2019
Witless in Wentworth
Former Australian Ambassador for Israel, and self-styled 'modern' Liberal, Dave Sharma is now the new Liberal Party MP for the seat of Wentworth. So who voted for him, and why? My picking through the post-election msm garbage - slim pickings, I know - has so far revealed the following interesting emissions:
"'I voted for Kerryn last year but not now,' said Anna, 33, who did not want he last name used. She said she had cast a vote for Dr Phelps to signal her frustration to the Liberal Party, but over the week decided to vote for Mr Sharma, influenced in part by his campaign's daily phone messages to her emphasising trust and compassion." (Liberals confident Sharma to nab Wentworth, Nick O'Malley, The Sun-Herald, 19/5/19)
"Natalie Solenko, 83, who emerged from the booths with her 76-year-old husband Bruce Young, said she had voted Liberal, as she had since arriving in Australia from Russia via Paris in 1951: 'I have lived under a communist party, thank you very much.' She said she had told her greens-voting daughter that she should go and live in a tent." (ibid)
OK, is it updates as they arise, or enough already?
"'I voted for Kerryn last year but not now,' said Anna, 33, who did not want he last name used. She said she had cast a vote for Dr Phelps to signal her frustration to the Liberal Party, but over the week decided to vote for Mr Sharma, influenced in part by his campaign's daily phone messages to her emphasising trust and compassion." (Liberals confident Sharma to nab Wentworth, Nick O'Malley, The Sun-Herald, 19/5/19)
"Natalie Solenko, 83, who emerged from the booths with her 76-year-old husband Bruce Young, said she had voted Liberal, as she had since arriving in Australia from Russia via Paris in 1951: 'I have lived under a communist party, thank you very much.' She said she had told her greens-voting daughter that she should go and live in a tent." (ibid)
OK, is it updates as they arise, or enough already?
Thursday, May 16, 2019
Dave Sharma: Lolly for the Lobby
What a surprise:
"Minister Paul Fletcher and Liberal candidate for Wentworth Dave Sharma have announced funds of over $210,000 to The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies... Fletcher said 'This funding will benefit a diverse range of members of the Wentworth community including boosting critical support services and providing opportunities for enriching social interaction and activity.' The NSW JBOD is part of a total amount of $450,000 to benefit Wentworth.
*$112,500... for its We Are All Sydney: Community Leadership Program
*$99,225... for its Respect, Understanding, Acceptance Program
"The NSWJBD President Lesli Berger said: 'The funds will enable us to take both of these programs to new heights. Given the ever-increasing importance of engaging with other communities and faith groups, we commend and thank the federal government and Dave Sharma for recognising this vital need and making funds available for these programs'." (Funding boost for The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, jwire.com.au, 15/5/19)
Now if you want to go beyond the spin and see just what kind of sweetness and light the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies has been dispensing in NSW over the years, here are just 3 of my posts on the subject:
Building Bridges... to Israel (14/12/13)
Israel 101 for Cops (28/10/11)
Coming to a School Near You (23/8/10)
Just click on the 'Board of Deputies' label below and scroll down.
"Minister Paul Fletcher and Liberal candidate for Wentworth Dave Sharma have announced funds of over $210,000 to The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies... Fletcher said 'This funding will benefit a diverse range of members of the Wentworth community including boosting critical support services and providing opportunities for enriching social interaction and activity.' The NSW JBOD is part of a total amount of $450,000 to benefit Wentworth.
*$112,500... for its We Are All Sydney: Community Leadership Program
*$99,225... for its Respect, Understanding, Acceptance Program
"The NSWJBD President Lesli Berger said: 'The funds will enable us to take both of these programs to new heights. Given the ever-increasing importance of engaging with other communities and faith groups, we commend and thank the federal government and Dave Sharma for recognising this vital need and making funds available for these programs'." (Funding boost for The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, jwire.com.au, 15/5/19)
Now if you want to go beyond the spin and see just what kind of sweetness and light the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies has been dispensing in NSW over the years, here are just 3 of my posts on the subject:
Building Bridges... to Israel (14/12/13)
Israel 101 for Cops (28/10/11)
Coming to a School Near You (23/8/10)
Just click on the 'Board of Deputies' label below and scroll down.
Tuesday, May 14, 2019
Dave Sharma Watch 2
Poor old Dave Sharma's reportedly under email attack from some nutter claiming "he was facing a year in jail for not disclosing that his father was from Trinidad and Tobago," and "would end a global conspiracy to cover up molestation by the church and establishment." (Better call in Mossad, The Sauce, Sunday Telegraph, 12/5/19)
OMG, what to do? Well, Dave being Dave and all, it's obvious who he's gonna call, innit?
"... Dave Sharma enlisted ex-Mossad cyber-security specialist Adi Ashkenazy." (ibid)
There you go!
And Dave is pointing the finger at - wait for it - "foreign influence." (ibid)
Now that's chutzpah for you!
Still, despite his woes, Dave, who reportedly "persuaded" PM Morrison to relocate Australia's embassy to Jerusalem during last October's Wentworth by-election, should surely derive some comfort from such 'good' news as this:
"Israeli occupation forces have sharply escalated their demolitions of Palestinian properties in East Jerusalem. As a result more Palestinians have been made homeless this year than in all of 2018." (Israeli home demolitions skyrocket in Jerusalem, Tamara Nassar, electronicintifada.net, 11/5/19)
Meanwhile, back in the real world, it's business as usual for the valiant Israeli Defense Forces:
"Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian on Friday during weekly protests along the border with Israel, Gaza health officials say. In addition to the 24-year-old male fatality, 30 other people were wounded by live gunfire during the protest, in which thousands participated they said." (Israeli troops kill Palestinian at Gaza border protest - medics, Nidal Almughrabi, editing Catherine Evans, uk.reuters.com)
OMG, what to do? Well, Dave being Dave and all, it's obvious who he's gonna call, innit?
"... Dave Sharma enlisted ex-Mossad cyber-security specialist Adi Ashkenazy." (ibid)
There you go!
And Dave is pointing the finger at - wait for it - "foreign influence." (ibid)
Now that's chutzpah for you!
Still, despite his woes, Dave, who reportedly "persuaded" PM Morrison to relocate Australia's embassy to Jerusalem during last October's Wentworth by-election, should surely derive some comfort from such 'good' news as this:
"Israeli occupation forces have sharply escalated their demolitions of Palestinian properties in East Jerusalem. As a result more Palestinians have been made homeless this year than in all of 2018." (Israeli home demolitions skyrocket in Jerusalem, Tamara Nassar, electronicintifada.net, 11/5/19)
Meanwhile, back in the real world, it's business as usual for the valiant Israeli Defense Forces:
"Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian on Friday during weekly protests along the border with Israel, Gaza health officials say. In addition to the 24-year-old male fatality, 30 other people were wounded by live gunfire during the protest, in which thousands participated they said." (Israeli troops kill Palestinian at Gaza border protest - medics, Nidal Almughrabi, editing Catherine Evans, uk.reuters.com)
Thursday, May 9, 2019
Dave Sharma Watch
Y'all know former Australian ambassador to Israel (or is it the other way around?), and Wentworth wannabe, Dave Sharma by now, right?
How could you not?
*After all, government documents obtained by the ABC in February reveal that PM Morrison was persuaded by Sharma to move the Australian embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a decision that, coincidentally, was announced during last October's Wentworth by-election in the hope that Jewish voters there would rally to his cause.
*And who could forget Mrs Sharma's heartfelt sentiment that "we will be very, very proud ambassadors for Israel to the world"?
*Not to mention her husband's gushing declaration that "Israel will always be in our hearts, blood, souls, veins."
Memorable indeed!
Which brings us to the question, as the federal election nears, of what the man who has declared himself literally riddled with Israel has been up to. So, here's a round-up, incomplete no doubt, but so telling nonetheless of the stark Israelicentric realities of elite politics in this country:
"Independent MP Kerryn Phelps says 'dirty tricks' are behind the removal of hundreds of political posters promoting her campaign for the federal seat of Wentworth in Sydney's affluent eastern suburbs. Dr Phelps is fighting to retain the seat she won after a resounding 20% swing against [Liberal Party] candidate Dave Sharma in the October by-election. But on Friday night her posters were taken down in several locations along New South Head Road at Rose Bay, at Bondi and in Elizabeth Bay, Dr Phelps said... The Liberal Party's posters remained in place, Dr Phelps said, adding: 'So you can make your own conclusions about that.' But Liberal candidate Dave Sharma flatly denied having anything to do with it, saying his posters had suffered the same fate." (Kerryn Phelps alleges 'dirty tricks' behind removal of election campaign posters in Wentworth, Sue Daniel, abc.net.au, 14/4/19)
"Sharma, a former ambassador to Israel, told The Australian: 'I was very concerned to see that my opponent has been retweeting endorsements from a prominent supporter of the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, one who has called on Australians to boycott the Eurovision Song Contest being held in Israel this month.' However Phelps, who converted to Judaism when she married [Jackie] Stricker... in 2011, had already deleted her retweet after being alerted to the author @Saints_Dragons' anti-Israel history. There was no mention of BDS or Israel in the Tweet, an endorsement of her re-election campaign by @Saints_Dragons, which Phelps had initially retweeted. Phelps told The Australian this, confirmed she was a supporter of Israel and made it clear she did not condone BDS. The story, and Sharma's comments, were then binned. When asked about the story that never was, Phelps told PS: 'It was a shameful attempt by Dave Sharma to discredit me and destroy my reputation within the Jewish community'." (Stayin' alive in Wentworth amid smears as campaign goes nuclear, PS, The Sydney Morning Herald, 4/5/19)
"Not spotted, however, [at the Liberal Party'a election fundraising machine at Justin Hemmes' gothic Vaucluse pile The Hermitage] former Australian ambassador to Israel turned Liberal candidate in Wentworth... Dave Sharma. He wasn't at Bondi Pavilion's High Tide Room either, where there was a local meet the candidates event with his independent rival, Wentworth MP Kerryn Phelps. But CBD did eventually locate him, at another swanky Wentworth home, this time in Double Bay, where he was attending a Liberal friends of Israel event." (Hemmes' lavish cocktail party for Libs, CBD, Kylar Loussikian, Sydney Morning Herald, 7/5/19)
"And while Hemmes, Morrison and a slew of his Cabinet including Social Services Minister Paul Fletcher and Trade Minister Simon Birmingham sat down for a $13,750-a-head fundraising dinner on Monday, Foreign Minister Marise Payne slipped out of the side door. She was a key guest at the Liberal Friends of Israel dinner at another lavish home in Double Bay that evening, raising money for Wentworth candidate Dave Sharma. While our attempts at wrangling the name of the mystery host came to nought - we're told it was a secretive Israeli tech player - we can tell you the dinner also attracted Vaucluse MP Gabrielle Upton, Fletcher staffer Will Nemesh and carpet scion Yosi Tal. (Tal also happens to be the president of the Friends of Israel." (Cash collection, CBD, Kylar Loussikian/Samantha Hutchinson, Sydney Morning Herald, 8/5/19)
How could you not?
*After all, government documents obtained by the ABC in February reveal that PM Morrison was persuaded by Sharma to move the Australian embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a decision that, coincidentally, was announced during last October's Wentworth by-election in the hope that Jewish voters there would rally to his cause.
*And who could forget Mrs Sharma's heartfelt sentiment that "we will be very, very proud ambassadors for Israel to the world"?
