Now He Speaks Up?

"NSW Labor powerbroker Sam Dastyari is set to lash his own party's asylum-seeker policies and predict Australians will one day be as embarrassed by offshore processing as they are about the White Australia policy... The speech, to mark the Iranian new year festival of Nowruz, will be the first time the Iranian-born senator has spoken publicly about the death of Iranian asylum seeker Reza Berati on Manus Island last month. The senator will say he was shocked by the 'brutal murder' and that he will not allow the Australian government to criminalise and further 'persecute young families fleeing their homes'. 'It could have been me and my sister,' he will say." (Dastyari will break ranks with Labor on offshore policy, James Massola, Sydney Morning Herald, 23/3/14)

So it's taken this long, and the murder of an Iranian asylum seeker, for Dastyari to speak up on the cruel Howard/Rudd/Gillard/Abbott policy of transporting asylum seekers to remote Pacific islands and abandoning them there to mayhem, madness, and now murder?

Dastyari, who you may remember took over as State Secretary of NSW Labor from Zionist enforcer* and US embassy habitue** Mark Arbib in 2007 and entered federal politics as a senator for NSW at the 2013 election, has presumably had no problems whatever with Labor's long flirtation with the Israeli apartheid state, the entity responsible for orchestrating the international sanctions regime which is destroying the Iranian economy and forcing young men like Berati abroad.

In fact, Dastyari is on record telling NSW Labor MLC Shaoquett Moselmane, who bluntly and bravely told the Israeli ambassador last year to "butt out of Australian politics," that his remarks were "completely inappropriate." (See my 27/5/13 post Shaoquett Moselmane Speaks Truth to Power.)

[*See my 30/7/10 post Get Thee to Israel!; **See my 10/12/10 post Wikileaks 6: Working for the Man.]

Labor Elders Vet the Ideal Potential Candidate

"NSW Labor will vet the personal, financial and political history of potential candidates for the first time to ensure they do not bring the party into disrepute." (Robertson to put candidates under spotlight, Sean Nicholls, Sydney Morning Herald, 14/7/12)

Now how would that work in practice?

Something like this, I imagine:

Mark Arbib: Hello, Potential Candidate. Please, don't be deceived - despite our youthful appearance, we're actually Venerable Party Elders. My name's Mark, and this is Eric. Do you know who we are?

Potential Candidate: Oh, yes. Mark Arbib and Eric Roozendaal. And, I might add, to know you is to love you.

MA: Very good. So you want to become a Labor politician?

PC: Yes, very much.

MA: How much do you want to become a Labor politician?

PC: What's the going rate? $139,544 per annum? And the electoral allowance? $41,110? That's $180,654 pa. That's how much. Oh, yeah, and I'd sell my sainted mother too.

MA: Well, I must say we're impressed, aren't we Eric? Your motives sound beyond impeccable. But first we've got to ask you some very important questions that relate to hardcore Labor values.

PC: Shoot!

MA: I'm going to say a word and I want you to say the first thing that comes into your head, OK? Ready?

PC: I think I can guess already.

MA: OK, here's the word: 'Israel'.

PC: I know... 'vibrant'!

MA: Good boy! That means the rest should be a breeze. Eric?

Eric Roozendaal: Now keeping in mind this word association thing, what historical era comes to mind when I say the letters B... D... S...?

PC: Every time I hear those letters I'm transported back to... late thirties Germany: I see broken glass, Nazi stormtroopers, cowering Jewish shopkeepers... dreadful!

ER: Wonderful! Now when I say the words 'apartheid state' what comes to mind?

PC: South Africa, only South Africa, and nothing but South Africa.

ER: Excellent! And now for the taste test. Bring out the cups of hot chocolate, Mark. Right. Now I want you to take a sip from each of these two cups and...

PC: Excuse me... there's no need. The heavenly aroma wending its way into my flaring nostrils from the one on the right has to be... can only be... from Max Brenner's. I've been an addict for years.

Mark Arbib: Well, that's good enough for us, eh Eric? You've passed with flying colours. Welcome to the parliamentary Labor Party, young fella. Name your seat.

