Why Does Melbourne Ports Keep Voting for Michael Danby?

What kind of electorate is Melbourne Ports?

In election after election after election (1998 on), the voters there have voted again and again and again, either directly or through preferences (Hello, Greens), for a politician whose sole interest, if one is to judge by the frequency and nature of his comments in the Australian press, is deflecting criticism of Israel.

Here he is again, butting in on the proposal by some in NSW Labor to ban Israel lobby-sponsored trips to Israel at February's NSW Labor annual conference:

"The federal Labor MP for Melbourne Ports, Michael Danby, asked why Israel was being singled out. 'If a Labor person takes a trip to the United States, do they have to spend the same time in Russia?" (Shorten leaves Israel up to MPs, Mark Coultan, The Australian, 29/1/16)

Why is Israel being singled out?

It's the OCCUPATION, stupid.

As a former Israeli attorney-general (1993-96), Michael Ben-Yair, once wrote:

"The Six-Day War was forced upon us [A zombie myth, but we'll let it go for now]; however, the war's seventh day, which began on June 12, 1967 and has continued to this day [He was speaking here in 2002!] is the product of our choice. We enthusiastically chose to become a colonial society, ignoring international treaties, expropriating lands, transferring settlers from Israel to the occupied territories, engaging in theft and finding justification for all these activities. Passionately desiring to keep the occupied territories, we developed two judicial systems: one - progressive, liberal - in Israel; and the other - cruel, injurious - in the occupied territories. In effect, we established an apartheid regime in the occupied territories immediately following their capture. That regime exists to this day."

The question on everyone's lips should not be 'Why is Israel being singled out?' but 'Why does Melbourne Ports keep voting for Michael Danby?'

Some of Our Best Friends Are Palestinian...

"NSW Jewish Board of Deputies chief executive Vic Alhadeff stressed the broad nature of the visits to the region his group coordinates. 'All our programs include the West Bank, where participants are briefed by senior Palestinian officials,' he said. 'This gives Australian delegations an opportunity to see the situation first-hand and form their own conclusions." (Bishop calls for Shorten to stop ALP ban on Israel visits, Christian Kerr/Tessa Ackerman, The Australian, 28/1/16)

Hm... senior Palestinian officials?

Vic means these guys:

"The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority works closely with the Israeli occupation. Earlier this month, for instance, Israeli officials praised the PA for 'cracking down' on opposition and resistance to Israel's occupation in the West Bank. The PA's leader, Mahmoud Abbass, has previously called this so-called security coordination a 'sacred' duty... The PA's intelligence chief Majid Faraj boasted to Defense News recently that his forces had arrested 100 Palestinians in recent months and were working closely with Israeli occupation forces to prevent the unpopular PA from collapsing. 'We, together with our counterparts in the Israeli security establishment, with the Americans and others, are all trying to prevent that collapse,' Faraj said." (Infographic: 7 ways the Palestinian Authority helps Israeli occupation, Ali Abunimah, electronicintifada.net, 26/1/16)

Duty Calls

OK, we know that Zionism is Labor's CORE value.

Now we know that rambamming is a Labor DUTY.

With regard to a proposal to ban sponsored trips to Israel coming up at February's NSW Labor conference, "A spokesman for Mr Shorten said: 'Mr Shorten does not agree with any attempt to remove the flexibility of members of parliament in the conduct of their duties while overseas.'" (Bishop calls for Shorten to stop ALP ban on Israel visits, Christian Kerr/Tessa Akerman, The Australian, 28/1/16)

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The Twilight Zone

The next time you hear any pious chatter about a two-state solution from the usual suspects consider this:

"Under current circumstances, advancing down the road of a virtual Palestinian state may actually end up benefitting Israeli policies. It suits Israelis to have a Palestinian Authority able to effectively manage (and international community willing to pay for) the occupation on its behalf. But most of all, obtaining purely symbolic acknowledgments of Palestinian statehood aspirations keeps alive the idea of a two-state solution without actually bringing it closer to fruition, thereby helping reinforce a reality that is beneficial to Israel. Israel's silent annexation of large swathes of Palestinian territory can only be sustained so long as the vision of two states remains alive. Maintaining even a wafer thin belief in such an outcome (based on a non-peace process) is a holding strategy that allows Israel to deflect the bulk of international pressure even as it prolongs and deepens a largely cost-free occupation. This legal 'twilight zone' between temporary occupation and full-blown annexation allows Israel to control those parts of the West Bank on which the bulk of Israeli settlers are located, without having to shoulder any financial, legal or moral responsibilities. Removing this illusion would reveal the current one-state reality that already exists. Namely, a system that has created two distinct legal regimes for those living under Israeli jurisdiction in the occupied territories and effectively disenfranchises millions of non-Jewish residents from having a say in a government that is the ultimate arbiter of their fate." (Excerpt from The Ramallah paradox, Hugh Lovatt, middleeasteye.net, 26/1/16)

Hugh Lovatt is the Israel/Palestine Project Coordinator for the Middle East & North Africa Programme of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR)

Aussies Do It Better...

"In Camp Taji in Iraq regimental sergeant majors are commonly known for shouting and putting the fear of God into young soldiers." (Slow but steady progress as diggers prepare Iraqi troops, David Rowe,* Sydney Morning Herald, 19/1/16)

Ah, but not our warm & fuzzy Warrant Officer Class One Mark Retallick:

"When one soldier puts five rounds from his newly-issued M-16 into the bullseye... Warrant Officer Retallick grabs him in a bear hug. 'We'll be calling you Carlos Hathcock,' he says, referring to the legendary US Marine sniper of the Vietnam War."

Heart-warming, eh? But why didn't Wroe report the Iraqi soldier's response? Like, for example:

'Cool, man, ever since ah was a kid ah used to dream about being Carlos Hathcock! Shreddin' Gooks in 'Nam, HOT DAMN!'

See how culturally sensitive WO Retallick is?

I mean, he could've said:

'We'll be calling you Chris Kyle'** (referring to the legendary US Navy SEAL sniper of the Iraq war who killed 255 Iraqis).

Aussies do it better, eh?

[*Rambammed: 2014; **American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in US Military History (2012)]

Invasion Day: 26 January, 2016

A fitting time to recall what the Zionist hero, Winston Churchill, speaking before British Mandate Palestine's 1937 Peel Commission, had to say about Indigenous Palestinians & Australians:

"I do not agree that the dog in a manger has the final right to the manger even though he may have lain there for a very long time. I do not admit that right. I do not admit for instance that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people of Australia. I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, a more worldly wise race to put it that way, has come in and taken their place."