Here's a recent news report on the plight of Palestinian Christians, which, surprise, surprise, is the exact same plight as all other Palestinians. Who would have thought?
"Palestinian Christians scuffled with Israeli border police near Bethlehem Wednesday after dozens of them, including priests, gathered to protest new work on Israel's West Bank separation barrier in a sensitive Christian area. An AFP journalist said the protesters... gathered in the Christian town of Beit Jala to protest building a stretch of the barrier... The three Roman Catholic priests tried to pray among olive trees that bulldozers and mechanical diggers were seeking to uproot but were stopped by police. One demonstrator was arrested as he tried to plant an olive sapling in front of the excavators. Police wrestled with protesters who chanted, 'Israel is a terrorist state. It doesn't scare us.'... One of the most iconic symbols of the occupation, [the barrier] will cut off more than 9% of Palestinian territory in the West Bank and Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem from the majority, in places separating farmers from their fields or villagers from water sources, the UN says." (Palestinian Christians scuffle with Israeli police over divisive wall, AFP/news.yahoo.com, 19/8/15)
It's not rocket science, folks. Palestinian Christians, like all other Palestinians, have a clear & present ISRAEL problem, OK?
Why then does the latest edition (March 1916) of the Uniting Church of Australia's magazine ACCatalyst contain a centrefold called Persecution of Christians Worldwide Intensifies, containing a list of 50 countries where Christians are allegedly persecuted, beginning with the worst (North Korea) and ending with the least worst (Oman), and featuring the PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES as no. 24?
Not ISRAEL, mind you - Palestinian territories!?
And why O why has the editor of this magazine, one Max Champion, gone out of his way to republish an article from the Australian Jewish News (introduced as "an interesting news and opinion piece"!!!) which:
a) wags a finger at the Uniting Church for daring to entertain a proposal that the church 'establish an awareness-raising campaign throughout the church on the plight of Palestinian Christians and the Palestinian people, including the promotion of the boycott of goods from the illegal settlements in the West Bank as part of the campaign';
b) quotes a Zionist lobbyist to the effect that "a handful of activists" have "infiltrated" the Uniting Church and "bombarded" its members with "a dishonest, one-sided view of the conflict, demanding that the organisation support the activists' position and proposals,";
c) and announces that the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) will be involved in "formal meetings" with the Uniting Church to talk about "Christian and social anti-Semitism, and the theology of land as it relates to Israel"? (Yes, you read right!)
I've heard about turning the other cheek, but this is beyond ridiculous.
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Monday, March 7, 2016
Boo Bloody Hoo
The Israeli Foreign Ministry wanted Israel's president, Reuven Rivlin, to visit Straya. Straya being Straya, it just couldn't say no. Those Israeli pheromones are just too good to resist:
"The Australians were surprised at the short notice. However, as they attach tremendous importance to what would be the first visit by an Israeli president in 11 years (and that was one they'd rather forget, by Moshe Katsav)*, they went out of their way and agreed to it. Australia's governor-general, who is Rivlin's counterpart, canceled a scheduled trip abroad; the prime minister rearranged his schedule. The Jewish community was in seventh heaven. A series of meetings and festive meals was arranged for Rivlin with Australia's elite, in three cities. 'We admire Rivlin,' an official Australian source told me. 'We consider him a positive figure, unifying and tolerant'." (Shock & humiliation in Australia after Israeli president cancels official visit, Yossi Verter, Haaretz, 5/3/16)
What, as opposed to PM Netanyahu?
But then? Rivlin got a better offer. Putin invited him around for a bear hug. Straya, who'd been wetting her pants in anticipation, was - shock! horror! - stood up!!!
