A 2008 Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation (Monash University) survey of Melbourne's and Sydney's Jewish community found that "Close to 80% of respondents indicated that they regarded themselves as Zionists." (Report Series on the GEN08 Survey, Preliminary Findings)
Nine years on, the ACJC GEN17 survey finds that, while "88% of people feel a personal responsibility to ensure that the Jewish State 'continues to exist'," only 69% identify as Zionist.
What is one to make of these figures?
Well, the good news is that when it comes to those surveyed identifying as Zionist, that's a drop of 11% on the 2008 survey. One could, perhaps, conclude therefore that Zionism is increasingly on the nose with Australian Jews.
But the bad news is that 88%. What does it mean? That 19% of those surveyed simply don't understand that feeling the need to ensure the continued existence of a Jewish State in Palestine means that they are, in fact, Zionists?
Showing posts with label Jewish community. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jewish community. Show all posts
Sunday, April 29, 2018
Sunday, September 10, 2017
Phillip Adams: Normalising Zionism
More muddying of the Palestine/Israel waters by the ABC's Philip Adams:
"We are all, each and every one of us, dual citizens... Just as Muslims pray to Mecca, Australia's Roman Catholics are, in a real sense, dual citizens of Australia and Vatican city. Australian Jews, from the Orthodox to the secular, have a form of dual citizenship with Israel. All diaspora cultures are powerfully connected to the cultures that gave them birth... " (Layers of loyalties, The Weekend Australian Magazine, 9/9/17)
Let's get this straight.
Australian Muslims have no designs on Mecca. They merely face it when praying, and, on occasion, visit as pilgrims.
Australia's Roman Catholics acknowledge the Pope as their spiritual leader. For historical reasons, he just happens to reside in the Vatican.
While Israeli Jews resident in Australia may be said to constitute an Israeli diaspora, Australian Jews, in general (whether born overseas or in Australia), have no diasporic connection whatever with Israel.
Just because political Zionism pushes the fantasy that all Jews, no matter their ethnicity, origin, or current citizenship, constitute a 'people/nation', and that the Zionist entity known as Israel is the 'national home' of this alleged 'people/nation' does not make it so.
And just because successive governments of this entity have sought to con Jews into emigrating there by legislating an apartheid 'Law of Return' (1950), granting anyone who can demonstrate a biological connection with a Jewish woman automatic citizenship rights, does not mean that Australian Jews are bound by it or have to take it seriously.
Suffice it to say that it is precisely the most ardent Zionists in Australia's Jewish community - Colin Rubenstein, Vic Alhadeff, Michael Danby et al - who never take advantage of this "form of dual citizenship," as Adams puts it, and emigrate to Israel.
The only genuine diaspora associated with the usurping Zionist entity is the Palestinian Arab diaspora. But you'll never hear about that from Adams.
"We are all, each and every one of us, dual citizens... Just as Muslims pray to Mecca, Australia's Roman Catholics are, in a real sense, dual citizens of Australia and Vatican city. Australian Jews, from the Orthodox to the secular, have a form of dual citizenship with Israel. All diaspora cultures are powerfully connected to the cultures that gave them birth... " (Layers of loyalties, The Weekend Australian Magazine, 9/9/17)
Let's get this straight.
Australian Muslims have no designs on Mecca. They merely face it when praying, and, on occasion, visit as pilgrims.
Australia's Roman Catholics acknowledge the Pope as their spiritual leader. For historical reasons, he just happens to reside in the Vatican.
While Israeli Jews resident in Australia may be said to constitute an Israeli diaspora, Australian Jews, in general (whether born overseas or in Australia), have no diasporic connection whatever with Israel.
Just because political Zionism pushes the fantasy that all Jews, no matter their ethnicity, origin, or current citizenship, constitute a 'people/nation', and that the Zionist entity known as Israel is the 'national home' of this alleged 'people/nation' does not make it so.
And just because successive governments of this entity have sought to con Jews into emigrating there by legislating an apartheid 'Law of Return' (1950), granting anyone who can demonstrate a biological connection with a Jewish woman automatic citizenship rights, does not mean that Australian Jews are bound by it or have to take it seriously.
Suffice it to say that it is precisely the most ardent Zionists in Australia's Jewish community - Colin Rubenstein, Vic Alhadeff, Michael Danby et al - who never take advantage of this "form of dual citizenship," as Adams puts it, and emigrate to Israel.
The only genuine diaspora associated with the usurping Zionist entity is the Palestinian Arab diaspora. But you'll never hear about that from Adams.
Monday, January 16, 2017
Jews Who Don't
If Zionism dictates that Palestinians must be out, it just as strongly dictates that Jews must be in. And, in the case of the latter, woe betide any Jew who doesn't get with the Zionist program. This "EXCLUSIVE" report comes from today's Australian:
"A Sydney mayor has refused a personal invitation to attend the annual Great Synagogue Law Service, citing Israel's 'illegal" actions in the West Bank, which he says 'will cause endless terrorism across the globe, including here.' Peter Abelson, the Mayor of Mosman on Sydney's lower North Shore, has in return been accused of anti-Semitism by the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, which said he was not effectively representing Jewish residents in the area. 'Thank you for your invitation to the Great Synagogue Law Service for 2017. I will not be attending,' Dr Abelson wrote to the synagogue's rabbi, Benjamin Elton, earlier this month. 'I should express my deep personal concern about the gross and illegal occupation of the West Bank which creates intense international division and bitterness, and, unresolved, will cause endless terrorism across the globe, including here.'
"Writing in response to Dr Abelson, NSW Jewish Board of Deputies chief executive Vic Alhadeff said: 'We are appalled that you would refuse to represent the Jewish constituents of your ward because of your views on the Israeli-Palestine conflict.' Mr Alhadeff's letter accused the mayor of anti-Semitism, citing the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition, a section of which defines the term as 'holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.' He also rejected Dr Abelson's characterisation of Israel's actions.
"Dr Elton, who has invited nearby mayors and all NSW federal and state parliamentarians to the event, was shocked by Dr Abelson's response: 'Sometimes people decline with thanks, but to receive a reply with a stark message that attacked Israel's policies... I'm astonished really. 'The policies of the state of Israel is another discussion. To boycott a Jewish event in Sydney because of the actions of Israel, that's a form of anti-Semitism.'
"Dr Abelson, a PhD in economics who has spent time in northern Israel and worked as an adviser to the NSW Treasury, said he attended all the events he could within his council area and described accusations of anti-Semitism as 'nonsense'. 'There are large numbers of people, Jews around the world, who respect Jews and Jewishness, who are critical of the occupation of the West Bank. To say someone who is critical of the [occupation of] the West Bank is anti-Jewish is just nonsense - My father's family was wholly Jewish,' he said. 'I don't think my views are that important. I'm mayor, I run Mosman... for the people of Mosman. There is no discrimination against Jewish or any other race in Mosman'." (Rabbi pans mayor's anti-Israel boycott, Sam Buckingham-Jones)
"A Sydney mayor has refused a personal invitation to attend the annual Great Synagogue Law Service, citing Israel's 'illegal" actions in the West Bank, which he says 'will cause endless terrorism across the globe, including here.' Peter Abelson, the Mayor of Mosman on Sydney's lower North Shore, has in return been accused of anti-Semitism by the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, which said he was not effectively representing Jewish residents in the area. 'Thank you for your invitation to the Great Synagogue Law Service for 2017. I will not be attending,' Dr Abelson wrote to the synagogue's rabbi, Benjamin Elton, earlier this month. 'I should express my deep personal concern about the gross and illegal occupation of the West Bank which creates intense international division and bitterness, and, unresolved, will cause endless terrorism across the globe, including here.'
"Writing in response to Dr Abelson, NSW Jewish Board of Deputies chief executive Vic Alhadeff said: 'We are appalled that you would refuse to represent the Jewish constituents of your ward because of your views on the Israeli-Palestine conflict.' Mr Alhadeff's letter accused the mayor of anti-Semitism, citing the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition, a section of which defines the term as 'holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.' He also rejected Dr Abelson's characterisation of Israel's actions.
"Dr Elton, who has invited nearby mayors and all NSW federal and state parliamentarians to the event, was shocked by Dr Abelson's response: 'Sometimes people decline with thanks, but to receive a reply with a stark message that attacked Israel's policies... I'm astonished really. 'The policies of the state of Israel is another discussion. To boycott a Jewish event in Sydney because of the actions of Israel, that's a form of anti-Semitism.'
"Dr Abelson, a PhD in economics who has spent time in northern Israel and worked as an adviser to the NSW Treasury, said he attended all the events he could within his council area and described accusations of anti-Semitism as 'nonsense'. 'There are large numbers of people, Jews around the world, who respect Jews and Jewishness, who are critical of the occupation of the West Bank. To say someone who is critical of the [occupation of] the West Bank is anti-Jewish is just nonsense - My father's family was wholly Jewish,' he said. 'I don't think my views are that important. I'm mayor, I run Mosman... for the people of Mosman. There is no discrimination against Jewish or any other race in Mosman'." (Rabbi pans mayor's anti-Israel boycott, Sam Buckingham-Jones)
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
What Geraldine & Robin Taught Me
Sometimes the introductory banter to a radio news item is more interesting than the item itself. Take, for example, ABC Radio National's Saturday Extra of May 21, which featured the segment, Views of Israel.
In it, presenter Geraldine Doogue introduced Robin Margo SC, one of two contributors, noting his connection with a new Jewish community organisation called +61j*:
Doogue: I'd like you to explain what +61j is because it's aimed at the Australian Jewish community and you regularly send online reminders to say me, to Radio National. How did it come about?
Margo: Geraldine, it started with focus groups in Melbourne and Sydney. The biggest survey of any diaspora Jewish community was undertaken by Monash University in 2008 and what it found on Middle Eastern issues was there was a wide range of views within the community from left to right with no great majority at any particular point, but that range was not being reflected in public conversation.
Doogue: Well in fact the other group, AIJAC which is perceived as a more conservative end, which has an exceptional information service that goes out to all the media. Honestly, were you trying to counter them?
Margo: Not at all. We want to broaden the conversation. AIJAC has some very liberal positions, for example on refugees** and other matters, and on other matters we've disagreed with them.
The first thing we learn here is that "all the media" receives/ is bombarded by Israel lobby propaganda. The question then arises: to what extent is it lapped up (by Doogue certainly) or ignored? In any case, here we have the fact of the matter confirmed - from the horse's mouth.
The second matter of interest is the pretense, on Margo's part, that, "on Middle Eastern issues" there is "a wide range of views within the community from left to right." This is, in fact, contradicted by the Monash University survey cited by Margo, which reveals a most extraordinary level of identification with Israel/ Zionism:
"It is common for visitors to Australia to comment on the strength of identification with Israel and Zionism within the Jewish communities. Thus Professor Oz-Salzberger, holder of joint professorial appointments at Monash (the Leon Liberman Chair in Modern Israel Studies) and Haifa Universities, recently observed: 'I am yet to find a single Australian Jew who is indifferent towards Israel. There is a level of proximity here that one cannot find amid British or American Jewry, where many individuals are unstirred by their Jewish ancestry, uninvolved with Israel or both. I like telling my Jewish-Australian friends that they are first cousins to us Israelis, while many other communities are second cousins at best.' (AJN, 5/6/09) Eighty per cent of respondents indicated that they regarded themselves as Zionist, while only 13% did not..." (Report Series on the GEN08 Survey Preliminary Findings Melbourne & Sydney, Markus/Jacobs/Aronov, artsonline.monash.edu.au)
Margo is perhaps relying on the statistic that indicates that 29% favour dismantling "all or most" West Bank settlements "as part of a permanent settlement." However, with 80% of respondents favouring the existence of a Jewish state, with all that that entails by way of continued second class status for non-Jewish Palestinian Israelis, and an ongoing refusal to allow Palestinian refugees expelled in 1948 to return home, Zionist hegemony over Australia's Jews indicates anything but a diversity of views. The very fact, for example, that Margo will venture no public criticism of AIJAC speaks volumes.
[*Includes *sigh* Philip Mendes; **Providing they're not Palestinian refugees.]
In it, presenter Geraldine Doogue introduced Robin Margo SC, one of two contributors, noting his connection with a new Jewish community organisation called +61j*:
Doogue: I'd like you to explain what +61j is because it's aimed at the Australian Jewish community and you regularly send online reminders to say me, to Radio National. How did it come about?
