So debilitating is SES that, even though "Start Up Nation Finder 2017 listed almost 2000 active innovation start-ups based in Tel Aviv," and only "390 in Jerusalem," (ibid) sufferers such as Mr Guy are invariably rendered blind to all such mundane considerations.
Showing posts with label Upstart Nation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Upstart Nation. Show all posts
Friday, November 23, 2018
Poor Bastards
The brain-busting psychiatric disorder, hereinafter known as Shifting Embassy Syndrome (SES), which currently afflicts so many in the federal Liberal Party and the ruling LNP coalition government, has now, tragically, spread to the Liberal opposition in the state of Victoria, with its leader Matthew Bloke Guy flagging "a Jerusalem trade office as one of his top priorities.... Mr Bloke Guy said he was not interested in the political implications of the decision, and he had been driven to make the move by a trip to Israel last year during which he saw the opportunities in Jerusalem." (State Libs' Israel call 'risks backlash', Samantha Hutchinson, The Australian, 22/11/18)
So debilitating is SES that, even though "Start Up Nation Finder 2017 listed almost 2000 active innovation start-ups based in Tel Aviv," and only "390 in Jerusalem," (ibid) sufferers such as Mr Guy are invariably rendered blind to all such mundane considerations.
So debilitating is SES that, even though "Start Up Nation Finder 2017 listed almost 2000 active innovation start-ups based in Tel Aviv," and only "390 in Jerusalem," (ibid) sufferers such as Mr Guy are invariably rendered blind to all such mundane considerations.
Saturday, November 10, 2018
Dave Sharma's Inspiration
For earlier generations of useful fools for Israel it was Leon Uris' propaganda novel Exodus that did the trick. For Dave Sharma, it was obviously Senor & Singer's 's Start-Up Nation.
Read on:
"The people of Wentworth's loss is the corporate world's gain. Aspiring Liberal politician Dave Sharma has just joined the advisory board of ParaZero, a drone safety business. While listed on the ASX, ParaZero is headquartered in Israel where Sharma was previously the Australian ambassador. The ongoing pipeline of tech businesses run out of Israel but listed Down Under look to keep Sharma busy until his political career gets going proper. Another similar firm Sharma chairs, Shekel Brainweigh - which makes weighing technology for grocery self-check-outs and is headquartered in a kibbutz in northern Israel - has just completed its $10m fundraising." (He's at it again, Margin Call, The Australian, 9/11/18)
Read on:
"The people of Wentworth's loss is the corporate world's gain. Aspiring Liberal politician Dave Sharma has just joined the advisory board of ParaZero, a drone safety business. While listed on the ASX, ParaZero is headquartered in Israel where Sharma was previously the Australian ambassador. The ongoing pipeline of tech businesses run out of Israel but listed Down Under look to keep Sharma busy until his political career gets going proper. Another similar firm Sharma chairs, Shekel Brainweigh - which makes weighing technology for grocery self-check-outs and is headquartered in a kibbutz in northern Israel - has just completed its $10m fundraising." (He's at it again, Margin Call, The Australian, 9/11/18)
Saturday, February 25, 2017
Who is Writing Trumble's Pro-Israel Propaganda?
I mean, Jeeesus:
"Whether it was the elaborate water system of Herod's fortress on Masada or the desalination plant at Ashkelon, whether it was the ancient streets of old Jerusalem or the boardrooms of Tel Aviv... throughout its history the greatest natural resource of Israel has been the brilliance and the enterprise of its people,' the Prime Minister said at a lunch in Sydney in honour of Israeli Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu." (PM lauds Israel as 'original start-up nation', Stephen Fitzpatrick, The Australian, 23/2/17)
And how can he deliver it with a straight face?
"Whether it was the elaborate water system of Herod's fortress on Masada or the desalination plant at Ashkelon, whether it was the ancient streets of old Jerusalem or the boardrooms of Tel Aviv... throughout its history the greatest natural resource of Israel has been the brilliance and the enterprise of its people,' the Prime Minister said at a lunch in Sydney in honour of Israeli Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu." (PM lauds Israel as 'original start-up nation', Stephen Fitzpatrick, The Australian, 23/2/17)
And how can he deliver it with a straight face?
Saturday, February 11, 2017
Packer Exec Paves Way for Netanyahu Visit
James Packer is not the only one to fall in love with Benjamin Netanyahu (See my 2/2/17 post His Secret Love's No Secret Anymore). Now it's the turn - surprise, surprise - of Harold Mitchell, a director of Packer's Crown Resorts. And he's spilled his guts in that easy rag the Sydney Morning Herald. Here it is, along with my picking over the *ahem* entrails. (Well, somebody's gotta do it!):
"No matter what President Trump says or does, this century belongs to Asia... But there are other places now where the catalytic forces of immigration and innovation are creating new opportunities. One of them is Israel, where I have been this week. Its 8 and a half million people are crammed into an area about a third the size of Tasmania with no natural resources."
Er... their choice.
"And while being on a constant war footing... "
Their choice again. Muscle your way into someone else's patch and what do you expect?
"... Israel produces more start-ups than Japan, India, Korea, Canada and Britain combined."
Oh, and more trigger-happy upstarts than all of them combined!
"It is no surprise that this tiny country has more than 10% of the world's cyber-security industry and it's doubling every year."
"The Lord spoke to Moses, saying 'Send men that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel; of every tribe of their fathers shall you send a man, everyone a [Crown] prince among them." (Numbers 13: 1-2)
"And the booming innovation companies work in fields as diverse as medicine and irrigation. It's no surprise that a country that transformed desert into a fruit and veg bowl invented drip irrigation."
Yep, before that, not a fruit or veg as far as the eye could see. Just sand. Sand, sand, sand, sand. And the odd sand nigger. So they innovated, and invented the Uzi submachine gun, the Galil assault rifle and the Merkava tank, and hey, the rest is history...
"Three things stand out. First, Israel's motivation is the survival of its people. Let's not forget that it's a land of immigrants, bound together by a shared commitment to build a safe and prosperous nation."
After giving the place a thorough ethnic cleansing, of course.
"Second, the Israelis have an enormously strong family culture. I built my business on the simple domestic values of of telling each other the truth and arguments are fixed before bedtime."
Hello? Sub-editor? Must've fallen asleep at this point.
"And third, some Israelis are not afraid to question authority, be it the boss or the government. And what's more, authorities usually listen. We should all know by now that if you tend to surround yourself with people who only agree with you, collapse is just around the corner. That is the story of the great Napoleon and it will be the fate of some current leaders who don't have the capacity to listen to news they'd rather not hear."
Hm... most cryptic this... OK, OK, you guys, which one of you isn't listening to James/ Binyamin???
"There was a good example just before I left. The governor of the Bank of Israel said: 'The key to realising the economy's potential will be the development of policies that address economic issues of inequality, inefficient regulation and the need to increase both investment and human capital."
You've heard of the Lost Tribes? What about the lost 'Book of the Bank of Israel'? Now wouldn't that add a little more vibrancy to the fusty Old Testament?
"Which raises a fourth great strength, success through risk taking... "
Except when it comes to dismantling apartheid...
"We are not doing enough and with Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Australia in a week or so we should listen; we can learn from Israel."
Aha! So that's what this grubby PR exercise is all about. A promo for Netanyahu! Show some respect, you Aussie layabouts, and LISTEN to what the great man has to say!
"But the story of Israel cannot end without an account of my visit to the Hadassah Medical Centre, part of the Hebrew University and with one of the world's great cardiologists, Professor Chaim Lotan. He asked if I wanted to witness two simultaneous heart operations."
Cinch, we're Israelis, you know. (With apologies to Irving Berlin):
Chaim: Anything you can do, we can do better. We can do anything better than you.
Harold: Yes you can.
Chaim: Yes we can.
Harold: Yes you can.
Chaim: Yes we can. Yes we can, Yes we can.
"Now I hate the sight of blood... "
Good thing you didn't go the OCCUPIED West Bank & Gaza then.
"... and I had my own heart somewhere near my mouth as I walked into the control room for operating theatres. On the right was an older Jewish man and to my left was a 12-month-old baby. And the team performing these lifesaving operations within sight of the wall dividing Israel from the Palestinian territory was made up of Arab Israeli and Jewish technicians, side by side. This is as you'd expect from doctors of course. But it struck me strongly that here in the operating theatre the animosities of the outside world didn't mean a thing. It was one of the most memorable experiences of my life." (Australia could look to learn from Israel's successful innovations, 10/2/17)
OK, big thinker, if Arab and Jewish technicians can work side by side, tell me why we need a self-described 'Jewish' state. Think about it.
"No matter what President Trump says or does, this century belongs to Asia... But there are other places now where the catalytic forces of immigration and innovation are creating new opportunities. One of them is Israel, where I have been this week. Its 8 and a half million people are crammed into an area about a third the size of Tasmania with no natural resources."
Er... their choice.
"And while being on a constant war footing... "
Their choice again. Muscle your way into someone else's patch and what do you expect?
"... Israel produces more start-ups than Japan, India, Korea, Canada and Britain combined."
Oh, and more trigger-happy upstarts than all of them combined!
"It is no surprise that this tiny country has more than 10% of the world's cyber-security industry and it's doubling every year."
"The Lord spoke to Moses, saying 'Send men that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel; of every tribe of their fathers shall you send a man, everyone a [Crown] prince among them." (Numbers 13: 1-2)
"And the booming innovation companies work in fields as diverse as medicine and irrigation. It's no surprise that a country that transformed desert into a fruit and veg bowl invented drip irrigation."
Yep, before that, not a fruit or veg as far as the eye could see. Just sand. Sand, sand, sand, sand. And the odd sand nigger. So they innovated, and invented the Uzi submachine gun, the Galil assault rifle and the Merkava tank, and hey, the rest is history...
"Three things stand out. First, Israel's motivation is the survival of its people. Let's not forget that it's a land of immigrants, bound together by a shared commitment to build a safe and prosperous nation."
After giving the place a thorough ethnic cleansing, of course.
"Second, the Israelis have an enormously strong family culture. I built my business on the simple domestic values of of telling each other the truth and arguments are fixed before bedtime."