[*"[Mark Arbib] kept a tight rein on the state MPs. Julia Irwin, then member for Fowler, says he responded to a speech she gave on the rights of Palestinians by ordering her to take a trip to Israel and asking her to submit further speeches on the Middle East to him for clearance." (In Richo's footsteps, Labor's new Mr Fix-it, Deborah Snow, Sydney Morning Herald, 30/7/10); **On Roozendaal see my 14/11/11 post Witches Brew 7.]

Natural Born Zionists

Follow the thread...

"The federal government will give the Remuneration Tribunal new powers to set pay for federal politicians in a move which could boost MPs' salaries in return for scrapping several existing entitlements... The base salary for MPs [is] $136,640 for a backbencher... Depending on how many entitlements were cashed out, this could lift the baseline salary of a federal backbencher to as much as $180,000... " (Federal politicians' pay will be set by independent tribunal, Mark Davis, Sydney Morning Herald, 23/3/11)

"Julia Gillard has stared down internal unrest over proposed welfare changes... During a robust caucus meeting yesterday, about 6 MPs and senators criticised a government bill that will crack down on dole recipients who fail to show for interviews or training. The bill will suspend payments immediately... Members of the Left faction, including Doug Cameron, Stephen Jones and Sharon Grierson, complained the loudest about the compliance crackdown, saying it was too harsh... The WA senator Glenn Sterle said there were sufficient 'bludgers' to warrant the crackdown while the former employment minister, Mark Arbib, pointed out it was the former Labor social security minister Brian Howe, not John Howard, who introduced a mutual obligation." (Gillard to push on with dole proposals, Coorey & Taylor, SMH, 23/3/11)

Julia Gillard: "[As a student] she was more inclined to deal with the Liberals, the Zionists and various right-wing groups than she was with the Left." (She's got it, Stevenson & Banham, SMH, 5/7/03) (See my 24/6/10 post Julia Gillard: A Retrospective)

Glenn Sterle: Chair of the Australia/Israel Parliamentary Friendship Group; Rambammed, 2008.

Mark Arbib: "The federal Labor minister and right-wing powerbroker Mark Arbib is one of the US embassy's valued confidential contacts, providing inside information and commentary on the workings of the government and the ALP." (Yank in the ranks: The powerbroker Mark Arbib has been America's Labor Party insider for years, Philip Dorling, SMH, 9/12/10) (See my 10/12/10 post WikiLeaks 6: Working for the Man)

"Julia Irwin, the member for Fowler says [Mark Arbib] responded to a speech she gave on the rights of the Palestinians by ordering her to take a trip to Israel and asking her to submit further speeches to him for clearance." (See my 30/7/10 post Get Thee to Israel!)

WikiLeaks 6: Working for the Man

Spooky!:

"The federal Labor minister and right-wing powerbroker Mark Arbib is one of the US embassy's valued confidential contacts, providing inside information and commentary on the workings of the government and the ALP. Secret embassy cables obtained by WikiLeaks and made available exclusively to the Herald reveal that Senator Arbib has been in regular contact with US embassy officers. His candid comments are incorporated in reports to Washington with requests that his identity as a 'protected' source be guarded. Embassy cables refer to Senator Arbib as a strong supporter of Australia's alliance with the US. They identify him as a valuable source of information on Labor politics, including the former prime minister Kevin Rudd's hopes to forestall an eventual leadership challenge by his deputy, Julia Gillard. 'He understands the importance of supporting a vibrant relationship with the US while not being too deferential. We have found him personable, confident and articulate', says an embassy profile written in July 2009. 'He has met with us repeatedly throughout his political rise'." (Yank in the ranks: The powerbroker Mark Arbib has been America's Labor Party insider for years, Philip Dorling, Sydney Morning Herald, 9/12/10)

Arbib is the other quintessential whatever-it-takes ALP politician. Mark Latham had him pegged as one of those who "live in a world of non-stop political manoeuvres and gossip, no structured thoughts about making society better. Their only points of reference in public life are polling and focus groups." (See my 23/6/10 post The Ins & Outs of the ALP)

Unlike Dorling's report on Gillard, there is no reference to Israel in his report on Arbib. Proof of his allegiance to the USraeli agenda, however, may be found in the accusation by former Labor MP and critic of Israel, Julia Irwin, that he "ordered her to take a trip to Israel and submit her speeches on the Middle East to him for clearance." (See my 30/7/10 post Get Thee to Israel!) Ditto for this contribution from one of his appearances on the ABC's Q & A (7/5/09): "[T]o really understand the Israeli people and understand what they've been through and understand where they're coming from in terms of their security... you've got to go to Jerusalem and you've got to go to the Holocaust Museum..."