Margo: Geraldine, it started with focus groups in Melbourne and Sydney. The biggest survey of any diaspora Jewish community was undertaken by Monash University in 2008 and what it found on Middle Eastern issues was there was a wide range of views within the community from left to right with no great majority at any particular point, but that range was not being reflected in public conversation.
Doogue: Well in fact the other group, AIJAC which is perceived as a more conservative end, which has an exceptional information service that goes out to all the media. Honestly, were you trying to counter them?
Margo: Not at all. We want to broaden the conversation. AIJAC has some very liberal positions, for example on refugees** and other matters, and on other matters we've disagreed with them.
The first thing we learn here is that "all the media" receives/ is bombarded by Israel lobby propaganda. The question then arises: to what extent is it lapped up (by Doogue certainly) or ignored? In any case, here we have the fact of the matter confirmed - from the horse's mouth.
The second matter of interest is the pretense, on Margo's part, that, "on Middle Eastern issues" there is "a wide range of views within the community from left to right." This is, in fact, contradicted by the Monash University survey cited by Margo, which reveals a most extraordinary level of identification with Israel/ Zionism:
"It is common for visitors to Australia to comment on the strength of identification with Israel and Zionism within the Jewish communities. Thus Professor Oz-Salzberger, holder of joint professorial appointments at Monash (the Leon Liberman Chair in Modern Israel Studies) and Haifa Universities, recently observed: 'I am yet to find a single Australian Jew who is indifferent towards Israel. There is a level of proximity here that one cannot find amid British or American Jewry, where many individuals are unstirred by their Jewish ancestry, uninvolved with Israel or both. I like telling my Jewish-Australian friends that they are first cousins to us Israelis, while many other communities are second cousins at best.' (AJN, 5/6/09) Eighty per cent of respondents indicated that they regarded themselves as Zionist, while only 13% did not..." (Report Series on the GEN08 Survey Preliminary Findings Melbourne & Sydney, Markus/Jacobs/Aronov, artsonline.monash.edu.au)
Margo is perhaps relying on the statistic that indicates that 29% favour dismantling "all or most" West Bank settlements "as part of a permanent settlement." However, with 80% of respondents favouring the existence of a Jewish state, with all that that entails by way of continued second class status for non-Jewish Palestinian Israelis, and an ongoing refusal to allow Palestinian refugees expelled in 1948 to return home, Zionist hegemony over Australia's Jews indicates anything but a diversity of views. The very fact, for example, that Margo will venture no public criticism of AIJAC speaks volumes.
[*Includes *sigh* Philip Mendes; **Providing they're not Palestinian refugees.]
Monday, December 28, 2015
And When I Knock on the Door...
I love this:
"As a Palestinian, whether I live 'here' or 'there,' I live in an existential homeland. Since my childhood I have known no other. But I have not yet wanted to reconcile myself to the notion that my history should be deflected from its preordained course and that I should be robbed of my patrimony. I still consider the punishment meted out to us to be unspeakable. To be punished beyond the call of our guilt is a terrible front to our sensibility and sense of justice. To be punished with no implication of guilt is to be brought to the edge of hysteria, a clamour to prove to one's self that our account with men and their gods do not balance.
"And the accounts do not balance, and they have never balanced.
"For the Palestinian, just to explain himself, 'here' as well as 'there,' he has to exert torrential energies.
"In Long Island, I gave a talk to a predominantly Jewish audience. I speak about Palestine and the Palestinians. Mine is a narrative, not a lecture, that I deliver without cant. I am not a threatening figure. I have a beard and long hair. I have Semitic features. I am wearing a corduroy suit. I am at home in English and its nuances. When I finish, in this stark surrounding of upper middle class affluence, I know my tale has a tone, a presence, a spell and a desperate integrity to it. I know its honesty has played on the nerves with disquietening intimacy, making such immediate, such urgent claims on the intellect and on emotions. But this audience does not flinch.
"Instead, I hear this: You people have never had it so good under occupation, now you're looked after medically and educationally, and have the highest standard of living among all Arabs. Palestine was desert before the Jews went there. The 'Arab refugees' left Palestine voluntarily. If it were not for the Arab governments, you people would have been resettled a long time ago. If we granted you a separate state, you people would be at the gates of Jerusalem, Haifa and Jaffa.
"Yes. Yes. Yes, that is where I want to Return. Where I want to be. At the gates of Jerusalem, Haifa and Jaffa. And when I knock on the door, I shall be there listing every blade of grass, every grain of sand, every floor, every shadow of every olive tree that I had left behind." (Fawaz Turki, The Future of a Past: Fragments from the Palestinian Dream, Journal of Palestine Studies, Spring, 1977, p 69)
"As a Palestinian, whether I live 'here' or 'there,' I live in an existential homeland. Since my childhood I have known no other. But I have not yet wanted to reconcile myself to the notion that my history should be deflected from its preordained course and that I should be robbed of my patrimony. I still consider the punishment meted out to us to be unspeakable. To be punished beyond the call of our guilt is a terrible front to our sensibility and sense of justice. To be punished with no implication of guilt is to be brought to the edge of hysteria, a clamour to prove to one's self that our account with men and their gods do not balance.
"And the accounts do not balance, and they have never balanced.
"For the Palestinian, just to explain himself, 'here' as well as 'there,' he has to exert torrential energies.
"In Long Island, I gave a talk to a predominantly Jewish audience. I speak about Palestine and the Palestinians. Mine is a narrative, not a lecture, that I deliver without cant. I am not a threatening figure. I have a beard and long hair. I have Semitic features. I am wearing a corduroy suit. I am at home in English and its nuances. When I finish, in this stark surrounding of upper middle class affluence, I know my tale has a tone, a presence, a spell and a desperate integrity to it. I know its honesty has played on the nerves with disquietening intimacy, making such immediate, such urgent claims on the intellect and on emotions. But this audience does not flinch.
"Instead, I hear this: You people have never had it so good under occupation, now you're looked after medically and educationally, and have the highest standard of living among all Arabs. Palestine was desert before the Jews went there. The 'Arab refugees' left Palestine voluntarily. If it were not for the Arab governments, you people would have been resettled a long time ago. If we granted you a separate state, you people would be at the gates of Jerusalem, Haifa and Jaffa.
"Yes. Yes. Yes, that is where I want to Return. Where I want to be. At the gates of Jerusalem, Haifa and Jaffa. And when I knock on the door, I shall be there listing every blade of grass, every grain of sand, every floor, every shadow of every olive tree that I had left behind." (Fawaz Turki, The Future of a Past: Fragments from the Palestinian Dream, Journal of Palestine Studies, Spring, 1977, p 69)
Saturday, November 7, 2015
I Now Call on Professor Sand to...
Most curious:
"Muslim Australians experience discrimination and abuse on a daily or regular basis, according to a new report [Freedom from Discrimination] by the Australian Human Rights Commission... Groups said hostile treatment towards Muslim Australians were impinging on people's freedoms... Despite this, the report acknowledged that the Racial Discrimination Act had 'limited' ability to protect Muslim Australians, because it only covered discrimination based on race, colour, ethnic or national origin or immigrant status - not religion. This is different from Jewish Australians, as the Federal Court has found they have a common 'ethnic origin' and are therefore owed protection under the act." (Muslims face abuse, discrimination but act offers 'limited' protection, Judith Ireland/ Beau Donelly, Sydney Morning Herald, 5/11/15)
Australian Jews have a common ethnic origin?
Seriously?
So where does this nonsense come from?
The RDA explains:
"Religious discrimination is not, per se, made unlawful by the RDA. However the term 'ethnic origin' has been interpreted broadly in a number of jurisdictions to include Jewish and Sikh people. The Court in King-Ansell held that Jewish people in New Zealand formed a group with common ethnic origins within the meaning of the Race Relations Act 1971 (NZ). Richardson J stated that: 'a group is identifiable in terms of ethnic origins if it is a segment of the population distinguished from others by a sufficient combination of shared customs, beliefs, traditions and characteristics derived from a common or presumed common past, even if not drawn from what in biological terms is a common racial stock. It is that combination which gives them an historically determined social identity in their own eyes and in the eyes of those outside the group. They have a distinct social identity based not simply on group cohesion and solidarity but also on their belief as to their historical antecedents'." (Chapter 3 The Racial Discrimination Act, humanrights.gov.au)
Check out the highlighted words. This is beyond rubbery...
Can't help wondering whether Richardson J would have written the above if Shlomo Sand (The Invention of the Jewish People, 2009) had been called as an expert witness at the time.
"Muslim Australians experience discrimination and abuse on a daily or regular basis, according to a new report [Freedom from Discrimination] by the Australian Human Rights Commission... Groups said hostile treatment towards Muslim Australians were impinging on people's freedoms... Despite this, the report acknowledged that the Racial Discrimination Act had 'limited' ability to protect Muslim Australians, because it only covered discrimination based on race, colour, ethnic or national origin or immigrant status - not religion. This is different from Jewish Australians, as the Federal Court has found they have a common 'ethnic origin' and are therefore owed protection under the act." (Muslims face abuse, discrimination but act offers 'limited' protection, Judith Ireland/ Beau Donelly, Sydney Morning Herald, 5/11/15)
Australian Jews have a common ethnic origin?
Seriously?
So where does this nonsense come from?
The RDA explains:
"Religious discrimination is not, per se, made unlawful by the RDA. However the term 'ethnic origin' has been interpreted broadly in a number of jurisdictions to include Jewish and Sikh people. The Court in King-Ansell held that Jewish people in New Zealand formed a group with common ethnic origins within the meaning of the Race Relations Act 1971 (NZ). Richardson J stated that: 'a group is identifiable in terms of ethnic origins if it is a segment of the population distinguished from others by a sufficient combination of shared customs, beliefs, traditions and characteristics derived from a common or presumed common past, even if not drawn from what in biological terms is a common racial stock. It is that combination which gives them an historically determined social identity in their own eyes and in the eyes of those outside the group. They have a distinct social identity based not simply on group cohesion and solidarity but also on their belief as to their historical antecedents'." (Chapter 3 The Racial Discrimination Act, humanrights.gov.au)
Check out the highlighted words. This is beyond rubbery...
Can't help wondering whether Richardson J would have written the above if Shlomo Sand (The Invention of the Jewish People, 2009) had been called as an expert witness at the time.
Friday, October 16, 2015
Zionism Good, Homophobia Bad
We have a constant stream of Israeli Zionist apologists and boosters coming to Australia, all of whom subscribe, in one form or another, to such cherished Zionist values as Jewish supremacism, Palestinian dispossession, apartheid, occupation, colonisation, and oppression, but when one turns out to be, in addition, a blatant homophobe - well now, that's going too far. Beyond strange:
"Australia's main Jewish organisations have launched an attack on extremist Israeli politician Moshe Feiglin, who is visiting Australia to raise funds for a new political party. The former Likud Knesset member and deputy speaker is appealing to religious Jewish groups in Sydney and Melbourne to secure financial backing for his new party in Israel called Zehut (identity). Mr Feiglin wrote an article titled 'I am a proud homophobe' in 2009, and in August argued that the 'culture' of homosexuality threatened the status of the family, calling a gay parade in Jerusalem 'a clear example of coercion'. He has also called Palestinians a 'gang of bandits'. The newly minted chief minister and rabbi of the Great Synagogue in Sydney, Benjamin Elton, said Mr Feiglin was not welcome... 'I'm absolutely opposed to any sexism, racism or homophobia.' This comes after a group of 11 Zionist, Jewish and LGBTI groups condemned Mr Feiglin's Australian visit, claiming his views were not representative of Jewish values." ('Proud homophobe' faces backlash, Judith Ireland, Sydney Morning Herald, 14/10/15)
"Australia's main Jewish organisations have launched an attack on extremist Israeli politician Moshe Feiglin, who is visiting Australia to raise funds for a new political party. The former Likud Knesset member and deputy speaker is appealing to religious Jewish groups in Sydney and Melbourne to secure financial backing for his new party in Israel called Zehut (identity). Mr Feiglin wrote an article titled 'I am a proud homophobe' in 2009, and in August argued that the 'culture' of homosexuality threatened the status of the family, calling a gay parade in Jerusalem 'a clear example of coercion'. He has also called Palestinians a 'gang of bandits'. The newly minted chief minister and rabbi of the Great Synagogue in Sydney, Benjamin Elton, said Mr Feiglin was not welcome... 'I'm absolutely opposed to any sexism, racism or homophobia.' This comes after a group of 11 Zionist, Jewish and LGBTI groups condemned Mr Feiglin's Australian visit, claiming his views were not representative of Jewish values." ('Proud homophobe' faces backlash, Judith Ireland, Sydney Morning Herald, 14/10/15)
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
Beware the Zionist Thought Police
"A prominent Jewish academic banned from delivering an address at a major conference because he boycotts against Israel has warned of a growing trend of censorship within the Jewish community. Peter Slezak, a philosopher at the University of NSW, had promised not to raise the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign [BDS] at the Limmud-Oz Festival of Jewish Ideas to be held in Sydney in June... He offered the organisers the chance to vet his proposed talk, on the German-American Jewish political theorist Hannah Arendt... The Limmud organisers rejected the proposal, saying even though Professor Slezak might not mention BDS, the problem is he believes in it." (Jewish community 'censors' its own on BDS', Ean Higgins, The Australian, 5/5/15)
Peter Slezak is to be commended for speaking out against the activities of the Zionist thought police. Here's another recent example of their handiwork:
"Australia's B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation Commission [ADC] has welcomed the decision by the UN to conduct a review of any anti-Semitic and anti-Israel books..."