Hell hath no fury like a Straya scorned:
"It's hard to overstate the shock of the Australian leadership when they got the phone call from Jerusalem. 'We were stunned,' the official source related. 'We didn't know the first thing about Moscow. We couldn't understand why Russia couldn't be postponed for a few days. We didn't understand why we, your best friend, deserved this public humiliation. And in favor of the Russians, who are not exactly your friends. You are the ones who suggested and requested the visit, we did all we could to organize it with unprecedented speed, and then you postpone'. It's equally difficult to overstate the scale of the unpleasantness that was felt in the president's Residence. On Tuesday, Rivlin's office called the office of the governor-general of Australia, Peter Cosgrove, to apologize. Cosgrove refused to take the call. Rivlin was told that the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, would agree to speak to him. The two spoke for about 15 minutes. Ostensibly, things were set right, but not really."
Silly tart!
[*Now serving time for rape.]
"The Australians were surprised at the short notice. However, as they attach tremendous importance to what would be the first visit by an Israeli president in 11 years (and that was one they'd rather forget, by Moshe Katsav)*, they went out of their way and agreed to it. Australia's governor-general, who is Rivlin's counterpart, canceled a scheduled trip abroad; the prime minister rearranged his schedule. The Jewish community was in seventh heaven. A series of meetings and festive meals was arranged for Rivlin with Australia's elite, in three cities. 'We admire Rivlin,' an official Australian source told me. 'We consider him a positive figure, unifying and tolerant'." (Shock & humiliation in Australia after Israeli president cancels official visit, Yossi Verter, Haaretz, 5/3/16)
What, as opposed to PM Netanyahu?
But then? Rivlin got a better offer. Putin invited him around for a bear hug. Straya, who'd been wetting her pants in anticipation, was - shock! horror! - stood up!!!
Hell hath no fury like a Straya scorned:
"It's hard to overstate the shock of the Australian leadership when they got the phone call from Jerusalem. 'We were stunned,' the official source related. 'We didn't know the first thing about Moscow. We couldn't understand why Russia couldn't be postponed for a few days. We didn't understand why we, your best friend, deserved this public humiliation. And in favor of the Russians, who are not exactly your friends. You are the ones who suggested and requested the visit, we did all we could to organize it with unprecedented speed, and then you postpone'. It's equally difficult to overstate the scale of the unpleasantness that was felt in the president's Residence. On Tuesday, Rivlin's office called the office of the governor-general of Australia, Peter Cosgrove, to apologize. Cosgrove refused to take the call. Rivlin was told that the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, would agree to speak to him. The two spoke for about 15 minutes. Ostensibly, things were set right, but not really."
Silly tart!
[*Now serving time for rape.]
Sunday, March 6, 2016
The Unbearable Cluelessness of Graham Richardson
"That war is a dirty business is a proposition that cannot be challenged. Both innocence and the innocent are the victims, and when the war has been going on for years..."
That's how colorful Labor identity and Murdoch muppet Graham 'Richo' Richardson begins his column on NSW MLA Shaoquett Moselmane's threatened defamation action against Richo's fellow Murdoch muppett Sharri Markson. (Talk at lunch, not in court, The Australiam, 4/3/16)
And that's how he misrepresents what has been going on "for years" in Palestine. Nothing to do with colonisation. Or dispossession. Or ethnic cleansing. Or occupation. Or apartheid. Just another "dirty war" between equals. That's what this boofhead thinks is/has been going on over there. That's what he thinks it's all about.
Clearly, he knows SFA about the issue. Still, he insists he's learnt 'wisdom' of a practical kind from his late "legendary" Labor mates, bruvver Ducker and Jack Ferguson, namely 'Never sue anyone': "You risk hundreds of thousands of dollars you can't afford and you make certain you relieve [sic] the horror you're trying to forget." And this sage advice he's now dishing out to Moselmane whom he represents as a Richo protege: "I have known Moselmane for quite some time and more than any other individual I am responsible for getting the Labor party to put him into parliament."
So Shaoquett, maaate, listen up!
To clarify the details of Moselmane's defamation action: he said in state parliament in 2013: "I accept the right of people to express their views, even when they are wrong, naive, ill-informed, indoctrinated and blinded by the power of a lobby group that is cancerous and malicious and seeks to deny, misinform and scaremonger." Not apropos nothing, of course, but after coming under attack by another Murdoch muppet, Cassandra Wilkinson.
