Destiny & Powerlessness: The American Odyssey of GHW Bush

Israeli settlers are illegally invading occupied East Jerusalem and the Palestinian West Bank as we speak.

Their numbers have metastisised from 100,000 in 1982 to 850,000 today. They control 42% of the West Bank (itself only 22% of historic Palestine), and consume 80% of its water. (If you want to know what else they do, just google 'Dawabshe'.)

And American presidents, reputedly the most powerful men on the planet, have had about as much success as the legendary King Canute in halting this toxic tide.

The last substantial (this is a relative term) attempt to do so came from President George Herbert Walker Bush - Bush senior - in 1990. You can read about it, and Bush's ignominious backdown, in my 9/6/09 post 'Only One Lonely Little Guy'.

Jon Meacham's new biography of GWH Bush, Destiny & Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush (2015), does not, of course, do the subject of the raw power of Israel over the United States justice. (It's a Pulitzer Prize winner for God's sake!)

The following anecdote from his book, however, says it all about who holds the whip hand in the US-Israel relationship and the sheer cluelessness of American presidents in this matter. Read and weep:

"The politics of the Middle East were always in play. Despite their cooperation in the Gulf war, the American president and the Israeli prime minister did not have the warmest of relationships. In 1989, when Yitzhak Shamir had come to the United States, Bush had urged Israel to stop building settlements in the occupied territories in the hope that such a concession might improve relations with the Palestinians. As Richard Haass, who was in the Oval Office with the two leaders, recalled it, Shamir gestured dismissively and said 'no problem.' The exchange led to great confusion. 'Bush thought he had an understanding from Shamir that the Israelis would not cause any problems with their settlement activity, meaning that they would cease building new ones,' Haass recalled. 'Shamir, I later learned, thought he was telling the president that the settlements... should not cause any problem and that all the debate was much ado about nothing. Shamir thus continued authorizing them; Bush thought the Israeli leader had broken his word'." (p 494)

Think of the implications here:

'... in the hope that such a concession might improve relations with the Palestinians."

Concession? When did this word start creeping into use in this matter? International law does not call for concessions from occupiers (or the occupied for that matter). International law demands that occupiers end their illegal occupations NOW - no ifs or buts or maybes - or face the consequences.

After all, wasn't that GHW Bush's message to Saddam Hussein when he invaded and occupied Kuwait in 1990? And when Saddam refused to comply? Why, Bush dislodged the Iraqis from Kuwait by force in the same year.

But, hey, that was Iraq. This is Israel.

"Shamir gestured dismissively and said ' no problem'."

And Bush just accepts that, no questions asked? A bloody rude hand gesture and two muttered words plus eye-roll? That's it? You're kidding me!

Did Bush even know he was dealing with the former leader of the Stern Gang whose hands were dripping with blood? Rhetorical question, of course.

And did Bush lie down on the floor on the floor of the Oval Office so the Stern Gang boss, with a smirk on his face, could walk over him on his way out?

Meacham doesn't say. His book's title is Destiny & Power. Power? What power?

Land of the Not Free & Home of the Not Brave

Michael Singh's Valentino's Ghost: Why We Hate Arabs (2015) "is an epic documentary that resituates the whole question of anti-Arab/-Muslim stereotyping as a matter of the 'special relationship' between the US and Israel... " (Valentino's ghost makes comeback after 4 years of suppression, Terri Ginsberg, mondoweiss.net, 27/12/15 )

Which explains why it's encountering censorship in USrael, land of the not free and home of the not brave:

"... perhaps the most troubling instance of the film's censorship was evidenced by Singh's encounter with PBS's [Public Broadcasting Service] David Fanning... Singh simultaneously transcribed one of his revealing telephone conversations with Fanning...

FANNING: I agree with your premise and your arguments, but I will do everything I can to block the broadcast of your film on WGBH or in fact any other PBS affiliate in the country.
SINGH: Why is that?
FANNING: Because it'll piss off my rich Jewish friends.
SINGH: So this huge subject will remain under the rug?
FANNING: It's not a huge subject. You can cover your premise in about 4 minutes. What will you do for the next 50 minutes?
SINGH: I actually have enough material for a 3-hour miniseries.
FANNING: How are you going to fund that?
SINGH: I don't know. Get grants.
FANNING: And if you get Arab money, I'm going to find you out.
SINGH: What about Holocaust films made with Israeli money?
FANNING: That's OK. Not a problem.
SINGH: That's a double-standard.
FANNING: Yup. It's a double standard, and you're going to have to get used to it. 
SINGH: That's hypocritical
FANNING: Well, he who pays the piper calls the tune.
SINGH: That's the opposite of PBS's mission. In fact, it is a violation of their charter for the money people to influence filmmakers editorially.
FANNING: That's the way it is, and if you quote me, I'll deny it.

And When I Knock on the Door...

I love this:

"As a Palestinian, whether I live 'here' or 'there,' I live in an existential homeland. Since my childhood I have known no other. But I have not yet wanted to reconcile myself to the notion that my history should be deflected from its preordained course and that I should be robbed of my patrimony. I still consider the punishment meted out to us to be unspeakable. To be punished beyond the call of our guilt is a terrible front to our sensibility and sense of justice. To be punished with no implication of guilt is to be brought to the edge of hysteria, a clamour to prove to one's self that our account with men and their gods do not balance.

"And the accounts do not balance, and they have never balanced.

"For the Palestinian, just to explain himself, 'here' as well as 'there,' he has to exert torrential energies.

"In Long Island, I gave a talk to a predominantly Jewish audience. I speak about Palestine and the Palestinians. Mine is a narrative, not a lecture, that I deliver without cant. I am not a threatening figure. I have a beard and long hair. I have Semitic features. I am wearing a corduroy suit. I am at home in English and its nuances. When I finish, in this stark surrounding of upper middle class affluence, I know my tale has a tone, a presence, a spell and a desperate integrity to it. I know its honesty has played on the nerves with disquietening intimacy, making such immediate, such urgent claims on the intellect and on emotions. But this audience does not flinch.

"Instead, I hear this: You people have never had it so good under occupation, now you're looked after medically and educationally, and have the highest standard of living among all Arabs. Palestine was desert before the Jews went there. The 'Arab refugees' left Palestine voluntarily. If it were not for the Arab governments, you people would have been resettled a long time ago. If we granted you a separate state, you people would be at the gates of Jerusalem, Haifa and Jaffa.