Note the conflation here!
"... offered at its official store in Geneva. Some of the texts to be reviewed include How I Stopped Being a Jew, Israel's War Against the Palestinians, and The Punishment of Gaza." (UN takes stock of its books, jwire.com.au, 4/5/15)
How I Stopped Being a Jew is by Israeli historian Shlomo Sand. I assume that the second item on the list is Noam Chomsky & Ilan Pappe's Gaza in Crisis: Reflections on Israel's War Against the Palestinians. The Punishment of Gaza is by Israel's top journalist, Gideon Levy.
Oh well, the Zionist thought police may be after him, but Peter Slezak can at least take comfort from the fact that he's in the very best of company.
Peter Slezak is to be commended for speaking out against the activities of the Zionist thought police. Here's another recent example of their handiwork:
"Australia's B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation Commission [ADC] has welcomed the decision by the UN to conduct a review of any anti-Semitic and anti-Israel books..."
Note the conflation here!
"... offered at its official store in Geneva. Some of the texts to be reviewed include How I Stopped Being a Jew, Israel's War Against the Palestinians, and The Punishment of Gaza." (UN takes stock of its books, jwire.com.au, 4/5/15)
How I Stopped Being a Jew is by Israeli historian Shlomo Sand. I assume that the second item on the list is Noam Chomsky & Ilan Pappe's Gaza in Crisis: Reflections on Israel's War Against the Palestinians. The Punishment of Gaza is by Israel's top journalist, Gideon Levy.
Oh well, the Zionist thought police may be after him, but Peter Slezak can at least take comfort from the fact that he's in the very best of company.
Monday, March 30, 2015
'An Audible Drawing In of Collective Breath'
I'm sure that Sam Lipski (then & now) actually thinks that the incident he describes below reveals more about Bob Hawke than it does about the 3,000 blinkered individuals listening to him:
"For the Jews of Australia, it was a night to remember. On May 17, 1988, some 3000 of them came to the Concert Hall at Melbourne's Arts Centre to celebrate, to pay tribute and to give thanks. On stage were 15 former Soviet refuseniks. Just months earlier... Mikhail Gorbachev had let them leave for Israel. Just days earlier they had landed at Melbourne Airport to a heroes' welcome from the Jewish community... But later in the evening, prime minister Bob Hawke punctured the mood of celebration. In an otherwise powerful and uplifting speech, Hawke included just one unsettling sentence. In it he drew comparisons between Soviet Jews and the Palestinians and black Africans under apartheid. There was an audible drawing in of collective breath. Then a turning of heads in disbelief. The remarks distressed the refuseniks, disappointed many of Hawke's admirers, and marked a turning point in Hawke's public views on Israel. With a few words, his public persona changed from the Jewish state's most passionate admirer in Australia to its sorely troubled critic." (On a night for refuseniks, Hawke brought Palestinian conflict to the party, Sam Lipski & Suzanne Rutland, The Australian, 28/3/15)
"For the Jews of Australia, it was a night to remember. On May 17, 1988, some 3000 of them came to the Concert Hall at Melbourne's Arts Centre to celebrate, to pay tribute and to give thanks. On stage were 15 former Soviet refuseniks. Just months earlier... Mikhail Gorbachev had let them leave for Israel. Just days earlier they had landed at Melbourne Airport to a heroes' welcome from the Jewish community... But later in the evening, prime minister Bob Hawke punctured the mood of celebration. In an otherwise powerful and uplifting speech, Hawke included just one unsettling sentence. In it he drew comparisons between Soviet Jews and the Palestinians and black Africans under apartheid. There was an audible drawing in of collective breath. Then a turning of heads in disbelief. The remarks distressed the refuseniks, disappointed many of Hawke's admirers, and marked a turning point in Hawke's public views on Israel. With a few words, his public persona changed from the Jewish state's most passionate admirer in Australia to its sorely troubled critic." (On a night for refuseniks, Hawke brought Palestinian conflict to the party, Sam Lipski & Suzanne Rutland, The Australian, 28/3/15)
Saturday, February 7, 2015
Inconvenient Memories
From a letter to the Australian Jewish News (30/1/15) by Helen Leperere, Rose Bay, NSW:
"The liberation of the camps was a bitter-sweet pill for us to follow. The tragic impact of the 6-year war hit us all with its might. We were homeless orphans. No families, no homes to return to. Surely our Jewish world will embrace us and help us to come back to life, we thought.
"How very naive we were. Australian Jewry did not lift a finger to help us. We were mocked and belittled and told that it was not too easy here either, there was a shortage of herrings! A certain Jewish lady, a third generation Australian, told me how angry they were with one of their cousins, because she married out. She married a non-Jewish man? I asked. No... she married one of your mob, a man with a funny British accent. That 'funny English accent' was very much welcomed by the family after it brought the first million dollars.
"With great pride we were told how the local Jews entertained the American Jewish soldiers who were stationed here during the war. How they frequently invited them for Shabbat dinners. I do not know of any of us who were invited to Shabbat dinner by the local Jews. American Jewry extended the same cold shoulder to their newly-arrived survivors.
"The scenario that took place in Israel/Palestine then was even more painful. Friends told me that they had to hide the numbers tattooed on their arms. They were constantly told that they went like sheep to the slaughter without defending themselves. Never mind the uprisings in Warsaw, Sobibor or the partisans.
"Their opinions changed only after the trial of Eichmann. Then they understood."
"The liberation of the camps was a bitter-sweet pill for us to follow. The tragic impact of the 6-year war hit us all with its might. We were homeless orphans. No families, no homes to return to. Surely our Jewish world will embrace us and help us to come back to life, we thought.
"How very naive we were. Australian Jewry did not lift a finger to help us. We were mocked and belittled and told that it was not too easy here either, there was a shortage of herrings! A certain Jewish lady, a third generation Australian, told me how angry they were with one of their cousins, because she married out. She married a non-Jewish man? I asked. No... she married one of your mob, a man with a funny British accent. That 'funny English accent' was very much welcomed by the family after it brought the first million dollars.
"With great pride we were told how the local Jews entertained the American Jewish soldiers who were stationed here during the war. How they frequently invited them for Shabbat dinners. I do not know of any of us who were invited to Shabbat dinner by the local Jews. American Jewry extended the same cold shoulder to their newly-arrived survivors.
"The scenario that took place in Israel/Palestine then was even more painful. Friends told me that they had to hide the numbers tattooed on their arms. They were constantly told that they went like sheep to the slaughter without defending themselves. Never mind the uprisings in Warsaw, Sobibor or the partisans.
"Their opinions changed only after the trial of Eichmann. Then they understood."
Monday, February 2, 2015
Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em:
"A large contingent of school leavers from NSW this week departed to Israel on the Shnat 2015 gap year program. Almost 50 teenagers from around the state are participating in the year-long educational and leadership program, together with 91 other young adults from Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and New Zealand. The teenagers - who are all part of local Zionist youth movements... will partake in various movement-run Jewish learning activities, including leadership training, touring, hiking, ulpan, kibbutz experiences and volunteer work." (Shnatties set off for Israel, The Australian Jewish News, 30/1/15)
Other mothers don't:
"On January 21st, 14-year-old Malak Khatib was sentenced by the Israeli military courts to two months in Israeli jails. Malak has been in Hasharon prison for over a month now as her family continues to endure the unbearable absence felt in their small apartment home in the West Bank village of Beitin. Malak was arrested by Israeli forces one morning on her way to school. Her imprisonment came based on a testimony from Israeli soldiers. Regardless of her young age, she was interrogated without legal representation or the presence of a legal guardian. Today Malak continues to remain incarcerated in Israeli jails. The court has also sentenced the family to approximately $US1,500 in fines. If they are not paid her release may be prolonged by the court. Malak Khatib is one of 700 Palestinian children to be arrested and interrogated by Israeli forces annually... Prior to her arrest, Malak enjoyed playing soccer and sketching... She is the youngest of 8 children and, despite her age, continued to enjoy sitting on her mother's lap. She found refuge in it... Malak now sleeps in a jail cell with blue barred doors and grey concrete walls." (International Solidarity Movement)
Fuck, some of them don't even have mothers:
"Diana and Mohammed Ayad were orphaned after their widowed mother was killed during [Israeli] shelling of Gaza City's Shejaiya neighbourhood as the family tried to evacuate their home. Neither child has received psychological testing or support, despite experiencing enduring mental health problems, according to relatives, in addition to physical injuries that left Diana, 15, needing extensive skin graft surgery, and Mohammed, 10, having a toe amputated. Diana, who once wanted to be a doctor, no longer attends school because of the incident and is confined to the family's shell-ravaged home by her injuries. 'I feel very bad psychologically because of the incident and suffer badly from my leg injuries,' she said. 'I'm not glad I survived. I wish I had died'." (Hundreds of thousands of children shell-shocked after the war in Gaza, Robert Tait, telegraph.co.uk, 28/1/15)
Other mothers don't:
"On January 21st, 14-year-old Malak Khatib was sentenced by the Israeli military courts to two months in Israeli jails. Malak has been in Hasharon prison for over a month now as her family continues to endure the unbearable absence felt in their small apartment home in the West Bank village of Beitin. Malak was arrested by Israeli forces one morning on her way to school. Her imprisonment came based on a testimony from Israeli soldiers. Regardless of her young age, she was interrogated without legal representation or the presence of a legal guardian. Today Malak continues to remain incarcerated in Israeli jails. The court has also sentenced the family to approximately $US1,500 in fines. If they are not paid her release may be prolonged by the court. Malak Khatib is one of 700 Palestinian children to be arrested and interrogated by Israeli forces annually... Prior to her arrest, Malak enjoyed playing soccer and sketching... She is the youngest of 8 children and, despite her age, continued to enjoy sitting on her mother's lap. She found refuge in it... Malak now sleeps in a jail cell with blue barred doors and grey concrete walls." (International Solidarity Movement)
Fuck, some of them don't even have mothers:
"Diana and Mohammed Ayad were orphaned after their widowed mother was killed during [Israeli] shelling of Gaza City's Shejaiya neighbourhood as the family tried to evacuate their home. Neither child has received psychological testing or support, despite experiencing enduring mental health problems, according to relatives, in addition to physical injuries that left Diana, 15, needing extensive skin graft surgery, and Mohammed, 10, having a toe amputated. Diana, who once wanted to be a doctor, no longer attends school because of the incident and is confined to the family's shell-ravaged home by her injuries. 'I feel very bad psychologically because of the incident and suffer badly from my leg injuries,' she said. 'I'm not glad I survived. I wish I had died'." (Hundreds of thousands of children shell-shocked after the war in Gaza, Robert Tait, telegraph.co.uk, 28/1/15)
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
Nothing to Worry About
There's a welter of items in the Australian press at the moment (most notably, of course, in the Murdoch press) about the government's response to the issue of Australian Muslims fighting with jihadist groups in Syria/Iraq.