Hello? Sub-editor? Must've fallen asleep at this point.
"And third, some Israelis are not afraid to question authority, be it the boss or the government. And what's more, authorities usually listen. We should all know by now that if you tend to surround yourself with people who only agree with you, collapse is just around the corner. That is the story of the great Napoleon and it will be the fate of some current leaders who don't have the capacity to listen to news they'd rather not hear."
Hm... most cryptic this... OK, OK, you guys, which one of you isn't listening to James/ Binyamin???
"There was a good example just before I left. The governor of the Bank of Israel said: 'The key to realising the economy's potential will be the development of policies that address economic issues of inequality, inefficient regulation and the need to increase both investment and human capital."
You've heard of the Lost Tribes? What about the lost 'Book of the Bank of Israel'? Now wouldn't that add a little more vibrancy to the fusty Old Testament?
"Which raises a fourth great strength, success through risk taking... "
Except when it comes to dismantling apartheid...
"We are not doing enough and with Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Australia in a week or so we should listen; we can learn from Israel."
Aha! So that's what this grubby PR exercise is all about. A promo for Netanyahu! Show some respect, you Aussie layabouts, and LISTEN to what the great man has to say!
"But the story of Israel cannot end without an account of my visit to the Hadassah Medical Centre, part of the Hebrew University and with one of the world's great cardiologists, Professor Chaim Lotan. He asked if I wanted to witness two simultaneous heart operations."
Cinch, we're Israelis, you know. (With apologies to Irving Berlin):
Chaim: Anything you can do, we can do better. We can do anything better than you.
Harold: Yes you can.
Chaim: Yes we can.
Harold: Yes you can.
Chaim: Yes we can. Yes we can, Yes we can.
"Now I hate the sight of blood... "
Good thing you didn't go the OCCUPIED West Bank & Gaza then.
"... and I had my own heart somewhere near my mouth as I walked into the control room for operating theatres. On the right was an older Jewish man and to my left was a 12-month-old baby. And the team performing these lifesaving operations within sight of the wall dividing Israel from the Palestinian territory was made up of Arab Israeli and Jewish technicians, side by side. This is as you'd expect from doctors of course. But it struck me strongly that here in the operating theatre the animosities of the outside world didn't mean a thing. It was one of the most memorable experiences of my life." (Australia could look to learn from Israel's successful innovations, 10/2/17)
OK, big thinker, if Arab and Jewish technicians can work side by side, tell me why we need a self-described 'Jewish' state. Think about it.
Saturday, October 8, 2016
Just Another Manic Rambam*
"The potential for Australia to learn from Israel's 'can-do culture' was not lost on Nick Cater and James Brown, who attended a Rambam intensive study tour to Israel in July for Australian journalists and academics. At a debriefing luncheon in Sydney last week hosted by Rambam organisers, the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC), both described touring Tel Aviv's high-tech scene and having Israeli start-ups pitch directly to them, as eye-opening experiences... eight journalists and academics went on the trip." (Aussies share insights of Israel, The Australian Jewish News, 29/8/16)
So who were the other 6, and why didn't they attend the AIJAC debriefing? C'mon guyz-n-galz, out yourselves!
Now for those 'insights'.
Gem from Brown, research director, US Studies Centre, University of Sydney:
"The thing that really stood out for me is the Israeli culture of argument."
I know just what you mean, James: up is down, left is right, black is white etc, etc, etc.
Gems from Cater, executive director, Menzies Research Centre, Australian columnist:
"Israel seemed to me to be even more stable and remarkable a country because of what was happening around it. It's not accidental - it's because of the values, principles and institutions put in place by its founders."
What was happening around Israel? You mean, Israel's an innocent bystander in a tough neighbourhood, right, Nick?
Israeli values, principles & institutions? You mean, Nick, like Jewish supremacism, ethnocracy, apartheid & occupation?
"After speaking with Israelis and Palestinians, Cater and Brown were not confident about prospects for peace on the horizon. 'One thing I found very disheartening was the consequence of the growth of the idea... on the Palestinian side, that any form of normalisation, as they call it, in relation to Israel is a sell-out,' Cater said."
Cater, it seems, would have felt so much better if only he'd spoken to Palestinians who'd embraced Israeli repression, occupation and colonisation. Presumably, nothing whatever about the Israelis, their repression, their occupation or their colonisation, disheartened him in the least.
Speaking for myself, I have to say that I, for one, am very heartened that AIJAC couldn't find any Palestinian who embraced normalisation with Israel for Nick and his fellow rambamees to talk to.
[With apologies to The Bangles.]
So who were the other 6, and why didn't they attend the AIJAC debriefing? C'mon guyz-n-galz, out yourselves!
Now for those 'insights'.
Gem from Brown, research director, US Studies Centre, University of Sydney:
"The thing that really stood out for me is the Israeli culture of argument."
I know just what you mean, James: up is down, left is right, black is white etc, etc, etc.
Gems from Cater, executive director, Menzies Research Centre, Australian columnist:
"Israel seemed to me to be even more stable and remarkable a country because of what was happening around it. It's not accidental - it's because of the values, principles and institutions put in place by its founders."
What was happening around Israel? You mean, Israel's an innocent bystander in a tough neighbourhood, right, Nick?
Israeli values, principles & institutions? You mean, Nick, like Jewish supremacism, ethnocracy, apartheid & occupation?
"After speaking with Israelis and Palestinians, Cater and Brown were not confident about prospects for peace on the horizon. 'One thing I found very disheartening was the consequence of the growth of the idea... on the Palestinian side, that any form of normalisation, as they call it, in relation to Israel is a sell-out,' Cater said."
Cater, it seems, would have felt so much better if only he'd spoken to Palestinians who'd embraced Israeli repression, occupation and colonisation. Presumably, nothing whatever about the Israelis, their repression, their occupation or their colonisation, disheartened him in the least.
Speaking for myself, I have to say that I, for one, am very heartened that AIJAC couldn't find any Palestinian who embraced normalisation with Israel for Nick and his fellow rambamees to talk to.
[With apologies to The Bangles.]
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
Sun, Sand & Startups
I understand. Victoria can be awfully cold in winter. One longs for sun, sand... and startups:
"Over the course of eight days in July, a delegation of 11 [Victorian] Coalition MPs, including a number of Shadow Ministers, travelled to Israel to partake in AIJAC's Rambam Israel Fellowship Program with a key focus on learning about Israel'supstart startup culture and industries." (Victorian Coalition delegation looks to Israel for innovation inspiration, jwire.com.au, 12/8/16)
The rambammed were as follows:
David Southwick MP, Shadow Minister for Innovation:
"Israel is a global leader in theupstart startup world, one which Victoria can continue to partner with and learn from."
MPs Cindy McLeish, Neale Burgess, Graham Watt, Nick Wakeling, Richard Riordan, and Martin Dixon are all identified in a group photo. The identity of the other 4 remains a mystery.
"Over the course of eight days in July, a delegation of 11 [Victorian] Coalition MPs, including a number of Shadow Ministers, travelled to Israel to partake in AIJAC's Rambam Israel Fellowship Program with a key focus on learning about Israel's
The rambammed were as follows:
David Southwick MP, Shadow Minister for Innovation:
"Israel is a global leader in the
MPs Cindy McLeish, Neale Burgess, Graham Watt, Nick Wakeling, Richard Riordan, and Martin Dixon are all identified in a group photo. The identity of the other 4 remains a mystery.
Sunday, June 5, 2016
Ladies Who Rambam 2
Hilarious sound bites from Geraldine Doogue's latest Israel promo on Radio National, What Australia can learn from Israel... to support start-ups (Saturday Extra, 4/6/16).
The Gush was interviewing Jillian Segal of the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce following the latter's trip to Israel last month with M'Lady Lucinda to explore itsupstart start-up 'ecosystem'. (See my 20/5/16 post Ladies Who Rambam.):
JS: Everyone you spoke to [there] had this sort ofupstart start-up nation in their DNA.
***
JS: We were struck by the fact that the Israelis are looking... to the rest of the world and their main aim is to have, as they would describe it, the social impact. It is to change the world, but it's also to do good.
GD (agog): To do good?!
JS: To do good. To make money, and to do good at the same time...
The Gush was interviewing Jillian Segal of the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce following the latter's trip to Israel last month with M'Lady Lucinda to explore its
JS: Everyone you spoke to [there] had this sort of
***
JS: We were struck by the fact that the Israelis are looking... to the rest of the world and their main aim is to have, as they would describe it, the social impact. It is to change the world, but it's also to do good.
GD (agog): To do good?!
JS: To do good. To make money, and to do good at the same time...
Sunday, May 29, 2016
When All Else Fails...
"The aim of propaganda is always, in some sense, to obscure true meaning. This can take the form of oversimplifying, dissembling, or straight out lying, depending on the propaganda outlet in question. For Israel... it now seems that defending Israel on moral or political grounds to Americans is at best a tricky prospect, or at worst a disaster. The marketing of the Israeli tech industry glowingly described in Start-up Nation to American audiences is a way of glossing over Israel's fiercely militaristic nationalism with a sort of TED talk-esque futurism, eschewing concrete political analysis for trite self-help and some light PR thrown in for good measure. In the tech industry, Israel has found an ideal facade - forward thinking and uplifting in an apolitical, technocratic way that promotes the 'desert bloom' myth while encouraging continued investment and erasing the crimes which so much of that investment funds." (Giving up on political propaganda, Israeli consulate turns to TED-style inspirational conference, Rob Bryan, mondoweiss.net, 27/5/16)
Saturday, May 21, 2016
Scoop: Hasbara Levels Now at 400ppm
This is grim. MERC has just obtained important new evidence that the concentration of Zionist bulldust in the planet's intellectual atmosphere has finally reached the critical tipping point of 400ppm!
With even Australia's prime minister M'Lord Turnbull babbling on about 'smart cities', and the tell-tale Z-word 'vibrant' cropping up in his daily discourse - only yesterday, for example, in an opinion piece in the Fairfax press, he spoke of rejoicing in the "vibrant diversity of our immigrant nation"* - we are compelled to ask the terrifying question: Has the Zionisation of our intellectual climate now become irreversible?