*Not to mention her husband's gushing declaration that "Israel will always be in our hearts, blood, souls, veins."
Memorable indeed!
Which brings us to the question, as the federal election nears, of what the man who has declared himself literally riddled with Israel has been up to. So, here's a round-up, incomplete no doubt, but so telling nonetheless of the stark Israelicentric realities of elite politics in this country:
"Independent MP Kerryn Phelps says 'dirty tricks' are behind the removal of hundreds of political posters promoting her campaign for the federal seat of Wentworth in Sydney's affluent eastern suburbs. Dr Phelps is fighting to retain the seat she won after a resounding 20% swing against [Liberal Party] candidate Dave Sharma in the October by-election. But on Friday night her posters were taken down in several locations along New South Head Road at Rose Bay, at Bondi and in Elizabeth Bay, Dr Phelps said... The Liberal Party's posters remained in place, Dr Phelps said, adding: 'So you can make your own conclusions about that.' But Liberal candidate Dave Sharma flatly denied having anything to do with it, saying his posters had suffered the same fate." (Kerryn Phelps alleges 'dirty tricks' behind removal of election campaign posters in Wentworth, Sue Daniel, abc.net.au, 14/4/19)
"Sharma, a former ambassador to Israel, told The Australian: 'I was very concerned to see that my opponent has been retweeting endorsements from a prominent supporter of the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, one who has called on Australians to boycott the Eurovision Song Contest being held in Israel this month.' However Phelps, who converted to Judaism when she married [Jackie] Stricker... in 2011, had already deleted her retweet after being alerted to the author @Saints_Dragons' anti-Israel history. There was no mention of BDS or Israel in the Tweet, an endorsement of her re-election campaign by @Saints_Dragons, which Phelps had initially retweeted. Phelps told The Australian this, confirmed she was a supporter of Israel and made it clear she did not condone BDS. The story, and Sharma's comments, were then binned. When asked about the story that never was, Phelps told PS: 'It was a shameful attempt by Dave Sharma to discredit me and destroy my reputation within the Jewish community'." (Stayin' alive in Wentworth amid smears as campaign goes nuclear, PS, The Sydney Morning Herald, 4/5/19)
"Not spotted, however, [at the Liberal Party'a election fundraising machine at Justin Hemmes' gothic Vaucluse pile The Hermitage] former Australian ambassador to Israel turned Liberal candidate in Wentworth... Dave Sharma. He wasn't at Bondi Pavilion's High Tide Room either, where there was a local meet the candidates event with his independent rival, Wentworth MP Kerryn Phelps. But CBD did eventually locate him, at another swanky Wentworth home, this time in Double Bay, where he was attending a Liberal friends of Israel event." (Hemmes' lavish cocktail party for Libs, CBD, Kylar Loussikian, Sydney Morning Herald, 7/5/19)
"And while Hemmes, Morrison and a slew of his Cabinet including Social Services Minister Paul Fletcher and Trade Minister Simon Birmingham sat down for a $13,750-a-head fundraising dinner on Monday, Foreign Minister Marise Payne slipped out of the side door. She was a key guest at the Liberal Friends of Israel dinner at another lavish home in Double Bay that evening, raising money for Wentworth candidate Dave Sharma. While our attempts at wrangling the name of the mystery host came to nought - we're told it was a secretive Israeli tech player - we can tell you the dinner also attracted Vaucluse MP Gabrielle Upton, Fletcher staffer Will Nemesh and carpet scion Yosi Tal. (Tal also happens to be the president of the Friends of Israel." (Cash collection, CBD, Kylar Loussikian/Samantha Hutchinson, Sydney Morning Herald, 8/5/19)
Wednesday, April 24, 2019
Chalk & Cheese
France's former ambassador to Israel, Gerard Araud:
"The problem is that the disproportion of power is such between the two sides that the strongest may conclude that they have no interest to make concessions. And also the fact that the status quo is extremely comfortable for Israel. Because they [can] have their cake and eat it too. They have the West Bank, but at the same time they don't have to make the painful decision about the Palestinians, really making them totally stateless or making them citizens of Israel. They won't make them citizens of Israel. So they will have to make it official, which is an apartheid [situation]. There will be officially an apartheid state. They are in fact already." (A conversation with outgoing French ambassador Gerard Araud, Yara Bayoumy, theatlantic.com, 19/4/19)
Australia's former ambassador to Israel, "very proud ambassador for Israel to the world," and Liberal Party candidate for the seat of Wentworth, Dave Sharma:
"The documents... emphasised Mr Sharma's role in the decision [to move Australia's embassy to Jerusalem]. 'The Prime Minister will announce he has found the arguments put forward by Australia's former Ambassador to Israel... persuasive,' it said." (Australian embassies warned over security before Scott Morrison's Israel announcement, Dan Conifer, abc.net.au, 9/2/19)
"The problem is that the disproportion of power is such between the two sides that the strongest may conclude that they have no interest to make concessions. And also the fact that the status quo is extremely comfortable for Israel. Because they [can] have their cake and eat it too. They have the West Bank, but at the same time they don't have to make the painful decision about the Palestinians, really making them totally stateless or making them citizens of Israel. They won't make them citizens of Israel. So they will have to make it official, which is an apartheid [situation]. There will be officially an apartheid state. They are in fact already." (A conversation with outgoing French ambassador Gerard Araud, Yara Bayoumy, theatlantic.com, 19/4/19)
Australia's former ambassador to Israel, "very proud ambassador for Israel to the world," and Liberal Party candidate for the seat of Wentworth, Dave Sharma:
"The documents... emphasised Mr Sharma's role in the decision [to move Australia's embassy to Jerusalem]. 'The Prime Minister will announce he has found the arguments put forward by Australia's former Ambassador to Israel... persuasive,' it said." (Australian embassies warned over security before Scott Morrison's Israel announcement, Dan Conifer, abc.net.au, 9/2/19)
Monday, April 22, 2019
On the Campaign Trail with Dave Sharma
"And while we may no longer be Australia's ambassador to Israel, we will be very proud ambassadors for Israel to the world." (Rachel Lord, From Australia's ambassadors to Israel to ambassadors for Israel to the world, Jerusalem Post, 14/6/17)
Here are the latest sightings of Dave Sharma, former Australian ambassador to Israel, currently "very proud ambassador for Israel to the world", and Liberal candidate (yet again!) for Turnbull's old seat of Wentworth:
1) The following words of Australia's "very proud ambassador for Israel to the world" make me wonder whether, in cases such as this, a 'noble sentiments' version of the 'directions for use' instruction found on pharmaceuticals is needed:
"I wish a Chag Pesach Sameach to the Jewish community celebrating the festival of Passover. I have many fond memories of nights spent around the Seder table in Israel reflecting on the escape from oppression, the pathway to liberty, and the triumph of freedom. These messages are just as relevant today, and we must remember these values as we struggle against intolerance and affirm the freedom we cherish as a society. As we reflect on why this night is different from all other nights and retell the story of the escape from Egypt, we should also pause to cherish the freedoms we enjoy here in Australia..." (Former Australian ambassador to Israel and candidate for Wentworth in the upcoming election Dave Sharma sends his message for Pesach, jwire.com.au, 18/4/19)
In the case of Sharma's noble sentiments above, for example, it could read: 'Applicable only to Australian Jews in particular, and Australians more generally. Not to be taken at all seriously by occupied/diaspora Palestinians'.
2) The Wentworth Courier, reveals, in a sneak-peek, that Mr & Mrs Sharma and the kids are now well and truly installed in their newly renovated Paddington terrace, "filled with treasures from his time abroad." (Souvenir edition, Melissa Hoyer, 17/4/19)
You will, of course, be fascinated to know that Dave and his wife, "international human rights lawyer for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade," Rachel Lord, "share their home with two Israeli street cats", "ceramics from the Middle East and Mediterranean", and "a tiled coffee table from Hebron."
Most interesting is the photograph of Dave's framed Zionist posters, 'Visit Palestine' (Franz Krausz, 1936) and 'Come to Palestine' (Zeev Rabin), which hark back to a time when Zionists had no problem whatever with the P-word (and which have most recently been appropriated by supporters of the Palestinian cause).
Alas, Ms Hoyer did not take the opportunity to ask Australia's "very proud ambassador for Israel to the world" about them, sadly depriving us of what could well have been a most interesting answer.
Here are the latest sightings of Dave Sharma, former Australian ambassador to Israel, currently "very proud ambassador for Israel to the world", and Liberal candidate (yet again!) for Turnbull's old seat of Wentworth:
1) The following words of Australia's "very proud ambassador for Israel to the world" make me wonder whether, in cases such as this, a 'noble sentiments' version of the 'directions for use' instruction found on pharmaceuticals is needed:
"I wish a Chag Pesach Sameach to the Jewish community celebrating the festival of Passover. I have many fond memories of nights spent around the Seder table in Israel reflecting on the escape from oppression, the pathway to liberty, and the triumph of freedom. These messages are just as relevant today, and we must remember these values as we struggle against intolerance and affirm the freedom we cherish as a society. As we reflect on why this night is different from all other nights and retell the story of the escape from Egypt, we should also pause to cherish the freedoms we enjoy here in Australia..." (Former Australian ambassador to Israel and candidate for Wentworth in the upcoming election Dave Sharma sends his message for Pesach, jwire.com.au, 18/4/19)
In the case of Sharma's noble sentiments above, for example, it could read: 'Applicable only to Australian Jews in particular, and Australians more generally. Not to be taken at all seriously by occupied/diaspora Palestinians'.
2) The Wentworth Courier, reveals, in a sneak-peek, that Mr & Mrs Sharma and the kids are now well and truly installed in their newly renovated Paddington terrace, "filled with treasures from his time abroad." (Souvenir edition, Melissa Hoyer, 17/4/19)
You will, of course, be fascinated to know that Dave and his wife, "international human rights lawyer for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade," Rachel Lord, "share their home with two Israeli street cats", "ceramics from the Middle East and Mediterranean", and "a tiled coffee table from Hebron."
Most interesting is the photograph of Dave's framed Zionist posters, 'Visit Palestine' (Franz Krausz, 1936) and 'Come to Palestine' (Zeev Rabin), which hark back to a time when Zionists had no problem whatever with the P-word (and which have most recently been appropriated by supporters of the Palestinian cause).
Alas, Ms Hoyer did not take the opportunity to ask Australia's "very proud ambassador for Israel to the world" about them, sadly depriving us of what could well have been a most interesting answer.
Wednesday, April 10, 2019
What's Dave Doing?
"Liberal candidate for Wentworth Dave Sharma argued that the policy had shades of communism. 'I don't want to see it like the Soviet Union where we all have to buy a Trabant,' he said, referring to the notoriously unreliable vehicle produced in East Germany." (Electric car surge puts grid 'at risk', Cole Latimer, Sydney Morning Herald, 9/4/19)
Well, he may be kicking the commie can, but at least he's not waving an Israeli flag... yet.
Well, he may be kicking the commie can, but at least he's not waving an Israeli flag... yet.
Monday, February 11, 2019
The Jury's in on Morrison's Jerusalem Surprise
No wonder the Morrison government's got it in for the ABC:
"Australian embassies were put on notice to upgrade travel warnings and boost security BEFORE the Government's shock Israel embassy [16/10] announcement during the Wentworth by-election, sensitive documents reveal." (Australian embassies warned over security before Scott Morrison's Israel announcement, Dan Conifer & Michael McKinnon, abc.net.au, 9/2/19)
Note that was "JUST ONE DAY BEFORE"! (ibid)
So there you go. Damn the travelling public - as long as Dave Sharma gets in!