"These harsh words," says Richo, "were used to describe what could be called 'the Jewish lobby'."
(You can read it all in context in my 27/5/13 post Shaoquett Moselmane Speaks Truth to Power.)
This is what Murdoch muppet Markson wrote in response: "He didn't utter them in the privacy of his own home. He felt comfortable enough broadcasting this anti-Semitic sentiment within the walls of the NSW Parliament..."
Richo apparently has no problem with that malicious, career-destroying, mother-of-all-smears. But Moselmane's words, now that's a different matter: "Parliamentary privilege is a wonderful weapon in the hands of a politician with something nasty to say... It is hard to describe those words as anything but extreme."
Harsh... nasty... extreme. This is supposed to justify Markson hurling the A-bomb at Moselmane, calling him, in effect, from her public perch over at News Corpse, an anti-Semite. For Richo this is merely "free speech" and "commentary."
He puts in a plug for Markson:
"I want a society where strong debate with strong language is welcomed... I don't agree with all that is contained in the Markson commentary. Bob Carr, a friend of mine for more than 40 years, would have every right to be grievously offended by the column. Carr, though, would not call in the lawyers in a bid to shut Markson down. He knows debate is vital to democracy... Markson is tenacious and fearless. She can be irritating and sometimes can go too far. It should be noted, though, that the task of a good journalist is not to make us feel relaxed and comfortable. While I don't agree with much of her column, it would be a great shame if anyone succeeded in shutting her down. Markson is a good advertisement for modern journalism. It doesn't matter to me whether she has crossed some indiscernible legal line. This matter should not finish up in a court of law. Moselmane should rethink and back off. He would be far better to take Markson to lunch and debate the issue. You gave it, Shaoquett, now you have to man up and take it on the chin."
Is he for real? If Markson is "a good advertisement for modern journalism," then God help modern journalism!
It's not as if Richo is unfamiliar with Moselmane's background:
"Moselmane hails from a village in southern Lebanon. When the Israelis last ventured into Lebanon, I can vividly recall Moselmane's reaction when up to 12 children in his village died from aerial and artillery bombardment. Moselmane was quite emotional when discussing this with me. He vented his feelings about the Israeli army and the people who ordered them into his part of southern Lebanon. He would be less than human if the deaths of those children had no effect on his views about Israel and its inhabitants."
So Moselmane's got some skin in the vicious, expansionist games that Israel, as a hyper-aggressive, apartheid state, has been playing for decades in Palestine, in Lebanon, in Syria, in Jordan, in Egypt, and in Iraq. And then, when he speaks out against the influence and reach of Israel's Australian cheer squad, who, in the words of Richo mate Bob Carr, derive their extraordinary power from "political donations and a program of giving trips to MPs and journalists"* (such as Markson (rambammed: 2015) and Sheehan), he cops The Smear of Smears from Markson, who - and here's the rub - has no skin in the game whatever, other than to have been indoctrinated at some stage with the false Zionist notion that occupied - River to Sea - Palestine is her birthright as a Jew, a bizarre conceit she appears too thick or too full of herself to see through.
But I guess that's all a bit too subtle for Richo.
[*7.30 Report, 9/4/14]
That's how colorful Labor identity and Murdoch muppet Graham 'Richo' Richardson begins his column on NSW MLA Shaoquett Moselmane's threatened defamation action against Richo's fellow Murdoch muppett Sharri Markson. (Talk at lunch, not in court, The Australiam, 4/3/16)
And that's how he misrepresents what has been going on "for years" in Palestine. Nothing to do with colonisation. Or dispossession. Or ethnic cleansing. Or occupation. Or apartheid. Just another "dirty war" between equals. That's what this boofhead thinks is/has been going on over there. That's what he thinks it's all about.