Take a Diane Smith-Gander at the aforementioned evidence:
"Did you know that Jerusalem was the first city in the world to be completely covered by wi-fi, that Israeli scientists discovered the cause of halitosis or that Lady Gaga's shoes are designed by an Israeli? These are just a few of the little-known facts about the Jewish state featured in a video released by the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to celebrate this week's 68th anniversary of of the Declaration of Independence. Other nuggets of information include impressive statistics such as Israel having the highest number of academics per capita in the world, as well as the highest proportion of start-ups and museums. It's also revealed that Beersheva has the most chess masters per capita in the world, and that the Jewish State is one of only eight countries to have sent a satellite into space. Furthermore, Israeli women have more academic degrees than men and Israeli whiz-kids were responsible for developing the world's first anti-virus software, the technology allowing us to use WhatsApp and Messenger, as well as treatments for multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. In addition, Israel is the birthplace of the cherry tomato and Rummikub. Ranked in 11th place on the Global Happiness Index out of 196 countries, Israel was also the first country in the world to ban commercials starring underweight models." (68 facts about Israel, The Australian Jewish News, 13/5/16)
[*Our successful multicultural society is built on secure borders, Sydney Morning Herald, 20/5/16]
With even Australia's prime minister M'Lord Turnbull babbling on about 'smart cities', and the tell-tale Z-word 'vibrant' cropping up in his daily discourse - only yesterday, for example, in an opinion piece in the Fairfax press, he spoke of rejoicing in the "vibrant diversity of our immigrant nation"* - we are compelled to ask the terrifying question: Has the Zionisation of our intellectual climate now become irreversible?
Take a Diane Smith-Gander at the aforementioned evidence:
"Did you know that Jerusalem was the first city in the world to be completely covered by wi-fi, that Israeli scientists discovered the cause of halitosis or that Lady Gaga's shoes are designed by an Israeli? These are just a few of the little-known facts about the Jewish state featured in a video released by the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to celebrate this week's 68th anniversary of of the Declaration of Independence. Other nuggets of information include impressive statistics such as Israel having the highest number of academics per capita in the world, as well as the highest proportion of start-ups and museums. It's also revealed that Beersheva has the most chess masters per capita in the world, and that the Jewish State is one of only eight countries to have sent a satellite into space. Furthermore, Israeli women have more academic degrees than men and Israeli whiz-kids were responsible for developing the world's first anti-virus software, the technology allowing us to use WhatsApp and Messenger, as well as treatments for multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. In addition, Israel is the birthplace of the cherry tomato and Rummikub. Ranked in 11th place on the Global Happiness Index out of 196 countries, Israel was also the first country in the world to ban commercials starring underweight models." (68 facts about Israel, The Australian Jewish News, 13/5/16)
[*Our successful multicultural society is built on secure borders, Sydney Morning Herald, 20/5/16]
Friday, May 20, 2016
Ladies Who Rambam
While M'Lord Turnbull is swanning around Australia in hard hat and fluoro-vest, singing the praises of Jobson Grothe, M'Lady Lucinda and her set have also been busy:
"Some of Australia's most prominent business women including company directors Lucy Turnbull and Broadspectrum chair Diane Smith-Gander* head off this week for a trip to look atupstart start-up culture in Israel. The group of 35 senior businesswomen which also includes Jillian Segal, Fiona Balfour, Karen Penrose, Alison Deans and Sydney University chancellor Belinda Hutchinson marks the first time the Australia Israel Chamber of Commerce has hosted a women's business delegation to the country, which is recognised as one of the world's leaders in encouraging start-up technology companies." (Women discover Israel's start-up culture, Glenda Korporaal, The Australian, 9/5/16)
How could they possibly resist? After all, Israel whisperer Jillian Segal, NSW chair of the Australia Israel Chamber of Commerce, director of the National Australia Bank, deputy chancellor of the University of NSW and chair of the Sir John Monash Foundation, had been cooing the following lines into their shell pinks:
"There is an enormous amount of interest in the business community here learning what we can from the remarkable situation which exists today in Israel. The country has reinvented itself as 'the start-up nation'. It has more start-ups per head than the US. It is a small country of 8 million people, the size of NSW, and everybody wants to be an entrepreneur. We have to learn to understand the ecosystem and what goes into making an innovation culture. [The visit was about] smart women looking for smart ideas from a smart country'."
Just so you know that a good time was had by M'Lady Lucinda & all take a gander at some of Smith-Gander's tweets:
*May 15 women trade leaders w@NirBarkat father of 3 daughters in the IDF inspiring leader@AICC NSW #ausisraelinnovation
*May 16 Israel small nation in problematic geography so army not focused on spit & polish - startup nation recipe@AICC NSW #ausisraelinnovation
*May 16 Why is Israel smart? "you get the oppty to make decisions in the army long be4 u decide to dye your hair pink" Fiona Darmon JVP @AICC NSW
*May 16 All jobs in the Israeli defence force are important. But it will be empowering if women do the more important roles@AICC_NSW#ausisraelinnovation
*May 16 Diversity rules in Israel startup nation recipe@AICC_NSW:
Israeli Landscape of Entrepreneurship
*Diversity=Extraordinary Human Capital
*Entrepreneurial DNA
*Military
Thought Process; Groundbreaking Technologies
*Global from Day 1
*RT: Swaab Attorneys May 18 Brand of a city is to capture the life of the city@AICC_NSW#ausisraelinnovation:
'Mediterranean Capital of Cool' The New York Times
1,748 bars, cafes and nightclubs
1 for every 231 residents
Tel Aviv Nonstop City
Well, Lady Di's obviously blown away by Israel. But then so too the Palestinians - for almost 7 decades now.
[*"Broadspectrum chairwoman Diane Smith-Gander has revealed the refugee camp operator's most senior personnel keep track of activists and proxy advisers by monitoring their Facebook and Twitter profiles. The company, formerly named Transfield Services, has turned to social media surveillance to help it cope with protests over claims of human rights abuses inside the government's offshore asylum seeker processing centres on Nauru and Manus Island that the company has a critical $2.2 billion contract to operate." (Broadspectrum's Diane Smith-Gander eyes protesters via Facebook & Twitter, Sally Rose, Sydney Morning Herald, 2/12/15)]
"Some of Australia's most prominent business women including company directors Lucy Turnbull and Broadspectrum chair Diane Smith-Gander* head off this week for a trip to look at
How could they possibly resist? After all, Israel whisperer Jillian Segal, NSW chair of the Australia Israel Chamber of Commerce, director of the National Australia Bank, deputy chancellor of the University of NSW and chair of the Sir John Monash Foundation, had been cooing the following lines into their shell pinks:
"There is an enormous amount of interest in the business community here learning what we can from the remarkable situation which exists today in Israel. The country has reinvented itself as 'the start-up nation'. It has more start-ups per head than the US. It is a small country of 8 million people, the size of NSW, and everybody wants to be an entrepreneur. We have to learn to understand the ecosystem and what goes into making an innovation culture. [The visit was about] smart women looking for smart ideas from a smart country'."
Just so you know that a good time was had by M'Lady Lucinda & all take a gander at some of Smith-Gander's tweets:
*May 15 women trade leaders w
*May 16 Israel small nation in problematic geography so army not focused on spit & polish - startup nation recipe@AICC NSW #ausisraelinnovation
*May 16 Why is Israel smart? "you get the oppty to make decisions in the army long be4 u decide to dye your hair pink" Fiona Darmon JVP @AICC NSW
*May 16 All jobs in the Israeli defence force are important. But it will be empowering if women do the more important roles@AICC_NSW#ausisraelinnovation
*May 16 Diversity rules in Israel startup nation recipe@AICC_NSW:
Israeli Landscape of Entrepreneurship
*Diversity=Extraordinary Human Capital
*Entrepreneurial DNA
*Military
Thought Process; Groundbreaking Technologies
*Global from Day 1
*RT: Swaab Attorneys May 18 Brand of a city is to capture the life of the city@AICC_NSW#ausisraelinnovation:
'Mediterranean Capital of Cool' The New York Times
1,748 bars, cafes and nightclubs
1 for every 231 residents
Tel Aviv Nonstop City
Well, Lady Di's obviously blown away by Israel. But then so too the Palestinians - for almost 7 decades now.
[*"Broadspectrum chairwoman Diane Smith-Gander has revealed the refugee camp operator's most senior personnel keep track of activists and proxy advisers by monitoring their Facebook and Twitter profiles. The company, formerly named Transfield Services, has turned to social media surveillance to help it cope with protests over claims of human rights abuses inside the government's offshore asylum seeker processing centres on Nauru and Manus Island that the company has a critical $2.2 billion contract to operate." (Broadspectrum's Diane Smith-Gander eyes protesters via Facebook & Twitter, Sally Rose, Sydney Morning Herald, 2/12/15)]
Sunday, February 14, 2016
Off to Israel with Him!
Strewth, just how long has this bloke been in the party? Talk about loose lips:
"The new head of the NSW union movement will criticise federal Labor for following Malcolm Turnbull's push to make Australia a 'start-up nation,' in a speech to the ALP's state conference on Saturday. 'Start-ups often pay much less than established companies [...] getting a mortgage is harder [and they] don't always offer decent employment rights,' Mark Morey, the new secretary of Unions NSW, will say in a speech to the state Labor conference on Saturday." ('Start-up nation' can mean a raw deal for workers: Unions NSW boss Mark Morey, James Robertson, Sydney Morning Herald, 12/2/16)
But, Mark, Labor's not just blindly following M' Lord Turnbull here.
It's acting out of its own DNA, mate. As a Zionist party, the ALP cannot help but lap up and regurgitate anything that comes out of Israel. It used to be the kibbutz, but that's sooo yesterday. Now that we're all agile, innovative, neo-liberal go-getters, it's Upstart Nation.
As Zionist elder Mark Leibler once put it:
"Bill Shorten embodies the traditional core values of the Labor Party, and his solid support for Israel reflects that." (See my 21/10/13 post Danby to Keep Young Bill on Straight & Narrow.)