"Yes. Yes. Yes, that is where I want to Return. Where I want to be. At the gates of Jerusalem, Haifa and Jaffa. And when I knock on the door, I shall be there listing every blade of grass, every grain of sand, every floor, every shadow of every olive tree that I had left behind." (Fawaz Turki, The Future of a Past: Fragments from the Palestinian Dream, Journal of Palestine Studies, Spring, 1977, p 69)

Propaganda 101 by The New York Times

A rejigging of the Angry Arab's piece Just look how the New York Times (with a byline by a token Arab reporter) characterizes the murder of Palestinians (26/12/15):

"Palestinians using knives, guns and vehicles have killed 19 Israelis, an American and a Palestinian resident of the West Bank over the past 3 months. More than 130 Palestinians have been killed during the same period, about two-thirds of them in carrying out, or attempting to carry out, attacks. Others were killed during violent clashes with Israeli forces in East Jerusalem and the West Bank and demonstrations along the Gaza border."

Notice how:

- We know that Palestinians "killed" 19 Israelis. But we don't know who killed 130 Palestinians, only that they "have been killed."

- Israeli victims always precede Palestinian 'victims'.

- Palestinians are always killed for a reason. They were all "using knives, guns and vehicles" in "carrying out, or attempting to carry out, attacks." Regarding those Palestinians "attempting to carry out attacks," all the 'evidence' comes, of course, from Israeli sources.

- We have no idea why Palestinians are killing Israelis because the word 'occupied' is missing in action.

 - Those Palestinians who weren't killed for "carrying out, or attempting to carry out, attacks," were killed "during violent clashes... and demonstrations... " Presumably, whether they were throwing stones at the trigger-happy thugs of the Occupying Power, or engaged in "demonstrations along the Gaza border" (in which case the demonstrating Palestinians are situated behind a fence), they were all criminals and deserved to die, throwing stones at, and demonstrating against, the trigger-happy thugs of the Occupying Power being hanging offences in the apartheid state.

- Those 19 Israelis are presumably, one and all, as pure as the driven snow.

Seriously Weird Shit in Murdoch's Australian

Beyond its usual fear & smear, the Australian has carried some seriously weird shit this month. For instance, this 'opinion' piece by Peter Baldwin, billed as "a minister in the Hawke and Keating governments." Extract:

"Recently Bob Carr made a short speech at an event marking the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People... Extraordinary stuff, coming from one of the founders of Labor Friends of Israel 40 years ago... [not even] a scintilla of balance. All the violence is put down to Israeli villainy. The Palestinians... are treated as helpless victims, devoid of agency or moral responsibility. The Palestinian narrative is embraced wholesale, without qualification..." (Bob Carr has joined the hard-left Israel-bashers, 22/12/15)

Now what interests me here is not Baldwin's railing against Bob Carr. Bob has simply evolved on this issue. Woken up. Seen the error of his ways, partially at least. An all too rare phenomenon in a politician, but one to be applauded. Think Amazing Grace.

No, what really interests me is the phenomenon of Peter Baldwin. As in, What has possessed him to leave behind a long and comfy retirement and come out swinging for Israel in the Murdoch press? (See for example my 3/4/15 post Baldwin's Balderdash.)

Now I must confess to knowing nothing about this bloke's background. Maybe he's like Greg Sheridan. Maybe his mind simply shut down after an Auntie Poppy figure whispered in his ear at a tender age that he must never forget that the Jews are God's chosen people (See my 3/8/15 post Greg Sheridan: The Making of a Gentile Zionist).

If not, then why has he suddenly taken up the cudgels? Extraordinary stuff, indeed.

Then there's this other weird shit too. I mean, how does one explain the sudden possession, in the same week, of letter writers John Bell of Heidelberg Heights, Vic, and Peter R.Tredenick of Paddington, Qld by that most virulent strain of Jerusalem Syndrome  - Temple Mount Syndrome?

Behold:

"Palestinian sympathiser Bob Carr ignores an inconvenient fact when he claims Israel is guilty of eliminating the Arab character from the great Arab city of Jerusalem... The Temple Mount, the sacred site that is central to the Jewish religion, is located in Jerusalem and came into existence hundreds of years before the birth of Christ." (Bell, 5/12/15)

"If Muslims weren't invading every country they could, and had not taken Jerusalem by force for themselves, then rubbed salt in the wound by building the Dome of the Rock on top of the site of former holy Jewish temples, there would have been no need for the Crusades in the first place..." (Tredenick, 9/11/15)

Like I said, seriously weird shit, eh?

Merry Christmas, Judeo-Christians

(And yes, that includes you too, Geraldine D.)

Benzi Gopstein has a message for you:

"Benzi Gopstein, leader of the extremist anti-assimilationist group Lehava, has called for the prevention of Christmas celebrations in Israel and the expulsion of Christians whom he compared to 'vampires.' 'Christmas has no place in the Holy land,' Gopstein wrote in an article posted a few days ago on the Haredi website Kooker... Gopstein wrote in the article that he is disturbed by 'the fall of the line of defense of the Jewish people against our deadly enemy for hundreds of years... the Christian Church.' He said the Church had used 'the maximum tools at its disposal to destroy the Jewish people,' and that today 'the Church has been defeated roundly when the Jewish people has one of the strongest armies in the world and they have no chance any longer of destroying our body.' However, Gopstein said, the Church has not given up. 'A last hope remains to those vampires and blood suckers - the mission. If Jews cannot be killed, they can still be converted'." (Jewish extremists' leader: Christians are 'blood-sucking vampires' who should be expelled from Israel, Sharon Pulwer, Haaretz, 22/12/15)

Natural Born Zionists 4

"Four months after settlers threw firebombs into the Dawabshe home as the family slept, the residents of Duma are struggling to face their loss. Rihab's brother Hassan, 31, unlocks the front door of the house that sits on the edge of town. An old olive tree still grows outside, untouched by the flames. The prognosis for 5-year-old Ahmad, who has burns to 60% of his body, is harrowing. 'The doctors tell us there will be skin grafts, plastic surgery and physiotherapy for at least the next 10 years,' Hassan says. The little boy has not been told that he is the sole survivor of the fire. 'Ahmad is the only thing keeping the family from falling apart,' Hassan says. 'We are afraid that the small progress he has made will be destroyed by the news.' Hassan's brother-in-law Nasser, a 42-year-old teacher, says the attack was one of many attempts to force Palestinians from their land. 'It has only made us more determined to seek our freedom and independence,' he says. 'The Netanyahu government supports these settlement groups all the way up to the most senior members of the cabinet,' he says. 'They are the ones who encourage terrorism against our people.'

"On December 3, the Shin Bet announced they had arrested 'several Israelis' in connection with the Duma attack. Fairfax Media contacted the Ministry of Defence and the office of the Defence Minister with a set of questions regarding the administrative detention of Evyatar Slonim and the investigation into the attack on the Dawabshe family. We did not receive a response by the time of publication."

Natural Born Zionists 3

"Evyatar Slonim was born in Israel and went to schools in the northern part of the occupied West Bank which Jewish residents call Samaria or the Shomron - home to 29 illegally-built Israeli settlements. According to the family member, '[Evyatar] has pursued higher Torah learning which is very common for religious young men in Israel. In addition, he studies equine therapy (horse riding therapy), in which he has a diploma. He completed his qualifications with the highest accolades from his teachers.'