Speaking of the guy who once gushed that "Israel will always be in our hearts, blood, souls, veins":
"The documents... emphasised Mr Sharma's role in the decision. 'The Prime Minister will announce he has found the arguments put forward by Australia's former Ambassador to Israel [Dave Sharma]... persuasive,' it said." (ibid)
And yet, at the time the announcement was made:
"The Coalition denied the policy was aimed at wooing Jewish voters in the inner-Sydney electorate, which is home to the largest proportion of Jewish voters in Australia." (ibid)
The jury's in then: Scott Morrison's Jerusalem surprise - for the buck stops with the prime minister - was nothing more than a shameless grab for the Jewish vote, initiated by an Israel-besotted, wannabe politician and undertaken without regard for potential security, diplomatic or commercial consequences.
This commendable ABC sleuthing should be front-page news, but I won't be holding my breath for too long.
"Australian embassies were put on notice to upgrade travel warnings and boost security BEFORE the Government's shock Israel embassy [16/10] announcement during the Wentworth by-election, sensitive documents reveal." (Australian embassies warned over security before Scott Morrison's Israel announcement, Dan Conifer & Michael McKinnon, abc.net.au, 9/2/19)
Note that was "JUST ONE DAY BEFORE"! (ibid)
So there you go. Damn the travelling public - as long as Dave Sharma gets in!
Speaking of the guy who once gushed that "Israel will always be in our hearts, blood, souls, veins":
"The documents... emphasised Mr Sharma's role in the decision. 'The Prime Minister will announce he has found the arguments put forward by Australia's former Ambassador to Israel [Dave Sharma]... persuasive,' it said." (ibid)
And yet, at the time the announcement was made:
"The Coalition denied the policy was aimed at wooing Jewish voters in the inner-Sydney electorate, which is home to the largest proportion of Jewish voters in Australia." (ibid)
The jury's in then: Scott Morrison's Jerusalem surprise - for the buck stops with the prime minister - was nothing more than a shameless grab for the Jewish vote, initiated by an Israel-besotted, wannabe politician and undertaken without regard for potential security, diplomatic or commercial consequences.
This commendable ABC sleuthing should be front-page news, but I won't be holding my breath for too long.
Thursday, January 10, 2019
Sharma's Back
Dave Sharma's popped up again in yesterday's Nine Entertainment Co. (formerly Fairfax) rag The Sydney Morning Herald.
In an opinion piece, Middle East power order at stake, this former Australian ambassador to Israel, pro-Israel propagandist, investor in Israeli startups, failed Liberal Party candidate in last year's Wentworth byelection, and Liberal candidate for Wentworth in the coming federal election, weighs in on the subject of Syria. The occasion, of course, is Trump's recent flagged intention to withdraw from the US-generated and sustained conflict there.
All the tell-tale signs of the official story on Syria are there: "civil war", "civilian uprising", "Ba'athist regime of Bashar al-Assad", "rebel-held area around Idlib," the notion that but for Russian and Iranian "intervention" Asad would be toast etc
As you'd expect, Sharma's heart (which never at any stage of his career had room for the plight of the brutalised Palestinians, groaning under the Israeli jackboot) goes out to the Kurds, and their "nascent" state in Syria - they, alas, will have to seek the protection of Asad to escape their Turkish nemesis.
Sharma's bleeding heart is nowhere more poignantly on display than in this particular puke of purple prose: "There are few peoples or nations in the Middle East more deserving of national self-determination and statehood than the Kurds: a people of 35 million who respect the rights of minorities, treat women as equals, eschew terrorism and anti-semitism, and have been a steadfast force for stability in the Middle East and western security partner for decades."
Get it? If you're a useful fool for USrael in its ongoing colonisation, pillage and plunder of the Arab world you're a "steadfast force for stability in the Middle East" and deserving of statehood! Otherwise...
Then, of course, there's the Iranian menace, eternally engaged in "the establishment of a land bridge running from Iran, through Iraq and Syria, and into Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea." And if, God forbid, the US cop does carry through on his proposal to withdraw his thin blue line of 2,000 troops from Syria, Sharma sagely predicts that the Middle East, "not particularly stable now," will "become a little more dangerous."
What rubbish this is! Still, if it helps raise Sharma's profile with the fickle voters of Wentworth...
In an opinion piece, Middle East power order at stake, this former Australian ambassador to Israel, pro-Israel propagandist, investor in Israeli startups, failed Liberal Party candidate in last year's Wentworth byelection, and Liberal candidate for Wentworth in the coming federal election, weighs in on the subject of Syria. The occasion, of course, is Trump's recent flagged intention to withdraw from the US-generated and sustained conflict there.
All the tell-tale signs of the official story on Syria are there: "civil war", "civilian uprising", "Ba'athist regime of Bashar al-Assad", "rebel-held area around Idlib," the notion that but for Russian and Iranian "intervention" Asad would be toast etc
As you'd expect, Sharma's heart (which never at any stage of his career had room for the plight of the brutalised Palestinians, groaning under the Israeli jackboot) goes out to the Kurds, and their "nascent" state in Syria - they, alas, will have to seek the protection of Asad to escape their Turkish nemesis.
Sharma's bleeding heart is nowhere more poignantly on display than in this particular puke of purple prose: "There are few peoples or nations in the Middle East more deserving of national self-determination and statehood than the Kurds: a people of 35 million who respect the rights of minorities, treat women as equals, eschew terrorism and anti-semitism, and have been a steadfast force for stability in the Middle East and western security partner for decades."
Get it? If you're a useful fool for USrael in its ongoing colonisation, pillage and plunder of the Arab world you're a "steadfast force for stability in the Middle East" and deserving of statehood! Otherwise...
Then, of course, there's the Iranian menace, eternally engaged in "the establishment of a land bridge running from Iran, through Iraq and Syria, and into Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea." And if, God forbid, the US cop does carry through on his proposal to withdraw his thin blue line of 2,000 troops from Syria, Sharma sagely predicts that the Middle East, "not particularly stable now," will "become a little more dangerous."
What rubbish this is! Still, if it helps raise Sharma's profile with the fickle voters of Wentworth...
Thursday, November 22, 2018
About Those Bloody Comment Threads...
A most interesting corporate media phenomenon is the alacrity with which those 'readers' who, like moths to a flame, respond whenever Guardian Australia deigns to allow them the opportunity to do so. I say 'deigns' because these opportunities are quite rare.
In addition to Katharine Murphy's report of November 17, with its categorical assertion that Israeli PM Netanyahu was part of Australian PM Morrison's "circle of trust" in the lead-up to the latter's announcement, during the Wentworth by-election, that he would be moving Australia's embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem - a truly stunning revelation which all of our corporate media outlets have, inexplicably, thus far ignored - Guardian Australia also posted an eminently sensible opinion piece by former Labor foreign minister Bob Carr, giving the idea of the embassy move the thumbs-down. (See my 18/11/18 post Morrison's 'Circle of Trust'.)
Guardian Australia allowed comments on Carr's piece, but, interestingly, not on Murphy's, which brings us back to my first paragraph. Carr's piece attracted almost 170 comments, just about every one of which hammered Morrison and his embassy proposal in no uncertain terms. Morrison was slammed variously as stupid, a moron, an idiot, an imbecile, a clown, a buffoon, a blunderer and, even, 'deranged', and his proposal as a brain-fart or a thought-bubble. He was fingered as a plaything of Trump or the US State Department and Defence/ intelligence community and a lickspittle. Many commenters cited his evangelical faith as the reason for his announcement. They spoke of 'fundamentalist Christian apocalypticism', 'prayerful clappers', 'playing the religion card', 'enmeshed in religious extremism', and 'the fanatical US religious right'. His senior ministers were referred to as a rabble and Frydenberg in particular was singled out as 'incredibly immature' and wanting to 'raise awareness of his heritage'. Not one revealed any knowledge of the hold exercised by the Israel lobby over the two major parties. The word 'Zionist' was conspicuous by its absence.
Only one, it seems, had taken the trouble to read Katharine Murphy's article, yet even his/her comment was problematic. I quote it here in full so you'll see exactly what I mean:
"What KM's related reporting suggests is that while the timing might have been all about Morrison's desperation as he saw Wentworth slipping away from the Liberals, this particular idea was hardly unspoken within the Liberal Party right wing faction that has secured power..."
You'll notice at this point that the commenter has failed to register the fact that Murphy includes Netanyahu in Morrison's 'circle of trust'. This is quite an oversight to say the least. He/she goes on to provide a link to Murphy's article and then wanders off course with this comment: "It's worrying how much more of this fundamentalist Christian apocalyptisism is going to inform Liberal Party policy... "
Frankly, one wonders whether even if Guardian Australia had allowed its 'readers' to comment on Murphy's report, just how many would have overlooked her revelation about Netanyahu's involvement in the decision to shift the Australian embassy to Jerusalem.
Let me hazard a generalisation as to why this may be the case here: those who flock to comment on Guardian Australia's (and other such websites) are more interested in hearing the sound of their own voices than in informing themselves through a little wide reading on the subject at hand. Typical of this phenomenon is the following comment from the same thread:
"The whole issue of Israel and Palestine has been going on with various intensity since the day I was born. It has been in the background of all of our lives... for most of our lives. There never seems to be any end to this conflict, the never ending war..."
Makes me want to scream: well, pick up a few reputable books on the subject and find out WHY the issue has been on the boil for as long as you can remember!
In addition to Katharine Murphy's report of November 17, with its categorical assertion that Israeli PM Netanyahu was part of Australian PM Morrison's "circle of trust" in the lead-up to the latter's announcement, during the Wentworth by-election, that he would be moving Australia's embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem - a truly stunning revelation which all of our corporate media outlets have, inexplicably, thus far ignored - Guardian Australia also posted an eminently sensible opinion piece by former Labor foreign minister Bob Carr, giving the idea of the embassy move the thumbs-down. (See my 18/11/18 post Morrison's 'Circle of Trust'.)
Guardian Australia allowed comments on Carr's piece, but, interestingly, not on Murphy's, which brings us back to my first paragraph. Carr's piece attracted almost 170 comments, just about every one of which hammered Morrison and his embassy proposal in no uncertain terms. Morrison was slammed variously as stupid, a moron, an idiot, an imbecile, a clown, a buffoon, a blunderer and, even, 'deranged', and his proposal as a brain-fart or a thought-bubble. He was fingered as a plaything of Trump or the US State Department and Defence/ intelligence community and a lickspittle. Many commenters cited his evangelical faith as the reason for his announcement. They spoke of 'fundamentalist Christian apocalypticism', 'prayerful clappers', 'playing the religion card', 'enmeshed in religious extremism', and 'the fanatical US religious right'. His senior ministers were referred to as a rabble and Frydenberg in particular was singled out as 'incredibly immature' and wanting to 'raise awareness of his heritage'. Not one revealed any knowledge of the hold exercised by the Israel lobby over the two major parties. The word 'Zionist' was conspicuous by its absence.