Mark, mate, zip it! Don't go there! Workers be buggered! It's Israel, mate! Israel!
Remember what they did to Tanya (Once was Warrior) Plibersek? Not a pretty picture these days, eh?
Mark, I'm telling you, utter one word against Upstart Nation and they'll have you marked down... for a right rambamming.
"The new head of the NSW union movement will criticise federal Labor for following Malcolm Turnbull's push to make Australia a 'start-up nation,' in a speech to the ALP's state conference on Saturday. 'Start-ups often pay much less than established companies [...] getting a mortgage is harder [and they] don't always offer decent employment rights,' Mark Morey, the new secretary of Unions NSW, will say in a speech to the state Labor conference on Saturday." ('Start-up nation' can mean a raw deal for workers: Unions NSW boss Mark Morey, James Robertson, Sydney Morning Herald, 12/2/16)
But, Mark, Labor's not just blindly following M' Lord Turnbull here.
It's acting out of its own DNA, mate. As a Zionist party, the ALP cannot help but lap up and regurgitate anything that comes out of Israel. It used to be the kibbutz, but that's sooo yesterday. Now that we're all agile, innovative, neo-liberal go-getters, it's Upstart Nation.
As Zionist elder Mark Leibler once put it:
"Bill Shorten embodies the traditional core values of the Labor Party, and his solid support for Israel reflects that." (See my 21/10/13 post Danby to Keep Young Bill on Straight & Narrow.)
Mark, mate, zip it! Don't go there! Workers be buggered! It's Israel, mate! Israel!
Remember what they did to Tanya (Once was Warrior) Plibersek? Not a pretty picture these days, eh?
Mark, I'm telling you, utter one word against Upstart Nation and they'll have you marked down... for a right rambamming.
Sunday, January 10, 2016
Blogging the Zionist Bookshelf
First the good news. A new (2013) and youthful (1982) federal Labor MP (Gellibrand), Tim Watts, not only reads books but blogs about them on a website called Blogging the Bookshelf. In fact, all the books he's read from 2013 -2015. He's even got a handy rating system for you: BUY, BORROW, TOSS
But how does Tim choose the books he reads? Does he just walk into a bookshop (or St Vinnies?) and pick them up at random? Does he just read books others have passed on to him or recommended? Does he gravitate towards some subjects rather than others?
He doesn't say. His lists seem pretty much random. Some clarity here would be welcome.
Now for the bad news. Of all the books Tim could have read to gain some idea - which after all is the point of reading books, right? - about WTF is going on in Palestine/Israel he's chosen Start-Up Nation by Dan Senor & Saul Singer* and My Promised Land by Ari Shavit.
The first is about how enforcing an occupation produces budding entrepreneurs. Tim gives it a BORROW rating.
So if I were to write a book suggesting that maybe Australia should introduce conscription and invade, occupy and police PNG because this will turn us into a start-up nation, Tim would rate it BORROW as opposed to TOSS?
The second is about how wonderful Israelis are, and how they created "something unique and quite endearing" in a tough (Arab) neighborhood. Tim gives it a BUY rating.
So if I were to write a self-congratulatory book called My Promised Land about how wonderful Australians are, and how we created 'something unique and quite endearing' in a tough (Aboriginal) neighborhood, Tim would rate it BUY as opposed to TOSS?
Can we detect a pattern here then? An unfortunate predilection for Zionist potboilers?
Why so? Well, this is the Labor Party, and if you want to get ahead there...
And, significantly, he's been rambammed - 2014:
"Watts said he was impressed by the objectivity of the Rambam program, which he said exposed him to a diverse range of views and the space to develop his own views on Israel without intrusion or interference." (See my 9/6/14 post Israeli-Occupied Labor.)
LOLOLOLOL
But I'm curious: where did these two books come from? Michael Danby? AIJAC? Israel's Foreign Ministry?
And I'm also curious as to how a bloke who's declared in parliament that "multiculturalism is important to me" can give the thumbs-up to sales brochures for an ethnocratic, apartheid state.
[*See my 23/4/10 post Creative Destruction.]
PS: Check out his reading list for 2001: Wall-to-wall Leon Uris, including EXODUS. So that's when the Ziobug first bit. It's like the herpes virus, once it's in your system it's there forever!
But how does Tim choose the books he reads? Does he just walk into a bookshop (or St Vinnies?) and pick them up at random? Does he just read books others have passed on to him or recommended? Does he gravitate towards some subjects rather than others?
He doesn't say. His lists seem pretty much random. Some clarity here would be welcome.
Now for the bad news. Of all the books Tim could have read to gain some idea - which after all is the point of reading books, right? - about WTF is going on in Palestine/Israel he's chosen Start-Up Nation by Dan Senor & Saul Singer* and My Promised Land by Ari Shavit.
The first is about how enforcing an occupation produces budding entrepreneurs. Tim gives it a BORROW rating.
So if I were to write a book suggesting that maybe Australia should introduce conscription and invade, occupy and police PNG because this will turn us into a start-up nation, Tim would rate it BORROW as opposed to TOSS?
The second is about how wonderful Israelis are, and how they created "something unique and quite endearing" in a tough (Arab) neighborhood. Tim gives it a BUY rating.
So if I were to write a self-congratulatory book called My Promised Land about how wonderful Australians are, and how we created 'something unique and quite endearing' in a tough (Aboriginal) neighborhood, Tim would rate it BUY as opposed to TOSS?
Can we detect a pattern here then? An unfortunate predilection for Zionist potboilers?
Why so? Well, this is the Labor Party, and if you want to get ahead there...
And, significantly, he's been rambammed - 2014:
"Watts said he was impressed by the objectivity of the Rambam program, which he said exposed him to a diverse range of views and the space to develop his own views on Israel without intrusion or interference." (See my 9/6/14 post Israeli-Occupied Labor.)
LOLOLOLOL
But I'm curious: where did these two books come from? Michael Danby? AIJAC? Israel's Foreign Ministry?
And I'm also curious as to how a bloke who's declared in parliament that "multiculturalism is important to me" can give the thumbs-up to sales brochures for an ethnocratic, apartheid state.
[*See my 23/4/10 post Creative Destruction.]
PS: Check out his reading list for 2001: Wall-to-wall Leon Uris, including EXODUS. So that's when the Ziobug first bit. It's like the herpes virus, once it's in your system it's there forever!
Friday, December 18, 2015
Pyne & Bishop Do Ramallah
Oh dear:
"A Palestinian minister has accused an Australian-led political delegation of asking rude questions during a meeting in the West Bank. The Australian industry minister Christopher Pyne, the former parliamentary speaker, Bronwyn Bishop, and Human Rights Commissioner, Tim Wilson, were among Australian and British delegates to attend the meeting in Ramallah on Sunday.
"The Palestinian education minister, Sabri Saidam, told the ABC the meeting was 'very explosive and very challenging.' He said the group had asked 'rude and blunt' questions and Pyne had raised 'a list of complaints.' The group visited Israel as part of the Australia-Israel-United Kingdom Leadership Dialogue. Saidam suggested the delegation had 'wrong impressions accumulated after the visit to Israel.' 'The delegation had false information and twisted facts,' he told the ABC. 'It was clear the delegation was not well educated.'" (Australian delegation asked 'rude' questions during 'explosive' West Bank meeting, Daniel Hurst, theguardian.com, 16/12/15)
Frankly, I blame the Palestinian Authority here.
As in, what did they expect?
Face it, what are we dealing with here?
A mob of obnoxious and revolting Australian politicians who think the sun shines out of Israel's arse, on an Israeli-sponsored freebie to Israel, primed with Israeli talking points, stuffed with Israeli tucker, and only in Ramallah so that they can claim they 'talked to both sides.'
Saidam said the group had asked "rude and blunt questions."
Well, hello? You are dealing with Poodles Pyne, Chopper Bishop and Freedom Boy here.
He said Pyne "had a list of complaints."
Well, hello? Autographed by Benjamin Netanyahu himself.
He said, the delegation had "wrong impressions accumulated after the visit to Israel," and "false information and twisted facts."
Well, hello? Only after their visit to Israel? They've been reading the Murdoch press, like, for centuries, mate!
He said, "It was clear the delegation was not well educated."
Well, hello? What did Poodles Pyne have in his back pocket? Senor & Singer's Start-Up Nation.*
I mean, if you're going to let this lot into your office, you deserve what you get, right?
End of story.
[*"Despite another year of political upheaval, it is encouraging that many of our politicians still found time to reach for a book... Releasing his 'inner revolutionary', Industry Minister Christopher Pyne devoured Start-Up Nation by Dan Senor and Saul Singer..." (The next pages in the lives of our pollies: What our representatives will be reading over the Christmas break, Troy Bramston, The Australian, 14/12/15) On this vile little propaganda tome, see my 23/4/10 post Creative Destruction.]
"A Palestinian minister has accused an Australian-led political delegation of asking rude questions during a meeting in the West Bank. The Australian industry minister Christopher Pyne, the former parliamentary speaker, Bronwyn Bishop, and Human Rights Commissioner, Tim Wilson, were among Australian and British delegates to attend the meeting in Ramallah on Sunday.
"The Palestinian education minister, Sabri Saidam, told the ABC the meeting was 'very explosive and very challenging.' He said the group had asked 'rude and blunt' questions and Pyne had raised 'a list of complaints.' The group visited Israel as part of the Australia-Israel-United Kingdom Leadership Dialogue. Saidam suggested the delegation had 'wrong impressions accumulated after the visit to Israel.' 'The delegation had false information and twisted facts,' he told the ABC. 'It was clear the delegation was not well educated.'" (Australian delegation asked 'rude' questions during 'explosive' West Bank meeting, Daniel Hurst, theguardian.com, 16/12/15)
Frankly, I blame the Palestinian Authority here.
As in, what did they expect?
Face it, what are we dealing with here?
A mob of obnoxious and revolting Australian politicians who think the sun shines out of Israel's arse, on an Israeli-sponsored freebie to Israel, primed with Israeli talking points, stuffed with Israeli tucker, and only in Ramallah so that they can claim they 'talked to both sides.'
Saidam said the group had asked "rude and blunt questions."