The following letter, in The Australian Jewish News of June 27, suggests that some at least in the Jewish community understand that whatever the government is (or is intending to do) about Muslim ultras on the warpath might also have consequences for their Zionist counterparts:
"Recently, the media has been full of speculation over the Australian Muslims who have gone to Syria and Iraq to fight in the conflict there. There is talk that these individuals risk having their Australian citizenship revoked, thereby preventing their return to Australia. In the light of this I present the following theoretical (but highly possible) scenario. Suppose, in a future conflict, Israel finds itself in serious danger of annihilation. As in previous conflicts, Jewish volunteers from around the world (Australia included) rally to the call for help (mostly to replace Israelis in civilian roles, in order to free them up to join their armed force units). There would, in all probability, also be Australians with dual Israeli/Australian citizenship who would desire to join combat units. Do these Jewish volunteers potentially risk having their Australian citizenship revoked as well?" Dr Martin Jaffe, Caringbah, NSW
Frankly, I don't think Dr Jaffe has too much to worry about, do you?
[Related posts: Prisoner X5 (17/2/13); Green Light/Red Light (19/12/12); Mystery Man (21/6/12)]
The following letter, in The Australian Jewish News of June 27, suggests that some at least in the Jewish community understand that whatever the government is (or is intending to do) about Muslim ultras on the warpath might also have consequences for their Zionist counterparts:
"Recently, the media has been full of speculation over the Australian Muslims who have gone to Syria and Iraq to fight in the conflict there. There is talk that these individuals risk having their Australian citizenship revoked, thereby preventing their return to Australia. In the light of this I present the following theoretical (but highly possible) scenario. Suppose, in a future conflict, Israel finds itself in serious danger of annihilation. As in previous conflicts, Jewish volunteers from around the world (Australia included) rally to the call for help (mostly to replace Israelis in civilian roles, in order to free them up to join their armed force units). There would, in all probability, also be Australians with dual Israeli/Australian citizenship who would desire to join combat units. Do these Jewish volunteers potentially risk having their Australian citizenship revoked as well?" Dr Martin Jaffe, Caringbah, NSW
Frankly, I don't think Dr Jaffe has too much to worry about, do you?
[Related posts: Prisoner X5 (17/2/13); Green Light/Red Light (19/12/12); Mystery Man (21/6/12)]
Saturday, November 30, 2013
Silly Old Duck
On November 28, ABC Radio National's rural affairs program Bush Telegraph broadcast an item about country Jews:
"As Jewish communities in major cities celebrate the start of the Chanukah festival this week, one group is heading into country Australia to support Jewish people living in isolated areas without a synagogue or connection to their culture. The founder of Chabad of Rural and Remote Australia, Saul Spigler, says while the census lists only 3,600 Jews as living in remote areas, the work of his group indicates there could be between 7,000 and 10,000 in regional areas... He says he and his workers are a little like 'Jewish detectives', who will go 'anywhere to visit anybody'. Trawling the phone books, knocking on the doors of local shops and visiting cemeteries, town halls, police and Jewish doctors, they've found 250 contacts in the past 4 months." (Jewish group Chabad of RARA takes outreach to isolated communities)
Now it goes without saying that stories such as this, about the fiddle-faddling of the faithful, don't generally register on my radar. For that to happen, there has to be another, more political, dimension. Unfortunately, in this case, there was:
"George Koulakis is a Townsville supporter of the organisation, who describes his house as 'base camp' and maintains the motor home the group uses to travel... [He once] had an interesting interaction after stopping to get a drink on one long trip through country NSW. 'I pulled into a one horse town and wanted an iced drink,' he said. 'When I came back an old Aboriginal woman was staring at our big yellow motor home and its Hebrew writing, and I said, 'It's Hebrew, we're Jewish.' She said, 'You know what? The Jews and the aboriginal people have a lot in common; we're both from a very old culture and we're both still fighting for our land'."
Oh, really?!
"As Jewish communities in major cities celebrate the start of the Chanukah festival this week, one group is heading into country Australia to support Jewish people living in isolated areas without a synagogue or connection to their culture. The founder of Chabad of Rural and Remote Australia, Saul Spigler, says while the census lists only 3,600 Jews as living in remote areas, the work of his group indicates there could be between 7,000 and 10,000 in regional areas... He says he and his workers are a little like 'Jewish detectives', who will go 'anywhere to visit anybody'. Trawling the phone books, knocking on the doors of local shops and visiting cemeteries, town halls, police and Jewish doctors, they've found 250 contacts in the past 4 months." (Jewish group Chabad of RARA takes outreach to isolated communities)
Now it goes without saying that stories such as this, about the fiddle-faddling of the faithful, don't generally register on my radar. For that to happen, there has to be another, more political, dimension. Unfortunately, in this case, there was:
"George Koulakis is a Townsville supporter of the organisation, who describes his house as 'base camp' and maintains the motor home the group uses to travel... [He once] had an interesting interaction after stopping to get a drink on one long trip through country NSW. 'I pulled into a one horse town and wanted an iced drink,' he said. 'When I came back an old Aboriginal woman was staring at our big yellow motor home and its Hebrew writing, and I said, 'It's Hebrew, we're Jewish.' She said, 'You know what? The Jews and the aboriginal people have a lot in common; we're both from a very old culture and we're both still fighting for our land'."
Oh, really?!
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Zionists Rule, OK?
In my last post I quoted from an opinion piece, Take the free out of speech, by investigative journalist, Elisabeth Wynhausen. Published in The Australian on November 4, 2003, it was a trenchant critique of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council's boots-and-all attack on the Sydney Peace Foundation's decision to award the 2003 Sydney Peace Prize to Palestinian activist Hanan Ashrawi.
Wynhausen, the outspoken daughter of Dutch Jews, died earlier this month of pancreatic cancer. She was 67.
In his obituary in Thursday's Sydney Morning Herald, journalist David Marr cited Wynhausen's book The Short Goodbye (2011), "which investigated the human wreckage of the global financial crisis," and added, tellingly: "Its first chapter is a pithy report of her own sacking from The Australian."
Honest, unsparing reports on the darker side of Australian society were Wynhausen's trademark. The following snapshot of an Australian Jewish community under the Zionist thumb is surely a rarity in Australian journalism. It comes from Take the free out of free speech:
"Australia's 84,000 Jews make up about 0.5% of the population, or less than one-third of the number of those of Arabic-speaking descent. Only one or two electorates in Australia can be swayed by the Jewish vote. So why do a handful of representatives of a tiny section of the population have so much political influence? To answer money, or political donations, often gets you labelled as anti-Semitic. Indeed, after a couple of federal Labor backbenchers criticised the Israeli Government, Opposition leader Simon Crean hastened to reassure the Jewish community that he was a staunch supporter of Israel. The pressure to toe the party line is even stronger within the Jewish community because it feels perpetually besieged. Some relate this to the high proportion of Holocaust survivors among Australian Jews. In reality, a small, unrepresentative group of hardliners from AIJAC and the Zionist organisations have hijacked most debates, outflanking the moderates and positioning themselves as the voice of the Jewish community in Australia. Dissenters are often stifled."
I simply can't imagine today's Australian publishing anything like this.
Wynhausen, the outspoken daughter of Dutch Jews, died earlier this month of pancreatic cancer. She was 67.
In his obituary in Thursday's Sydney Morning Herald, journalist David Marr cited Wynhausen's book The Short Goodbye (2011), "which investigated the human wreckage of the global financial crisis," and added, tellingly: "Its first chapter is a pithy report of her own sacking from The Australian."
Honest, unsparing reports on the darker side of Australian society were Wynhausen's trademark. The following snapshot of an Australian Jewish community under the Zionist thumb is surely a rarity in Australian journalism. It comes from Take the free out of free speech:
"Australia's 84,000 Jews make up about 0.5% of the population, or less than one-third of the number of those of Arabic-speaking descent. Only one or two electorates in Australia can be swayed by the Jewish vote. So why do a handful of representatives of a tiny section of the population have so much political influence? To answer money, or political donations, often gets you labelled as anti-Semitic. Indeed, after a couple of federal Labor backbenchers criticised the Israeli Government, Opposition leader Simon Crean hastened to reassure the Jewish community that he was a staunch supporter of Israel. The pressure to toe the party line is even stronger within the Jewish community because it feels perpetually besieged. Some relate this to the high proportion of Holocaust survivors among Australian Jews. In reality, a small, unrepresentative group of hardliners from AIJAC and the Zionist organisations have hijacked most debates, outflanking the moderates and positioning themselves as the voice of the Jewish community in Australia. Dissenters are often stifled."
I simply can't imagine today's Australian publishing anything like this.
Monday, May 20, 2013
Join the Dots...
1) "The centrality of Israel in the workings of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) and other mainstream 'peak bodies', such as... the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies (JBOD), is misplaced and a waste of time and limited community resources. Local issues, some of which include aged care, social welfare, education, abuse, alcohol/drugs and social entrepreneurship, deserve the attention of groups whose imprimatur is to support the community needs of Australian Jews." (Community begins at home, Manny Waks, The Australian Jewish News, 9/11/12) (See my 14/1/13 post Where's This All Going?)
2) "The Jewish National Fund (JNF) in NSW raised more than $8 million last year it was revealed at their annual general meeting last Tuesday night. President Alex Abulafia said it was a staggering amount of money and it shows the community is connecting with the organisation and its projects... He said that people seem to enjoy the fact that they can go to Israel and visit buildings, facilities, water reservoirs and sites that they have contributed to... Abulafia said that in a couple of years, he hopes JNF NSW can raise $10 million each year." (JNF NSW raises more than $8 mil, The AJN, 17/5/13)
3) "If you thought poverty wasn't a problem for the Jewish community, think again. A recent report from Monash University's Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation revealed 6500 Jews in Victoria (18.4% of the community) and 5000 in NSW (15.7%) are scraping by with a weekly income of between just $200 and $400." (The poverty precipice, Timna Jacks, The AJN, 17/5/13)
2) "The Jewish National Fund (JNF) in NSW raised more than $8 million last year it was revealed at their annual general meeting last Tuesday night. President Alex Abulafia said it was a staggering amount of money and it shows the community is connecting with the organisation and its projects... He said that people seem to enjoy the fact that they can go to Israel and visit buildings, facilities, water reservoirs and sites that they have contributed to... Abulafia said that in a couple of years, he hopes JNF NSW can raise $10 million each year." (JNF NSW raises more than $8 mil, The AJN, 17/5/13)
3) "If you thought poverty wasn't a problem for the Jewish community, think again. A recent report from Monash University's Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation revealed 6500 Jews in Victoria (18.4% of the community) and 5000 in NSW (15.7%) are scraping by with a weekly income of between just $200 and $400." (The poverty precipice, Timna Jacks, The AJN, 17/5/13)
Monday, February 18, 2013
Prisoner X 6: The View from 'The Australian'
Although the Fairfax press has had the running with the case of Prisoner X, Murdoch's Australian has also managed some useful reporting.
There's the testimony of Zygier's Israeli lawyer, Avigdor Feldman, for example:
"Mr Feldman, one of the last people to Zygier alive, would not detail the specific charge but said last night it was 'not on the high level of gravity.' Asked about reports in Israel that Zygier was accused of 'treason', Mr Feldman said: 'I can't go into specifics but treason doesn't have to be somebody who is in coalition with Hezbollah or any other enemy of Israel... Mr Feldman visited the high security cell at the prison in Israel in the days before his death to discuss whether he should accept a plea bargain and face a shorter prison sentence or contest the charges and risk a longer sentence. He described the treatment of Zygier as 'stupid, inhumane and repulsive'... Mr Feldman said his client 'claimed before me he had done nothing wrong'... Mr Feldman would not detail the specific charge against Zygier or any security details, citing a secrecy agreement he had signed. But he said his impression of Zygier was that he was 'someone who was not a traitor by nature or ideology. He was involved in something that I cannot go into but this concern does not threaten the security or the government of Israel,' he said." (Zygier's family never knew charges, Paul Maley & John Lyons, 15/2/13)
Feldman's words add weight to the theory that Zygier had been (or was about to) talking to an Australian agency about Mossad's misuse of Australian passports, a matter that would normally place him in the category of whistleblower. If so, it would appear that, despite all his years of Zionist indoctrination from Bialik College on, Zygier still had sufficient independence of mind to speak out when confronted with real evidence of Israeli hands in Australian pockets. In a normal country that would be seen as an act of personal courage and integrity, but in a paranoid and security conscious apartheid state, it is bound to be construed as a hanging offence.