What does emerge, however, is that he reportedly "told embassy officers that, unlike [former leader Kim] Beazley, he supported Australia's military commitment in Iraq 'as well as the war on terrorism in general'." (ibid)

Predictably, Arbib was not the only ALP politician with a fondness for whipping into the embassy for a chat and a cup of whatever: "Other Labor politicians reported as regular contacts include the former minister Bob McMullan and Michael Danby, a serving MP." (ibid) At various points in his Diaries, Latham calls McMullan, immortalised as 'Comb-over', a "snake in the grass" and a "treacherous bastard." Of Labor's 'Minister for Israel', of course, you'll need no introduction - just click on the tag below.

Other Labor politicians (and union bosses) to get a mention in Dorling's WikiLeaks reporting include Victorian senator Dave Feeney, parliamentary secretary for Pacific Island Affairs Richard Marles, national secretary of the Health Services Union Kathy Jackson, Victorian secretary of the Australian Workers Union, Cesar Melhem ("The AWU works diligently to place its own members in parliamentary positions, both at state and federal levels. This includes Bill Shorten."), an unnamed National Union of Workers (NUW) source, and Dave Noonan and Bill Oliver of the Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union (CFMEU).

PS: Marles, Danby and Shorten will all be traipsing off to Israel this month to take part in one of Albert Dadon's Australia Israel Leadership Forum shindigs. (See my 25/10/10 post Record Rambam)

WikiLeaks 5: Israel Runs Bang Through It

Today's WikiLeaks blast in the Fairfax press is a beauty:

"US diplomats closely followed the rise of Julia Gillard, applauded her shedding of Labor Left allegiances and confidently predicted that she would be the next prime minister more than 8 months before she deposed Kevin Rudd... Although an early report by the then ambassador, Robert McCallum, said Ms Gillard was 'a loyal and competent deputy', US diplomats had no doubt about her ambitions and as early as June 2008 declared her the 'front runner' to replace Mr Rudd. US diplomats were anxious to establish Ms Gillard's attitudes towards the US alliance and other key foreign policy issues, especially on Israel and Palestine. They were hampered by the fact that the embassy had relatively little contact with her during Labor's years in opposition. Numerous Labor figures were drawn into conversation about Ms Gillard with 'many key ALP insiders' quickly telling embassy officers that her past membership of the Victorian Socialist Left faction meant little and that she was 'at heart a pragmatist'. The NSW Right powerbroker Mark Arbib* described Ms Gillard as 'one of the most pragmatic politicians in the ALP'. When embassy officers reminded Paul Howes, the head of the right-wing Australian Workers Union, that 'ALP politicians from the Left, no matter how capable, do not become party leader, he said immediately: 'but she votes with the Right'. The embassy privately expressed pleasure at Ms Gillard's preparedness to affirm her support for the US alliance, but there was some doubt about the strength of her commitment. 'Although long appearing ambivalent about the Australia-US Alliance, Gillard's actions since she became the Labor Party number two indicate an understanding of its importance', the embassy reported to Washington in mid-2008. '[US embassy political officers] had little contact with her when she was in opposition but since the election, Gillard has gone out of her way to assist the embassy... At our request, she agreed to meet a visiting member of the [US] National Labor Relations Board, after prior entreaties by the board members' Australian hosts had been rebuffed. Although warm and engaging in her dealings with American diplomats, it's unclear whether this change in attitude reflects a mellowing of her views or an understanding of what she needs to do to become leader of the ALP', the embassy reported. 'It is likely a combination of the two. Labor Party officials have told us that one lesson Gillard learned from the 2004 elections was that Australians will not elect a PM who is perceived to be anti-American'. " (Embassy supported pragmatic Gillard, Philip Dorling, Sydney Morning Herald, 9/12/10)

I'll just stop here for some observations.