Well, hello? You are dealing with Poodles Pyne, Chopper Bishop and Freedom Boy here.
He said Pyne "had a list of complaints."
Well, hello? Autographed by Benjamin Netanyahu himself.
He said, the delegation had "wrong impressions accumulated after the visit to Israel," and "false information and twisted facts."
Well, hello? Only after their visit to Israel? They've been reading the Murdoch press, like, for centuries, mate!
He said, "It was clear the delegation was not well educated."
Well, hello? What did Poodles Pyne have in his back pocket? Senor & Singer's Start-Up Nation.*
I mean, if you're going to let this lot into your office, you deserve what you get, right?
End of story.
[*"Despite another year of political upheaval, it is encouraging that many of our politicians still found time to reach for a book... Releasing his 'inner revolutionary', Industry Minister Christopher Pyne devoured Start-Up Nation by Dan Senor and Saul Singer..." (The next pages in the lives of our pollies: What our representatives will be reading over the Christmas break, Troy Bramston, The Australian, 14/12/15) On this vile little propaganda tome, see my 23/4/10 post Creative Destruction.]
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Innovate or Perish!
The new Zionist mantra of those who would have us leap into bed with apartheid Israel NOW, is 'Innovate or Perish!'
Well, actually, it's not that new, just another annoying variation on the old Zionist BS about 'making the desert bloom.'
Inevitably, Murdoch's Australian is the mantra's megaphone, and the voice blowing into belongs to the Australian's telecoms and technology reporter Mitchell Bingemann, winner, we are informed, of "the inaugural Australian Computer Society Excellence in IT Journalism award." (Bingemann leads the IT crowd, The Australian, 2/12/15)
The star of the show, of course, isIsrael our Assistant Minister for Innovation Wyatt Roy, recently returned from a rambamming in the Upstart Nation. (See my 29/10/15 post Looking for Inspiration in All the Wrong Places.)
Here are the opening lines of Bingemann's post-rambam follow-up:
"Government officials, high-profile investors and major technology companies are urging closer ties with Israel to emulate the nation's successful track record of fostering technological innovation and creating world-class start-ups. Seek co-founder Paul Basset, who leads the James Packer-backed venture capital firm Square Peg Capital said Australia needed to follow Israel's lead in creating a sustainable ecosystem for start-ups, saying it would be the lifeblood of the nation's future economic growth... [Mr Bassat said] 'The reality is that in every city in the world people are trying to do what Israelis have achieved over the past 20-30 years. So we have to make significant steps forward just to stand still, and I don't think we should underestimate the enormity of the size of the task if we really want to build an innovative country over the next 30 years.'" (Leaders urge closer ties with innovative Israel, 25/11/15)
Oh dear, will we ever catch up?! Why am I reminded of American journalist Lincoln Steffens' praise of Stalin's Russia: "I have seen the future, and it works."
Roy pops up, of course:
"Mr Roy said the government was... working on the final details of additional deals with Israel, including an R&D co-operation agreement and a double taxation treaty that would be revealed soon."
And Telstra too!
"Telstra... is preparing to invest people, resources and capital in Israel..."
And Ziva Eger [Eager Beaver?], chief executive of the Division for Foreign Investments and Industrial Co-operation at the Israeli Ministry of Economy, who:
"... encouraged a closer trade relationship between Israel and Australia saying the latter imports more than $US700m a year of goods from Israel but only exports about $US240m to the Middle Eastern nation."
I wonder what our Ziovotes in the UN earn us (apart from sniggers)?
And how's this more recent Ziospin from Bingemann:
"It's conventional wisdom that in the bars and diners of Los Angeles every second waiter is an actor-in-waiting - but head to a cafe in Israel and you're more likely to to be served by the next Mark Zukerberg than Mark Wahlberg. That's because the small nation state - forged from adversity, fiercely territorial, and surrounded on all sides by enemies - has established itself as one of the world's most successful technology hubs where kids dream of being engineers and computer scientists rather than movie stars and fashion icons." (Israel's young dazzled by start-up stardom, 28/11/15)
Forged from adversity: Too right! Stealing someone else's country is hard yakka, mate! Now I know it's innovation you're after, but really, you can't go past the Old Testament. After all, you try getting rid of an unwanted Arab majority to make way for a Jewish majority without a whole lot of smoting hip and thigh going on.
Fiercely territorial: Never come between a Zionist and a piece of Palestine. Don't even think about it!
Enemies on all sides: A bit dated this one. I would've thought, what with peace treaties concluded with Jordan and Egypt, and Israel's mates in the Nusrah Front keeping Asad busy, life's pretty much a bed of roses. I mean, if a country way off to the east (Iran), which doesn't have nukes, is the most you've got to worry about...
Stay tuned for more inspiring news of Mitchell, Wyatt, 'Innovate or Perish!' and the Upstart Nation we just can't live without as it comes to hand.
Well, actually, it's not that new, just another annoying variation on the old Zionist BS about 'making the desert bloom.'
Inevitably, Murdoch's Australian is the mantra's megaphone, and the voice blowing into belongs to the Australian's telecoms and technology reporter Mitchell Bingemann, winner, we are informed, of "the inaugural Australian Computer Society Excellence in IT Journalism award." (Bingemann leads the IT crowd, The Australian, 2/12/15)
The star of the show, of course, is
Here are the opening lines of Bingemann's post-rambam follow-up:
"Government officials, high-profile investors and major technology companies are urging closer ties with Israel to emulate the nation's successful track record of fostering technological innovation and creating world-class start-ups. Seek co-founder Paul Basset, who leads the James Packer-backed venture capital firm Square Peg Capital said Australia needed to follow Israel's lead in creating a sustainable ecosystem for start-ups, saying it would be the lifeblood of the nation's future economic growth... [Mr Bassat said] 'The reality is that in every city in the world people are trying to do what Israelis have achieved over the past 20-30 years. So we have to make significant steps forward just to stand still, and I don't think we should underestimate the enormity of the size of the task if we really want to build an innovative country over the next 30 years.'" (Leaders urge closer ties with innovative Israel, 25/11/15)
Oh dear, will we ever catch up?! Why am I reminded of American journalist Lincoln Steffens' praise of Stalin's Russia: "I have seen the future, and it works."
Roy pops up, of course:
"Mr Roy said the government was... working on the final details of additional deals with Israel, including an R&D co-operation agreement and a double taxation treaty that would be revealed soon."
And Telstra too!
"Telstra... is preparing to invest people, resources and capital in Israel..."
And Ziva Eger [Eager Beaver?], chief executive of the Division for Foreign Investments and Industrial Co-operation at the Israeli Ministry of Economy, who:
"... encouraged a closer trade relationship between Israel and Australia saying the latter imports more than $US700m a year of goods from Israel but only exports about $US240m to the Middle Eastern nation."
I wonder what our Ziovotes in the UN earn us (apart from sniggers)?
And how's this more recent Ziospin from Bingemann:
"It's conventional wisdom that in the bars and diners of Los Angeles every second waiter is an actor-in-waiting - but head to a cafe in Israel and you're more likely to to be served by the next Mark Zukerberg than Mark Wahlberg. That's because the small nation state - forged from adversity, fiercely territorial, and surrounded on all sides by enemies - has established itself as one of the world's most successful technology hubs where kids dream of being engineers and computer scientists rather than movie stars and fashion icons." (Israel's young dazzled by start-up stardom, 28/11/15)
Forged from adversity: Too right! Stealing someone else's country is hard yakka, mate! Now I know it's innovation you're after, but really, you can't go past the Old Testament. After all, you try getting rid of an unwanted Arab majority to make way for a Jewish majority without a whole lot of smoting hip and thigh going on.
Fiercely territorial: Never come between a Zionist and a piece of Palestine. Don't even think about it!
Enemies on all sides: A bit dated this one. I would've thought, what with peace treaties concluded with Jordan and Egypt, and Israel's mates in the Nusrah Front keeping Asad busy, life's pretty much a bed of roses. I mean, if a country way off to the east (Iran), which doesn't have nukes, is the most you've got to worry about...
Stay tuned for more inspiring news of Mitchell, Wyatt, 'Innovate or Perish!' and the Upstart Nation we just can't live without as it comes to hand.
Thursday, October 29, 2015
Looking for Inspiration in All the Wrong Places
"Wyatt Roy will return to Israel this week to scour the high-tech powerhouse for inspiration for the government's innovation agenda. The Assistant Minister for Innovation will lead a group of about 50 entrepreneurs, industry representatives and government envoys on a week-long expedition of the upstart start-up nation... Mr Roy will lead the Australian delegation alongside Robogals founder and 2012 Young Australian of the Year, Marita Cheng." (Roy leading delegation to innovative Israel, Frances Mao, Sydney Morning Herald, 27/10/15)
Wyatt Roy was rambammed last year. For the gory details, see my 23/6/14 post Lib MPs Blown Away by Israel. See also my 24/6/14 post Lib MPs Not Quite Blown Away by Israel.
For 'start-up nation', see my posts Mephitic Odours at Monash University (7/4/13); Upstart Nation (11/1/11); Creative Destruction (23/4/10).
Wyatt Roy was rambammed last year. For the gory details, see my 23/6/14 post Lib MPs Blown Away by Israel. See also my 24/6/14 post Lib MPs Not Quite Blown Away by Israel.
For 'start-up nation', see my posts Mephitic Odours at Monash University (7/4/13); Upstart Nation (11/1/11); Creative Destruction (23/4/10).
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Mephitic Odours at Monash University
Robyn Williams' The Science Show on ABC Radio National is seldom short of an Israeli scientist to interview, so much so that I felt compelled to post on the phenomenon back in 2010 (1).
An allied phenomenon, which I've also posted on (2), is the growing (and carefully cultivated) links between Australian and Israeli universities.
You'll be unsurprised, therefore, when I inform you that the Science Show of March 30, which featured Williams' interview with Daniel Shechtman, a Nobel Prize-winning professor of chemistry from Israel's Technion, and Edwina Cornish, Monash University's senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor, came live from "a forum on bright ideas and business" at Melbourne's Monash University.