Further light is shed on the strangely passive attitude of Zygier's family to his detention and death:
"The Australian understands Zygier's family received very little information about his case... It is understood Zygier's family are satisfied that his rights were attended to at all times by Israeli authorities. They do not harbour any doubt about the verdict of an Israeli investigation into Zygier's death, which found the former lawyer had hanged himself in a cell supposed to be under constant surveillance... [family friend of Zygier] Mr Greener said the family had been devastated by Zygier's death. Zygier's father had retired from his role at the Jewish Community Council of Victoria soon after the funeral and had returned to work as executive director of the B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation Commission only in the past 6 months." (ibid) [NB, I assume that these references to Zygier's 'family' are to his Melbourne family. As to his Israeli wife and children, so far no one's said a word.]
Then came this from the Weekend Australian :
"Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported yesterday that the Zygier family had recently signed a deal with Israel to accept 'several million shekels' in compensation. The paper quoted one of Zygier's lawyers as saying Israeli authorities had threatened the Australian, while he was in solitary confinement, that unless he pleaded guilty, he was likely to be sentenced to a long prison term and would be shunned by his family and the Jewish community. Zygier's family has not commented since ABC TV's Foreign Correspondent broke the story on Tuesday." (ASIO knew all about spy Zygier, John Lyons, 16/2/13)
And this:
"The fathers of two Australians whose passports were used by Mossad agents have declined to comment on the Zygier case, with one denying any connection between the events. Lawyer Harvey Bruce... is the father of Joshua Bruce, who had been studying in Jerusalem for seven years his passport was used in the assassination of Mabhouh. Mr Bruce said he was 'not at all' happy to discuss the case. 'There's no connection as far as I'm concerned,' he said. The office of Joe Krycer, father of Tel Aviv speech therapist Joshua Aaron Krycer, whose passport was also used in 2010, said he would not be commenting. Mr Krycer works in the same Caulfield South building as Zygier's father, Geoffrey, Mr Krycer is Victorian bequest director for the Jewish National Fund (JNF), which raises money for land conservation projects in Israel, while Mr Zygier is executive director of the B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation Commission." (ibid)
Finally, there's the suggestion, from 'an Israeli official' admittedly, that the Australian authorities know more than they're letting on:
"Australia has not made a single request for information about the Ben Zygier case since news of the alleged spy's incarceration and death in an Israeli prison broke this this week. Amid a storm of speculation about the reason for the suspected Mossad spy's jailing, including the claim he may have been about to divulge information about Australian passport fraud, a senior Israeli official said Canberra was unlikely to make a request because the Gillard government already had detailed knowledge of the case. 'Every day that goes by you see how deeply involved they were,' the official told The Weekend Australian. 'They interrogated him, they suspected him, they knew many things. It is clear they were in the know long before he died. Then when the coffin was returned to Australia, they knew he was not some backpacker who got lost trekking'... Israel's Channel 10 said in 2009, Australian intelligence officers interrogated Zygier about trips he took to Iran, Lebanon and Syria. The report alleged that the case was leaked to an Australian reporter who phoned Zygier and questioned him about his alleged links to the Mossad. The reporter, Jason Koutsoukis, told Israel's Channel 2 TV that Zygier strongly denied the allegations. Zygier was arrested shortly after they spoke... Zygier was caught between two intelligence services, Israeli sources said. Mossad believed he was on the 'verge' of passing information to the Australians. Soon after his return to Israel, Mossad's domestic counterpart, Shin Bet, swooped and Zygier was arrested..." (ibid)
In stark contrast with the Australian's Prisoner X reportage, the editorialist, whose frequent foaming fulminations on behalf of Israel over the years deserve to be the subject of media legend, has been strangely silent. Equally so has been the swarm of Zionist letter writers who normally never miss an opportunity to land one on the letters page. These pests appear, thus far at any rate, to be waiting this one out.
The paper's most public Zionist voice, foreign editor Greg (Jerusalem Prize) Sheridan, only recently baaack in print after a mysterious absence, weighed in on the subject on 14 February, titillating us all with a tribute to the Mossad "mystique":
"I have met a number of former Mossad personnel who seem to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the Arab world. They can tell you which cities to visit, almost which restaurant to go to, across the Middle East... If a former Mossad agent has ended up in an Israeli prison, this can only indicate that something has gone terribly wrong. Apart from the inherent sensitivity of any information involved in the case, the Israelis would hate to admit publicly a problem with one of their agents. This would undermine the mystique of super motivated, super capable Mossad agents combing all over the world, working their magical craft to serve Israel's interests." (Mystique of Mossad its greatest weapon)
Fortunately, he's had nothing to say on the subject since!
There's the testimony of Zygier's Israeli lawyer, Avigdor Feldman, for example:
"Mr Feldman, one of the last people to Zygier alive, would not detail the specific charge but said last night it was 'not on the high level of gravity.' Asked about reports in Israel that Zygier was accused of 'treason', Mr Feldman said: 'I can't go into specifics but treason doesn't have to be somebody who is in coalition with Hezbollah or any other enemy of Israel... Mr Feldman visited the high security cell at the prison in Israel in the days before his death to discuss whether he should accept a plea bargain and face a shorter prison sentence or contest the charges and risk a longer sentence. He described the treatment of Zygier as 'stupid, inhumane and repulsive'... Mr Feldman said his client 'claimed before me he had done nothing wrong'... Mr Feldman would not detail the specific charge against Zygier or any security details, citing a secrecy agreement he had signed. But he said his impression of Zygier was that he was 'someone who was not a traitor by nature or ideology. He was involved in something that I cannot go into but this concern does not threaten the security or the government of Israel,' he said." (Zygier's family never knew charges, Paul Maley & John Lyons, 15/2/13)
Feldman's words add weight to the theory that Zygier had been (or was about to) talking to an Australian agency about Mossad's misuse of Australian passports, a matter that would normally place him in the category of whistleblower. If so, it would appear that, despite all his years of Zionist indoctrination from Bialik College on, Zygier still had sufficient independence of mind to speak out when confronted with real evidence of Israeli hands in Australian pockets. In a normal country that would be seen as an act of personal courage and integrity, but in a paranoid and security conscious apartheid state, it is bound to be construed as a hanging offence.
Further light is shed on the strangely passive attitude of Zygier's family to his detention and death:
"The Australian understands Zygier's family received very little information about his case... It is understood Zygier's family are satisfied that his rights were attended to at all times by Israeli authorities. They do not harbour any doubt about the verdict of an Israeli investigation into Zygier's death, which found the former lawyer had hanged himself in a cell supposed to be under constant surveillance... [family friend of Zygier] Mr Greener said the family had been devastated by Zygier's death. Zygier's father had retired from his role at the Jewish Community Council of Victoria soon after the funeral and had returned to work as executive director of the B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation Commission only in the past 6 months." (ibid) [NB, I assume that these references to Zygier's 'family' are to his Melbourne family. As to his Israeli wife and children, so far no one's said a word.]
Then came this from the Weekend Australian :
"Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported yesterday that the Zygier family had recently signed a deal with Israel to accept 'several million shekels' in compensation. The paper quoted one of Zygier's lawyers as saying Israeli authorities had threatened the Australian, while he was in solitary confinement, that unless he pleaded guilty, he was likely to be sentenced to a long prison term and would be shunned by his family and the Jewish community. Zygier's family has not commented since ABC TV's Foreign Correspondent broke the story on Tuesday." (ASIO knew all about spy Zygier, John Lyons, 16/2/13)
And this:
"The fathers of two Australians whose passports were used by Mossad agents have declined to comment on the Zygier case, with one denying any connection between the events. Lawyer Harvey Bruce... is the father of Joshua Bruce, who had been studying in Jerusalem for seven years his passport was used in the assassination of Mabhouh. Mr Bruce said he was 'not at all' happy to discuss the case. 'There's no connection as far as I'm concerned,' he said. The office of Joe Krycer, father of Tel Aviv speech therapist Joshua Aaron Krycer, whose passport was also used in 2010, said he would not be commenting. Mr Krycer works in the same Caulfield South building as Zygier's father, Geoffrey, Mr Krycer is Victorian bequest director for the Jewish National Fund (JNF), which raises money for land conservation projects in Israel, while Mr Zygier is executive director of the B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation Commission." (ibid)
Finally, there's the suggestion, from 'an Israeli official' admittedly, that the Australian authorities know more than they're letting on:
"Australia has not made a single request for information about the Ben Zygier case since news of the alleged spy's incarceration and death in an Israeli prison broke this this week. Amid a storm of speculation about the reason for the suspected Mossad spy's jailing, including the claim he may have been about to divulge information about Australian passport fraud, a senior Israeli official said Canberra was unlikely to make a request because the Gillard government already had detailed knowledge of the case. 'Every day that goes by you see how deeply involved they were,' the official told The Weekend Australian. 'They interrogated him, they suspected him, they knew many things. It is clear they were in the know long before he died. Then when the coffin was returned to Australia, they knew he was not some backpacker who got lost trekking'... Israel's Channel 10 said in 2009, Australian intelligence officers interrogated Zygier about trips he took to Iran, Lebanon and Syria. The report alleged that the case was leaked to an Australian reporter who phoned Zygier and questioned him about his alleged links to the Mossad. The reporter, Jason Koutsoukis, told Israel's Channel 2 TV that Zygier strongly denied the allegations. Zygier was arrested shortly after they spoke... Zygier was caught between two intelligence services, Israeli sources said. Mossad believed he was on the 'verge' of passing information to the Australians. Soon after his return to Israel, Mossad's domestic counterpart, Shin Bet, swooped and Zygier was arrested..." (ibid)
In stark contrast with the Australian's Prisoner X reportage, the editorialist, whose frequent foaming fulminations on behalf of Israel over the years deserve to be the subject of media legend, has been strangely silent. Equally so has been the swarm of Zionist letter writers who normally never miss an opportunity to land one on the letters page. These pests appear, thus far at any rate, to be waiting this one out.
The paper's most public Zionist voice, foreign editor Greg (Jerusalem Prize) Sheridan, only recently baaack in print after a mysterious absence, weighed in on the subject on 14 February, titillating us all with a tribute to the Mossad "mystique":
"I have met a number of former Mossad personnel who seem to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the Arab world. They can tell you which cities to visit, almost which restaurant to go to, across the Middle East... If a former Mossad agent has ended up in an Israeli prison, this can only indicate that something has gone terribly wrong. Apart from the inherent sensitivity of any information involved in the case, the Israelis would hate to admit publicly a problem with one of their agents. This would undermine the mystique of super motivated, super capable Mossad agents combing all over the world, working their magical craft to serve Israel's interests." (Mystique of Mossad its greatest weapon)
Fortunately, he's had nothing to say on the subject since!
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Prisoner X 5
In my 3rd post in this series, I discussed two aspects of the Prisoner X case which I felt were worth raising. The other two, bigger picture issues, I'd intended to canvass will be the subject of this post.
The first concerns the extraordinary silence of Australia's Jewish community when one of their own, from a prominent Melbourne Zionist family no less, came to grief whilst in Israeli hands: "Few in the local Jewish community have spoken publicly about Mr Zygier's death - more than a dozen organisations and individuals contacted on Thursday by Fairfax Media offered no comment - but the silence does not surprise Mr Greener, who put it down to a modest Malvern family's simple desire for privacy." (We want justice for Ben Zygier, family friend says, Konrad Marshall, Sydney Morning Herald, 14/2/13)
The question arises: Is this closing of ranks simply a sign of respect for the privacy of the Zygier family or is something more tribal involved? With around 80% of Australian Jews calling themselves Zionists, it is impossible not to speculate whether some kind of totalitarian groupthink, in this case a rallying around the - Isaeli - flag, right or wrong, is at work.
The following February 15 Fran Kelly interview with Philip Chester, president of the Zionist Federation of Australia, on ABC Radio National's Breakfast program gives credence to this view. To describe it as gruelling is to indulge in understatement. Chester's response to Kelly's generally clueless questions resembles nothing so much as the inky discharge of a squid as it attempts to evade a predator, even if, in this case, one without teeth. My comments in square brackets:
Fran Kelly: Well thousands of Australian Jews travel to Israel every year for holidays, to study, to work, even to serve in the Israeli Defence Force, but none... have had a tragic experience like this. Philip Chester is the president of the Zionist Federation of Australia which funds and organises travel to Israel, especially for young people. His organisation has actually helped more than 10,000 Australian Jews to emigrate permanently to Israel. Philip Chester, I know you're unaware of the details of this case but generally would you be surprised to learn that Australians you send to Israel could be recruited by Mossad as spies? [Kelly's naivete is astonishing. If Zionist leaders such as Chester, a one-time Betar youth movement leader, have no qualms whatever about young Australian Jews joining the so-called Israel Defence Forces (IDF), why would they cavil at them moving into the other sectors of Israel's state security apparatus?]