"Slonim's parents see their son once a fortnight for 30 minutes, speaking to him through a perspex barrier via telephones inside Eshel Prison. 'Regardless of how long they hold him under these horrendous conditions and how much pressure they place him under it will be of no benefit in solving the crime of Duma or any other crime that they try to associate with him as Evyatar is innocent,' the family member says. 'We are absolutely horrified that in a democratic country [Evyatar] has been imprisoned without a trial.' When I asked how Slonim came to be under surveillance by the Shin Bet, his family member replied: 'We wonder the same ourselves. I am concerned that something sinister could be going on and we may be looking at some sort of Agent X situation,' the family member said, referring to the case of another dual Australian-Israeli citizen, Ben Zygier. Zygier, also known as Prisoner X, killed himself while in solitary confinement in Israel in 2010. He was believed to have been an operative for Israel's national intelligence agency, Mossad.

"Shlomo Fischer of the Jerusalem-based Jewish People Policy Institute is an expert on radical Jewish extremism. He says violence like that committed against the Dawabshe family stems from the perpetrators' belief that they are acting on the 'voice of God.' Their goals are to 'create chaos and undermine the ability of the government to rule and set up a revolutionary redemptive state. They want to replace the current State of Israel with something else - their main animosity, just like al-Qaeda directing their animosity to the non-jihadist Muslim regimes, is against the government of Israel. They are very aware of the fact that they will be treated with kid gloves because they are Jewish - that has been the precedent until now.'

"As Ettinger wrote on his blog: 'The closer we bring the conflict the better it will be for the people of Israel and the land of Israel. Everyone will find many ways to wake people up and act and explain why the land should be left exclusively for Jews.' The concept of redemption in Judaism - the liberation of Jews from exile for the end of days - is central to the beliefs of the Hilltop Youth, says Hagit Ofran, the director of the Israeli NGO Peace Now's Settlement Watch project. The national-religious right in Israel sees the state's existence as an integral part of redemption, but to the Hilltop Youth the Sharon government's 2005 'disengagement' from the Gaza Strip and the northern West Bank - involving the removal of thousands of settlers - was a huge blow. 'When the disengagement happened, it was as if the state turned its back on the redemption process,' Ofran says. 'Some or most of the settlers said 'OK, we need to work harder on the State of Israel... to continue the fight.' [But] the Hilltop Youth said... 'the redemption will happen even if the State of Israel is not here'.'

"This violent group numbers only in the hundreds, no more than 1,000, says Ofran, but they account for much of the violence perpetrated against Palestinians in the West Bank. 'The settlements are based on discrimination - the fact that you raise children in a place where you as an Israeli Jew have rights and Palestinians do not have rights and are instead living under military law, this raises people to believe they are more than the others'."

Next post: Part 4

Natural Born Zionists 2

"Slonim has been under the gaze of the Shin Bet since at least 2010, court documents indicate. He was arrested on December 30, 2010, at the entrance to the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba and found in possession of a knife, tools for housebreaking and a spray can. He had this equipment, police told the court, 'for the purpose of committing a crime or causing a disturbance against Palestinians.' In March 2011 he was arrested again, this time for throwing stones. Court documents indicate he was held for interrogation for 8 days. On another occasion he was accused of attacking a police officer. By March 2015, after months of suspicion over his involvement in the Khirbet Abu Falah attack, he was given an 'administrative ban' by the District Court prohibiting him from entering Jerusalem or the West Bank, his lawyer says.

"When he was arrested in early August, Slonim's parents told Israeli media their son was with them on a family holiday in the north of the country at the time of the Duma attack. For the last four months the criminal lawyer Aharon Rose has represented Slonim, his fees paid not by the young man's parents but by the right-wing legal centre Honenu, which assists settlers and soldiers who fall foul of the law. 'In August 2015... after the burning of the house in Duma in which 3 people from the same family died, the intelligence agencies decided to take the gloves off,' Rose says in his office in Tel Aviv. He is referring to the extraordinary decision by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet to approve the use of administrative detention - imprisonment without charge - for Israeli citizens. Israel already holds hundreds of Palestinians in administrative detention, despite trenchant criticism from local and international rights groups. Slonim is now 4 months into a 6-month stint in prison. Under administrative detention inmates are not charged, nor are they or their lawyers given an opportunity to respond to the allegations against them. In September, Yaalon said security services knew who had carried out the attack on the Dawabshe family but could not charge them due to a lack of evidence and fear of compromising intelligence sources.

"Both Rose and Slonim's parents, Gila and Zeev Slonim, have spoken out repeatedly against the use of administrative detention. 'Evyatar was not involved in any violent incident whatsoever, not at all and not specifically in Duma,' Rose says. Slonim breached the travel ban imposed on him once, Rose admits, to take part in a wedding at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron. 'Security at the court say they knew what he was doing every second of every day... so they must also know he did not participate in any violence at that time,' Rose adds. Slonim has received a visit from Australian consular officials while in prison, Rose confirms. The Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade would not comment on Slonim's case, nor would the Australian embassy in Tel Aviv. Fairfax Media made contact with his parents, who moved to Israel from Melbourne in 1989 and now live in the settlement of Tzofim. We were directed to a family spokesman who explained that the gag order placed on the case prevented the Slonims from commenting. Instead, a family member who did not want to be identified answered emailed questions via the spokesman."

Next post: Part 3

Natural Born Zionists 1

Kingdom come is a first-class expose of Israel's coddled and deadly settler spawn by Fairfax's Middle East correspondent Ruth Pollard. I'm serialising it here. The Australian connection is most interesting:

"The small house of Saad and Riham Dawabshe still smells of the fire that took their lives and that of their 18-month-old son, Ali. The floor is a jumble of clothes, melted furniture and cracked glass, the walls blackened by the ferocious flames that two fire trucks struggled to extinguish. To hear witnesses retell the story of the firebombing in the West Bank village of Duma on July 31 is heart-stopping. Saad, 32, was already dying in front of his house by the time his brother Nasser reached him. Saad's wife Riham, 27, was lying nearby, clutching a blanket she believed held Ali. Two masked Israeli settlers stood over their bodies, determined, Nasser Dawabshe says, to see them die. Another son, five-year-old Ahmad, was trapped behind the lounge room door, his screams rising above the inferno. A neighbour managed to get him out. Ali could not be saved. 'The more we threw water on the flames the more they burned,' Nasser says.

"Days later, three young Jewish men were arrested. They are, Israeli security services allege, involved in a violent underground movement that aims to create a Jewish kingdom. Known as 'The Revolt', their plan entails attacking Palestinians to draw the Israel Defence Forces into a cycle of violence. One of these young men is Evyatar Slonim, a dual Australian-Israeli citizen. The 23-year-old now sits in a small cell in a high-security wing of Eshel Prison in the city of Beersheba. Accused by Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon of 'involvement in activity by an extremist Jewish group', Slonim was already the subject of a year-long 'administrative ban' prohibiting him from entering the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem when he was arrested. Meir Ettinger and Mordechai Meyer, who were arrested at the same time, are also in administrative detention.