Clearly, he knows SFA about the issue. Still, he insists he's learnt 'wisdom' of a practical kind from his late "legendary" Labor mates, bruvver Ducker and Jack Ferguson, namely 'Never sue anyone': "You risk hundreds of thousands of dollars you can't afford and you make certain you relieve [sic] the horror you're trying to forget." And this sage advice he's now dishing out to Moselmane whom he represents as a Richo protege: "I have known Moselmane for quite some time and more than any other individual I am responsible for getting the Labor party to put him into parliament."
So Shaoquett, maaate, listen up!
To clarify the details of Moselmane's defamation action: he said in state parliament in 2013: "I accept the right of people to express their views, even when they are wrong, naive, ill-informed, indoctrinated and blinded by the power of a lobby group that is cancerous and malicious and seeks to deny, misinform and scaremonger." Not apropos nothing, of course, but after coming under attack by another Murdoch muppet, Cassandra Wilkinson.
"These harsh words," says Richo, "were used to describe what could be called 'the Jewish lobby'."
(You can read it all in context in my 27/5/13 post Shaoquett Moselmane Speaks Truth to Power.)
This is what Murdoch muppet Markson wrote in response: "He didn't utter them in the privacy of his own home. He felt comfortable enough broadcasting this anti-Semitic sentiment within the walls of the NSW Parliament..."
Richo apparently has no problem with that malicious, career-destroying, mother-of-all-smears. But Moselmane's words, now that's a different matter: "Parliamentary privilege is a wonderful weapon in the hands of a politician with something nasty to say... It is hard to describe those words as anything but extreme."
Harsh... nasty... extreme. This is supposed to justify Markson hurling the A-bomb at Moselmane, calling him, in effect, from her public perch over at News Corpse, an anti-Semite. For Richo this is merely "free speech" and "commentary."
He puts in a plug for Markson:
"I want a society where strong debate with strong language is welcomed... I don't agree with all that is contained in the Markson commentary. Bob Carr, a friend of mine for more than 40 years, would have every right to be grievously offended by the column. Carr, though, would not call in the lawyers in a bid to shut Markson down. He knows debate is vital to democracy... Markson is tenacious and fearless. She can be irritating and sometimes can go too far. It should be noted, though, that the task of a good journalist is not to make us feel relaxed and comfortable. While I don't agree with much of her column, it would be a great shame if anyone succeeded in shutting her down. Markson is a good advertisement for modern journalism. It doesn't matter to me whether she has crossed some indiscernible legal line. This matter should not finish up in a court of law. Moselmane should rethink and back off. He would be far better to take Markson to lunch and debate the issue. You gave it, Shaoquett, now you have to man up and take it on the chin."
Is he for real? If Markson is "a good advertisement for modern journalism," then God help modern journalism!
It's not as if Richo is unfamiliar with Moselmane's background:
"Moselmane hails from a village in southern Lebanon. When the Israelis last ventured into Lebanon, I can vividly recall Moselmane's reaction when up to 12 children in his village died from aerial and artillery bombardment. Moselmane was quite emotional when discussing this with me. He vented his feelings about the Israeli army and the people who ordered them into his part of southern Lebanon. He would be less than human if the deaths of those children had no effect on his views about Israel and its inhabitants."
So Moselmane's got some skin in the vicious, expansionist games that Israel, as a hyper-aggressive, apartheid state, has been playing for decades in Palestine, in Lebanon, in Syria, in Jordan, in Egypt, and in Iraq. And then, when he speaks out against the influence and reach of Israel's Australian cheer squad, who, in the words of Richo mate Bob Carr, derive their extraordinary power from "political donations and a program of giving trips to MPs and journalists"* (such as Markson (rambammed: 2015) and Sheehan), he cops The Smear of Smears from Markson, who - and here's the rub - has no skin in the game whatever, other than to have been indoctrinated at some stage with the false Zionist notion that occupied - River to Sea - Palestine is her birthright as a Jew, a bizarre conceit she appears too thick or too full of herself to see through.