Only one, it seems, had taken the trouble to read Katharine Murphy's article, yet even his/her comment was problematic. I quote it here in full so you'll see exactly what I mean:
"What KM's related reporting suggests is that while the timing might have been all about Morrison's desperation as he saw Wentworth slipping away from the Liberals, this particular idea was hardly unspoken within the Liberal Party right wing faction that has secured power..."
You'll notice at this point that the commenter has failed to register the fact that Murphy includes Netanyahu in Morrison's 'circle of trust'. This is quite an oversight to say the least. He/she goes on to provide a link to Murphy's article and then wanders off course with this comment: "It's worrying how much more of this fundamentalist Christian apocalyptisism is going to inform Liberal Party policy... "
Frankly, one wonders whether even if Guardian Australia had allowed its 'readers' to comment on Murphy's report, just how many would have overlooked her revelation about Netanyahu's involvement in the decision to shift the Australian embassy to Jerusalem.
Let me hazard a generalisation as to why this may be the case here: those who flock to comment on Guardian Australia's (and other such websites) are more interested in hearing the sound of their own voices than in informing themselves through a little wide reading on the subject at hand. Typical of this phenomenon is the following comment from the same thread:
"The whole issue of Israel and Palestine has been going on with various intensity since the day I was born. It has been in the background of all of our lives... for most of our lives. There never seems to be any end to this conflict, the never ending war..."
Makes me want to scream: well, pick up a few reputable books on the subject and find out WHY the issue has been on the boil for as long as you can remember!
Monday, November 19, 2018
Not Laughing, Groaning
Normally, if a newspaper intends to cover a crucial by-election in some depth, it'd send an experienced investigative reporter who has his/her head around the issues that matter in the seat concerned, right?
Since normal doesn't do these days, Fairfax's GoodWeekend chose "staff writer," Tim Elliott, who "has never been a political reporter," to do the job - possibly as the result of a conversation that went something like this:
'Hey, guys, I've got a great idea! Let's send Tim out on the campaign trail to cover the Wentworth by-election.
'OK, but Tim knows nothing about politics...
'Precisely! And if he did, what he wrote'd be dead boring. Gotta keep our readers entertained.
'Yeah, you've got a point. I can see it now: bumbling political novice covers the nation's most important by-election. Should be a real hoot!
And so we have Tim's Show Time in the GoodWeekend of November 17, 2018. Any sentient being who actually took the trouble to read it would've groaned audibly at this precise point:
"It's after lunch. I'm hungry. I drive to the Bronte SLSC to see [Liberal candidate Dave] Sharma. When I get there, I find a crowd of heavily inebriated surfers in the courtyard... Guys are throwing beer over one another and simulating a variety of lewd acts. Sharma is upstairs, in the clubhouse, filming a clip for his campaign Facebook page. The barbecue is over, and he's looking a little wan, but up for a chat. We take a seat [but] I've expended so much mental energy trying to find Sharma that I now find myself unable to think of any particularly probing questions."
Since normal doesn't do these days, Fairfax's GoodWeekend chose "staff writer," Tim Elliott, who "has never been a political reporter," to do the job - possibly as the result of a conversation that went something like this:
'Hey, guys, I've got a great idea! Let's send Tim out on the campaign trail to cover the Wentworth by-election.
'OK, but Tim knows nothing about politics...
'Precisely! And if he did, what he wrote'd be dead boring. Gotta keep our readers entertained.
'Yeah, you've got a point. I can see it now: bumbling political novice covers the nation's most important by-election. Should be a real hoot!
And so we have Tim's Show Time in the GoodWeekend of November 17, 2018. Any sentient being who actually took the trouble to read it would've groaned audibly at this precise point:
"It's after lunch. I'm hungry. I drive to the Bronte SLSC to see [Liberal candidate Dave] Sharma. When I get there, I find a crowd of heavily inebriated surfers in the courtyard... Guys are throwing beer over one another and simulating a variety of lewd acts. Sharma is upstairs, in the clubhouse, filming a clip for his campaign Facebook page. The barbecue is over, and he's looking a little wan, but up for a chat. We take a seat [but] I've expended so much mental energy trying to find Sharma that I now find myself unable to think of any particularly probing questions."
Saturday, November 10, 2018
Dave Sharma's Inspiration
For earlier generations of useful fools for Israel it was Leon Uris' propaganda novel Exodus that did the trick. For Dave Sharma, it was obviously Senor & Singer's 's Start-Up Nation.
Read on:
"The people of Wentworth's loss is the corporate world's gain. Aspiring Liberal politician Dave Sharma has just joined the advisory board of ParaZero, a drone safety business. While listed on the ASX, ParaZero is headquartered in Israel where Sharma was previously the Australian ambassador. The ongoing pipeline of tech businesses run out of Israel but listed Down Under look to keep Sharma busy until his political career gets going proper. Another similar firm Sharma chairs, Shekel Brainweigh - which makes weighing technology for grocery self-check-outs and is headquartered in a kibbutz in northern Israel - has just completed its $10m fundraising." (He's at it again, Margin Call, The Australian, 9/11/18)
Read on:
"The people of Wentworth's loss is the corporate world's gain. Aspiring Liberal politician Dave Sharma has just joined the advisory board of ParaZero, a drone safety business. While listed on the ASX, ParaZero is headquartered in Israel where Sharma was previously the Australian ambassador. The ongoing pipeline of tech businesses run out of Israel but listed Down Under look to keep Sharma busy until his political career gets going proper. Another similar firm Sharma chairs, Shekel Brainweigh - which makes weighing technology for grocery self-check-outs and is headquartered in a kibbutz in northern Israel - has just completed its $10m fundraising." (He's at it again, Margin Call, The Australian, 9/11/18)
Tuesday, October 23, 2018
The Move to Jerusalem Fizzer
The mystery of the impact (or lack thereof) on Wentworth's Jewish voters of Morrison's proposal to move Australia's embassy from Tel Aviv to West Jerusalem, will probably, absent real, on-the-ground, investigative reporting, never be known.
However, for what it's worth, the Sydney Morning Herald of 20/10/18, in its Readers Panel section, pertinently asked: Should Australia move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem?
The results, in the form of a pie graph, read as follows:
NO 73%
YES 11%
UNSURE 16%
If 73% (89% if you include the 'unsure' category) of the Australian community feel this way, it merely underscores the deep disconnect between the lunacy of our Liberal Party ultras and the basic common sense of the people they lord it over - for now. Future Labor government, take note!
However, for what it's worth, the Sydney Morning Herald of 20/10/18, in its Readers Panel section, pertinently asked: Should Australia move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem?
The results, in the form of a pie graph, read as follows:
NO 73%
YES 11%
UNSURE 16%
If 73% (89% if you include the 'unsure' category) of the Australian community feel this way, it merely underscores the deep disconnect between the lunacy of our Liberal Party ultras and the basic common sense of the people they lord it over - for now. Future Labor government, take note!
Saturday, September 29, 2018
Dave Sharma: His Brilliant Career
2013
* "Australia's next ambassador to Israel [Dave Sharma] hopes to change what he says is 'a bit of a one-dimensional impression' of Israel among the wider Australian public." (Our man in Israel, The Australian Jewish News, 17/5/13)
Who'd have thought that burnishing another country's image was the job of an Australian ambassador?
* "Ziv Hospital is a profound example of humanity and decency at its most compelling. It is Israel at its very best, and a side of Israel that the world too rarely acknowledges." (Origin no bar to Israel lifesavers, Dave Sharma, The Australian, 31/8/13)
That, btw, was just the first of Sharma's opinion pieces celebrating the joy of Israel in Murdoch's Australian.
2014
* The highlight of Sharma's career as Australia's ambassador to Israel must surely have been his hobnobbing with Israel's housing and construction minister, Uri Ariel (Habayit Hayehudi MP) in - wait for it - occupied East Jerusalem - which prompted Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat to write in protest to Australian officials at the time: "It should noted that diplomatic recognition of the situation created by the attempted annexation of our capital is a flagrant violation of international law... Australia's Ambassador to Israel meeting with Israel officials in East Jerusalem has the effect of attempting to legitimize the illegal situation on the ground and may be deemed as aiding, abetting or otherwise assisting illegal Israeli policies... As such, Australia's actions are tantamount to complicity in ongoing Israeli violations of the international laws of war." (Bishop rebuked over envoy's East Jerusalem visit, Daniel Flitton, Sydney Morning Herald, 17/5/14)
Remember, this happened years before Trump's decision to move the US embassy to [West!] Jerusalem.
And how do we even know about Sharma's shenanigans back then? Only because of Uri Ariel's crowing about his achievement in bagging him:
"In fact, nobody would have known this meeting was happening, had if not been for a press release distributed by Ariel's bureau blatantly pointing out the fact that the talks between the two were taking place at the government compound in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. Most of the international community does not recognize Israel's authority in East Jerusalem. Therefore, few diplomats or representatives of foreign nations - if at all - would come to an official meeting with Israeli politicians or government officials in that part of the city. Media outlets self-identified as right-wing and with Ariel's Habayit Hayehudi... were quick to publish that the meeting was taking place, presenting it as a sort of Australian recognition of Israel authority over East Jerusalem." (PA complains to Australia after envoy meets Israeli official in East Jerusalem, Barak Ravid, Haaretz, 15/5/14)
2018
* "And if the Liberals hold the seat of Wentworth with new candidate Dave Sharma, [PM Scott Morrison] will have one of the most brilliant young diplomats of recent decades joining an already powerful team in national security." (Morrison prepares to take his place on the international stage, Greg Sheridan, The Australian, 15/9/18)
From Zionist dupe to "brilliant" diplomat in 4 years! Just wow! But how to explain how such a "brilliant" diplomat can put his foot in it to this extent: "Dave Sharma... has apologised for comments that teachers are 'underemployed'. 'School employees and teachers are similarly underemployed, working hours closer to three-quarters of a regular full-time job,' Mr Sharma wrote in an opinion peace for the Herald earlier this year. He apologize yesterday after receiving strong criticism for the comments from prominent Australian authors, educators and parents. 'I know teachers work really hard and around the clock,' Mr Sharma told the Herald yesterday. '[The article] was more provocative than it should have been; it was just meant to get people thinking about how schools are still a post-war institution even though life and families have moved on.' Mr. Sharma also wrote on Twitter this week that he owes 'all teachers an unreserve apology'. (Sharma sorry for insult to teachers, Pallavi Singhal, Sydney Morning Herald, 20/9/18)
* "Some of Sydney's wealthiest business leaders are lining up to throw money behind the new candidate for Wentworth, Dave Sharma, who has been described as 'the Liberals' Obama... Billionaires James Packer and Solomon Lew threw their support behind Mr Sharma. He also had the backing of prominent Sydneysider David Gonski and Jewish leader Rabbi Levi Wolff from the Central Synagogue in Bondi. A senior Liberal said Mr Sharma's ability to draw significant donations would be 'eye-watering'." (Billionaires lining up to back 'Liberals' Obama', Alexandra Smith, Sydney Morning Herald, 15/9/18)
Alas, that Monday's (17/9) letters to the editor, while scornful of Sharma's backers, missed the point. As, for example, this, from reader Frank H Talbot of Riverview: "Billionaires lining up to back a candidate in Wentworth? Something wrong here. Lincoln said government should be 'of the people, by the people, for the people.' This sound more like 'of the wealthy, by the wealthy, for the wealthy'."