Philip Chester: Fran, I don't really have any knowledge about recruitment of any Australians to Israeli agencies. [I know nothing.] It's not something we're involved in or that anyone discusses with us or that we make any enquiries in relation to. We facilitate young, middle-aged and older people, families, youngsters, single people to, once they make the decision that they want to move to Israel and live there, help them do that. Many of them, if they're of the right age, need to do some military service... in Israel but that's when our involvement ends and they serve the country if required and then go on with their productive lives hopefully.
FK: Since the tragic circumstances surrounding Ben Zygier's death have become public we've been hearing from spies and spy agencies and people associated with them that Australians and New Zealanders are particularly attractive recruits for Mossad because our passports are so widely accepted. An Australian passport allows Israeli spies to travel throughout the Middle East without attracting suspicion. What's your advice... to Australian Jews who go to Israel if they are approached by Mossad or are recruited in this way?
PC: Well, Fran, obviously I don't represent or have any involvement in the security agencies in Israel or in Australia for that matter so it's not something we dispense advice on or something we're involved in or have any discussions with anybody on. Obviously, every person has to be cognisant of the laws of Israel, and Australia if they're still an Australian citizen, and be aware of the implications of... if there was ever a breach of those laws, but I'm not in the business of giving advice on issues like that. We haven't been involved in any such cases or had any matters raised with us that we needed to discuss with anybody. [I know nothing.]
FK: I am not even suggesting for a moment that you have any involvement in this at all but it's very much an issue in discussion now, and even now Fairfax papers are reporting that ASIO is investigating 3 Australians who were recruited. I wonder what your reaction to that is, and I suppose I'm asking you in this context, in this debate that's currently around, has anyone implied to you at all that they have been contacted by Mossad?
PC: No. No one has implied or said anything to me or, I believe, to our organisation about that. Of course, these allegations of which there are many flying around at the moment about passports or recruitment or the involvement of agencies. [Australian passports? What Australian passports?] As far as I understand they do not have any substantiation associated with them at the moment. I assume there will be further inquiries and investigations in relation to that but really there's nothing I can comment on that has been put to me in any factual sense about any person being approached or any discussion with them or any Australian about the use of their passports... [I know nothing.] As I said before, if anyone is involved in a breach of Australian law, that's a serious matter that obviously the Australian government needs to enquire about and investigate. That's perfectly appropriate, but no, I'm not aware [of] or have had any such matters drawn to my or my organisation's attention. [I know nothing.]
FK: Do you think it's a confusing line or can you see why it'd be confusing for young Australian Jews in particular who may be spending time in Israel? At what point does loyalty to Israel become disloyalty to Australia? Where is the line that shouldn't be crossed?
PC: Well I don't... when an Australian decides to move to another country... as you said earlier a number of Australian Jews have because they feel an affinity to Israel and people from other communities move to other countries for various reasons. It happens all the time, the movement of people throughout the world. [So Australian Jews who migrate to Israel because they're indoctrinated into believing that it's their divine right to do so while the country's ethnically-cleansed indigenous population cannot return to their homeland for fear of a bullet in the brain are the equivalent of other Australians visiting the country they or their parents were born in?] When they make that decision, they decide to make Israel their home, I don't believe for a moment they abandon their love and affinity with Australia. Australia is a wonderful country where Jews thrived and I believe have made a wonderful contribution as well and so I don't think any issue of dual loyalty arises for Australian Jews when they move to Israel They settle into their new country that's their new home but this doesn't mean any form of disloyalty in relation to Australia. They come back often. Of course, they still have families here and they maintain a very strong and warm relationship and we see them coming back and forth all the time and that's our impression and experience.
FK: The difficulty here I guess is it does mean they're disloyal to Australia if they become spies. If, as is alleged in the case of Ben Zygier, they come home to register a false name, get a new false passport. I mean the Age is now reporting that Ben Zygier had been in contact with Australian intelligence agencies and may have been prepared to blow the whistle on the misuse of Australian passports, because we do know for a fact, this is not just rumour, that Australian passports were used by Israeli agents in the assassination of a Palestinian militant, the Hamas official in Dubai.
PC: Fran, there are, as you're highlighting, there are lots of stories flying around at the moment [Just vicious rumours, Fran!] that I can't substantiate or...
FK (forcefully): That's not a story though. At the time the Australian government registered the strongest possible complaint about that. Our foreign minister at the time, Stephen Smith, said there was no doubt our passports had been misused.
PC: Yes, yes, I remember the...the...the incident very well. There was a lot of controversy surrounding it [Notice how, when a Zionist is confroned with a factual truth, he simply brands it 'controversisl'?] and, as I said before, if any Australian at any time misuses his Australian passport I understand that's a breach of Australian law and that's a serious matter that the authorities need to deal with but I don't for a minute want your listeners to believe that when we send Australians to live in Israel that there's an industry that exists of harvesting or using passports in any inappropriate or illegal way. [Oh yes there is! See my 4/3/10 post Removing the 'I' from CIA.] As I said, it's not something I have any personal experience of or have ever heard anyone discuss [I know nothing.], so the issues that occurred 2010 and that are being alleged now I can't... I have no sense of the magnitude, of how many people are involved, if anybody, but as I said before, if there are, the Australian authorities should be dealing with it. It's perfectly appropriate.
FK: And I accept... as I said, I'm not trying to impute that at all, that you have any knowledge of this but given these 2 incidences and given the tragic circumstance and the inappropriate circumstances surrounding it all, it would seem... I wonder in the future now as president of the ZFA, a group that does coordinate, help, support and fund young Australians to either move or certainly travel to Israel, whether you will be at pains to talk to these young people before they go about this issue.
PC: Well, it's not... I don't, we don't have a manifest we hand out which says, you know, don't do this, don't do that, be aware of this, don't worry about that. If... um... we would... I'll certainly say to any person moving to Israel, please be aware of all the laws of Israel, of course, and certainly Australia. We would if this came... if someone wanted to discuss this or the issue arose we'd certainly reinforce the fact that, if they remain Australian citizens, they continue to have obligations under the laws of Australia and these have to be taken very seriously.
FK: And are you, as president of the ZFA, disappointed in the Israeli authorities, the Israeli government, that gave the Australian government and the family of Ben Zygier very little information about what was happening to Ben Zygier, that the Australian government was never really told the nature of the accusations against him, the information was very scant and came only through back channels, not official, formal channels like the ambassador, does that disappoint you, that behaviour?
PC: Fran, I don't think anyone knows what communications actually took place, what was discussed, what was coming and to where. I saw that the foreign minister originally thought there'd been no communication with the Australian government in relation to Prisoner X. They retracted that last week when it became evident that there had been some comments.
FK: But only through the intelligence channels.
PC: Well, I can't sit here and answer how valid and effective those communications were. Same with the family. I don't know exactly what the family was or was not told. It's just complete speculation. [I know nothing.] What I can say, Fran, is the Zygier family are well regarded and active members of the Jewish community, that what happened to their young son was a tragedy. We're very sad about it for them and for our community. That's obviously something which has upset us greatly, but everything that surrounds it, communications, what actually happened to Ben, is just speculation that I can't add to. [I know nothing.]
The final aspect of the Prisoner X case that concerns me, and one which sheds a glaring light on Australian corporate media values and culture, is the huge discrepancy in the Australian media's treatment of Jewish as opposed to Arab deaths. It is impossible to believe that a Palestinian-Australian who fell foul of the Israelis in some way or other would receive anywhere near the same level of attention or concern. Indeed, as likely as not, they would not even be accorded the presumption of innocence. This is racism, pure and simple.
The first concerns the extraordinary silence of Australia's Jewish community when one of their own, from a prominent Melbourne Zionist family no less, came to grief whilst in Israeli hands: "Few in the local Jewish community have spoken publicly about Mr Zygier's death - more than a dozen organisations and individuals contacted on Thursday by Fairfax Media offered no comment - but the silence does not surprise Mr Greener, who put it down to a modest Malvern family's simple desire for privacy." (We want justice for Ben Zygier, family friend says, Konrad Marshall, Sydney Morning Herald, 14/2/13)
The question arises: Is this closing of ranks simply a sign of respect for the privacy of the Zygier family or is something more tribal involved? With around 80% of Australian Jews calling themselves Zionists, it is impossible not to speculate whether some kind of totalitarian groupthink, in this case a rallying around the - Isaeli - flag, right or wrong, is at work.
The following February 15 Fran Kelly interview with Philip Chester, president of the Zionist Federation of Australia, on ABC Radio National's Breakfast program gives credence to this view. To describe it as gruelling is to indulge in understatement. Chester's response to Kelly's generally clueless questions resembles nothing so much as the inky discharge of a squid as it attempts to evade a predator, even if, in this case, one without teeth. My comments in square brackets:
Fran Kelly: Well thousands of Australian Jews travel to Israel every year for holidays, to study, to work, even to serve in the Israeli Defence Force, but none... have had a tragic experience like this. Philip Chester is the president of the Zionist Federation of Australia which funds and organises travel to Israel, especially for young people. His organisation has actually helped more than 10,000 Australian Jews to emigrate permanently to Israel. Philip Chester, I know you're unaware of the details of this case but generally would you be surprised to learn that Australians you send to Israel could be recruited by Mossad as spies? [Kelly's naivete is astonishing. If Zionist leaders such as Chester, a one-time Betar youth movement leader, have no qualms whatever about young Australian Jews joining the so-called Israel Defence Forces (IDF), why would they cavil at them moving into the other sectors of Israel's state security apparatus?]
Philip Chester: Fran, I don't really have any knowledge about recruitment of any Australians to Israeli agencies. [I know nothing.] It's not something we're involved in or that anyone discusses with us or that we make any enquiries in relation to. We facilitate young, middle-aged and older people, families, youngsters, single people to, once they make the decision that they want to move to Israel and live there, help them do that. Many of them, if they're of the right age, need to do some military service... in Israel but that's when our involvement ends and they serve the country if required and then go on with their productive lives hopefully.
FK: Since the tragic circumstances surrounding Ben Zygier's death have become public we've been hearing from spies and spy agencies and people associated with them that Australians and New Zealanders are particularly attractive recruits for Mossad because our passports are so widely accepted. An Australian passport allows Israeli spies to travel throughout the Middle East without attracting suspicion. What's your advice... to Australian Jews who go to Israel if they are approached by Mossad or are recruited in this way?
PC: Well, Fran, obviously I don't represent or have any involvement in the security agencies in Israel or in Australia for that matter so it's not something we dispense advice on or something we're involved in or have any discussions with anybody on. Obviously, every person has to be cognisant of the laws of Israel, and Australia if they're still an Australian citizen, and be aware of the implications of... if there was ever a breach of those laws, but I'm not in the business of giving advice on issues like that. We haven't been involved in any such cases or had any matters raised with us that we needed to discuss with anybody. [I know nothing.]
FK: I am not even suggesting for a moment that you have any involvement in this at all but it's very much an issue in discussion now, and even now Fairfax papers are reporting that ASIO is investigating 3 Australians who were recruited. I wonder what your reaction to that is, and I suppose I'm asking you in this context, in this debate that's currently around, has anyone implied to you at all that they have been contacted by Mossad?
PC: No. No one has implied or said anything to me or, I believe, to our organisation about that. Of course, these allegations of which there are many flying around at the moment about passports or recruitment or the involvement of agencies. [Australian passports? What Australian passports?] As far as I understand they do not have any substantiation associated with them at the moment. I assume there will be further inquiries and investigations in relation to that but really there's nothing I can comment on that has been put to me in any factual sense about any person being approached or any discussion with them or any Australian about the use of their passports... [I know nothing.] As I said before, if anyone is involved in a breach of Australian law, that's a serious matter that obviously the Australian government needs to enquire about and investigate. That's perfectly appropriate, but no, I'm not aware [of] or have had any such matters drawn to my or my organisation's attention. [I know nothing.]
FK: Do you think it's a confusing line or can you see why it'd be confusing for young Australian Jews in particular who may be spending time in Israel? At what point does loyalty to Israel become disloyalty to Australia? Where is the line that shouldn't be crossed?