"Slonim is a relative of controversial former Knesset member Rabbi Moshe Feiglin, who recently visited Australia to address synagogues in Sydney and Melbourne. Ettinger is the grandson of Meir Kahane, a militant American-Israeli rabbi and former Knesset member whose Kach movement was outlawed in Israel in the 1980s. Kahane was assassinated in 1990 but remains a hugely influential figure on Israel's far right. While authorities have not directly tied the arrest of Slonim, Ettinger and Meyer to the attack in Duma, Yaalon made it clear that the government believes there is a link. In an interview with Israel's Channel 10, the defence minister said: 'We wouldn't conduct these administrative arrests if there wasn't any connection to the arson.' Slonim was previously arrested on suspicion of setting fire to a home in the Palestinian town of Khirbet Abu Falah in November 2014. Ettinger is believed to have been involved in the torching of the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes on the shores of the Sea of Galilee on June 17, while Meyer is suspected of an arson attack on Jerusalem's Abbey of the Dormition in May 2014. Through their lawyers, all three deny any involvement in the attacks. The investigation into the Dawabshe murders remains under a gag order in Israel.

"Slonim has been involved in attacks against Palestinians for years, according to court documents seen by Fairfax Media. He is believed to have been part of the extremist group known as the Hilltop Youth, from which security sources believe The Revolt was formed. The Hilltop Youth refuse to acknowledge the authority of the state, the military or their parents. They feel betrayed by the mainstream settler movement which is working in contravention of international law and with the full support of Israel's government - to establish a permanent Jewish presence throughout the occupied West Bank. And in recent years they have been, according to Israeli security sources, the main perpetrators in the so-called 'price tag' attacks against churches, Palestinian civilians and even Israeli military personnel. The 'price tag' is graffiti left at the scene as a message that there is a price to be paid for actions against the settler movement, such as carrying out court-ordered demolitions of settler outposts. At the Dawabshe house, the graffiti in Hebrew reads 'Revenge' and 'long live the Messiah.' A Star of David and a crown are drawn above the phrases.

"The Dawabshe family say they have no idea why they were targeted. But a manual saved on a thumb-drive found on one of Slonim's co-accused by the Shin Bet, Israel's internal security agency, provides some insight into the plans of The Revolt. In their creation of a Jewish kingdom, all non-Jews would be expelled and a third temple would be built on the Temple Mount, where al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock stand today, forming Islam's third holiest site. 'The starting point of The Revolt is that the State of Israel has no right to exist, and therefore we are not bound by the rules of the game,' the thumb-drive manifesto reads. It goes on in chilling detail to provide a how-to guide for firebombing Palestinian homes or mosques. 'We prefer to use firebombs with our friends so provide yourself with: a molotov cocktail, preferably a litre-and-a-half, lighter, gloves, masks, metal bar/hammer, bag to carry all those,' the manual reads. 'Come to the village and there look for a home with an open door or open window without bars... Simply breaking a glass door or window... turn on [ignite] the fire bomb and throw it in. In order not leave the possibility of escape, burning tyres can be placed at the entrance of the house.'"

Next post: Part 2 

The Mendes Zionist

In a recent column on 'radicalisation', Phillip Adams ventured the following quite unremarkable observation:

"More recently, countless young Australian Jews have headed to Israel and joined the IDF to fight Palestinians. Seems our increasingly worried, watchful spooks have no probs with this. The process of 'radicalisation', of signing up for distant conflicts, may involve religious and/or ideological fervour for Zionists and ISIS recruits." (Easy targets, The Weekend Australian Magazine, 28/11/15)

And yet, as predictably as the sun rising in the east, it provoked some of our good friends, such as Peter Wertheim of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry and Danny Lamm of the Zionist Federation of Australia, to rap the old codger severely across the knuckles in the pages of the Australian.

But my all-time fave Zionist rapid/rabid response was that of good old Philip Mendes of Kew, Vic:

"So, Phillip Adams seriously compares all Australian Jews who go on aliyah and join the Israeli army with Australians who join ISIS. Yes, Phillip - all those young men and women who spent years at left-wing Zionist youth groups learning about socialism, secularism and the brotherhood of man are identical to nutty, brainwashed religious extremists going off to slaughter and rape men, women and children." (The Weekend Australian, 19/12/15)

Interesting how the Mendes' faction of Ziozombie manages to combine in one and the same psyche "the brotherhood of man" with the notion that, although he/she was born and bred in Kew, Palestine belongs to him/her, and woe betide any Palestinian who gets in the fucking way, mate.

Memo to Dr Sabri Saidam

"Dr Saidam said the group repeatedly asked questions about Palestinians naming schools and venues after people who had killed Israeli civilians. I said that one man's hero is another man's terrorist." (Delegation to West Bank led by Christopher Pyne 'not well educated', local minister says, Sophie McNeill, abc.net.au/news, 17/12/15)

Memo to Dr Saidam:

'One man's hero is another man's terrorist' is way too subtle for most Australian politicians on the Rambam, OK?

Next time some cocksure, know-nothing, Zionist dupes like this show up and hit you with this particular Zionist talking point, simply hand them the following - far from complete - list of Israeli terrorist commemoration sites, quizz the buggers on the glorious careers of those commemorated, and sit back in amazement at the 'Jeez, I dunnos':

David Ben-Gurion Airport
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Ben-Gurion planned and oversaw the ethnic cleansing of 1 million Palestinians and the destruction of hundreds of Palestinian villages from 1948 to 1949.

Menachem Begin Heritage Centre, Jerusalem
Menachem Begin St, Tel Aviv

Begin commanded the murderous Irgun terrorists who massacred Palestinians (and Britons) in the 30s and 40s. Einstein referred to him as a "fascist."

Ariel Sharon Park, Tel Aviv

Sharon was responsible for the massacres of Qibya (1953) and Sabra & Shatila (1982).

Moshe Dayan Boulevard, Occupied East Jerusalem/ Rishon LeZion/ Ashdod
Rishon LeZion Moshe Dayan Railway Station; Moshe Dayan Interchange

Dayan was involved in the Qibya (1953) and Rafah (1956) massacres, and was the architect, as Defence [sic] Minister, of Israel's 1967 East Jerusalem, West Bank, Gaza Strip, Sinai and Golan Heights land grabs and subsequent colonization thereof.

The Yitzhak Rabin Center, Tel Aviv

Rabin was responsible for the ethnic cleansing of Lydda in 1948 and the 'break their bones' policy during the first intifada (1987-93).