* "Liberal Dave Sharma isn't just raising money from rich-listers for his Wentworth tilt. The entrepreneurial Sharma is also currently overseeing the raising of $10 million for an Israeli tech company - Shekel Brainweigh - which the former diplomat shares and hopes to list on the local stock exchange next month. Shekel Brainweigh - an outfit that makes weighing technology for grocery self-checkouts - is planning to float on the ASX on October 26. That is the week after the Wentworth by-election. What a busy candidate!". (Sharma weighs his options, Will Glasgow & Christine Lacy, The Australian Business Review, 28/9/18)
Happily, the above piece throws some much-needed light on Sharma's seeming star-crossed affair with Israel. Twelve-and-a-half percent of Wentworth's electors are Jewish, the bulk of whom would consider themselves to be pro-Israel to a greater or lesser degree. The electorate is, if you like, Sydney's Zionist central. Malcolm Turnbull, of course, bent over backwards to keep the Zionists there sweet, hosting a visit to these shores last year by Netanyahu, and visiting Israel in turn the same year.
Typically, what has been omitted from the msm coverage of Sharma's bid to step into the former prime minister's shoes as the MP for Wentworth is the Zionist connection. It is fair to say that he has been parachuted from his North Shore home into Wentworth largely in order to satisfy its Zionist faithful - not, as the msm would have us believe, because he is some kind of pin-up boy for billionaires, Jewish or otherwise (Packer being a mate of Netanyahu's btw). Yet again, a lazy, cowardly, self-censoring Australian msm has failed to make this Zionist connection clear in its coverage.
* "Australia's next ambassador to Israel [Dave Sharma] hopes to change what he says is 'a bit of a one-dimensional impression' of Israel among the wider Australian public." (Our man in Israel, The Australian Jewish News, 17/5/13)
Who'd have thought that burnishing another country's image was the job of an Australian ambassador?
* "Ziv Hospital is a profound example of humanity and decency at its most compelling. It is Israel at its very best, and a side of Israel that the world too rarely acknowledges." (Origin no bar to Israel lifesavers, Dave Sharma, The Australian, 31/8/13)
That, btw, was just the first of Sharma's opinion pieces celebrating the joy of Israel in Murdoch's Australian.
2014
* The highlight of Sharma's career as Australia's ambassador to Israel must surely have been his hobnobbing with Israel's housing and construction minister, Uri Ariel (Habayit Hayehudi MP) in - wait for it - occupied East Jerusalem - which prompted Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat to write in protest to Australian officials at the time: "It should noted that diplomatic recognition of the situation created by the attempted annexation of our capital is a flagrant violation of international law... Australia's Ambassador to Israel meeting with Israel officials in East Jerusalem has the effect of attempting to legitimize the illegal situation on the ground and may be deemed as aiding, abetting or otherwise assisting illegal Israeli policies... As such, Australia's actions are tantamount to complicity in ongoing Israeli violations of the international laws of war." (Bishop rebuked over envoy's East Jerusalem visit, Daniel Flitton, Sydney Morning Herald, 17/5/14)
Remember, this happened years before Trump's decision to move the US embassy to [West!] Jerusalem.
And how do we even know about Sharma's shenanigans back then? Only because of Uri Ariel's crowing about his achievement in bagging him:
"In fact, nobody would have known this meeting was happening, had if not been for a press release distributed by Ariel's bureau blatantly pointing out the fact that the talks between the two were taking place at the government compound in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. Most of the international community does not recognize Israel's authority in East Jerusalem. Therefore, few diplomats or representatives of foreign nations - if at all - would come to an official meeting with Israeli politicians or government officials in that part of the city. Media outlets self-identified as right-wing and with Ariel's Habayit Hayehudi... were quick to publish that the meeting was taking place, presenting it as a sort of Australian recognition of Israel authority over East Jerusalem." (PA complains to Australia after envoy meets Israeli official in East Jerusalem, Barak Ravid, Haaretz, 15/5/14)
2018
* "And if the Liberals hold the seat of Wentworth with new candidate Dave Sharma, [PM Scott Morrison] will have one of the most brilliant young diplomats of recent decades joining an already powerful team in national security." (Morrison prepares to take his place on the international stage, Greg Sheridan, The Australian, 15/9/18)
From Zionist dupe to "brilliant" diplomat in 4 years! Just wow! But how to explain how such a "brilliant" diplomat can put his foot in it to this extent: "Dave Sharma... has apologised for comments that teachers are 'underemployed'. 'School employees and teachers are similarly underemployed, working hours closer to three-quarters of a regular full-time job,' Mr Sharma wrote in an opinion peace for the Herald earlier this year. He apologize yesterday after receiving strong criticism for the comments from prominent Australian authors, educators and parents. 'I know teachers work really hard and around the clock,' Mr Sharma told the Herald yesterday. '[The article] was more provocative than it should have been; it was just meant to get people thinking about how schools are still a post-war institution even though life and families have moved on.' Mr. Sharma also wrote on Twitter this week that he owes 'all teachers an unreserve apology'. (Sharma sorry for insult to teachers, Pallavi Singhal, Sydney Morning Herald, 20/9/18)
* "Some of Sydney's wealthiest business leaders are lining up to throw money behind the new candidate for Wentworth, Dave Sharma, who has been described as 'the Liberals' Obama... Billionaires James Packer and Solomon Lew threw their support behind Mr Sharma. He also had the backing of prominent Sydneysider David Gonski and Jewish leader Rabbi Levi Wolff from the Central Synagogue in Bondi. A senior Liberal said Mr Sharma's ability to draw significant donations would be 'eye-watering'." (Billionaires lining up to back 'Liberals' Obama', Alexandra Smith, Sydney Morning Herald, 15/9/18)
Alas, that Monday's (17/9) letters to the editor, while scornful of Sharma's backers, missed the point. As, for example, this, from reader Frank H Talbot of Riverview: "Billionaires lining up to back a candidate in Wentworth? Something wrong here. Lincoln said government should be 'of the people, by the people, for the people.' This sound more like 'of the wealthy, by the wealthy, for the wealthy'."
* "Liberal Dave Sharma isn't just raising money from rich-listers for his Wentworth tilt. The entrepreneurial Sharma is also currently overseeing the raising of $10 million for an Israeli tech company - Shekel Brainweigh - which the former diplomat shares and hopes to list on the local stock exchange next month. Shekel Brainweigh - an outfit that makes weighing technology for grocery self-checkouts - is planning to float on the ASX on October 26. That is the week after the Wentworth by-election. What a busy candidate!". (Sharma weighs his options, Will Glasgow & Christine Lacy, The Australian Business Review, 28/9/18)
Happily, the above piece throws some much-needed light on Sharma's seeming star-crossed affair with Israel. Twelve-and-a-half percent of Wentworth's electors are Jewish, the bulk of whom would consider themselves to be pro-Israel to a greater or lesser degree. The electorate is, if you like, Sydney's Zionist central. Malcolm Turnbull, of course, bent over backwards to keep the Zionists there sweet, hosting a visit to these shores last year by Netanyahu, and visiting Israel in turn the same year.
Typically, what has been omitted from the msm coverage of Sharma's bid to step into the former prime minister's shoes as the MP for Wentworth is the Zionist connection. It is fair to say that he has been parachuted from his North Shore home into Wentworth largely in order to satisfy its Zionist faithful - not, as the msm would have us believe, because he is some kind of pin-up boy for billionaires, Jewish or otherwise (Packer being a mate of Netanyahu's btw). Yet again, a lazy, cowardly, self-censoring Australian msm has failed to make this Zionist connection clear in its coverage.
Friday, November 25, 2016
Ya Yassmin...
As I've wondered before, what other Australian embassy carries on like our embassy in Israel? (For the backstory on this, just click on the Dave Sharma label below.) Anyhow, here's the latest:
"Australia's embassy in Israel has hosted Yassmin Abdel Magied a prominent young Australian voice on gender equality, overcoming unconscious bias, and women's empowerment... Her flying visit included a morning spent at Tel Aviv's Bialik Rogozin School for... students from underprivileged backgrounds... Yassmin lectured to a packed auditorium at the Tel Aviv University on overcoming bias in the workplace..." (Australia embassy hosts prominent young activist, jwire.com.au, 23/11/16)
Yassmin, 25, is described by jwire as being born in Sudan and migrating to Australia at the age of two; "a qualified mechanical engineer with years of working on an oilrig"; a "founder of Youth Without Borders"; "Young Australian Muslim of the Year"; and an "amateur boxer, racing car designer, footballer and motorsport enthusiast."
I'll try to be as charitable as I can here, OK?
Obviously, Yassmin's 25 years on planet earth have been so frenetic that she simply hasn't had the time to put 2+2 together on the subject of Israel. Otherwise, the enormous irony inherent in the prospect of lecturing the beneficiaries of an apartheid regime on the subject of workplace (or any other kind of) bias would have dissuaded her from agreeing to play the useful fool for Israel.
***
Now since writing the above, I notice from Yassmin's tweets that Tel Aviv was just one stop (18/11) on 'Yassmin's Middle East Speaking Tour, and followed an appearance in Ramallah (14-15/11). She's also tweeted (22/11) that she's got a copy of Joe Sacco's wonderful graphic history, Palestine. Perhaps this was presented to her in Ramallah. Let's hope she's now engrossed in reading it, cover to cover, that the proverbial light bulb is growing ever brighter in her head, and that it's the beginning of an intellectual journey.
Cross fingers...
"Australia's embassy in Israel has hosted Yassmin Abdel Magied a prominent young Australian voice on gender equality, overcoming unconscious bias, and women's empowerment... Her flying visit included a morning spent at Tel Aviv's Bialik Rogozin School for... students from underprivileged backgrounds... Yassmin lectured to a packed auditorium at the Tel Aviv University on overcoming bias in the workplace..." (Australia embassy hosts prominent young activist, jwire.com.au, 23/11/16)
Yassmin, 25, is described by jwire as being born in Sudan and migrating to Australia at the age of two; "a qualified mechanical engineer with years of working on an oilrig"; a "founder of Youth Without Borders"; "Young Australian Muslim of the Year"; and an "amateur boxer, racing car designer, footballer and motorsport enthusiast."
I'll try to be as charitable as I can here, OK?
Obviously, Yassmin's 25 years on planet earth have been so frenetic that she simply hasn't had the time to put 2+2 together on the subject of Israel. Otherwise, the enormous irony inherent in the prospect of lecturing the beneficiaries of an apartheid regime on the subject of workplace (or any other kind of) bias would have dissuaded her from agreeing to play the useful fool for Israel.
***
Now since writing the above, I notice from Yassmin's tweets that Tel Aviv was just one stop (18/11) on 'Yassmin's Middle East Speaking Tour, and followed an appearance in Ramallah (14-15/11). She's also tweeted (22/11) that she's got a copy of Joe Sacco's wonderful graphic history, Palestine. Perhaps this was presented to her in Ramallah. Let's hope she's now engrossed in reading it, cover to cover, that the proverbial light bulb is growing ever brighter in her head, and that it's the beginning of an intellectual journey.
Cross fingers...
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
My Michaelia Cash Nightmare
I didn't set out to write a post about Senator Michaelia Cash, Minister for Employment & Women. All I knew about her was the Hair, the Gear, and the hots for Thatcher. There was no reason to inquire further. What I knew was bad enough. But then I read about the case of Tahira Sajid:
"Single mother and asylum seeker Tahira Sajid is battling ovarian cancer while living in abject poverty in Sydney's southeast. But that is the least of her worries. 'My claim has been refused so I have to go back to Pakistan with my daughter by the end of next month, where I will have no support or protection,' the 45-year-old said. 'I will face harm if I go back.'