PC: Well I don't... when an Australian decides to move to another country... as you said earlier a number of Australian Jews have because they feel an affinity to Israel and people from other communities move to other countries for various reasons. It happens all the time, the movement of people throughout the world. [So Australian Jews who migrate to Israel because they're indoctrinated into believing that it's their divine right to do so while the country's ethnically-cleansed indigenous population cannot return to their homeland for fear of a bullet in the brain are the equivalent of other Australians visiting the country they or their parents were born in?] When they make that decision, they decide to make Israel their home, I don't believe for a moment they abandon their love and affinity with Australia. Australia is a wonderful country where Jews thrived and I believe have made a wonderful contribution as well and so I don't think any issue of dual loyalty arises for Australian Jews when they move to Israel They settle into their new country that's their new home but this doesn't mean any form of disloyalty in relation to Australia. They come back often. Of course, they still have families here and they maintain a very strong and warm relationship and we see them coming back and forth all the time and that's our impression and experience.
FK: The difficulty here I guess is it does mean they're disloyal to Australia if they become spies. If, as is alleged in the case of Ben Zygier, they come home to register a false name, get a new false passport. I mean the Age is now reporting that Ben Zygier had been in contact with Australian intelligence agencies and may have been prepared to blow the whistle on the misuse of Australian passports, because we do know for a fact, this is not just rumour, that Australian passports were used by Israeli agents in the assassination of a Palestinian militant, the Hamas official in Dubai.
PC: Fran, there are, as you're highlighting, there are lots of stories flying around at the moment [Just vicious rumours, Fran!] that I can't substantiate or...
FK (forcefully): That's not a story though. At the time the Australian government registered the strongest possible complaint about that. Our foreign minister at the time, Stephen Smith, said there was no doubt our passports had been misused.
PC: Yes, yes, I remember the...the...the incident very well. There was a lot of controversy surrounding it [Notice how, when a Zionist is confroned with a factual truth, he simply brands it 'controversisl'?] and, as I said before, if any Australian at any time misuses his Australian passport I understand that's a breach of Australian law and that's a serious matter that the authorities need to deal with but I don't for a minute want your listeners to believe that when we send Australians to live in Israel that there's an industry that exists of harvesting or using passports in any inappropriate or illegal way. [Oh yes there is! See my 4/3/10 post Removing the 'I' from CIA.] As I said, it's not something I have any personal experience of or have ever heard anyone discuss [I know nothing.], so the issues that occurred 2010 and that are being alleged now I can't... I have no sense of the magnitude, of how many people are involved, if anybody, but as I said before, if there are, the Australian authorities should be dealing with it. It's perfectly appropriate.
FK: And I accept... as I said, I'm not trying to impute that at all, that you have any knowledge of this but given these 2 incidences and given the tragic circumstance and the inappropriate circumstances surrounding it all, it would seem... I wonder in the future now as president of the ZFA, a group that does coordinate, help, support and fund young Australians to either move or certainly travel to Israel, whether you will be at pains to talk to these young people before they go about this issue.
PC: Well, it's not... I don't, we don't have a manifest we hand out which says, you know, don't do this, don't do that, be aware of this, don't worry about that. If... um... we would... I'll certainly say to any person moving to Israel, please be aware of all the laws of Israel, of course, and certainly Australia. We would if this came... if someone wanted to discuss this or the issue arose we'd certainly reinforce the fact that, if they remain Australian citizens, they continue to have obligations under the laws of Australia and these have to be taken very seriously.
FK: And are you, as president of the ZFA, disappointed in the Israeli authorities, the Israeli government, that gave the Australian government and the family of Ben Zygier very little information about what was happening to Ben Zygier, that the Australian government was never really told the nature of the accusations against him, the information was very scant and came only through back channels, not official, formal channels like the ambassador, does that disappoint you, that behaviour?
PC: Fran, I don't think anyone knows what communications actually took place, what was discussed, what was coming and to where. I saw that the foreign minister originally thought there'd been no communication with the Australian government in relation to Prisoner X. They retracted that last week when it became evident that there had been some comments.
FK: But only through the intelligence channels.
PC: Well, I can't sit here and answer how valid and effective those communications were. Same with the family. I don't know exactly what the family was or was not told. It's just complete speculation. [I know nothing.] What I can say, Fran, is the Zygier family are well regarded and active members of the Jewish community, that what happened to their young son was a tragedy. We're very sad about it for them and for our community. That's obviously something which has upset us greatly, but everything that surrounds it, communications, what actually happened to Ben, is just speculation that I can't add to. [I know nothing.]
The final aspect of the Prisoner X case that concerns me, and one which sheds a glaring light on Australian corporate media values and culture, is the huge discrepancy in the Australian media's treatment of Jewish as opposed to Arab deaths. It is impossible to believe that a Palestinian-Australian who fell foul of the Israelis in some way or other would receive anywhere near the same level of attention or concern. Indeed, as likely as not, they would not even be accorded the presumption of innocence. This is racism, pure and simple.
Friday, February 15, 2013
Prisoner X 4
Since significant new material has emerged in today's Fairfax press regarding the case of Prisoner X, I'll leave the other two aspects of the case I'd intended writing about to a later post, possibly the next.
The most important piece on the issue has to be Philip Dorling's report, Zygier 'close to spilling on Israel', which offers an eminently plausible explanation for Prisoner X's incarceration and suicide/murder:
"Australian security officials suspect that Ben Zygier, the spy who died in secret in an Israeli prison cell in 2010, may have been about to disclose information about Israeli intelligence operations, including the use of fraudulent Australian passports, either to the Australian government or to the media when he was arrested. '[Zygier] may well have been about to blow the whistle, but he never got the chance,' an Australian security official with knowledge of the case told Fairfax Media yesterday. Sources in Canberra are insistent that the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) was not informed by its counterparts of the precise nature of the espionage allegations against Mr Zygier. However, it is understood that the former Melbourne law graduate had been in contact with Australian intelligence. He was in contact the day before he died with human rights lawyer Avigdor Feldman, who said last night: 'When I saw him, there was nothing to indicate he was going to commit suicide', adding that he was rational, focused and without self-pity. Mr Feldman said he was surprised 'that a man who was being held in a cell like that, a cell which was being monitored and checked 24-hours a day, could manage to commit suicide by hanging himself. I understood that he was told he was likely to face the longest possible jail term and that he was likely to be ostracised by his family,' he said. Israeli intelligence informed ASIO of Mr Zygier's arrest and detention just 8 days after authorities in Dubai revealed that suspected Israeli agents had used fraudulent Australian passports in the assassination of a Palestinian militant leader. The subsequent crisis in Australian-Israeli intelligence relations provided the context in which the Australian diplomats did not seek access to Mr Zygier, who was regarded by Australian security officials as being a potential whistleblower on Israeli intelligence operations."
Dorling goes on to say that, although ASIO's liaison office in Tel Aviv was notified of Zygier's detention by Israel's domestic intelligence service, Shin Bet, and that it in turn notified DFAT, "as no request for consular assistance was made by Mr Zygier or his family, the matter was left to be dealt with through intelligence channels."
Two matters arise here.
First, if Zygier had wanted to blow the whistle on Mossad's abuse of Australian passports and had contacted Australian intelligence with this in mind, how did he end up in Shin Bet's hands?
Two possible explanations come to mind. The Shin Bet were already onto him and picked him up before he could tell all to his Australian intelligence contact(s), or the latter cold-shouldered him or worse to avoid the kind of falling out with Israel that a full disclosure of the passport abuse by an Australian-Israeli intelligence insider might have precipitated. If so, the question arises as to just how far up the Australian chain of command, security and political, that decision might have been made. Certainly, the suspicion that then PM Rudd and his FM, with their expressions of 'grave concern', their vows to 'take action', their carpeting of the Israeli ambassador, and their expulsion of an Israeli 'diplomat' - but no real severing of intelligence links - were really just taking part in an elaborate charade had crossed the mind of one of our more astute and combative television news presenters/interviewers, Kerry O'Brien. (See my 16/8/10 post Diplomatic Dancing.)
Second, I can't quite get my head around the implications of the assertions that a) "[Zygier] was told... that he was likely to be ostracised by his family"; and b) "no request for consular assistance" was made by Zygier's family. What is going on here?
These assertions are further complicated by Konrad Marshall's report, We want justice for Ben Zygier, family friend says:
"A family friend of Melbourne man Ben Zygier... has called for 'justice' and transparency two years after the 34-year-old's death. Henry Greener... said he could no longer abide by a 'sleeping dogs lie' credo. 'We all knew there was something suspicious and underhanded about Ben's death and nobody wanted to go there because of the suppression order in Israel... But now that the cat's been let out of the bag, we are going to find out a lot more, and in that process I think there should be justice for Ben..."
One is left wondering why, if "we all knew there was something suspicious and underhanded about Ben's death," we're reading references to family ostracism, a failure to seek consular assistance and respect for an Israeli suppression order.
Finally, my attention was caught by this particular exchange, in a report by David Wroe, 'We failed our duty' to Prisoner X:
"Asked by Greens senator Christine Milne why no embassy official had gone to visit Mr Zygier in jail, [DFAT] secretary Peter Varghese said communications had been between intelligence agencies, not the respective governments... Senator Milne asked: 'My question is just why did the Australian government hand over the welfare of one of our citizens to the spooks? Why?'" (14/2/13)
Could you ever imagine Milne play the terrier over the fate of an Arab-Australian in Israeli hands?
The most important piece on the issue has to be Philip Dorling's report, Zygier 'close to spilling on Israel', which offers an eminently plausible explanation for Prisoner X's incarceration and suicide/murder:
"Australian security officials suspect that Ben Zygier, the spy who died in secret in an Israeli prison cell in 2010, may have been about to disclose information about Israeli intelligence operations, including the use of fraudulent Australian passports, either to the Australian government or to the media when he was arrested. '[Zygier] may well have been about to blow the whistle, but he never got the chance,' an Australian security official with knowledge of the case told Fairfax Media yesterday. Sources in Canberra are insistent that the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) was not informed by its counterparts of the precise nature of the espionage allegations against Mr Zygier. However, it is understood that the former Melbourne law graduate had been in contact with Australian intelligence. He was in contact the day before he died with human rights lawyer Avigdor Feldman, who said last night: 'When I saw him, there was nothing to indicate he was going to commit suicide', adding that he was rational, focused and without self-pity. Mr Feldman said he was surprised 'that a man who was being held in a cell like that, a cell which was being monitored and checked 24-hours a day, could manage to commit suicide by hanging himself. I understood that he was told he was likely to face the longest possible jail term and that he was likely to be ostracised by his family,' he said. Israeli intelligence informed ASIO of Mr Zygier's arrest and detention just 8 days after authorities in Dubai revealed that suspected Israeli agents had used fraudulent Australian passports in the assassination of a Palestinian militant leader. The subsequent crisis in Australian-Israeli intelligence relations provided the context in which the Australian diplomats did not seek access to Mr Zygier, who was regarded by Australian security officials as being a potential whistleblower on Israeli intelligence operations."
Dorling goes on to say that, although ASIO's liaison office in Tel Aviv was notified of Zygier's detention by Israel's domestic intelligence service, Shin Bet, and that it in turn notified DFAT, "as no request for consular assistance was made by Mr Zygier or his family, the matter was left to be dealt with through intelligence channels."
Two matters arise here.
First, if Zygier had wanted to blow the whistle on Mossad's abuse of Australian passports and had contacted Australian intelligence with this in mind, how did he end up in Shin Bet's hands?
Two possible explanations come to mind. The Shin Bet were already onto him and picked him up before he could tell all to his Australian intelligence contact(s), or the latter cold-shouldered him or worse to avoid the kind of falling out with Israel that a full disclosure of the passport abuse by an Australian-Israeli intelligence insider might have precipitated. If so, the question arises as to just how far up the Australian chain of command, security and political, that decision might have been made. Certainly, the suspicion that then PM Rudd and his FM, with their expressions of 'grave concern', their vows to 'take action', their carpeting of the Israeli ambassador, and their expulsion of an Israeli 'diplomat' - but no real severing of intelligence links - were really just taking part in an elaborate charade had crossed the mind of one of our more astute and combative television news presenters/interviewers, Kerry O'Brien. (See my 16/8/10 post Diplomatic Dancing.)
Second, I can't quite get my head around the implications of the assertions that a) "[Zygier] was told... that he was likely to be ostracised by his family"; and b) "no request for consular assistance" was made by Zygier's family. What is going on here?