The following comment by the indefatigable Vacy Vlazna on Guardian Australia's website, posted in response to Australian delegation asked 'rude' questions during 'explosive' West Bank meeting (Daniel Hurst, 16/12/15), could also be of use in creating cognitive dissonance in those bogans who insist on banging on about the matter:

"The bloody hide of a bunch of Liberals who flout international law, torture and detain innocent asylum seekers on offshore Guantanamos, quizzing the Palestinians for naming schools and venues after terrorists! What the ?????

"How about Macquarie University, Macquarie Park, Macquarie Bank etc, etc: Governor Lachlan Macquarie was a terrorist, not a freedom fighter like Palestinians defending their land and people: 'Governor Macquarie's response to the growing troubles was to set strict rules by proclamation as to how which Aborigines could interact with the colonial settlers. The Governor also launched 3 military excursions to punish the Aborigines. The soldiers were given directions that all Aborigines met with from Sydney onwards were to be made prisoners of war and that if they resisted they were to be shot and their bodies hung from trees in the most conspicuous places near where they fell, so as to strike terror into the hearts of the surviving natives. Many aboriginal women and children who had not been associated with any hostilities were killed.'

"Don't get me started on Governors Phillip, King, Stirling, Bourke, Gipps and so on."

Cheers.

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.]

Diddums

Quoting the pro-war Hilary [Benn, UK shadow foreign secretary] and the pro-war Hillary [Clinton] approvingly, Labor's pro-war shadow foreign minister Tanya Plibersek flaunts her hypocrisy and ignorance on the subject of Syria in Tanya Plibersek: Australia deserves a seat at the table in Syria negotiations, theguardian.com, 15/12/15: 

"As President Assad has proved to be incapable or even unwilling to protect Syrian civilians..."

Never a mention of Prime Minister Netanyahu who just can't wait to maul and maim Palestinian civilians...

"... and as the border between Syria and Iraq is now virtually non-existent, there is also a strong argument that the international community has a responsibility to prevent attacks being launched from Syria. The United Nations Security Council has labelled Daesh an 'unprecedented' threat to international peace and security, with Resolution 2249 calling on member states to 'take all necessary measures... to eradicate the safe haven [the terrorist groups have] established in Syria and Iraq.'"

Safe haven?

No mention, of course, of that fascinating, declassified 2012 US Defence Intelligence Report,* and its "supporting powers to the [Syrian] opposition," who wanted to establish a "Salafist principality" in eastern Syria...

Namely, according to the same document, "THE WEST, the Gulf countries and Turkey."

Which means us!

Deal with it, Princess!

"Small steps towards peace in Syria have been made recently, through negotiations in Vienna. These talks included Iran, a key if disagreeable player in the Syrian conflict, for the first time."

Disagreeable... because USsrael doesn't like them. We know who to take our cues from, don't we, Princess?

"On the other hand, there are also some concerns with the Vienna agreements: there were no Syrians present and no agreement on the future of Bashar al-Assad. It is perplexing that Australia was not invited to these negotiations... We have ideas and we deserve a seat at that table."

So we have a God-given right to pronounce on the future of Asad, do we? We have be at the table to tut tut, swivel our eyes and prate inanely on the subject of his disagreeability? That's our job, is it?

Thank God we haven't been invited.

Neither you nor your opposite number have any idea about anything of substance, Princess, and we, USrael's lackey in the South Pacific (along with Micronesia, the Marshalls, Nauru and Palau), deserve nothing. N-O-T-H-I-N-G.

Get over it! 

[*See my 26/5/15 post Frankenstein Monster Mark III.]

Business as Usual at the ALP

In Occupied Palestine, from 1 October - 30 November:

102 Palestinians were killed by Israelis
17 Israelis were killed by Palestinians

11, 299 Palestinians were injured by Israelis
169 Israelis were injured by Palestinians

Meanwhile, far away in the land down under, as one occupied, colonised and brutalised Palestinian after another bites the dust, the great Australian Labor Party is busy implementing number 17 of  'Labor's Enduring Values' (as listed in its 'National Platform'), namely:

"We look at the world differently to our opponents: we see it through the eyes of those without privilege, power or title."

For example:

"Deputy Labor leader and shadow foreign affairs spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek has unequivocally distanced the party from [Bob Carr's] unhinged views. Senator Glenn Sterle is in Israel right now, and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten would have been if not for unforeseen circumstances delaying his trip. Labor stalwart Peter Beattie launched another state branch of the Australia-Israel Labor Dialogue in Brisbane last month, while Western Australian Labor will debate a motion condemning Palestinian knife attacks next week. Meanwhile, high-profile Labor senator Penny Wong reaffirmed her and her party's support for Israel at the Executive Council of Australian Jewry's recent AGM." (Editorial: Carr crosses the line, Australian Jewish News, 11/12/15)

I note that "NSW Labor will harness an army of community activists to try to defeat the Coalition government at next year's federal election and will appoint 10 field directors throughout the state to implement an Obama-style 'organising to win' campaign... The strategy is being led by Kaila Murnain, NSW Labor's assistant general-secretary..." (ALP's 'Obama-style' activist army, Troy Bramston, The Australian, 23/11/15)

Kaila Murnain was rambammed in December 2014 - see my 4/1/15 post Recently Rambammed.

Should she or any of her minions come knocking on your door you might want to ask her/them if they know what Labor's 17th 'enduring value' is and whether they think it's compatible with "an all-expenses paid trip"** to the apartheid state.

[*UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA);** The AJN quotes the "unhinged" Bob Carr as saying that "All of them [politicians] are being seduced and bribed... A bloke was just elected... and the lobby was in his door offering him an all-expenses paid trip to Israel, it's disgraceful." (Carr slammed over Jerusalem remarks, 11/12/15)]

Israeli Settlers: Symptom, Not Cause

While in general agreement with Professor Hal Wootten QC's opinion piece in yesterday's Canberra Times, Lessons that Tony Abbott failed, the following paragraph calls for correction:

"Right on the doorstep of Islamic State, a fanatical Jewish minority has hijacked Israeli policy towards Palestine on the basis of ancient texts claiming a gift of land from God thousands of years ago. The resulting intensive Jewish settlement of the West Bank has probably made impossible the obvious two-state solution to the difficulties created when the Christian West exported its Jewish problem to Arab land."

Political Zionist fanaticism didn't begin with the post-1967 colonisation of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. It has been with us since the very beginnings of the political Zionist movement in the late 19th century. Political Zionism was always a fanatical creed, and the unholy Zionist trinity of Herzl (1860-1904), Weizmann (1874-1952) and Ben Gurion (1886-1973) who drove it were all fanatics for whom Palestinian Arabs were nothing but obstacles on the path to an exclusively Jewish State.

The post-67 Israeli settlers are simply the heirs of the pre-67 Zionist kibbutzniks who drove 85% of Palestine's indigenous Arab majority out of 78% of Palestine in 1948, stole their homes and lands, and refused their return.