"When Ms Sajid's husband was threatened by the Taliban, the couple fled with their 8-year-old daughter Malaika to Australia in 2012. Ms Sajid said that she was then pressured into agreeing to a divorce.
"'Tahira has no financial support from her ex-husband or any other relatives and has the responsibility of taking care of her daughter and school expenses,' friend Fukher Batool, who has helped out with her rent and groceries, said. The parents have lived apart in Australia on consecutive bridging visas, but with Malaika they have been refused permanent residency and will be forced back to Pakistan, unless Ms Sajid's pleas are heard by Immigration Minister Peter Dutton. 'If I go back to Pakistan, my ex-husband will take Malaika away. I don't have protection from anyone or the law there,' Ms Sajid said.
"Louisa McKimm of the Immigration Advice and Rights Centre represented Ms Sajid and her daughter until their case was rejected by then assistant immigration minister Michaelia Cash, on September 18, before Senator Cash changed portfolios following the leadership spill. 'It was the saddest day of my career telling Tahira that she was refused,' Ms McKimm said.
"Less than half of Pakistan's women were literate and it was unlikely that Malaika would receive schooling if she returned because she was female, she said, which meant Australia had obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to protect her right to education...
"Tahira is not of a high class; we are dealing with a woman who is going back to Pakistan single, her parents have passed away, she doesn't have a great education and she is very weak physically from the cancer battle,' she said. After surgery and an intensive course of combined chemotherapy and radiotherapy at Westmead Hospital, the ovarian cancer has been held at bay, but Ms Sajid said she would not get follow-ups if she left Australia's well-equipped healthcare system. As for Malaika, there's no doubt what she wants. 'I don't want to go back,' she said. 'I want to stay and learn'." (Cancer least of the battle for outcast Tahira, Gina Rushton, The Australian, 12/10/15)
Shit! Rejected by... Michaelia Cash. Is the woman human, I thought?
Then I read this:
"A new agreement with Australia will allow Israelis to work Down Under, Dave Sharma, Australia's ambassador to Israel, announced on Wednesday. 'Aus just signed work and holiday visa arrangement with Israel,' Sharma tweeted. 'Young Israelis can now work + travel in Aus & vice versa.' The agreement provides for 500 work-travel visas to be awarded annually to Israelis and Australians between the ages of 18 and 30 for one another's country, Ynet reported Thursday..." (Australia & Israel sign mutual travel-work visa deal, Haaretz, 22/10/14)
As indicated, the Haaretz report didn't end there. It went on to say this:
"Criteria to receive such a visa include having done military or national service, according to Ynet..."
WTF is going on here? Kick arse in Palestine, then R&R in Australia. Bombs away in Iraq and Syria, then R&R in Israel? The mind boggles.
And then, as I stopped shaking my head and resumed reading, there it was - that bloody name. Again:
"The deal was signed between Senator Michaelia Cash, Australia's assistant minister for immigration and border protection, and Shmuel Ben-Shmuel, the Israeli ambassador to Australia."
Following which, I read this from Cash's (Iron?) maiden speech:
"As a Liberal I believe in minimal government interference and that the role of government is to create and maintain a regulatory and taxation environment conducive to allowing the private sector to get on with the job." (2/9/08)
OSFBB: Open Slather for Big Business! Cash by name, cash by nature.
Then, finally, there was this, which took me back to poor little Malaika:
"Celebrating International Day of the Girl Child with our young female leaders@girlguidesaust" (The latest Michaelia Cash tweet)
International Day of the Girl Child... just 23 days after giving Malaika and her mother the flick.
"Single mother and asylum seeker Tahira Sajid is battling ovarian cancer while living in abject poverty in Sydney's southeast. But that is the least of her worries. 'My claim has been refused so I have to go back to Pakistan with my daughter by the end of next month, where I will have no support or protection,' the 45-year-old said. 'I will face harm if I go back.'
"When Ms Sajid's husband was threatened by the Taliban, the couple fled with their 8-year-old daughter Malaika to Australia in 2012. Ms Sajid said that she was then pressured into agreeing to a divorce.
"'Tahira has no financial support from her ex-husband or any other relatives and has the responsibility of taking care of her daughter and school expenses,' friend Fukher Batool, who has helped out with her rent and groceries, said. The parents have lived apart in Australia on consecutive bridging visas, but with Malaika they have been refused permanent residency and will be forced back to Pakistan, unless Ms Sajid's pleas are heard by Immigration Minister Peter Dutton. 'If I go back to Pakistan, my ex-husband will take Malaika away. I don't have protection from anyone or the law there,' Ms Sajid said.
"Louisa McKimm of the Immigration Advice and Rights Centre represented Ms Sajid and her daughter until their case was rejected by then assistant immigration minister Michaelia Cash, on September 18, before Senator Cash changed portfolios following the leadership spill. 'It was the saddest day of my career telling Tahira that she was refused,' Ms McKimm said.
"Less than half of Pakistan's women were literate and it was unlikely that Malaika would receive schooling if she returned because she was female, she said, which meant Australia had obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to protect her right to education...
"Tahira is not of a high class; we are dealing with a woman who is going back to Pakistan single, her parents have passed away, she doesn't have a great education and she is very weak physically from the cancer battle,' she said. After surgery and an intensive course of combined chemotherapy and radiotherapy at Westmead Hospital, the ovarian cancer has been held at bay, but Ms Sajid said she would not get follow-ups if she left Australia's well-equipped healthcare system. As for Malaika, there's no doubt what she wants. 'I don't want to go back,' she said. 'I want to stay and learn'." (Cancer least of the battle for outcast Tahira, Gina Rushton, The Australian, 12/10/15)
Shit! Rejected by... Michaelia Cash. Is the woman human, I thought?
Then I read this:
"A new agreement with Australia will allow Israelis to work Down Under, Dave Sharma, Australia's ambassador to Israel, announced on Wednesday. 'Aus just signed work and holiday visa arrangement with Israel,' Sharma tweeted. 'Young Israelis can now work + travel in Aus & vice versa.' The agreement provides for 500 work-travel visas to be awarded annually to Israelis and Australians between the ages of 18 and 30 for one another's country, Ynet reported Thursday..." (Australia & Israel sign mutual travel-work visa deal, Haaretz, 22/10/14)
As indicated, the Haaretz report didn't end there. It went on to say this:
"Criteria to receive such a visa include having done military or national service, according to Ynet..."
WTF is going on here? Kick arse in Palestine, then R&R in Australia. Bombs away in Iraq and Syria, then R&R in Israel? The mind boggles.
And then, as I stopped shaking my head and resumed reading, there it was - that bloody name. Again:
"The deal was signed between Senator Michaelia Cash, Australia's assistant minister for immigration and border protection, and Shmuel Ben-Shmuel, the Israeli ambassador to Australia."
Following which, I read this from Cash's (Iron?) maiden speech:
"As a Liberal I believe in minimal government interference and that the role of government is to create and maintain a regulatory and taxation environment conducive to allowing the private sector to get on with the job." (2/9/08)
OSFBB: Open Slather for Big Business! Cash by name, cash by nature.
Then, finally, there was this, which took me back to poor little Malaika:
"Celebrating International Day of the Girl Child with our young female leaders@girlguidesaust" (The latest Michaelia Cash tweet)
International Day of the Girl Child... just 23 days after giving Malaika and her mother the flick.
Friday, July 3, 2015
Those Rebels, That Hospital, Our Ambassador & His Wife
"Israel has established a standard of its own - it and its supporters have erected what is probably the most substantial propaganda apparatus in modern history (in all history, given technological facilitation?). The mythical Goebbels' operation was small fry by comparison. The Zionist enterprise out-rivals the Soviet Union's post-WWII Cominform, not least because the latter's members were anathema to Western establishments whereas the former has been taken to their bosoms." (Israel's cheer squad and Sydney University - Part 1, Evan Jones, independentaustralia.net, 18/6/15)
Jones is spot-on, of course. For me, his comments call to mind the Israeli practice of picking up, and patching up, Syrian 'rebels' a little the worse for wear after a hard day's work in the emirate-in-progress just across the border (along with a handful of injured kids, for reasons that will become apparent as we proceed).
Here, for example, is an extract from one of the more recent news reports on the business:
"Since February 2013... the Jewish state has provided medical care to injured Syrians. So far, 1,600 of them - most badly injured - have been treated in hospitals in northern Israel. The effort has produced uplifting stories of injured Syrian children saved by Israeli doctors. But the majority of patients have been young men of military age, and... their affiliation with the various rebel groups remains shrouded in secrecy.
"Since 1974, a United Nations peacekeeping force has been stationed in the Golan Heights to monitor the cease-fire line between Israel and Syria. For the past year, most of the peacekeepers have been stationed on the Israeli side after Nusra abducted a UN battalion from Fiji in Syria (they were later released). In their latest report to the UN, the peacekeepers mentioned several meetings along the border between armed Syrian rebels and Israeli soldiers. They saw the Israelis take injured Syrians into their vehicles and load rebel trucks with sacks. What was in those sacks remains unclear, but Israeli sources, speaking in an off-the-record briefing, say the contents included food and blankets for the winter. [LOL]
"The UN report doesn't specify which rebel groups the Israelis were helping... But the main force operating in the area, Israeli sources say, is Nusra.
[See my 12/12/14 post A Side of Israel the World Too Rarely Acknowledges.]
"What the Israeli military will say on record is that it is offering medical care to injured Syrians. Over the past year and a half, for instance, Israeli doctors in the Rebecca Sieff Hospital [aka Ziv Medical Centre] in Safed have treated around 500 of them..." (Inside Israel's secret war in Syria, Assaf Uni, newsweek.com, 18/6/15)
OK, so Israel's been patching up the limbs of those tearing Syria limb from limb... and handing over sacks of whatever to the anti-Asad lads. Nothing unusual there. In fact, it'd be newsworthy if it didn't have an iron in the Syrian fire.
What is unusual, however, is how the Israelis have been conducting their covert exercise in destabilisation and regime change in Syria (involving a de facto alliance with an al-Qaeda (AQ) affiliate, the Nusra Front, dear to the heart of our own Zaky Mallah, but proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Australian authorities) under the cover of an overt propaganda exercise, projecting Israel as a Good Samaritan, disinterestedly ministering to the medical needs of a traditional enemy.
And non-Israelis, it seems, have been instrumental in the latter effort. Non-Israelis like Australia's ambassador to Israel, Dave Sharma and his lovely wife, Rachel Lord, for example.
Here's Dave:
"In the town of Safed... the frontline of the conflict in Syria feels very close. At Ziv Medical Centre, without fanfare or publicity, they are treating a steady and growing stream of wounded Syrians... Ziv Hospital is a profound example of humanity and decency at its most compelling. It is Israel at its very best, and a side of Israel that the world too rarely acknowledges." (Origin no bar to Israel lifesavers, The Australian, 31/8/13) (See my 3/9/13 post Our Man in Tel Aviv 2.)