But I guess that's all a bit too subtle for Richo.
[*7.30 Report, 9/4/14]
Saturday, March 5, 2016
Paul Sheehan: Going, Going...
... but still not bloody gone!
Only "stood aside until further notice"? (Paul Sheehan suspended by Sydney Morning Herald over false rape story, Amanda Meade, theguardian.com, 4/3/16)
That's all? Just a suspension? What a joke! Principal Goodsir is so half-arsed.
Look, the bugger will be off school for a week or so having the time of his life. Then before you can say good riddance, he'll be back in class again annoying the bejesus out of his teachers as usual.
Either that or he'll give Fairfax High the finger and pop up at Murdoch. For the life of me I could never understand why he didn't go to that bloody hole in the first place.
Only "stood aside until further notice"? (Paul Sheehan suspended by Sydney Morning Herald over false rape story, Amanda Meade, theguardian.com, 4/3/16)
That's all? Just a suspension? What a joke! Principal Goodsir is so half-arsed.
Look, the bugger will be off school for a week or so having the time of his life. Then before you can say good riddance, he'll be back in class again annoying the bejesus out of his teachers as usual.
Either that or he'll give Fairfax High the finger and pop up at Murdoch. For the life of me I could never understand why he didn't go to that bloody hole in the first place.
Friday, March 4, 2016
Air Apartheid
"A local technology start-up is channeling the know-how of the Israel military to lure Australian former defence personnel as pilots for its fleet of commercial drones. Ninox [Robotics]managing director Marcus Ehrlich said its first group of two pilots and two maintenance staff undergoing training were all ex-Australian Defence Force men. 'They're all out of the army drone regiment which makes them fantastic to train and great utilisers of the system,' he said... Last year Sydney's Ninox Robotics was the first Australian drone operator to conduct test flights at night...
"Now Ninox pilots and technicians are in Israel for one month, honing their flying skills using drones made by Bluebird Aero Systems. Bluebird operates from Kadima, a small town 35km from Tel Aviv. It makes a variety of drones... According to Bluebird's website, it is used for 'covert, real-time, life-saving intelligence to the Israeli forces performing their missions in the war on terror and supporting the Israel homeland security situation'. Bluebird's drones were used in Operation Brother's Keeper, launched in response to the 2014 kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers, and Operation Protective Edge, Israel's response to rocket attacks from Gaza in the same year..." (Israeli army trains drone pilots, Chris Griffith, The Australian, 26/2/16)
"Now Ninox pilots and technicians are in Israel for one month, honing their flying skills using drones made by Bluebird Aero Systems. Bluebird operates from Kadima, a small town 35km from Tel Aviv. It makes a variety of drones... According to Bluebird's website, it is used for 'covert, real-time, life-saving intelligence to the Israeli forces performing their missions in the war on terror and supporting the Israel homeland security situation'. Bluebird's drones were used in Operation Brother's Keeper, launched in response to the 2014 kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers, and Operation Protective Edge, Israel's response to rocket attacks from Gaza in the same year..." (Israeli army trains drone pilots, Chris Griffith, The Australian, 26/2/16)
Thursday, March 3, 2016
Melissa Parke MP: Nice Girl in a Place Like This
New Matilda journalist Max Chalmers' excellent piece on Labor MP (Freemantle, WA) Melissa Parke, who has announced she will be stepping down at the next election, is called Labor's conscientious objector: inside Melissa Parke's war on indifference (28/2/16). It could just as well have been called What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?
Chalmer's essay is a fascinating reflection on the interface between a thoroughly decent, principled, and beautiful human being and a thoroughly indecent, unprincipled, ugly-as-sin party machine. Or, to put it another way, the interface between a human being so morally and intellectually courageous that the issue of Palestine is central to her outlook on life and a party machine committed to ensuring that it is consigned to history's dustbin. Which is to say, a rotten-to-the-core Zionist party.