Now while Shechtman's shtick is basically quasiperiodic crystals, for the past 27 years the great man has also been teaching young Israeli scientists how to become entrepreneurs. And for me this is where the show really started to get interesting.
Williams spruiked, sorry asked: "You're talking about Israel which has more investment in research, that's 4.5% of GDP, compared to our own just over 2%, and you've got more start-up companies than almost anywhere on earth, is that right?"
Now listen to this tripe from Shechtman: "Yes, that is the spirit of the country. You know, countries have spirits, whether you know it or not... In England, where you come from, everybody knows about cricket, it's cricket. In Israel the spirit is entrepreneurship. Young people talk about entrepreneurship, discuss entrepreneurship, interact entrepreneurship, they have bright ideas about entrepreneurship, they bring up these ideas everywhere in every conversation."
It was then Cornish's turn to riff: "I agree with Danny that the spirit of a country... is critical to the path of innovation... What we don't have, which Israel has... is this desire to create personal wealth by risking your future within a company. The best and brightest students that we have... want to get into medicine... law... commerce and economics... That's fine, but we don't have the same sense of 'I want my own company', 'I want to be the master of my own destiny', and that's in the DNA of Israelis."
"But what if you were to teach it, as Danny does?" asked Williams.
Having read (or so I can only assume) a little Israeli propaganda tome called Start-Up Nation (3), which hypes the Israel Defense Force (IDF), Israel's factory for thugs and war criminals, as a school for budding entrepreneurs, Cornish duly parroted the party line: "[Israeli] students typically come to the university later in life than in Australia. So they serve in the army and they have fabulous leadership experience when they come back to university so they are grown up when they start in their undergraduate degree..."
And then - the piece de resistance - came this little side-splitting exchange:
Williams: Do you think it would be a good idea to bring back national service, do you think, in November?
Cornish: Well I did suggest to you before that we should declare a war on someone, but...
Williams: Who should we choose? Someone small?
The audience just lapped it up!
Oh yes, Robyn, someone small, small and defenceless like... like... the Palestinians!
But back to our Professor of Israeli Entrepreneurship, and here I broach the real subject of this post.
Could one of Shechtman's estimated 10,000 students (over 27 years) have started up a nifty little outfit called Odortec Ltd perhaps?
Odortec?
Here's some of the spiel from their website skunk-skunk.com:
"Police departments the world over periodically face an acute dilemma in confrontations with violent civil unrest: the need for effective riot control and the duty to preserve the health and safety of all, including the protesters themselves."
Remember that this is coming from a former cog in one of the world's most powerful and experienced (45 yrs) occupying forces, the so-called Israel Defence Forces, and although he's not letting on, the 'rioters' he has in mind are actually Palestinian villagers (and their Israeli and international supporters) involved in a heroic campaign of nonviolent resistance against Israel's illegal, land-grabbing West Bank Apartheid Wall.
"Odortec, supported by a police R&D unit, developed the perfect, if highly pungent, solution: The Skunk. A non-lethal, completely non-toxic liquid spray. The skunk is the most innovative and effective riot control method available... This harmless deterrent consists of an extremely foul-smelling liquid... that can be sprayed over a large area using a standard water cannon. The overpowering odor of the Skunk drives rioters away - and keeps them away - effectively shutting down any escalating situation."
For use against rioters, eh? Well please explain why the heroes of the IDF sprayed it directly into homes in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh in 2011.
(See for yourself on youtube.com/watch?v=-njv7RJqtRM)
"The 'Skunk' is not volatile, it's inflammable... and it poses no health hazard. In fact, despite its outrageous smell, the 'Skunk' liquid is safe to consume... and even clothes hit with the 'Skunk' can be used after a simple washing."
Oh, really? Let's get a second opinion on this, shall we? "The 'Skunk' is a petrochemical designed to cling to any surface that it touches. Once I was hit with the 'Skunk' during a demonstration in Bil'in. I had to throw out everything that the chemical touched as it was impossible to wash out the smell. My backpack, pants, shirt, even my shoes and the notebook I was carrying... had to be thrown out. The smell stayed on my skin and in my hair for weeks after..." (Video: a putrid price for nonviolent resistance - the 'Skunk', Joseph Dana, 972mag.com, 1/5/11)
I can see the Israeli version of Apocalypse Now, can't you?
Colonel Klein: Smell that? You smell that?
Lance: What?
Klein: Skunk, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. [kneels] I love the smell of Skunk in the morning. You know, one time we had a village sprayed, for 12 hours. When it was all over, I went in. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' Arab. The smell, you know that smell of rotting flesh, the whole village. Smelled like [sniffing, pondering] victory.
So the next time you hear someone banging on about the spirit of Israeli entrepreneurship it's probably not a good idea to hang around, OK?
[See my posts: (1)The ABC of Zionist Propaganda (12/12/10); (2) Sucked in at Sydney University (26/10/11); (3) Creative Destruction (23/4/10)]
NB: other posts of mine relevant to this subject are: The Banality of Evil (1/2/09); That Shitty Little Country 1 (6/2/09); That Shitty Little Country 2 (24/3/09); and 100 Years of Zionist Shit (20/12/12).
An allied phenomenon, which I've also posted on (2), is the growing (and carefully cultivated) links between Australian and Israeli universities.
You'll be unsurprised, therefore, when I inform you that the Science Show of March 30, which featured Williams' interview with Daniel Shechtman, a Nobel Prize-winning professor of chemistry from Israel's Technion, and Edwina Cornish, Monash University's senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor, came live from "a forum on bright ideas and business" at Melbourne's Monash University.
Now while Shechtman's shtick is basically quasiperiodic crystals, for the past 27 years the great man has also been teaching young Israeli scientists how to become entrepreneurs. And for me this is where the show really started to get interesting.
Williams spruiked, sorry asked: "You're talking about Israel which has more investment in research, that's 4.5% of GDP, compared to our own just over 2%, and you've got more start-up companies than almost anywhere on earth, is that right?"
Now listen to this tripe from Shechtman: "Yes, that is the spirit of the country. You know, countries have spirits, whether you know it or not... In England, where you come from, everybody knows about cricket, it's cricket. In Israel the spirit is entrepreneurship. Young people talk about entrepreneurship, discuss entrepreneurship, interact entrepreneurship, they have bright ideas about entrepreneurship, they bring up these ideas everywhere in every conversation."
It was then Cornish's turn to riff: "I agree with Danny that the spirit of a country... is critical to the path of innovation... What we don't have, which Israel has... is this desire to create personal wealth by risking your future within a company. The best and brightest students that we have... want to get into medicine... law... commerce and economics... That's fine, but we don't have the same sense of 'I want my own company', 'I want to be the master of my own destiny', and that's in the DNA of Israelis."
"But what if you were to teach it, as Danny does?" asked Williams.
Having read (or so I can only assume) a little Israeli propaganda tome called Start-Up Nation (3), which hypes the Israel Defense Force (IDF), Israel's factory for thugs and war criminals, as a school for budding entrepreneurs, Cornish duly parroted the party line: "[Israeli] students typically come to the university later in life than in Australia. So they serve in the army and they have fabulous leadership experience when they come back to university so they are grown up when they start in their undergraduate degree..."
And then - the piece de resistance - came this little side-splitting exchange:
Williams: Do you think it would be a good idea to bring back national service, do you think, in November?
Cornish: Well I did suggest to you before that we should declare a war on someone, but...
Williams: Who should we choose? Someone small?
The audience just lapped it up!
Oh yes, Robyn, someone small, small and defenceless like... like... the Palestinians!
But back to our Professor of Israeli Entrepreneurship, and here I broach the real subject of this post.
Could one of Shechtman's estimated 10,000 students (over 27 years) have started up a nifty little outfit called Odortec Ltd perhaps?
Odortec?
Here's some of the spiel from their website skunk-skunk.com:
"Police departments the world over periodically face an acute dilemma in confrontations with violent civil unrest: the need for effective riot control and the duty to preserve the health and safety of all, including the protesters themselves."
Remember that this is coming from a former cog in one of the world's most powerful and experienced (45 yrs) occupying forces, the so-called Israel Defence Forces, and although he's not letting on, the 'rioters' he has in mind are actually Palestinian villagers (and their Israeli and international supporters) involved in a heroic campaign of nonviolent resistance against Israel's illegal, land-grabbing West Bank Apartheid Wall.
"Odortec, supported by a police R&D unit, developed the perfect, if highly pungent, solution: The Skunk. A non-lethal, completely non-toxic liquid spray. The skunk is the most innovative and effective riot control method available... This harmless deterrent consists of an extremely foul-smelling liquid... that can be sprayed over a large area using a standard water cannon. The overpowering odor of the Skunk drives rioters away - and keeps them away - effectively shutting down any escalating situation."
For use against rioters, eh? Well please explain why the heroes of the IDF sprayed it directly into homes in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh in 2011.
(See for yourself on youtube.com/watch?v=-njv7RJqtRM)
"The 'Skunk' is not volatile, it's inflammable... and it poses no health hazard. In fact, despite its outrageous smell, the 'Skunk' liquid is safe to consume... and even clothes hit with the 'Skunk' can be used after a simple washing."
Oh, really? Let's get a second opinion on this, shall we? "The 'Skunk' is a petrochemical designed to cling to any surface that it touches. Once I was hit with the 'Skunk' during a demonstration in Bil'in. I had to throw out everything that the chemical touched as it was impossible to wash out the smell. My backpack, pants, shirt, even my shoes and the notebook I was carrying... had to be thrown out. The smell stayed on my skin and in my hair for weeks after..." (Video: a putrid price for nonviolent resistance - the 'Skunk', Joseph Dana, 972mag.com, 1/5/11)
I can see the Israeli version of Apocalypse Now, can't you?
Colonel Klein: Smell that? You smell that?
Lance: What?
Klein: Skunk, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. [kneels] I love the smell of Skunk in the morning. You know, one time we had a village sprayed, for 12 hours. When it was all over, I went in. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' Arab. The smell, you know that smell of rotting flesh, the whole village. Smelled like [sniffing, pondering] victory.
So the next time you hear someone banging on about the spirit of Israeli entrepreneurship it's probably not a good idea to hang around, OK?