As for "hijacking Israeli policy towards Palestine," the invaders and occupiers of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip were all pre-67 kibbutzniks, and every Israeli government, Labor or Likud, has facilitated the rise and rise of the post-67 settler movement in the OPTs.

Nor did "Christian" Britain, which opened post-Ottoman Palestine up to political Zionist colons after 1917, "export its Jewish problem." Britain didn't have a Jewish problem to export. It did, however, create a Palestine problem which is still with us today. Its crime was to aid and abet the Zionist fanatic Chaim Weizmann in imposing Jewish colons on a vulnerable and unwilling Palestinian Arab population. As we know, it usually takes two to tango.  

The Syrian Skyscape 3

I just don't get why an innocent bystander needs to be informed:

"'The targets were two large terrorist positions in the territory of Raqqa,' [Russian Defence Minister Sergei] Shoigu said, adding that the Calibre missiles had been fired from the submarine Rostov-on-Don. Mr Shoigu said Russia had informed Israel and the US in advance of its plan to launch missiles from a submarine." (Islamic State driven from city, Mustafa Salim, Washington Post/Sydney Morning Herald, 10/12/15)

Shefali Meets the Not-So-Beautiful Women from the PLO

I would give my right arm for a recording of this conversation, and my left for what the two women from the PLO said about it afterwards:

"We then left the school, and went to meet two women representing the PLO (the Palestinian Liberation Organization) at the American Colony Hotel. They were very nice, and the conversation was both interesting and passionate. Towards the end, I really said the most simplistic thing of, effectively, 'Can't we all just get along?' It was meant as a light-hearted moment, with optimism, within a difficult conversation. After the lunch, we then went to the Prime Minister's Office (Benjamin Netanyahu) to Mark Regev, the International Media advisor to the PM."

Driven out, exiled, robbed blind, occupied, walled in and shot down like dogs in the street... but for future President Shefali RaZdan Duggal, it's (SMILE): 'Can't we all just get along?'!!!

Shefali Meets the Beautiful Woman from AIPAC

All that frenetic folderol on Shefali's CV was nothing! Nothing, that is, but a prelude to the moment when Shefali met a beautiful woman from AIPAC who popped THE QUESTION of QUESTIONS. That is, the single most important question any political aspirant in the West could ever be asked, and the magic words which signal that the way now lies open to political stardom. (Warning: Shefali's not into paragraphs):

"The trip to Israel was an utter dream come true. It all started when I first was appointed by President Barack Obama to join the board of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC (sworn in December 2014 in Washington DC). As I attended a few of the board meetings, I realized that I wanted to really understand and become engaged within the Jewish American community, as I thought it was important for me to comprehend as many perspectives within the culture as possible. I had some good friends who were involved with AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee - the largest Jewish American organization in the US) and thus I thought that this would be a good organization for me to introduce myself. AIPAC is known to be bipartisan. Whilst I am a democrat, I am also very bipartisan in my thinking, thus, I felt in alignment with how AIPAC did their outreach and operated overall. A few friends did introductions to folks to AIPAC folks in San Francisco, a few others did introductions to AIPAC in Washington DC. I met with the San Francisco folks and knew this was a great organization. I was making a trip to Washington DC for some other meetings, and reached out to see if the Washington DC AIPAC folks would be open to meeting with me. To my surprise... they were! I had a lunch meeting with a wonderful woman named Marilyn, and I was under the impression that it was an introductory meeting between she and I. I have always believed DEEPLY that I should be 100% myself, right from the get go. I am a fairly outgoing, friendly, transparent person and personality... an open book. I don't have separate personal and professional personalities... I am, literally, for better or worse... completely the same person in all situations. I feel that if I need to not be myself at any moment, at any time, that I am not honoring my soul and thus... whatever I am attempting to do, it is then NOT ultimately worth it. Thus, as this beautiful woman from AIPAC sits down to share lunch with me, I was myself right from the moment she walked in the door. After a wonderful 1.5 hour long luncheon, she smiles and asks me what I am doing the first week of June. I, literally, had no idea why she was asking me this question. I said, 'Huh, I really don't know. I don't think anything, although I'd have to look at my calendar on my phone..' She smiled and said, 'Would you like to go to Israel with AIPAC'?' 'WHAT???? WHAT????!!!??? I said (may have yelled) 'YES! YES! YES! This is a dream come true for me! I have always wanted to go to Israel!' I then jumped out of my seat (I really did) and leaped over and gave her a tight hug! I think that she was both pleased at my happiness and a little stunned at my overt expression of joy! I literally was so full of happiness and gratitude from that moment until... frankly, ALWAYS!"

Next post: Shefali Meets the Not-So-Beautiful Women from the PLO

Forget President Trump, Meet President Duggal

Whenever I read the latest off the wall ejaculation of a Donald Trump or a Ben Carson or a... I find myself wondering WTF is going on in the United States? Is it just the Republicans who are freaks, or are the Democrats just as scary?

After stumbling across, and perusing, the website of a breathless young American democrat, Shefali Razdan Duggal, and emerging from the experience gobsmacked, I'm more than ever convinced that the madness over there is bipartisan, across the board, and padded-wall-to-padded-wall.

So who is Shefali Razdan Duggal?

Click the 'About' button on her website and you get the following CV. As I read it, I found all sorts of questions thronging my tired brain: Is this woman normal? Is this normal? Is this what America does to you? Is she off with the pixies? Are they all off with pixies? Whaaat?! Does she have a life? Seriously? Is she for real? Is America for real? Is this what's coming down the US presidential track? And so on.

Yes, the CV which follows is mind-numbingly tedious, but bear with me and read it all the way through because it's the necessary back story for my next post on future President Shefali Razdan Duggal, OK?

"SHEFALI RAZDAN DUGGAL is a member of the Democratic National Committee's National Finance Committee and is a Co-Chair for the DNC Women's Leadership Forum. Shefali is a Presidential Appointee (President Barack Obama) to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, which oversees the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC, for a term expiring January 15, 2018. She is also on the National Finance Committee for Hillary for America (the Hillary Clinton 2016 Presidential Campaign). Shefali is also on the National Board of Directors for Emily's List (an organization dedicated to electing pro-choice Democratic women to all levels of government) and is a member of the Democratic National Committee's Hope Institute Board (a network of supporters willing to serve as mentors to Hope Fellows as they explore careers in politics.) Shefali is also on the National Advisory Board of Doctors for America, the National Advisory Board of Beyond Bollywood (Smithsonian Museum), the National Advisory Board of Inside Washington (Miami University), the Advisory Board of Emerge America, Senior Advisor for South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA), and an Adviser to viiv.tv. Shefali is involved with Human Rights Watch and currently works on various US Senate and Congressional campaigns throughout the country.

"Previously, Shefali was a member of President Barack Obama's National Finance Committee (NFC) for the 2012 Presidential reelection campaign, a Co-Chair for Obama Victory Trustees (OVT) and a member of the Northern California Finance Committee for President Barack Obama.