I would urge all of you to read the essay in its entirety. For now I wish only to highlight the following passages and say a few words:
"The issue of BDS in Australia, and of the Israel/Palestine conflict generally, remains politically unrewarding. Support begets accusations of anti-Semitism, and as The Greens have learnt, dogged attacks from the conservative press. If you are unlucky you might even end up in court. Meanwhile, most Australians couldn't tell you the first thing about the aging conflict. The repercussions for pushing it onto the public consciousness are severe, and the political payoffs somewhere between questionable and nonexistent."
Now isn't that the naked truth?! And yet, it seems to me, that even as good a journalist as Chalmers is afraid to spell out the bleeding obvious; whether Lib, Lab or Green, the Zionist lobby has Australian politics by its non-existent balls.
Example? Melissa Parke MP is tabling a petition in support of BDS by a dissident Israeli academic resident in Australia, Marcelo Svirsky. Writes Chalmers: "Despite being delivered to a near-empty chamber, Parkes' remarks were punctuated by outraged interjections."
Near-empty chamber... outraged interjections. Says it all, really.
So why has Parkes embraced the cause of Palestine? Simple. Being the intellectually and morally courageous individual she is, and having seen what she's seen, she simply cannot look away. From this:
"As the Second Intifada raged [2000-2005]... Parke was in Gaza... working as a Legal Officer for a UN refugee agency... At the time, Israel was deploying what Parke describes as 'a sort of shock and awe bombing campaign.' She says thirty-six bombs were dropped on her first night in Gaza city, shaking her building and its surrounds. She lay awake. Then Israel started targeting leaders of Hamas - too bad if you're the one who gets stuck in traffic behind them when the IDF locks on. 'You could be driving behind the car targeted with Hamas in it and you're gone as well,' Parke says. She was scared, and her fears were soon vindicated. The same year as Parke arrived in Gaza, a place she stayed for two and a half years, fellow UN worker Ian Hook was shot in the back by an Israeli sniper from a nearby building. Hook was in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank but was inside a UN compound at the time he was shot. He'd been there to help rebuild homes. Israel contests the exact details of the killing, but those like Parke believe the shooter must have known who they were about to slay. Despite some outrage, and conciliatory calls from Israel's then foreign minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to the English government, a UN resolution condemning the murder was vetoed by the United States.
"The killing of Hook and lack of international response outraged Parke, and she carries the injustice of it with her still. So too the many others she witnessed directly in the shelled and reshelled streets of Gaza. 'I didn't go there with a preconceived view,' Parke insists. 'I obviously had read about the situation. But it's not until you're there on the ground that you come to appreciate the absolute imbalance of power. You're talking about the fourth largest military power in the world with the latest technology and with an army, navy, airforce, versus an occupied people - an impoverished, occupied people.' These experiences soaked deep into Parke. When I tried to move the interview on, at one point, she moves us back to Palestine. This is what she wants to talk about and part of the reason she came to Parliament: to grab the megaphone and to use it."
Inevitably, the subject of Tanya (Once was warrior) Plibersek arises:
"Both Parke and Plibersek secured progressive inner-city seats and have an affinity for development and international affairs. Both are used as counter-examples by party faithful disillusioned with the middling leadership of Bill Shorten. Both have a powerful charisma and independent streak. But only one has played the disciplined insider game: Plibersek now finds herself on the ladder's penultimate rung. Yet... Tanya Plibersek underwent a transformation over the period of her ascent, especially in regards to international affairs. In earlier times, Plibersek decried Ariel Sharon as a war criminal and blasted the US but by the time he died in 2014, she was thanking the former Israeli leader for his 'courageous stand' for peace."
Yet another example, if one were needed, of the extraordinary power of the Israel lobby in this country. The appalling reality of Australian political life, as of American, is that the path to the the political ladder's penultimate rung passes through the Zionist lobby.
Finally, a quibble: "[Parke] is drawn to Labor's history and points to Doc Evatt... as [a source] of inspiration."