[See my posts: (1)The ABC of Zionist Propaganda (12/12/10); (2) Sucked in at Sydney University (26/10/11); (3) Creative Destruction (23/4/10)]
NB: other posts of mine relevant to this subject are: The Banality of Evil (1/2/09); That Shitty Little Country 1 (6/2/09); That Shitty Little Country 2 (24/3/09); and 100 Years of Zionist Shit (20/12/12).
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Onward Corporate Soldiers!
*Sigh* - another victim of those heady Israeli pheromones:
"It was not only the Israeli corporate bond market that bowled over former Australian Securities & Investments Commission deputy chairman Jeremy Cooper on a recent trade mission to the Jewish state." (Conscription: it makes a difference, Sydney Morning Herald, Scott Rochfort, 13/6/12)
Remember this one, led by Bill Shorten? (OK, see my 27/4/12 post Vibrancy, Innovation & Bill Shorten.)
"After already banging on about the Israeli 'X-factor' in a newspaper column last month, Cooper was still trying to articulate yesterday why Israel was such a success story. Was it largely the result of compulsory national service? 'Perhaps a big reason for this X-factor is how long Israel prepares its young people for the challenges of life,' Cooper told an Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce function yesterday. 'The answer is compulsory service for everybody over 18... it makes a big difference. By the age of 25, the average Israeli has worked in a close-knit team in very demanding environments, made decisions that have had real consequences and have been required to solve complicated problems in a short space of time,' Cooper said about the benefits of donning khaki and carrying an assault rifle for one's country. 'What this translates into is a propensity to carry out technical innovation.'" (ibid)
Of course, Cooper didn't arrive at this startling/alarming conclusion unaided. He's been slipped (or otherwise acquired) a little propaganda tome called Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracles (Dan Senor & Saul Singer), for introduction to which see my 23/4/10 post Creative Destruction.
"Thank heavens Cooper, who now has a job with Challenger, made his trip to Israel after completing his review of Australia's superannuation system in 2010. Compulsory super contributions could have been extended into more controversial areas." (ibid)
Amen to that, Scott.
To throw in my two bits' worth (although it's all there in Creative Destruction), those life-challenges, demanding environments, decisions with real consequences and problem-solving in a short space of time that seem to have gone to Cooper's head are really nothing more than euphemisms for maintaining a brutal, 45-year-old occupation of the Palestinian territories, with all that that entails by way of lording it over, humiliating, harrassing, arresting and shooting Palestinians, in addition to cosseting and guarding Israeli settlers. And so, if we're serious about replicating the Israeli conscription model in Australia, we'd better start choosing a nearby country to invade and occupy. New Zealand or Papua New Guinea maybe?
Alternatively (the cheaper option?), Australians could perhaps join the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and learn the above skills from the experts. Nor should not being Jewish necessarily be an obstacle for those who wish to learn how to solve problems the Israeli way, namely, faster than Superman's proverbial speeding bullet, know what I mean?
And that's because we're currently blessed to be hosting a genuine dinky-di(e) Israeli general, Elazar Stern, who's reportedly out here to facilitate the conversion of those folk who maybe would like to join the Israeli army but alas "don't have paperwork to prove their family is Jewish." (Easing conversion in the Israeli army, The Australian Jewish News, 1/6/12)
As General Stern explained, "They ['Jews', usually Russian, unable to prove Jewish maternity but in the IDF nonetheless] declared their Judaism by their actions... When you ask someone to do a brit milah [ritual circumcision] you are asking them to sacrifice a very small part of their body, but soldiers give their entire bodies and there should be a friendly conversion process for them." (ibid)
Time to join the queue, folks! Now who'll be first? Well, I have an idea. As it happens, I found myself listening to Radio National's Late Night Live program on Tuesday night when its host, Phillip Adams (such a softie in these matters), gushed to his two Jewish guests: "Some people like Christopher Hitchens, and indeed myself, discover late in life that they may well in fact be Jewish." (Jewish peace activists)
So maybe Phillip could lead by example here. Just a quick snip (or not), and hey presto, you could not only be in the IDF like Flynn, but seriously kicking arse (if not worse) and getting ready to storm the corporate heights at the same time. Sounds like too good an offer to refuse, I reckon. How about it, Phillip?
"It was not only the Israeli corporate bond market that bowled over former Australian Securities & Investments Commission deputy chairman Jeremy Cooper on a recent trade mission to the Jewish state." (Conscription: it makes a difference, Sydney Morning Herald, Scott Rochfort, 13/6/12)
Remember this one, led by Bill Shorten? (OK, see my 27/4/12 post Vibrancy, Innovation & Bill Shorten.)
"After already banging on about the Israeli 'X-factor' in a newspaper column last month, Cooper was still trying to articulate yesterday why Israel was such a success story. Was it largely the result of compulsory national service? 'Perhaps a big reason for this X-factor is how long Israel prepares its young people for the challenges of life,' Cooper told an Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce function yesterday. 'The answer is compulsory service for everybody over 18... it makes a big difference. By the age of 25, the average Israeli has worked in a close-knit team in very demanding environments, made decisions that have had real consequences and have been required to solve complicated problems in a short space of time,' Cooper said about the benefits of donning khaki and carrying an assault rifle for one's country. 'What this translates into is a propensity to carry out technical innovation.'" (ibid)
Of course, Cooper didn't arrive at this startling/alarming conclusion unaided. He's been slipped (or otherwise acquired) a little propaganda tome called Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracles (Dan Senor & Saul Singer), for introduction to which see my 23/4/10 post Creative Destruction.
"Thank heavens Cooper, who now has a job with Challenger, made his trip to Israel after completing his review of Australia's superannuation system in 2010. Compulsory super contributions could have been extended into more controversial areas." (ibid)
Amen to that, Scott.
To throw in my two bits' worth (although it's all there in Creative Destruction), those life-challenges, demanding environments, decisions with real consequences and problem-solving in a short space of time that seem to have gone to Cooper's head are really nothing more than euphemisms for maintaining a brutal, 45-year-old occupation of the Palestinian territories, with all that that entails by way of lording it over, humiliating, harrassing, arresting and shooting Palestinians, in addition to cosseting and guarding Israeli settlers. And so, if we're serious about replicating the Israeli conscription model in Australia, we'd better start choosing a nearby country to invade and occupy. New Zealand or Papua New Guinea maybe?
Alternatively (the cheaper option?), Australians could perhaps join the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and learn the above skills from the experts. Nor should not being Jewish necessarily be an obstacle for those who wish to learn how to solve problems the Israeli way, namely, faster than Superman's proverbial speeding bullet, know what I mean?
And that's because we're currently blessed to be hosting a genuine dinky-di(e) Israeli general, Elazar Stern, who's reportedly out here to facilitate the conversion of those folk who maybe would like to join the Israeli army but alas "don't have paperwork to prove their family is Jewish." (Easing conversion in the Israeli army, The Australian Jewish News, 1/6/12)
As General Stern explained, "They ['Jews', usually Russian, unable to prove Jewish maternity but in the IDF nonetheless] declared their Judaism by their actions... When you ask someone to do a brit milah [ritual circumcision] you are asking them to sacrifice a very small part of their body, but soldiers give their entire bodies and there should be a friendly conversion process for them." (ibid)
Time to join the queue, folks! Now who'll be first? Well, I have an idea. As it happens, I found myself listening to Radio National's Late Night Live program on Tuesday night when its host, Phillip Adams (such a softie in these matters), gushed to his two Jewish guests: "Some people like Christopher Hitchens, and indeed myself, discover late in life that they may well in fact be Jewish." (Jewish peace activists)
So maybe Phillip could lead by example here. Just a quick snip (or not), and hey presto, you could not only be in the IDF like Flynn, but seriously kicking arse (if not worse) and getting ready to storm the corporate heights at the same time. Sounds like too good an offer to refuse, I reckon. How about it, Phillip?
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Upstart Nation
What is going on at Fairfax these days?
On Saturday, it was a full page promo of the Israeli ambassador Yuval Rotem (See my 8/1/11 post Media Tart).
Today, it's a fair whack of the opinion page given over to a promo of an Israeli book called Start-Up Nation*, the underlying premise of which is that because young Israelis live in an Upstart Nation and are all given a taste of Shoot-Up in the Israel Defense [sic] Forces, hey presto, Israel's Higher Up the Nasdaq tree than the Arabs (A lesson on employment courtesy of Israeli army, Neer Korn, Sydney Morning Herald).
Now I know the Fairfax papers are doing it tough, and advertising revenue is vital if they're to keep going, but why aren't these promos labelled as such?
[* See my 23/4/10 post Creative Destruction on this little gem.]
On Saturday, it was a full page promo of the Israeli ambassador Yuval Rotem (See my 8/1/11 post Media Tart).
Today, it's a fair whack of the opinion page given over to a promo of an Israeli book called Start-Up Nation*, the underlying premise of which is that because young Israelis live in an Upstart Nation and are all given a taste of Shoot-Up in the Israel Defense [sic] Forces, hey presto, Israel's Higher Up the Nasdaq tree than the Arabs (A lesson on employment courtesy of Israeli army, Neer Korn, Sydney Morning Herald).
Now I know the Fairfax papers are doing it tough, and advertising revenue is vital if they're to keep going, but why aren't these promos labelled as such?
[* See my 23/4/10 post Creative Destruction on this little gem.]
Friday, April 23, 2010
Creative Destruction
"War! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing."
Edwin Starr's 1969 antiwar song is... well, sooo 1969!
If NSW Jewish Board of Deputies' CEO Vic Alhadaff had his way those lyrics would read: War! What is it good for? Absolutely everything.
In a review of Dan Senor & Saul Singer's Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracles, Vic boasts that Israel had "63 companies listed on the NASDAQ in 2009, second only to the US..." and explains, after imbibing deeply from Senor & Singer, that it "all boils down to one word - army." (Military secrets behind Israel's economic miracle, The Australian Jewish News, 19/3/10)
If Senor & Singer are right, far from being a breeding ground for war criminals, the IDF is really a training ground for entrepreneurs.