And here's Rachel:
"Barely 4 months into her new position as diplomatic spouse, the 37-year-old former human rights lawyer is on a crusade: She wants to make the world aware of the humanitarian work being done at a small Israeli hospital up north where close to 150 victims of the civil war in Syria... have received treatment in recent months. On Thursday morning, she and her husband, Dave Sharma, hosted the first big event to take place at their official residence... since arriving here this summer: a gathering of members of the diplomatic corps to acquaint them with the activities of Rebecca Sieff Medical Center in Safed... It was just a few weeks after they arrived in Israel, with three little girls, that lord and her husband first read in the papers about the medical treatment Sieff hospital was providing Syrian victims of the fighting in their country, all at its own expense. Lord, who had worked previously as a Syria expert in the Australian foreign service, was intrigued and immediately jumped at her husband's suggestion that they take a trip to the hospital to witness first-hand what was going on. 'There were children with limbs blown off, who could barely move, the same age as our girls.' As a mother seeing those kids... I was literally in tears... It was a story about Israel, she mused, that is not often told. 'Israel tends to get lots of negative press. It's rare to hear stories about such incredible humanitarian work going on here'." (Ambassador's wife offers relief to Syria's civil war victims - and to Israeli hospital, Judy Maltz, Haaretz, 25/10/13)
In fact, Ziv Medical Centre has even become one of the pit-stops on the rambamming circuit for Australian politicians. (See my 10/6/15 post Is AIJAC Getting Its Money's Worth?)
You really couldn't make this stuff up: far from the prying eye, Israel's Operation X in Syria is lending God-knows-what material support to AQ, while Australian diplomats and politicians praise the work of its propaganda arm at Ziv Medical Centre as "a profound example of humanity and decency at its most compelling," and "incredible humanitarian work."
Meanwhile, down in Gaza...
Jones is spot-on, of course. For me, his comments call to mind the Israeli practice of picking up, and patching up, Syrian 'rebels' a little the worse for wear after a hard day's work in the emirate-in-progress just across the border (along with a handful of injured kids, for reasons that will become apparent as we proceed).
Here, for example, is an extract from one of the more recent news reports on the business:
"Since February 2013... the Jewish state has provided medical care to injured Syrians. So far, 1,600 of them - most badly injured - have been treated in hospitals in northern Israel. The effort has produced uplifting stories of injured Syrian children saved by Israeli doctors. But the majority of patients have been young men of military age, and... their affiliation with the various rebel groups remains shrouded in secrecy.
"Since 1974, a United Nations peacekeeping force has been stationed in the Golan Heights to monitor the cease-fire line between Israel and Syria. For the past year, most of the peacekeepers have been stationed on the Israeli side after Nusra abducted a UN battalion from Fiji in Syria (they were later released). In their latest report to the UN, the peacekeepers mentioned several meetings along the border between armed Syrian rebels and Israeli soldiers. They saw the Israelis take injured Syrians into their vehicles and load rebel trucks with sacks. What was in those sacks remains unclear, but Israeli sources, speaking in an off-the-record briefing, say the contents included food and blankets for the winter. [LOL]
"The UN report doesn't specify which rebel groups the Israelis were helping... But the main force operating in the area, Israeli sources say, is Nusra.
[See my 12/12/14 post A Side of Israel the World Too Rarely Acknowledges.]
"What the Israeli military will say on record is that it is offering medical care to injured Syrians. Over the past year and a half, for instance, Israeli doctors in the Rebecca Sieff Hospital [aka Ziv Medical Centre] in Safed have treated around 500 of them..." (Inside Israel's secret war in Syria, Assaf Uni, newsweek.com, 18/6/15)
OK, so Israel's been patching up the limbs of those tearing Syria limb from limb... and handing over sacks of whatever to the anti-Asad lads. Nothing unusual there. In fact, it'd be newsworthy if it didn't have an iron in the Syrian fire.
What is unusual, however, is how the Israelis have been conducting their covert exercise in destabilisation and regime change in Syria (involving a de facto alliance with an al-Qaeda (AQ) affiliate, the Nusra Front, dear to the heart of our own Zaky Mallah, but proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Australian authorities) under the cover of an overt propaganda exercise, projecting Israel as a Good Samaritan, disinterestedly ministering to the medical needs of a traditional enemy.
And non-Israelis, it seems, have been instrumental in the latter effort. Non-Israelis like Australia's ambassador to Israel, Dave Sharma and his lovely wife, Rachel Lord, for example.
Here's Dave:
"In the town of Safed... the frontline of the conflict in Syria feels very close. At Ziv Medical Centre, without fanfare or publicity, they are treating a steady and growing stream of wounded Syrians... Ziv Hospital is a profound example of humanity and decency at its most compelling. It is Israel at its very best, and a side of Israel that the world too rarely acknowledges." (Origin no bar to Israel lifesavers, The Australian, 31/8/13) (See my 3/9/13 post Our Man in Tel Aviv 2.)
And here's Rachel:
"Barely 4 months into her new position as diplomatic spouse, the 37-year-old former human rights lawyer is on a crusade: She wants to make the world aware of the humanitarian work being done at a small Israeli hospital up north where close to 150 victims of the civil war in Syria... have received treatment in recent months. On Thursday morning, she and her husband, Dave Sharma, hosted the first big event to take place at their official residence... since arriving here this summer: a gathering of members of the diplomatic corps to acquaint them with the activities of Rebecca Sieff Medical Center in Safed... It was just a few weeks after they arrived in Israel, with three little girls, that lord and her husband first read in the papers about the medical treatment Sieff hospital was providing Syrian victims of the fighting in their country, all at its own expense. Lord, who had worked previously as a Syria expert in the Australian foreign service, was intrigued and immediately jumped at her husband's suggestion that they take a trip to the hospital to witness first-hand what was going on. 'There were children with limbs blown off, who could barely move, the same age as our girls.' As a mother seeing those kids... I was literally in tears... It was a story about Israel, she mused, that is not often told. 'Israel tends to get lots of negative press. It's rare to hear stories about such incredible humanitarian work going on here'." (Ambassador's wife offers relief to Syria's civil war victims - and to Israeli hospital, Judy Maltz, Haaretz, 25/10/13)
In fact, Ziv Medical Centre has even become one of the pit-stops on the rambamming circuit for Australian politicians. (See my 10/6/15 post Is AIJAC Getting Its Money's Worth?)
You really couldn't make this stuff up: far from the prying eye, Israel's Operation X in Syria is lending God-knows-what material support to AQ, while Australian diplomats and politicians praise the work of its propaganda arm at Ziv Medical Centre as "a profound example of humanity and decency at its most compelling," and "incredible humanitarian work."
Meanwhile, down in Gaza...
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Is AIJAC Getting Its Money's Worth?
Sarah Ferguson: How do you account for [the Israel lobby] wielding so much power?
Bob Carr: I think political donations and a program of giving trips to MPs and journalists to Israel.
Yet another rambamming of LibLabs took place last month, courtesy of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council's (AIJAC) Rambam Israel Fellowship Program. Those who just couldn't resist this time were: Mal Brough (Lib MP for Fisher), Andrew Leigh (shadow assistant treasurer), Dean Smith (WA Lib senator), Bridget McKenzie (Vic Nat senator), Joanne Ryan (Lab MP for Lalor) and Sean Edwards (SA Lib senator).
For those of you who wish to know:
a) whether the Australian taxpayer and/or AIJAC is/are really getting his/her/its money's worth;
b) the heretofore unrevealed fact that some of our pollies are managing to exercise a degree of self control when the AIJAC operatives come knocking; and
c) some of the hilarious utterances of those under the influence
... read on:
Mal Brough was apparently so overcome by his trip ("illuminating and sobering") that he felt compelled to address federal parliament on the subject. In fact, to my knowledge this is the first time a rambammed pollie has held forth on the subject of his rambamming in parliament:
"For the Prime Minister... of Israel, the reality is that you have literally 15 seconds between receiving a warning and missiles landing in Beersheba, a place known so well to many Australians." (Mal Brough's visit to Israel, jwire.com.au, 28/5/15)
This carefully-crafted sound-bite, so familiar to all of the other rambammed slumbering in the chamber at the time, was obviously still in the 'gee whiz' category for Mal. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to occur to him to enquire, in the manner of the late, great Julius Sumner Miller, Why is it so?
"I defy anyone to come up with a comment by an Israeli official that they wish to obliterate the Arab world, that they wish to destroy the Palestinian people, that they wish to attack Iran, that they wish to take out those forces in Lebanon just for the sake of it... Those words do not exist... But sadly, there are Persians and Arabs who actually believe that no Israeli, no Jew, has the right to be in the nation of Israel." (ibid)
(Mal, of course, is not in the least concerned with the 1 million Palestinians who were actually wiped off the map of Palestine when it was re-branded 'Israel' in 1948, or with those Zionist ultras who are, even as we speak, sharpening their knives in preparation for the mass ethnic cleansing of Palestine's remnant Arab population still to come...)
Those words do not exist? Oh, really? Let's see:
Here's Israel's genocidal Justice Minister, Ayelet Shaked, on the Palestinian people last year:
"The Palestinian people is the enemy... its women, its cities, its villages, its property and infrastructure... Behind every terrorist stand dozens of men and women... they are all enemy combatants, and their blood shall be on all their heads..." (See my 3/6/15 post Meet Israel's Charming New Justice Minister)
Here's Israel's Defence Minister, Moshe Ya'alon, last month on Iran:
"I remember the story of President Truman who was asked, How did you feel after deciding to launch the nuclear bombs, Nagasaki and Hiroshima, causing... 200,000 casualties? And he said, When I heard from my officers that the alternative was a long war with Japan... I thought it was a moral decision... That's what I'm talking about. Certain steps in cases in which we feel we don't have the answer by surgical operations, or something like that."
Here's Israel's Transport Minister, Yisrael Katz last year on Lebanon:
"If such a scenario does materialize, we will raze Lebanon to the ground. We will return it to the Stone Age."
Here's Israel's Deputy Defence Minister, Matan Vilnai, in 2008 on Gaza:
"The more Qassam fire intensifies and the rockets reach a longer range, they will bring upon themselves a bigger Shoah."
Here's Israel's Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit in 2008 on Gaza:
"Any other country would have gone in and leveled the area, which is exactly what I think the IDF should do."
In fact, Mal was so inspired by his rambamming that he actually admonished his fellow MPs:
"I think it behoves those who have declined the opportunity to travel to Israel and learn about it to now do so and open their minds in relation to some attitudes which they hold dear which they may find confronting when they are confronted by the facts."
Thanks to Mal we now know that which we knew not before, namely that there are still some curmudgeons in federal parliament declining the Israel lobby's invitation to be 'illuminated and sobered'.
As for the other rambammed, this was about as good as it got:
Andrew Leigh:
"One of the best running tracks I've ever enjoyed - a 5k stretch of train track in Jerusalem that's been boarded over." (Tweet 3/5/15)
Dean Smith:
"This morning I visited the Western Wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, later today I head to Bethlehem as part of the AIJAC delegation." (Tweet, 3/5/15)
"Today in Israel I am travelling to Ramallah to meet Palestinian representatives, then to the Knesset before arriving in Tel Aviv." (Tweet, 4/5/15)
"In Tel Aviv today, soon to meet IDF at Gaza Erez, then to the Park of the Australian Soldier at Be'er Sheva." (Tweet, 5/5/15)
"This morning I am flying from Tel Aviv to the border with Lebanon, then to the northern Israeli town of Safed." (Tweet, 6/5/15)
Bridget McKenzie: Not even a tweet!
Joanne Ryan: Ditto!