Melissa, should ever get around to reading this post, please, please, please take the trouble to click on the Dr Evatt label below and find out a little more about this Zionist icon.
Chalmer's essay is a fascinating reflection on the interface between a thoroughly decent, principled, and beautiful human being and a thoroughly indecent, unprincipled, ugly-as-sin party machine. Or, to put it another way, the interface between a human being so morally and intellectually courageous that the issue of Palestine is central to her outlook on life and a party machine committed to ensuring that it is consigned to history's dustbin. Which is to say, a rotten-to-the-core Zionist party.
I would urge all of you to read the essay in its entirety. For now I wish only to highlight the following passages and say a few words:
"The issue of BDS in Australia, and of the Israel/Palestine conflict generally, remains politically unrewarding. Support begets accusations of anti-Semitism, and as The Greens have learnt, dogged attacks from the conservative press. If you are unlucky you might even end up in court. Meanwhile, most Australians couldn't tell you the first thing about the aging conflict. The repercussions for pushing it onto the public consciousness are severe, and the political payoffs somewhere between questionable and nonexistent."
Now isn't that the naked truth?! And yet, it seems to me, that even as good a journalist as Chalmers is afraid to spell out the bleeding obvious; whether Lib, Lab or Green, the Zionist lobby has Australian politics by its non-existent balls.
Example? Melissa Parke MP is tabling a petition in support of BDS by a dissident Israeli academic resident in Australia, Marcelo Svirsky. Writes Chalmers: "Despite being delivered to a near-empty chamber, Parkes' remarks were punctuated by outraged interjections."
Near-empty chamber... outraged interjections. Says it all, really.
So why has Parkes embraced the cause of Palestine? Simple. Being the intellectually and morally courageous individual she is, and having seen what she's seen, she simply cannot look away. From this:
"As the Second Intifada raged [2000-2005]... Parke was in Gaza... working as a Legal Officer for a UN refugee agency... At the time, Israel was deploying what Parke describes as 'a sort of shock and awe bombing campaign.' She says thirty-six bombs were dropped on her first night in Gaza city, shaking her building and its surrounds. She lay awake. Then Israel started targeting leaders of Hamas - too bad if you're the one who gets stuck in traffic behind them when the IDF locks on. 'You could be driving behind the car targeted with Hamas in it and you're gone as well,' Parke says. She was scared, and her fears were soon vindicated. The same year as Parke arrived in Gaza, a place she stayed for two and a half years, fellow UN worker Ian Hook was shot in the back by an Israeli sniper from a nearby building. Hook was in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank but was inside a UN compound at the time he was shot. He'd been there to help rebuild homes. Israel contests the exact details of the killing, but those like Parke believe the shooter must have known who they were about to slay. Despite some outrage, and conciliatory calls from Israel's then foreign minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to the English government, a UN resolution condemning the murder was vetoed by the United States.
"The killing of Hook and lack of international response outraged Parke, and she carries the injustice of it with her still. So too the many others she witnessed directly in the shelled and reshelled streets of Gaza. 'I didn't go there with a preconceived view,' Parke insists. 'I obviously had read about the situation. But it's not until you're there on the ground that you come to appreciate the absolute imbalance of power. You're talking about the fourth largest military power in the world with the latest technology and with an army, navy, airforce, versus an occupied people - an impoverished, occupied people.' These experiences soaked deep into Parke. When I tried to move the interview on, at one point, she moves us back to Palestine. This is what she wants to talk about and part of the reason she came to Parliament: to grab the megaphone and to use it."
Inevitably, the subject of Tanya (Once was warrior) Plibersek arises:
"Both Parke and Plibersek secured progressive inner-city seats and have an affinity for development and international affairs. Both are used as counter-examples by party faithful disillusioned with the middling leadership of Bill Shorten. Both have a powerful charisma and independent streak. But only one has played the disciplined insider game: Plibersek now finds herself on the ladder's penultimate rung. Yet... Tanya Plibersek underwent a transformation over the period of her ascent, especially in regards to international affairs. In earlier times, Plibersek decried Ariel Sharon as a war criminal and blasted the US but by the time he died in 2014, she was thanking the former Israeli leader for his 'courageous stand' for peace."
