On Planet Trumble...

On Planet Trumble, where up is down and right is wrong, the more Palestinians Israel murders and maims, the more the Palestinians must be punished:

"Australia has ceased providing direct aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA), with Foreign Minister Julie Bishop saying the donations could increase the self-governing body's capacity to pay Palestinians convicted of politically motivated violence. Ms Bishop said funding was cut to the World Bank's Multi-Donor Trust Fund for the Palestinian Recovery and Development Program after writing to the Palestinian Authority in late May seeking assurance that Australian funding was not going to Palestinian criminals. Australia sends about $10 million in aid to Palestine territories [?]. It will now direct its funds through the United Nations." (Australia ends direct aid to Palestinian Authority, abc.net.au/news, 3/7/18)

On Planet Trumble, Israel pulls its parliamentary strings:

"Concerns have been raised by some Coalition politicians, including backbencher Eric Abetz,* that the money sent through the World Bank had gone towards funding violence in the region."

 On Planet Trumble, foreign minister Bishop can see no valid reason for not funding the PA directly, but cuts it anyway:

"Ms Bishop said she was confident no Australian funds had been used inappropriately. 'I am confident that previous Australian funding to the PA through the World Bank has been used as intended,' she said in a statement. 'However, I am concerned that in providing funds for this aspect of the PA's operations, there is an opportunity for it to use its own budget to [fund] activities that Australia would never support. Any assistance provided by the Palestine Liberation Organisation to those convicted of politically motivated violence is an affront to Australian values and undermines the prospect of a meaningful peace between Israel and the Palestinians'."

On Planet Trumble, Australia takes its cues from the US, which takes its cues from Israel:

"In March, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the US Government for passing a law that suspended some financial aid to the Palestinians over the stipends paid to families of Palestinians killed or jailed in fighting with Israel. Mr Netanyahu said the Taylor Force Act, named after an American killed in Israel by a Palestinian in 2016, a 'powerful signal by the US that changes the rules' by cutting 'hundreds of millions of dollars for the Palestinian Authority that they invest in encouraging terrorism'."

On Planet Trumble, USraeli perpetrators are the victims and Palestinian victims are the perpetrators:

"The Palestinians say the families are victims of violence."

Strange place, Planet Trumble.

[*See my 2/6/18 post Australia's Senate Hard at Work.]

Australia's Senate Hard at Work

So good to see our talent in the Senate hard at work serving Australia the state of Israel, and earning every cent of their near $200,000 p.a. salary.

Senator Leyonjelm, you'll remember, recently returned from the apartheid state, determined to put pressure on the Australian government to end our funding for the United Nations Relief & Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which, quite coincidentally of course, just happens to be on Israel's to-do list. (Parenthetically, given Evatt's role in the partition of Palestine in 1947, which gave the Zionists all the excuse they needed to go on the warpath and create the very problem UNRWA was set up to deal with, I'd say helping fund it is the least we can do for our part in this ongoing crime against humanity.)

But Leyonjelm's just an unproven, raw recruit in the ranks of those Australian senators who've got the hots for Israel. If you really want to see a master at work, check out Tasmanian Liberal senator Eric Abetz's latest (31/5) media release:

"Liberal Senator Eric Abetz has welcomed Foreign Minister Julie Bishop's letter to the Palestinian Authority asking them to explain whether Australian aid funding is creating space within their budget to fund the so-called Martyr's [sic] Fund. Senator Abetz, a Member of the Australian Senate's Foreign Affairs Committee, has long advocated for the Australian Government to use its influence in an effort to end the Martyr's [sic] Fund which rewards the families of Palestinian terrorists who kill or harm Israeli citizens, including civilians. In 2017-18, Australia is providing more than $43 million in aid to the Palestinian territories. 'The Palestinian Martyr Fund [?] not only encourages murder and terror attacks, it is a major barrier to peace in the Middle East. The 'please explain' issued by the Foreign Minister is a strong and very welcome action that will hopefully apply pressure to the Palestinian Authority to end this murderous programme,' Senator Abetz said. 'Australia's strong defence of Israel in the United Nations shows a clear determination by the Government to back Israel as the only free and democratic nation in the Middle East. I am very pleased that the Foreign Minister has taken on board the representations made by myself and colleagues on this important issue which goes to the heart of our Australian values. Should the Palestinian Authority continue to fund murder and attacks through this or other PA funds, I am hopeful that the Australian Government will take the further step of pausing all Aid until the programme is eliminated,' Senator Abetz concluded." (Government issues 'please explain' to Palestinian Authority, abetz.com.au)

Parliamentary Dupes of Israel

Does anyone out there really think that Tasmanian Liberal senator Eric Abetz gives a tinker's cuss about the reporting of the ABC's Middle East correspondent Sophie McNeill?

Does anyone really think he knows or cares about the plight of that terribly, terribly misunderstood place, Israel?

Does anyone seriously think that he has a passion for honest reporting? That a mere one or two inappropriate (in his view) words are enough to keep him awake at night?

No, No & No I hear you chorus. 

So why, then, did he have the ABC's managing director Mark Scott bailed up over this in Senate estimates?:

"In contention was McNeill's report of the death of a young Palestinian girl... described [by McNeill] as a 'friendly gifted student' who had 'allegedly' tried to stab members of the Israeli defence force so they shot her dead. Why, the senator wanted to know, is the ABC describing the attacker as 'friendly, gifted' etc. as though they are givens, while her attempt to stab the military personnel was only described as an 'allegation.'" (Eric Abetz's close-to extinction howl at the media: it doesn't get much more predictable than this, Richard Ackland, theguardian.com, 3/12/15)

Ackland goes on:

"Why do we say 'alleged' attacker when the Israeli defence forces say that is what she is? Why don't we take that at face value? The senator, who seems unfamiliar with basic reporting requirements, should know that the word 'alleged' is used in relation to a criminal offence, if the offence is one that has not been proven. Nor should a reporter be expected to take anything 'at face value,' especially not from a military or government source." (ibid)

Elementary, of course. But Ackland's only attempt to account for Abetz's tender concern for the image of the world's most caring (and sexy) army is this:

"Middle East correspondents say they have a particularly torrid time coping with complaints from the Israeli lobby back home. Scott told the Senate committee that he thought Abetz was receiving 'daily or weekly' commentary on McNeill's reports from 'some observers.'" (ibid)

Some observers?! How coy is that?!

As always, questions arise...

Why did Mark Scott use such a euphemism?

And why didn't Ackland expand on the identity of said 'observers'?

Why is everyone dancing around the fact that some among our handsomely remunerated parliamentary seat-warmers, for reasons best known to themselves, seem to have nothing better to do with their time than act as transmission belts for the Israel lobby?

Now I know that all sorts of stupid people do all sorts of crazy things, but really, why would anyone do that?