"Shefali was a member of the Credentials Standing Committee for the 2012 Democratic Convention and was an At-Large Delegate to the Convention from the State of California. In addition, Shefali was active in Senator Barack Obama' 2008 Presidential campaign where she was a Trustee for the DNC South Asian & Young Professional Outreach, co-hosting a number of fundraising events for both the Senator and his surrogates. She previously worked with Senator Hillary Clinton's 2008 Presidential campaign where she was a member of the campaign's Northern California Steering committee and the Women for Hillary Committee. Shefali was also on the Finance Committee for the Kamala Harris for California Attorney General Campaign and was a member of her Transition Team. In addition, she was Executive Director of Indus Women Leaders, a national South Asian women's organization, and is a graduate of Emerge, a political leadership training program for Democratic women. Shefali was also a Board Member of the Indian American Leadership Initiative, an organization focused on promoting South Asian political participation. Earlier in her career, Shefali worked as a Political Analyst at Staton Hughes, a political strategy firm, and also worked for the MA Democratic Party, NH Democratic Party, and Senators Ted Kennedy and Dianne Feinstein. Shefali worked on Vice President Al Gore's 2000 Presidential Campaign, and was an At-Large Delegate to the 2000 National Democratic Convention from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. A Kashmiri born in Hardiwar U.P. India, Shefali moved to the United States at a very young age and grew up in Cincinatti, Ohio. Shefali is a graduate of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, having received an BS in Mass Communication, with a minor in Political Science. Shefali then went on to receive her MA in Political Communication from New York University. Shefali and her husband, Rajat, have two children and live in San Francisco, California.

To be continued...

Blowing the Whistle on Murdoch's Australian

An extract from Ideology runs rampant at Rupert Murdoch's Australian newspaper by Jim Buckell, News Corpse escapee:

"Under the editorship of Paul Kelly and then David Armstrong this extremist tendency ['unwavering, often knee-jerk conservative ideology'], while not unknown, was usually kept in check by a range of views. Sadly, in the noughties this position gradually gave way to the thundering of the neoconservatives. The paper began to act like more of a propaganda sheet for the rightwing of the Liberal Party than a broad-based sounding board for big ideas and public policy. This period roughly corresponded with [Chris] Mitchell's ascendancy as editor-in-chief. And therein lies the dilemma. No matter how well written, no matter how well edited, the paper's right-wing bias is overwhelming. The tone is hectoring and unforgiving, making it frustrating to read and tricky to work around as a journalist. As a reporter you learn how to navigate around masthead biases that don't fit in with your own values or approach to news gathering. It's a survival technique you have to master to balance the demands of editors with the fragile trust you build with your sources... I can't read the paper anymore. It's too distressing seeing ideology run rampant because it suits the ideology of Rupert Murdoch and his allies. The influence the Australian and News Corp Australia wield by setting a market-based, small-government agenda is widely understood because it's so blatant. Less well scrutinised is the impact of groupthink on the profession of journalism within Fortress News. When dissent is marginalised and self-censorship is an unquestioned norm, the newsroom culture becomes self-serving. Chris Mitchell may have been a conjuror but we should be under no illusion about the price he extracted." (theguardian.com, 7/12/15)

Buckell's piece, while welcome, is too short on detail. If only he could eventually write an extended analysis of the beast, along the lines of Robert Manne's 2011 Quarterly Essay - but without Manne's selective vision - see my 2 posts, The Silence of the Intellectuals 1 & 2 (6-7/9/11).

A trawl through the hundreds of comments which followed on the Guardian Australia website was an interesting experience given that so few of the commenters actually read The Australian (and, I suspect, are blissfully unaware of its malign hold on our political class). Typically, therefore, only 3 were sufficiently aware of its ferocious Zionism to refer to the fact:

"I've read the Australian since 1980, and the last few years the constant bashing of the ABC, and extreme slant to the right makes it hard to read more than half the paper. Worst of all are the diatribes of Greg Sheridan, sycophant of murderous regimes like China, and an appalling apologist for the crimes of Israel and its occupation of the West Bank. I remember back in the 80s before Timor gained independence his shameful apologia for the murder of Timorese by the Indonesian government."

"The Australian Goebbels. Heil Rupert. But now he prays to the mountain of Zion. The rest is just business."

"The Australian - cheerleader for Israel, relentless Muslim-basher, climate change denier. Try getting a pro-Palestinian letter published - no chance - while some members of the pro-Israel brigade seem to have a season ticket to the letters page."

And, apart from that last comment, no one - not one! - mentioned The Australian's now dominant feature, its rampant Islamophobia.

On the other hand, it was good to see so many Guardian readers taking the opportunity to have a swipe at the Guardian itself, although none mentioned its insidious liberal Zionist line, which emanates from its (relatively) new editor-in-chief Jonathan Freedland, and surfaces in opinion pieces by him and the likes of Nick Cohen, Hadley Freeman and Rafael Behr.

Nothing Here to See

It never ceases to amaze me that while we can read all about this or that pollywaffle's junket to here, there and everywhere (the latest being Cory Bernardi's fishing trips to Port Lincoln) in the Australian ms press, far more consequential junkets by PMs and Opposition Leaders to Jewish State in the Levant (JSIL) are seldom if ever mentioned.

For news of those you have to go to the Australian Jewish News:

"For the first time since becoming Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull met with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday. The two leaders were in Paris for COP21, the world conference on climate change. It's understood that at the meeting on the sidelines of the conference, the pair discussed the threat of ISIS, the situation in Syria and the conflict between Islamic extremists and the West, with Netanyahu also inviting Turnbull to Israel for an official visit. However, the Liberal leader may be pipped to the post on that front. The AJN can reveal that Opposition Leader Bill Shorten is heading to Israel next week. In his message to the community for Chanukah, Shorten said he was looking forward to being in the country during the festival, and that he was also 'looking forward to some fresh sufganiyot.'" (When Malcolm met Bibi, 4/12/15)

The Australian ms media are not in the least interested in Australia's vital role as one of the apartheid state's few remaining UN fig leaves. Now why is that?

Parliamentary Dupes of Israel

Does anyone out there really think that Tasmanian Liberal senator Eric Abetz gives a tinker's cuss about the reporting of the ABC's Middle East correspondent Sophie McNeill?

Does anyone really think he knows or cares about the plight of that terribly, terribly misunderstood place, Israel?

Does anyone seriously think that he has a passion for honest reporting? That a mere one or two inappropriate (in his view) words are enough to keep him awake at night?

No, No & No I hear you chorus. 