Vic "elaborates":
"1) The military - and battlefield - experiences which shape the Israeli character demand that young adults take initiative, demonstrate leadership and handle life-threatening situations in real time, thereby engendering personality attributes and imparting IT knowledge that give them a leading edge when they enter the workforce. 2) The Israeli military has an egalitarian ethos that encourages soldiers to challenge authority. This culture, translated to civic life, lends itself to challenging the status quo and being creative, innovative and self-reliant. 3) By the time Israelis enter university, they have served in the army and tend to be more responsible and focused, with a clearer career direction, than their peers. 4) The nation's military and defence industries generate successful spin-offs in the IT and commercial sectors."
If this is so, there can be no doubt that the IDF's Epic Existential Struggle with the Islamofascist Hordes of Hamastan last year will produce such a bumper crop of budding innovators that the US will inevitably be bumped down to second place on the NASDAQ.
For a tantalising glimpse of the IDF's current crop of Einsteins, Freuds, Bubers and Weizmanns* in action, taking the initiative, demonstrating leadership and handling life-threatening situations in real time, you might like to read the following three selections from Norman Finkelstein's latest (2010) book, 'This Time We Went Too Far': Truth & Consequences of the Gaza Invasion:
"In postinvasion testimonies IDF soldiers recalled the macabre scenes of destruction in Gaza: 'We didn't see a single house that remained intact... Nothing much was left in our designated area. It looked awful, like in those World War II films where nothing remained. A totally destroyed city'; 'We demolished a lot. There were people who had been in Gaza for two days constantly demolishing one house after the other, and we're talking about a whole battalion'; 'One night they saw a terrorist and he disappeared so they decided he'd gone into a tunnel, so they brought a D-9 [bulldozer] and razed the whole orchard'; 'There was a point where D-9s were razing areas. It was amazing. At first you go in and see lots of houses. A week later, after the razing, you see the horizon further away, almost to the sea'; 'The amount of destruction there was incredible. You drive around those neighborhoods, and can't identify a thing. Not one stone left standing over another. You see plenty of fields, hothouses, orchards, everything devastated. Totally ruined. It's terrible. It's surreal'. One veteran of the invasion designed a T-shirt depicting a King Kong-like soldier clenching a mosque while glowering over a city under attack, and bearing the slogan 'If you believe it can be fixed, then believe it can be destroyed!' 'I was in Gaza', he elaborated, 'and they kept emphasizing that the object of the operation was to wreak destruction on the infrastructure'." (pp 61-62)
"The Goldstone Report concluded that 'the Israeli armed forces repeatedly opened fire on civilians who were not taking part in the hostilities and who posed no threat to them', and that 'Israeli armed forces had carried out direct intentional strikes against civilians' in the absence of 'any grounds which could have reasonably induced the Israeli armed forces to assume that the civilians attacked were in fact taking a direct part in the hostilities'. The postinvasion testimonies of IDF soldiers corroborated this wanton killing of Palestinian civilians in an "atmosphere" where "the lives of Palestinians, let's say, is something very, very less important than the lives of our soldiers': 'You see people more or less running their life routine, taking a walk, stuff like that. Definitely not terrorists. I hear from other crews that they fired at people there. Tried to kill them'; 'People didn't seem to be too upset about taking human lives'; 'Everyone there is considered a terrorist'; 'We were allowed to do anything we wanted. Who's to tell us not to?'; 'I understood that conduct there had been somewhat savage. 'If you sight it, shoot it''; 'You are allowed to do anything you want... for no reason other than it's cool' - even firing white phosphorus 'because it's fun. Cool'." (p 88)
"No doubt some IDF soldiers exploited the occasion of the massacre to give free rein to their sadistic impulses while others were brutalized by the environment. Thus, IDF testimonies recalled 'the hatred and the joy', and 'fun' and 'delight' of killing Palestinians, the wreaking of destruction 'for kicks' and to 'make [oneself] happy'. And thus soldiers bantered, 'I killed a terrorist, whoa... We blew his head off'; 'Fortunately the hospitals are full to capacity already, so people are dying more quickly'; and 'He just couldn't finish this operation without killing someone'." (p 92)
Please Vic, whatever you do, don't pass Up-Start - sorry, Shoot-Up, sorry, Start-Up Nation on to Tony Abbott.
[* Vic alludes in the introduction to his review to the fact that Einstein, Freud, Buber and Weizmann, "each of whom pushed the frontiers of humankind's intellectual capacity in his own unique way, all served on the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's first board of governors," and claims that this "underscores the premium which Israel placed on intellectual prowess, even before the State had been established, and which continues to this day." Einstein, Freud and Buber (if not Weizmann), of course, may have a different take on this, not to mention their being forcibly conscripted into the IDF by Vic.]
See also the Tony Clifton quote which heads my 1/2/09 post The Banality of Evil.
Edwin Starr's 1969 antiwar song is... well, sooo 1969!
If NSW Jewish Board of Deputies' CEO Vic Alhadaff had his way those lyrics would read: War! What is it good for? Absolutely everything.
In a review of Dan Senor & Saul Singer's Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracles, Vic boasts that Israel had "63 companies listed on the NASDAQ in 2009, second only to the US..." and explains, after imbibing deeply from Senor & Singer, that it "all boils down to one word - army." (Military secrets behind Israel's economic miracle, The Australian Jewish News, 19/3/10)
If Senor & Singer are right, far from being a breeding ground for war criminals, the IDF is really a training ground for entrepreneurs.
Vic "elaborates":
"1) The military - and battlefield - experiences which shape the Israeli character demand that young adults take initiative, demonstrate leadership and handle life-threatening situations in real time, thereby engendering personality attributes and imparting IT knowledge that give them a leading edge when they enter the workforce. 2) The Israeli military has an egalitarian ethos that encourages soldiers to challenge authority. This culture, translated to civic life, lends itself to challenging the status quo and being creative, innovative and self-reliant. 3) By the time Israelis enter university, they have served in the army and tend to be more responsible and focused, with a clearer career direction, than their peers. 4) The nation's military and defence industries generate successful spin-offs in the IT and commercial sectors."
If this is so, there can be no doubt that the IDF's Epic Existential Struggle with the Islamofascist Hordes of Hamastan last year will produce such a bumper crop of budding innovators that the US will inevitably be bumped down to second place on the NASDAQ.
For a tantalising glimpse of the IDF's current crop of Einsteins, Freuds, Bubers and Weizmanns* in action, taking the initiative, demonstrating leadership and handling life-threatening situations in real time, you might like to read the following three selections from Norman Finkelstein's latest (2010) book, 'This Time We Went Too Far': Truth & Consequences of the Gaza Invasion:
"In postinvasion testimonies IDF soldiers recalled the macabre scenes of destruction in Gaza: 'We didn't see a single house that remained intact... Nothing much was left in our designated area. It looked awful, like in those World War II films where nothing remained. A totally destroyed city'; 'We demolished a lot. There were people who had been in Gaza for two days constantly demolishing one house after the other, and we're talking about a whole battalion'; 'One night they saw a terrorist and he disappeared so they decided he'd gone into a tunnel, so they brought a D-9 [bulldozer] and razed the whole orchard'; 'There was a point where D-9s were razing areas. It was amazing. At first you go in and see lots of houses. A week later, after the razing, you see the horizon further away, almost to the sea'; 'The amount of destruction there was incredible. You drive around those neighborhoods, and can't identify a thing. Not one stone left standing over another. You see plenty of fields, hothouses, orchards, everything devastated. Totally ruined. It's terrible. It's surreal'. One veteran of the invasion designed a T-shirt depicting a King Kong-like soldier clenching a mosque while glowering over a city under attack, and bearing the slogan 'If you believe it can be fixed, then believe it can be destroyed!' 'I was in Gaza', he elaborated, 'and they kept emphasizing that the object of the operation was to wreak destruction on the infrastructure'." (pp 61-62)
"The Goldstone Report concluded that 'the Israeli armed forces repeatedly opened fire on civilians who were not taking part in the hostilities and who posed no threat to them', and that 'Israeli armed forces had carried out direct intentional strikes against civilians' in the absence of 'any grounds which could have reasonably induced the Israeli armed forces to assume that the civilians attacked were in fact taking a direct part in the hostilities'. The postinvasion testimonies of IDF soldiers corroborated this wanton killing of Palestinian civilians in an "atmosphere" where "the lives of Palestinians, let's say, is something very, very less important than the lives of our soldiers': 'You see people more or less running their life routine, taking a walk, stuff like that. Definitely not terrorists. I hear from other crews that they fired at people there. Tried to kill them'; 'People didn't seem to be too upset about taking human lives'; 'Everyone there is considered a terrorist'; 'We were allowed to do anything we wanted. Who's to tell us not to?'; 'I understood that conduct there had been somewhat savage. 'If you sight it, shoot it''; 'You are allowed to do anything you want... for no reason other than it's cool' - even firing white phosphorus 'because it's fun. Cool'." (p 88)
"No doubt some IDF soldiers exploited the occasion of the massacre to give free rein to their sadistic impulses while others were brutalized by the environment. Thus, IDF testimonies recalled 'the hatred and the joy', and 'fun' and 'delight' of killing Palestinians, the wreaking of destruction 'for kicks' and to 'make [oneself] happy'. And thus soldiers bantered, 'I killed a terrorist, whoa... We blew his head off'; 'Fortunately the hospitals are full to capacity already, so people are dying more quickly'; and 'He just couldn't finish this operation without killing someone'." (p 92)
Please Vic, whatever you do, don't pass Up-Start - sorry, Shoot-Up, sorry, Start-Up Nation on to Tony Abbott.
[* Vic alludes in the introduction to his review to the fact that Einstein, Freud, Buber and Weizmann, "each of whom pushed the frontiers of humankind's intellectual capacity in his own unique way, all served on the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's first board of governors," and claims that this "underscores the premium which Israel placed on intellectual prowess, even before the State had been established, and which continues to this day." Einstein, Freud and Buber (if not Weizmann), of course, may have a different take on this, not to mention their being forcibly conscripted into the IDF by Vic.]
See also the Tony Clifton quote which heads my 1/2/09 post The Banality of Evil.
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