Well, there's that word again - Israel. Feel a theme coming on? More of that later.

First, am I imagining things or is it the case that the US here is involved in a process - or at least verging on involvement in a process - of choosing our prime ministers for us? That bit about reminding Howes that ALP politicians of the Left do not become party leader, that bit about an understanding of what she needs to do. Most interesting...

Second, that bit about the embassy being hampered by the fact that it had relatively little contact with her during Labor's years in opposition doesn't quite gell with the following revelation from ubiquitous former Labor leader and critic of the Australia-US alliance, Mark Latham. Remember here the above cable is from 2008: "Over the years I have received tender messages from Gillard saying how much she misses me in Canberra... One of them concerned her study tour of the US, sponsored by the American government in 2006 - or to use her moniker - 'a CIA re-education course'... She promised 'to catch up when I'm back from the US and I'll show you my CIA-issued ankle holster'. I never got to see her ankles or her holster, but I will say this: you have to hand it to those guys in Washington... Within the space of 2 years they converted her from a highly cynical critic of all matters American into yet another foreign policy sycophant'." (Latham turns on 'brainwashed' Gillard, Christian Kerr, The Australian, 20/8/09) See my 22/8/09 post Gillard: 'Sycophant'.

Poor old Mark, he thought Gillard was a highly cynical critic of all matters American when, cavernously hollow woman that she is, she was just saying what she had to say - or thought she had to say - to climb the Labor ladder at the time.

But I digress. Let's get back to our theme - the one that runs bang through all of this -Israel:

"The embassy also applauded what it describes as Ms Gillard's 'pro-Israel' stance, reporting in October 2009 that she had 'thrown off the baggage' of being from what one analyst called the 'notoriously anti-Israel faction' of the ALP. 'As acting Prime Minister in late December 2008, Gillard was responsible for negotiating the government's position on Israel's incursion into Gaza. Left-wing ALP MPs, a group to which Gillard used to belong, wanted her to take a harder line against Israel. 'Instead, she said Hamas had broken the ceasefire first by attacking Israel - a stance welcomed by Israel's supporters in Australia. MP Michael Danby, one of two Jewish members of parliament and a strong supporter of Israel, told us that after the Gaza statement he had a new appreciation of Gillard's leadership within the ALP'." (ibid)

Actually, Gillard was never anti-Israel, not even at university. She knew nothing of the issue and had no interest in finding out about it. Every inch the professional whatever-it-takes politician, she knew instinctively even then that putting one's career first and a real concern for the Palestinian wretched of the earth - or any other for that matter - don't go together. So it's not as if she had to be re-educated. (See my 14/8/10 post The Real Julia Gillard.)

But there's more, much more. In my 8/12/10 post WikiLeaks 4: Let's ask Rotem, he'll know, I mused as follows: "Now how about a WikiLeaks cable reporting [Israeli Ambassador Yuval] Rotem describing [Gillard] as prime ministerial material." Well, how's this for Dorling's final paragraph: "The Israeli Ambassador, Yuval Rotem, told the embassy that Gillard 'has gone out of her way to build a relationship with Israel and that she asked him to arrange an early opportunity to visit'." (ibid)

She asked him! Ambassador, I feel the siren call of your country. I can resist no longer. I am ready to be rambammed. Organise it at once, will you?

Typically, there's not a whisper anywhere in either today's Age or Sydney Morning Herald, not even on the letters page, of our theme. What does that tell you?

[*I'll deal with Arbib and friends in my next post.]

Julia Irwin Spills the Beans

I was thinking only the other day: 'I hope (retiring, pro-Palestinian Labor MP) Julia Irwin writes her memoirs'. I had no idea, however, that we'd be party to her experiences as a supporter of the Palestinians in a thoroughly Zionised Australian Labor Party (ALP) so soon. We have the redoubtable freelance journalist and blogger Antony Loewenstein to thank for that scoop, and the complete version of his interview with her may be found at his website. What Irwin has to say, as a party insider, is dynamite, and it will be interesting to see to what extent, if any, it is drawn on by the mainstream media. Needless to say, I won't be holding my breath.