These assertions are further complicated by Konrad Marshall's report, We want justice for Ben Zygier, family friend says:
"A family friend of Melbourne man Ben Zygier... has called for 'justice' and transparency two years after the 34-year-old's death. Henry Greener... said he could no longer abide by a 'sleeping dogs lie' credo. 'We all knew there was something suspicious and underhanded about Ben's death and nobody wanted to go there because of the suppression order in Israel... But now that the cat's been let out of the bag, we are going to find out a lot more, and in that process I think there should be justice for Ben..."
One is left wondering why, if "we all knew there was something suspicious and underhanded about Ben's death," we're reading references to family ostracism, a failure to seek consular assistance and respect for an Israeli suppression order.
Finally, my attention was caught by this particular exchange, in a report by David Wroe, 'We failed our duty' to Prisoner X:
"Asked by Greens senator Christine Milne why no embassy official had gone to visit Mr Zygier in jail, [DFAT] secretary Peter Varghese said communications had been between intelligence agencies, not the respective governments... Senator Milne asked: 'My question is just why did the Australian government hand over the welfare of one of our citizens to the spooks? Why?'" (14/2/13)
Could you ever imagine Milne play the terrier over the fate of an Arab-Australian in Israeli hands?
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Prisoner X 2
The latest developments:
"An Australian diplomat knew that Melbourne man Ben Zygier was being held in an Israeli prison before he died in his cell, the government has admitted amid explosive reports that Mr Zygier was a Mossad agent known as 'Prisoner X'. Foreign Minister Bob Carr was forced into an embarrassing backflip on Wednesday as he ordered his department to investigate the Zygier case. His office was forced to correct earlier claims that the Australian embassy in Tel Aviv knew nothing of the case until after Mr Zygier died in prison in December 2010 when his family - a prominent Jewish family in Melbourne - asked for his body to be repatriated. In a revelation that raises questions about the extent of the Australian government's knowledge, Senator Carr's spokesman said an Australian diplomat - who was not the ambassador - was aware that Mr Zygier, 34, was being held by Israeli authorities... His father, Geoffrey Zygier, executive director for B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation Commission, did not comment on Wednesday... Zygier's death in 2010 was met with more than a dozen condolence notices in the Australian Jewish News. These included notices from Monash University, the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, the Beth Weizmann Community Centre, the Jewish Holocaust Centre, and the National Council of Jewish Women. None would comment yesterday." (Australian diplomat 'aware Zygier being held', David Wroe & Ruth Pollard, The Age, 14/2/13)
"When Ben Zygier died in a maximum-security prison in Israel he was under investigation by the spy agency ASIO, which suspected him of using his Australian passport to spy for Israel, Fairfax Media can reveal. Benji, as he was known by those close to him in Jerusalem's Jewish community, reacted angrily when Fairfax Media confronted him in early 2010 with allegations that he was working for the Israeli security agency Mossad. 'Who the f..k are you?' an incredulous Mr Zygier told Fairfax's then Middle East correspondent, Jason Koutsoukis. 'What is this total bullshit you are telling me?' He expressed shock at the suggestion he was under any kind of surveillance and said that he had also changed his name for personal reasons. 'I have never been to any of those countries that you say I have been to,' Mr Zygier said. 'I am not involved in any kind of spying. That is ridiculous.' 'He was at first angry, then exasperated that I wouldn't accept his denials at what I was putting to him,' Koutsoukis said. 'He told me that he was like any other Australian who had made aliyah and was trying to make a life in Israel.'
"Fairfax Media spoke to Mr Zygier after learning that ASIO was investigating at least 3 dual Australian-Israeli citizens who had all emigrated to Israel in the previous decade. ASIO would not comment. On Wednesday the agency again refused to comment. Each of the men had travelled back to Australia separately to change their names and obtain a new passport, two intelligence sources said at the time in Koutsoukis's story... The man had changed his name 3 times, with others having changed theirs twice, the source said, from names that identified them as European-Jewish to ones that were Anglo-Australian. The men had used the new passports to travel to Iran, Syria and Lebanon - all countries that do not recognise Israel and do not allow entry to Israelis, or anyone else with an Israeli stamp in their passport... It is believed Mr Zygier travelled back to Australia in 2009 to attend Monash University... along with his Ben Zygier identity, he also used Ben Alon, Ben Allen and Benjamin Burrows... Since 2006, Monash University has been involved in education in Middle Eastern countries... It is well known that Israel approached immigrants to assist Israel by handing over their passports, an Israeli intelligence expert told Fairfax Media in 2010. It is understood the ASIO investigation into Mr Zygier and the other 2 men began at least 6 months before the January 10, 2010 assassination of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, widely believed to have been carried out by Mossad using passports obtained from Australia and Europe." (Strange fate of Benji, the suspected spy, Ruth Pollard, Sydney Morning Herald, 14/2/13)
"An Australian diplomat knew that Melbourne man Ben Zygier was being held in an Israeli prison before he died in his cell, the government has admitted amid explosive reports that Mr Zygier was a Mossad agent known as 'Prisoner X'. Foreign Minister Bob Carr was forced into an embarrassing backflip on Wednesday as he ordered his department to investigate the Zygier case. His office was forced to correct earlier claims that the Australian embassy in Tel Aviv knew nothing of the case until after Mr Zygier died in prison in December 2010 when his family - a prominent Jewish family in Melbourne - asked for his body to be repatriated. In a revelation that raises questions about the extent of the Australian government's knowledge, Senator Carr's spokesman said an Australian diplomat - who was not the ambassador - was aware that Mr Zygier, 34, was being held by Israeli authorities... His father, Geoffrey Zygier, executive director for B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation Commission, did not comment on Wednesday... Zygier's death in 2010 was met with more than a dozen condolence notices in the Australian Jewish News. These included notices from Monash University, the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, the Beth Weizmann Community Centre, the Jewish Holocaust Centre, and the National Council of Jewish Women. None would comment yesterday." (Australian diplomat 'aware Zygier being held', David Wroe & Ruth Pollard, The Age, 14/2/13)
"When Ben Zygier died in a maximum-security prison in Israel he was under investigation by the spy agency ASIO, which suspected him of using his Australian passport to spy for Israel, Fairfax Media can reveal. Benji, as he was known by those close to him in Jerusalem's Jewish community, reacted angrily when Fairfax Media confronted him in early 2010 with allegations that he was working for the Israeli security agency Mossad. 'Who the f..k are you?' an incredulous Mr Zygier told Fairfax's then Middle East correspondent, Jason Koutsoukis. 'What is this total bullshit you are telling me?' He expressed shock at the suggestion he was under any kind of surveillance and said that he had also changed his name for personal reasons. 'I have never been to any of those countries that you say I have been to,' Mr Zygier said. 'I am not involved in any kind of spying. That is ridiculous.' 'He was at first angry, then exasperated that I wouldn't accept his denials at what I was putting to him,' Koutsoukis said. 'He told me that he was like any other Australian who had made aliyah and was trying to make a life in Israel.'
"Fairfax Media spoke to Mr Zygier after learning that ASIO was investigating at least 3 dual Australian-Israeli citizens who had all emigrated to Israel in the previous decade. ASIO would not comment. On Wednesday the agency again refused to comment. Each of the men had travelled back to Australia separately to change their names and obtain a new passport, two intelligence sources said at the time in Koutsoukis's story... The man had changed his name 3 times, with others having changed theirs twice, the source said, from names that identified them as European-Jewish to ones that were Anglo-Australian. The men had used the new passports to travel to Iran, Syria and Lebanon - all countries that do not recognise Israel and do not allow entry to Israelis, or anyone else with an Israeli stamp in their passport... It is believed Mr Zygier travelled back to Australia in 2009 to attend Monash University... along with his Ben Zygier identity, he also used Ben Alon, Ben Allen and Benjamin Burrows... Since 2006, Monash University has been involved in education in Middle Eastern countries... It is well known that Israel approached immigrants to assist Israel by handing over their passports, an Israeli intelligence expert told Fairfax Media in 2010. It is understood the ASIO investigation into Mr Zygier and the other 2 men began at least 6 months before the January 10, 2010 assassination of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, widely believed to have been carried out by Mossad using passports obtained from Australia and Europe." (Strange fate of Benji, the suspected spy, Ruth Pollard, Sydney Morning Herald, 14/2/13)
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Just Wild About Wilders
The Gillard government's woes, it seems, are legion. There are the godawful polls, there's Graig Thomson, there's Nova P, there's Eddie O, and there are resignations left, right and... but those, my friends, are mere pinpricks compared to the dreaded... BACKLASH FROM THE JEWISH COMMUNITY:
"There was also disquiet about the naming of the election day for Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, which had caused a backlash from the Jewish community." (Labor slumps as campaign starts, Dennis Shanahan & Sid Maher, The Australian, 4/2/13)
So these should be days of wine and roses for the Abbott opposition, right? Wrong! The Opposition too is ON THE BACKFOOT WITH THE JEWISH COMMUNITY:
"But the opposition was on the backfoot with the Jewish community yesterday after senior frontbencher Christopher Pyne said the government resembled a scene from Downfall, a movie about the decline of Adolf Hitler." (ibid)
Seems there's just no pleasing THE JC.
But what's this on the letters page? At last, one member of THE JC who's actually pleased about something!
In fact, he's more than just pleased. He's positively wild. About Geert Wilders that is:
"As a member of Melbourne's JEWISH COMMUNITY, I will be going along to hear Geert Wilders (Wilders mission to end Islamification, 2-3/2). Similar to Europe's JEWISH COMMUNITY, we are forced to spend tens of millions of dollars each year securing our synagogues, private schools, community centres, visiting Israeli Jewish politicians, athletes and entertainers because of the threat from extremists within the Muslim community... No other ethnic or religious minority has to live under this siege mentality. The fact that Geert Wilders needs to be protected by armed guards just gives credence to his criticism about the lack of tolerance about Islam." (Mark Stone, McKinnon, Vic, The Australian, 4/2/13)
Right. But wait a minute!
What's this business about "we," THE JEWISH COMMUNITY, "being forced to spend tens of millions of dollars each year securing our... private schools" against attack by the Muslim hordes?
Shouldn't that be 'the taxpayer':
"Thirteen Jewish schools have received a $4.7 million security boost in the third round of funding for the federal government's Secure Schools Program... Under the three rounds of the SSP, 17 Jewish schools received over $16 million, 56% of the program's funding." ($4.7m boost to school security, The Australian Jewish News,...)
"There was also disquiet about the naming of the election day for Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, which had caused a backlash from the Jewish community." (Labor slumps as campaign starts, Dennis Shanahan & Sid Maher, The Australian, 4/2/13)
So these should be days of wine and roses for the Abbott opposition, right? Wrong! The Opposition too is ON THE BACKFOOT WITH THE JEWISH COMMUNITY:
"But the opposition was on the backfoot with the Jewish community yesterday after senior frontbencher Christopher Pyne said the government resembled a scene from Downfall, a movie about the decline of Adolf Hitler." (ibid)
Seems there's just no pleasing THE JC.
But what's this on the letters page? At last, one member of THE JC who's actually pleased about something!
In fact, he's more than just pleased. He's positively wild. About Geert Wilders that is:
"As a member of Melbourne's JEWISH COMMUNITY, I will be going along to hear Geert Wilders (Wilders mission to end Islamification, 2-3/2). Similar to Europe's JEWISH COMMUNITY, we are forced to spend tens of millions of dollars each year securing our synagogues, private schools, community centres, visiting Israeli Jewish politicians, athletes and entertainers because of the threat from extremists within the Muslim community... No other ethnic or religious minority has to live under this siege mentality. The fact that Geert Wilders needs to be protected by armed guards just gives credence to his criticism about the lack of tolerance about Islam." (Mark Stone, McKinnon, Vic, The Australian, 4/2/13)
Right. But wait a minute!
What's this business about "we," THE JEWISH COMMUNITY, "being forced to spend tens of millions of dollars each year securing our... private schools" against attack by the Muslim hordes?
Shouldn't that be 'the taxpayer':
"Thirteen Jewish schools have received a $4.7 million security boost in the third round of funding for the federal government's Secure Schools Program... Under the three rounds of the SSP, 17 Jewish schools received over $16 million, 56% of the program's funding." ($4.7m boost to school security, The Australian Jewish News,...)
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