The Israeli Occupation of Federal Parliament 1

"Australian politicians of all stripes, together with a broad range of community leaders, will celebrate Yom Ha'atzmaut [Israeli Independence Day] in style in Canberra. It is understood Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will deliver a parliamentary motion in the House of Representatives on March 12, followed by a reception at Parliament House. The PM's...motion is expected to congratulate Israel on reaching the milestone and will be immediately seconded by Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson. The Israeli embassy and the Zionist Federation of Australia will then host a celebration in Parliament House's Mural Hall...Both the PM and OL are expected to attend, along with Israeli Ambassador...Yuval Rotem...The celebration...acknowledges the close relationship between Israel and Australia - a relationship that transcends political and religious boundaries. It is believed Australia's political leaders will feature prominently at other Yom Ha'atzmaut events planned in Australia later in the year." (PM to lead Israel motion, The Australian Jewish News, 22/2/08)

The rambamming [See my post Rambammed, 22/2/08] of Australian politics is paying off handsomely. As I write, Mark Latham's spot-on "conga line of suckholes" is being lined up for the occasion. Their participation in the proceedings of March 12 will be as good a guide as any to the degree of influence currently wielded by Israel and its lobby in this country. It behoves the rest of us to know just what it is exactly that this sinister little rave is all about:-

The suckholes will actually be celebrating the 60th anniversary of what the indigenous Arab inhabitants of Palestine call an-Nakba (The Catastrophe). They'll be popping champagne corks over the ethnic cleansing and mass expulsion of 85% of the Palestinian population resident in those parts of Palestine overrun by Zionist forces in the war of 1948 (ie 78% of Palestine, what is ironically referred to today as Israel 'proper'). They'll be raising their glasses to the wholesale destruction and theft of the Palestinian refugees' vast rural and urban real estate; their cities, towns, villages, homes, schools, hospitals and infrastructure; their businesses, their shops, their bank accounts, and so on and on. They'll be toasting the merciless, periodic pounding of these refugees in their wretched camps scattered in neighbouring Arab countries. They'll be drinking to the national limbo - 60 years of enforced statelessness - into which these people have been cast by the state of Israel, backed by criminal collusion and reinforced by shameful indifference. Finally, they'll be belching over the ruthless 40-year Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with its ongoing dispossession, expanding settlements, walled cantons, checkpoints, closures, curfews, murders, imprisonment, torture, starvation, brutalization and humiliation.

So below-the-radar of media scrutiny and public consciousness is the subject of Israel's domination and management of Australia's public discourse and political practice regarding the conflict in the Middle East, that the brief report in the AJN above is the only notice we've had of federal parliament's impending descent into the moral depths. Until today, that is. The Sydney Morning Herald's veteran political commentator, Alan Ramsey, has courageously dared to blow the whistle on it in a column headed Don't mention the war as Israel lauded (8/3/08).

Ramsey reminds readers of what happened when Labor MP Julia Irwin bravely tried to raise the subject of Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories in the same forum in 2002. "Despite thuggish efforts to shut Irwin up," he writes, "the Howard government allowed her 4-point motion to go ahead in the House of Representatives 6 weeks later but restricted debate to 6 MPs, each given only 5' speaking time. As a 'debate' of the core malignancy convulsing the Middle East ever since the UN partition of Palestine in 1948 [sic:1947], it was a travesty. It was also one of those extremely rare ocassions that the easily intimidated Australian Parliament, ever mindful of Jewish financial support of party coffers, has debated the Middle East at all. Kevin Rudd...apparently intends to change that...So what is our Kevin doing? His office says yes, Rudd does propose introducing a motion...concerning the 60th anniversary of the founding of Israel (which is not actually due until May 14). And yes, he proposes doing this next Wednesday. But what it will say is still being worked on. And no, Brendan Nelson has not, as yet, been consulted, although he will be. What might it say about the Palestinians?" (You can read the lot at http://www.smh.com.au/)

Ramsey might have asked just who is working on it? Maybe the AJN has a partial answer. Its issue for 29/2/08 contained the transcript of a video speech by Rudd to The Yeshiva Centre's annual Gala Dinner on February 19. His speech concluded with these words: "As you all know I am a strong supporter of the Jewish community. Like the Labor Prime Ministers before me, stretching back to the time of Ben Chifley, a time which saw the creation of the modern state of Israel, you can be assured of my consistent and strong support, both for Israel and for the Jewish community of Australia. I will conclude with the same words that I concluded my address last year, 'Am Yisrael Chai' [The People of Israel Live]. In this country, the success of the Jewish people has always been to the benefit of the whole of Australia. Am Yisrael Chai!" Commented 'Ben' on the News' letters pages: "A really great speech. I wonder which Jewish adviser wrote it for him."

Stay tuned.