What follows are some of the juicier bits of Irwin's testimony (along with a few of my own comments in square-bracketed bold):

"With a few exceptions, the great majority of the Caucus have strong pro-Israel views. Many have visited Israel as guests of various groups. You would find a check of the Register of Members Interests worth reading as it discloses who has been to Israel and who paid for the trip. Many members and senators from right-wing unions have had close links with the Israeli union movement over the years and have maintained entrenched views."

[For a regularly updated list of these polliewaffles, both federal and state, as well as journalists and others (along with some of their recorded 'impressions') see my 30/3/09 post I've been to Israel too.]

"While ALP officials, Eric Roozendaal and Mark Arbib have spoken to me and requested that I should have my speeches vetted, visit the Holocaust Museum, visit Israel and meet with members of various Jewish organisations, these requests have not been followed up. After one speech on Palestine, the ALP chief whip tore up my application for leave from the House when I was to attend an Inter Parliamentary Union meeting in Geneva. This was later approved but not before some emotional displays on both sides."

[For the first reported inkling of Arbib's role as an urger for Israel see my 30/7/10 post Get Thee to Israel!]

"Until very recently... Kevin Rudd... [had not] spoken to me on [the Israel/Palestine conflict]... Then, strangely, at the Caucus meeting on the Tuesday before he was deposed as Prime Minister, I had gone up to Kevin to ask him to sign a hardback edition of 'The True Believers' which had been signed by all party leaders from Gough Whitlam [on]. Kevin was surprisingly friendly and inquired about the reaction of supporters of the Palestinian cause to the government's handling of the expulsion of an Israeli diplomat over the theft of Australian passports and his statement calling for an inquiry into the Mavi Marmara incident. His remarks led me to believe that there had been some change in the government's position with regard to Israel even if it was only a small step from being totally uncritical."

[The question is to what extent that small step was a factor in Rudd's downfall. My posts, The Best Israel Policy Money Can Buy (22/6/10) and If Only Rudd Hadn't Expelled That Israeli Diplomat... (1/7/10), marshal the available evidence.]

"Without naming names, I could point to at least one ALP member who receives big donations from Palestinian interests but is silent on the issue. (I should add that I have never been offered financial support for my re-election campaigns from groups outside my electorate and none with direct links to Palestinian interests)."

"There is certainly a belief that support for Palestine will swiftly end any prospect of a front bench position. Even a hint of offence can result in an immediate, unconditional apology. For all MPs there is the desire to 'play it safe'. Why make enemies over an issue which does not directly affect your local community? And I have to add that many Labor members have an intense dislike of Arabic people. That's something that comes across in their less guarded moments. They will talk about human rights abuse in every corner of the world, but not Palestine."

[This is a damning insight into the parliamentary wing of the party: a bunch of racists whose leaders are vetted and approved by pro-Israel enforcers.]

"On the Labor side (and as far as I know the same applies to the Liberals), a newly selected member for a winnable seat is hosted to a private fundraising dinner. A table full of Jewish businessmen are happy to hand over $10,000 for the candidate's first campaign. That's a big bonus for a new member and many never forget the generosity. I was never afforded such an honour, but I can say that I would have been suspicious of the motive."

[For a description of the same phenomenon in the UK's Conservative Party see my 12/5/10 post Ziocons Rule.]

"And then there are the trips to Israel. The chance to see the achievements of 60 years of Zionism, and to look down on the depressed Palestinian villages is hard to pass up for some. How could any member not be impressed by such achievement, and how could they not share the fear of the backward Arabs threatening such an enlightened society? Any check of the Register of Members Interests reveals how Tel Aviv is such a popular destination, especially when it's free. A visit to Israel is almost a rite of passage for new MPs and senators."

[Again, a damning insight into mainstream politics in this country and one that's barely caused a ripple of interest in the corporate media - largely because it too is caught up in the same corrupting practice.]