So why, then, did he have the ABC's managing director Mark Scott bailed up over this in Senate estimates?:

"In contention was McNeill's report of the death of a young Palestinian girl... described [by McNeill] as a 'friendly gifted student' who had 'allegedly' tried to stab members of the Israeli defence force so they shot her dead. Why, the senator wanted to know, is the ABC describing the attacker as 'friendly, gifted' etc. as though they are givens, while her attempt to stab the military personnel was only described as an 'allegation.'" (Eric Abetz's close-to extinction howl at the media: it doesn't get much more predictable than this, Richard Ackland, theguardian.com, 3/12/15)

Ackland goes on:

"Why do we say 'alleged' attacker when the Israeli defence forces say that is what she is? Why don't we take that at face value? The senator, who seems unfamiliar with basic reporting requirements, should know that the word 'alleged' is used in relation to a criminal offence, if the offence is one that has not been proven. Nor should a reporter be expected to take anything 'at face value,' especially not from a military or government source." (ibid)

Elementary, of course. But Ackland's only attempt to account for Abetz's tender concern for the image of the world's most caring (and sexy) army is this:

"Middle East correspondents say they have a particularly torrid time coping with complaints from the Israeli lobby back home. Scott told the Senate committee that he thought Abetz was receiving 'daily or weekly' commentary on McNeill's reports from 'some observers.'" (ibid)

Some observers?! How coy is that?!

As always, questions arise...

Why did Mark Scott use such a euphemism?

And why didn't Ackland expand on the identity of said 'observers'?

Why is everyone dancing around the fact that some among our handsomely remunerated parliamentary seat-warmers, for reasons best known to themselves, seem to have nothing better to do with their time than act as transmission belts for the Israel lobby?

Now I know that all sorts of stupid people do all sorts of crazy things, but really, why would anyone do that?

Politicians Behaving Badly

1) "On Sunday, Resources & Energy Minister [Josh] Frydenberg questioned Grand Mufti Ibrahim Abu Mohamed's sincerity in his response to the Paris attacks, saying he had 'failed in his leadership.'... Dr Mohamed came under fire for issuing a statement of condolence that cited 'causative factors' of terrorism including 'duplicitous foreign policies and military intervention'... Mr Frydenberg's comments were endorsed by new Liberal MP and former SAS officer Andrew Hastie... as well as MP and former army officer Andrew Nikolic." (Attacks on Grand Mufti the 'work of Hansonites', David Wroe, Sydney Morning Herald, 30/11/15)

Is there anything more revolting than the spectacle of an Australian Zionist politician (who has never, to my knowledge, raised his voice in criticism of any aspect of Israeli behaviour at any point in his life) accusing anyone, let alone an Arab, of a lack of leadership?

2) "The Australian government approved Adani's controversial $16bn Carmichael coalmine in Queensland because it was not a 'neo-colonialist' power that tried to tell poor countries what to do, environment minister Greg Hunt has told a side event at the Paris climate summit. Hunt... was challenged by a questioner about why the government had approved the Adani mine given the huge quantity of emissions its coal would create. 'This is not an Australian government project, it is a private sector firm from India and... I thought we were over [the] neocolonial moment where the wealthy decide what happens to the poor,' Hunt countrered." (Australia approved coalmine because it isn't a 'neo-colonialist' power, Greg Hunt claims, Leonore Taylor, theguardian.com, 2/12/15)

Is there anything more grotesque than a neo-liberal politician belonging to a neo-liberal government led by a filthy rich white man who lives in a $50m pad at Point Piper invoking anti-colonialism as an excuse to allow a filthy rich brown man (Gautam Adani: net worth - 6.5bn) to rip up the Queensland coast?

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, is Israel 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.

A Post-Rambam Hatchet Job for Israel

Just one passage from Ben English's post-rambam hatchet job for Israel in last Saturday's Daily Terrorgraph suffices as a reminder of why you wouldn't touch the Terri even with the proverbial barge pole:

"Down the road from Bethlehem, patriotic murals adorn the 8m walls that tower over sections of the West Bank, celebrating yet more soldier 'martyrs' of the cause. Blood is the dominant motif, the blood of the enemy and martyr flowing together without a trace of irony. Listen to the spokesmen for Palestine and the language is equally stark. The barrier is branded the 'apartheid' wall, a prison that cuts them off from their true homeland to the east - the Palestine that was 'theirs' until statehood for Israel was decided in 1948." (Parallels of hate never meet, 28/11/15)

A mere four sentences to be sure, but what a surfeit of scribbling idiocy!

"Blood is the dominant motif."

Is it now? What a surprise! With almost 100 civilian martyrs gunned down since October you were expecting, like, flowers?

Israeli and Palestinian blood "flowing together."

What? 50/50?

It probably wouldn't mean anything to English, but I think the rest of us have got what it takes upstairs to understand the Australian explorer Edward John Eyre's 1845 reflection on settlers, Aboriginals and bloodshed on the colonial frontier and extrapolate to Palestine today: "Could blood answer blood, perhaps for every drop of European's shed by natives, a torrent of theirs, by European hands, would crimson the earth."

So the language of Palestinian spokesmen is "stark," is it?

Well, it is a stark situation, isn't it?

Maybe, just maybe, the fact that Palestinians are being gunned down at a rate of knots might have something to do with that.

English's Israeli PR interlocutors, of course, can come on all smooth and plausible because, really, they haven't a care in the world. All they have to do is feed fools like English bullshit and get paid for it. How hard must that be?

You see, life's sweet when you're a seasoned performer and you've got know-nothing foreign journalists and politicians hanging on your every word. When you're not dodging bullets. When your kids aren't being ripped out of their beds at 2 in the morning and carted away to be tortured. When your home isn't going to be bulldozed or burnt down by settler fanatics while you're still inside trying to sleep.

And those Palestinian "spokesmen" got it all wrong when they called the Apartheid Wall not only an Apartheid Wall but also a prison, did they?

I guess Ronnie Kasrils, a South African Jew who fought apartheid and calls Israel's West Bank Apartheid Wall "an apartheid wall of dispossession and a prison by any name" also got it wrong. But, hey, what would he know?

Now I take it that, by "their true homeland to the east," English means Israel.

I hate to tell him this, but Israel's actually to the west.

Anyway, if his geography's shit, his history's even worse, because, in point of fact, every inch of historic Palestine, from the River to the Sea, is the Palestinian's homeland - in exactly the same way as every inch of Australia is Aboriginaland.

The stark reality is that the Palestinian spokesmen's families were ethnically cleansed from Jaffa or Haifa or Lydda or any one of hundreds of other Palestinian towns and villages by Zionist terror gangs in 1948. That crime against humanity, the Palestinian Nakba, was unacceptable then, and it's just as unacceptable now. That Israeli Jews have profited from the crime and continue to do so (most refusing even to acknowledge the fact), changes nothing. The homes, lands, and possessions stolen by Israel from those driven out in 1948 still belong to the descendants of those Palestinian refugees, many of whom are still refugees whether in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Syria or Jordan. There is no use-by date on human rights.

And in what parallel universe does the mere proclamation of a state in someone else's country confer legitimacy on that state and put an end to the matter?