AIJAC had more luck in Sean Edwards, who retweeted:
"?@AIJAC Update Jun 3 @MalBrough MP & Sen @SeanC Edwards recently joined AIJAC in Sydney to report on their Ramban [sic] study visit to #Israel"
(So only Brough and Edwards fronted the AIJAC report-back. Is AIJAC getting enough bang from its propaganda buck here? The silence from Leigh, McKenzie and Ryan must have been DEAFENING for them.)
Like Mal, Sean too felt compelled to share his 'insights', albeit in the Spectator magazine of June 6, under the heading Australian diary. Some highlights:
"There would be few vocations bearing less fruit than that of official Israeli government negotiator. Another Australian, whose name I won't impart, he speaks about negotiating in a region where a 'win-win' outcome has an altogether different meaning than yours and mine. You see, in the Middle East 'win-win' means 'I win twice'. His pragmatism is evident when he concedes parts of Jerusalem might need to be turned over to international custody, but the problem the negotiator and his countrymen face and that no level of pragmatism will negate is that no Palestinian leader wants to be remembered as the guy who struck peace with the Jews."
OK, so now you know why there's no peace between Israel and the Palestinians, it's the latter's fault! Anti-Semitic bastards!
"Ramallah. A leader of the Palestinian opposition, Mustafa Barghouti, meets us here. 650,000 illegal settlers and 625 military checkpoints dotted along the wall, he says."
How boring these facts when compared with those snappy Israeli talking points and sound bites! Anyway, when it came to Israeli settlements, Sean had already been immunised:
"The Gush Etzion settlement shares one thing in common with all of the other settlements. 'There's a reason they're all on the high ground,' offers a former military officer... Controversial they are but the Israelis haven't added a single new one in more than a decade and they would surrender many of them under a negotiated peace plan."
(Predictably, Sean hadn't heard of Netanyahu's pre-election promise not to evacuate any settlements.)
Barghouti may as well have been talking to... the Apartheid Wall. Just why he, and others like him, allow themselves to be used in these propaganda exercises is one of life's little mysteries. Certainly, Sean's contempt for Barghouti is evident: "Old men, old prejudices, old parties. Depressing."
"I join Dave Sharma and his family in Tel Aviv for drinks and seek his counsel on many of the things I've heard from generally partisan sources. He's Australia's youngest ever ambassador and an excellent sounding board."
Partisan sources? Sean couldn't possibly mean the Israelis now, could he? Anyway, I'm sure thatIsrael's Australia's man in Tel Aviv set him straight.
"Next day, at Ziv Hospital in Israel's north, another Australian; a pediatrician spending his days fixing Syrians from the civil war [?!]. An investment in hearts and minds that will pay off when his patients stop to consider, despite the fashionable hatred for the Jews, who helped them when they needed it."
Ah, good old Ziv Hospital! Could Sean have consulted Dave re those vicious rumours that Ziv is the propaganda facade behind which Israel is aiding and abetting the salafi/takfiri aggression against Bashar al-Asad? (See my 12/12/14 post, A Side of Israel the World Too Rarely Acknowledges.)
Now how's this for an admission:
"In a sense the tour didn't teach me anything I didn't already know: after two thousand years in limbo, these people now have their land and will give it up for no one."
WTF! Don't tell me that this bloke's been imbibing Zionist Kool-Aid along with his Clare Valley Shiraz for yonks, and really only went along for the ride! Seriously now, AIJAC...
Bob Carr: I think political donations and a program of giving trips to MPs and journalists to Israel.
Yet another rambamming of LibLabs took place last month, courtesy of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council's (AIJAC) Rambam Israel Fellowship Program. Those who just couldn't resist this time were: Mal Brough (Lib MP for Fisher), Andrew Leigh (shadow assistant treasurer), Dean Smith (WA Lib senator), Bridget McKenzie (Vic Nat senator), Joanne Ryan (Lab MP for Lalor) and Sean Edwards (SA Lib senator).
For those of you who wish to know:
a) whether the Australian taxpayer and/or AIJAC is/are really getting his/her/its money's worth;
b) the heretofore unrevealed fact that some of our pollies are managing to exercise a degree of self control when the AIJAC operatives come knocking; and
c) some of the hilarious utterances of those under the influence
... read on:
Mal Brough was apparently so overcome by his trip ("illuminating and sobering") that he felt compelled to address federal parliament on the subject. In fact, to my knowledge this is the first time a rambammed pollie has held forth on the subject of his rambamming in parliament:
"For the Prime Minister... of Israel, the reality is that you have literally 15 seconds between receiving a warning and missiles landing in Beersheba, a place known so well to many Australians." (Mal Brough's visit to Israel, jwire.com.au, 28/5/15)
This carefully-crafted sound-bite, so familiar to all of the other rambammed slumbering in the chamber at the time, was obviously still in the 'gee whiz' category for Mal. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to occur to him to enquire, in the manner of the late, great Julius Sumner Miller, Why is it so?
"I defy anyone to come up with a comment by an Israeli official that they wish to obliterate the Arab world, that they wish to destroy the Palestinian people, that they wish to attack Iran, that they wish to take out those forces in Lebanon just for the sake of it... Those words do not exist... But sadly, there are Persians and Arabs who actually believe that no Israeli, no Jew, has the right to be in the nation of Israel." (ibid)
(Mal, of course, is not in the least concerned with the 1 million Palestinians who were actually wiped off the map of Palestine when it was re-branded 'Israel' in 1948, or with those Zionist ultras who are, even as we speak, sharpening their knives in preparation for the mass ethnic cleansing of Palestine's remnant Arab population still to come...)
Those words do not exist? Oh, really? Let's see:
Here's Israel's genocidal Justice Minister, Ayelet Shaked, on the Palestinian people last year:
"The Palestinian people is the enemy... its women, its cities, its villages, its property and infrastructure... Behind every terrorist stand dozens of men and women... they are all enemy combatants, and their blood shall be on all their heads..." (See my 3/6/15 post Meet Israel's Charming New Justice Minister)
Here's Israel's Defence Minister, Moshe Ya'alon, last month on Iran:
"I remember the story of President Truman who was asked, How did you feel after deciding to launch the nuclear bombs, Nagasaki and Hiroshima, causing... 200,000 casualties? And he said, When I heard from my officers that the alternative was a long war with Japan... I thought it was a moral decision... That's what I'm talking about. Certain steps in cases in which we feel we don't have the answer by surgical operations, or something like that."
Here's Israel's Transport Minister, Yisrael Katz last year on Lebanon:
"If such a scenario does materialize, we will raze Lebanon to the ground. We will return it to the Stone Age."
Here's Israel's Deputy Defence Minister, Matan Vilnai, in 2008 on Gaza:
"The more Qassam fire intensifies and the rockets reach a longer range, they will bring upon themselves a bigger Shoah."
Here's Israel's Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit in 2008 on Gaza:
"Any other country would have gone in and leveled the area, which is exactly what I think the IDF should do."
In fact, Mal was so inspired by his rambamming that he actually admonished his fellow MPs:
"I think it behoves those who have declined the opportunity to travel to Israel and learn about it to now do so and open their minds in relation to some attitudes which they hold dear which they may find confronting when they are confronted by the facts."
Thanks to Mal we now know that which we knew not before, namely that there are still some curmudgeons in federal parliament declining the Israel lobby's invitation to be 'illuminated and sobered'.
As for the other rambammed, this was about as good as it got:
Andrew Leigh:
"One of the best running tracks I've ever enjoyed - a 5k stretch of train track in Jerusalem that's been boarded over." (Tweet 3/5/15)
Dean Smith:
"This morning I visited the Western Wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, later today I head to Bethlehem as part of the AIJAC delegation." (Tweet, 3/5/15)
"Today in Israel I am travelling to Ramallah to meet Palestinian representatives, then to the Knesset before arriving in Tel Aviv." (Tweet, 4/5/15)
"In Tel Aviv today, soon to meet IDF at Gaza Erez, then to the Park of the Australian Soldier at Be'er Sheva." (Tweet, 5/5/15)
"This morning I am flying from Tel Aviv to the border with Lebanon, then to the northern Israeli town of Safed." (Tweet, 6/5/15)
Bridget McKenzie: Not even a tweet!
Joanne Ryan: Ditto!
AIJAC had more luck in Sean Edwards, who retweeted:
"?@AIJAC Update Jun 3 @MalBrough MP & Sen @SeanC Edwards recently joined AIJAC in Sydney to report on their Ramban [sic] study visit to #Israel"
(So only Brough and Edwards fronted the AIJAC report-back. Is AIJAC getting enough bang from its propaganda buck here? The silence from Leigh, McKenzie and Ryan must have been DEAFENING for them.)
Like Mal, Sean too felt compelled to share his 'insights', albeit in the Spectator magazine of June 6, under the heading Australian diary. Some highlights:
"There would be few vocations bearing less fruit than that of official Israeli government negotiator. Another Australian, whose name I won't impart, he speaks about negotiating in a region where a 'win-win' outcome has an altogether different meaning than yours and mine. You see, in the Middle East 'win-win' means 'I win twice'. His pragmatism is evident when he concedes parts of Jerusalem might need to be turned over to international custody, but the problem the negotiator and his countrymen face and that no level of pragmatism will negate is that no Palestinian leader wants to be remembered as the guy who struck peace with the Jews."
OK, so now you know why there's no peace between Israel and the Palestinians, it's the latter's fault! Anti-Semitic bastards!
"Ramallah. A leader of the Palestinian opposition, Mustafa Barghouti, meets us here. 650,000 illegal settlers and 625 military checkpoints dotted along the wall, he says."
How boring these facts when compared with those snappy Israeli talking points and sound bites! Anyway, when it came to Israeli settlements, Sean had already been immunised:
"The Gush Etzion settlement shares one thing in common with all of the other settlements. 'There's a reason they're all on the high ground,' offers a former military officer... Controversial they are but the Israelis haven't added a single new one in more than a decade and they would surrender many of them under a negotiated peace plan."
(Predictably, Sean hadn't heard of Netanyahu's pre-election promise not to evacuate any settlements.)
Barghouti may as well have been talking to... the Apartheid Wall. Just why he, and others like him, allow themselves to be used in these propaganda exercises is one of life's little mysteries. Certainly, Sean's contempt for Barghouti is evident: "Old men, old prejudices, old parties. Depressing."
"I join Dave Sharma and his family in Tel Aviv for drinks and seek his counsel on many of the things I've heard from generally partisan sources. He's Australia's youngest ever ambassador and an excellent sounding board."
Partisan sources? Sean couldn't possibly mean the Israelis now, could he? Anyway, I'm sure that
"Next day, at Ziv Hospital in Israel's north, another Australian; a pediatrician spending his days fixing Syrians from the civil war [?!]. An investment in hearts and minds that will pay off when his patients stop to consider, despite the fashionable hatred for the Jews, who helped them when they needed it."
Ah, good old Ziv Hospital! Could Sean have consulted Dave re those vicious rumours that Ziv is the propaganda facade behind which Israel is aiding and abetting the salafi/takfiri aggression against Bashar al-Asad? (See my 12/12/14 post, A Side of Israel the World Too Rarely Acknowledges.)
Now how's this for an admission:
"In a sense the tour didn't teach me anything I didn't already know: after two thousand years in limbo, these people now have their land and will give it up for no one."
WTF! Don't tell me that this bloke's been imbibing Zionist Kool-Aid along with his Clare Valley Shiraz for yonks, and really only went along for the ride! Seriously now, AIJAC...
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