Yet another example, if one were needed, of the extraordinary power of the Israel lobby in this country. The appalling reality of Australian political life, as of American, is that the path to the the political ladder's penultimate rung passes through the Zionist lobby.
Finally, a quibble: "[Parke] is drawn to Labor's history and points to Doc Evatt... as [a source] of inspiration."
Melissa, should ever get around to reading this post, please, please, please take the trouble to click on the Dr Evatt label below and find out a little more about this Zionist icon.
Tuesday, March 1, 2016
The Herald 'Apologises'
Blink and you'd have missed it. The Sydney Morning Herald 'apologises' for its Islamophobe-in-residence, Paul Sheehan, without mentioning his name:
"In last Monday's paper, the Herald reported the details of an alleged sexual assault under the headline 'The horrifying untold story of Louise.' A subsequent column printed in last Thursday's edition, 'The story of Louise: why the police have no case to answer, but I do,' acknowledged key elements of the original story were unable to be substantiated. The original story, which has been corrected, included aspersions against the Middle Eastern community and raised untested allegations of inaction against the NSW Police. The Herald sincerely regrets the hurt and distress this report caused to these groups, and unreservedly apologises." (Apology, 29/2/16)*
And then, adding insult to 'apology', the Herald publishes the following letter of appreciation to Sheehan/concern for 'Louise' in the same edition:
"I very much appreciate Paul Sheehan's honesty and admission to his mistake but am a little perplexed. Does this mean 'Louise' was never raped or beaten up and spent two months in hospital? I would very much appreciate an explanation. It appears in the second article that Louise is a troubled soul. However, if any of her comments are true they need to be considered. I am also concerned that the police advised her that they were unable to assist as she reported the incident four months after and therefore it was too late; this does not ring true. I do hope that you can get to the bottom of this unpleasant situation." Linda Ward, Tweed Heads South
[*Compare the above paragraph with the Herald's elaborate, multi-paragraph grovel to the Israel lobby for the supposed offence of its cartoonist Glen Le Lievre in depicting Israel's enjoyment of Gaza's agony under Israeli attack in 2014. (See my 4/8/14 post Sustained Israel lobby barrage cripples SMH.)]
"In last Monday's paper, the Herald reported the details of an alleged sexual assault under the headline 'The horrifying untold story of Louise.' A subsequent column printed in last Thursday's edition, 'The story of Louise: why the police have no case to answer, but I do,' acknowledged key elements of the original story were unable to be substantiated. The original story, which has been corrected, included aspersions against the Middle Eastern community and raised untested allegations of inaction against the NSW Police. The Herald sincerely regrets the hurt and distress this report caused to these groups, and unreservedly apologises." (Apology, 29/2/16)*
And then, adding insult to 'apology', the Herald publishes the following letter of appreciation to Sheehan/concern for 'Louise' in the same edition:
"I very much appreciate Paul Sheehan's honesty and admission to his mistake but am a little perplexed. Does this mean 'Louise' was never raped or beaten up and spent two months in hospital? I would very much appreciate an explanation. It appears in the second article that Louise is a troubled soul. However, if any of her comments are true they need to be considered. I am also concerned that the police advised her that they were unable to assist as she reported the incident four months after and therefore it was too late; this does not ring true. I do hope that you can get to the bottom of this unpleasant situation." Linda Ward, Tweed Heads South
[*Compare the above paragraph with the Herald's elaborate, multi-paragraph grovel to the Israel lobby for the supposed offence of its cartoonist Glen Le Lievre in depicting Israel's enjoyment of Gaza's agony under Israeli attack in 2014. (See my 4/8/14 post Sustained Israel lobby barrage cripples SMH.)]
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