"Shortly after my motion on the Israel/Palestine conflict in 2002, the Israel Lobby sprang into action. 'Jewish Friends of Labor' was formed and no doubt has been a rich source of support for Labor candidates ever since. As I have told Michael Danby, Julia Irwin has been the best electoral asset he has had. The Jewish Lobby needs support from both sides of politics. It cannot afford to snub Labor even if most Jewish voters live in blue ribbon Liberal seats. Personally, while I have survived 4 terms, I have no doubt that senior ALP figures have promised to end my career on more than one occasion. At the grass roots level, in the branches and the wider electorate the lobby has no influence. Only at the highest levels can a member be threatened. But a party which allows that to happen is not worthy of public support."

[Amen, Julia.]

It is devoutly to be hoped that Julia Irwin will find time while retired to pen a fuller account of these goings on.

Get Thee to Israel!

An interesting portrait of Mark (whatever it takes) Arbib by Deborah Snow in today's Fairfax press:

First, the context: "Fast forward to the events of nearly 5 weeks ago in Canberra, when Rudd fell to Julia Gillard. Arbib, a senator and a junior minister in Rudd's government, was again at the centre of the action, rustling up numbers for the coup. His was not the only hand holding a knife, of course. Other chieftains from Labor's right - particularly Bill Shorten, David Feeney, and Don Farrell - were prime movers. And Rudd's autocratic style had left him ripe for the toppling. Nevertheless, Arbib's role in Rudd's downfall was 'pre-eminent', according to one of Arbib's mates, Senator Glenn Sterle*, from Western Australia. 'Let's make no mistake: Mark put Kevin here [as leader] in the first place, which is why to take him out was a bloody big call', the plain-spoken former truckie says. 'It's like taking your granddad out'... Asked some years ago whether he agreed with the philosophy of 'whatever it takes', the title of Graham Richardson's autobiography, Arbib replied: 'We'll do whatever it takes to win an election. Definitely'." (In Richo's footsteps, Labor's new Mr Fix-it)

Then this fascinating little anecdote: "He kept a tight rein on the state's MPs. Julia Irwin, then the member for Fowler, says he responded to a speech she gave on the rights of Palestinians by ordering her to take a trip to Israel and asking her to submit further speeches on the Middle East to him for clearance. She refused and the demands were not followed up. Arbib has denied asking her to travel to Israel."

[*Chair of the Australia-Israel Parliamentary Friendship Group]

The Ins & Outs of the ALP

Maxine McKew (MP for Bennelong) is definitely in. For example, when it comes to the Middle East conflict, she has a knack for articulating her party's position that is second to none. Which probably means she's destined for a senior position in the parliamentary party and explains why she gets to appear on cool television shows such as Q & A (31/5/10):

Audience Member: Are we applying double standards to Israel?... If [say] Iraq had behaved like that [massacring unarmed protesters on the high seas] we would be jumping up and down... and intervening...

Tony Jones: I just want to get a quick response from Maxine McKew, and I'll ask you as a corollary to that, Maxine, does this shake your faith in Israel at all?

Maxine McKew: ... I think it's a bit too early to say we should be jumping up and down about anything. We were only really apprised of this about mid-afternoon Australian time... We need a lot more information so I'll leave it at that. Shake my faith in Israel? Well, Tony, I remember being in Israel in the 90s and there was still hope after the Oslo process that things could move, but, you know, things are very fragmented now, very far apart. So I lament that. You know, I grew up, you know, schooled in, you know, the horrors of the holocaust and absolutely believing in the fundamental importance of the state of Israel and its right to exist, but I also believe that there has to be, you know, space for the Palestinians. The fact that this issue is still as unresolved in the new century, you know, as it was in the last century is deeply depressing.

Julia Irwin (MP for Fowler), on the other hand, is definitely out. You can see why from her 16 June adjournment speech, where her grasp of party policy detail on the Middle East conflict was embarrassingly shaky to say the least. Which, I suppose, helps explain why she's not only on the nose in party circles but why she won't even be standing for re-election next time around. Oh, and why you'll probably never see her on Q & A:

"Like millions of people around the world I watched with horror the actions of the Israeli armed forces in their assault on the freedom flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza. The predictable response from the Israeli propaganda machine portrayed the murder of 9 peace activists as yet another act of self-defence. While the Secretary-General of the UN has called for an independent international inquiry, the US and Australia are again happy to leave the inquiry in the hands of the Israeli authorities. And even if there were any adverse findings we could expect the matter to be brushed aside like the damning Goldstone report into Israel's war on Gaza in 2009. This reminds me very much of those apologists for Stalinism who were blind to the human rights abuses of that brutal regime. They would justify any atrocity by saying that it was in defence of socialism and begin each statement with words like 'you have to realise that more than 20 million Russians were killed in the great patriotic war'. But that is how Western leaders excuse the gross abuses of human rights committed in the name of self-defence by the state of Israel. Are they blind to the evidence presented by UN agencies, by Amnesty International or by the Red Cross, none of which could remotely be described as terrorist organisations? And are they also blind to the damage done to their standing in the world community by their unquestioning defence of Israel?

"My own awakening to the reality of life in the illegally occupied territories came in a visit in 2000. I mention just one incident that has left a lasting impact on me. We were walking through the streets of East Jerusalem when we were confronted with a group of teenage Israeli youths each carrying a submachinegun slung over their shoulder and with a 'go ahead, make my day' look in their eyes. The group came across an old woman sitting in her doorway selling her homemade cheeses from a large platter. To my amazement, one of the youths kicked the platter down the alley spilling the cheeses onto the ground. I will never forget the tearful expression on that old woman's face or the mocking laugh of the youths as they swaggered off down the street.

"While this was hardly a gross abuse of human rights, it is part of everyday life in the illegally occupied territories. When taken together with the abduction, imprisonment and torture of more than 10,000 Palestinians, including children and a number of members of the Palestinian Legislative Assembly, the reality of life under the jackboot of Israeli occupation can be felt. And to that can be added the bombing of schools, hospitals and UN stores during Israel's war on Gaza and so many other documented cases of war crimes and crimes against humanity. These are not the acts of a civilised nation.

"Yet, like the Stalinists of old, some world leaders continue to deny the reality, or, worse, defend it in the name of Israel's right of self-defence. But while nations' leaders fail to act, responsible citizens throughout the world are beginning to take action. The worldwide campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions [BDS] against products and services originating in whole or in part in the occupied territories is gaining momentum. I am pleased to see unions in Australia, including state branches of the CFMEU and the Australian Services Union, joining this movement. Churches, universities and trade unions are refusing to invest in enterprises conducting business in or involved in construction in the occupied territories. Unions in Europe have applied international law forbidding the international exploitation of illegally occupied territory and have embargoed goods made in the West Bank. Faced with the refusal by Israeli authorities to allow academic freedom in the occupied territories, many universities have broken contact with Israeli institutions with ties in the West Bank.

"When governments refuse to act in the name of civilised society t0 prevent gross abuses of human rights, we as individuals have a duty to act. The campaign of BDS deserves the full support of every thinking and caring Australian."

No sooner had Irwin finished her speech than Graig Emerson (MP for Rankin and Minister for Small Business etc, etc), who by the way was on Q & A this Monday night, stood, peg on nose, and relieved himself thus: "I want to make it clear that, in making her adjournment speech tonight, the member for Fowler was not speaking on behalf of the Rudd government."

Tell us something we don't know, minister.

PS: "Lunch with [Mark] Arbib at Azuma's in Sydney. It's interesting to listen to these machine guys: they live in a world of non-stop political manoeuvres and gossip, no structured thoughts about making society better. Their only points of reference in public life are polling and focus groups. And so it is with Arbib. Some snippets from him. The focus groups showed that people like me, but they think I need another three years in Opposition, after which they will give me a go... The focus groups also show that it's popular to bash the blacks: 'You need to find new issues, like attacking land rights, get stuck into all the politically correct Aborignal stuff - the punters love it'. Maybe he should have had lunch with Pauline Hanson, though not at Azuma's... We also talked about the quality of Labor MPs in NSW, and he wants to get rid of Irwin in Fowler: 'We had it all lined up before the 2001 election. Irwin was going to the State Upper House and Maxine McKew was going to run for Fowler. She would have been fantastic but then she backed out, said she couldn't stand living in Cabramatta or Liverpool'. So Maxine wants to be a Labor MP, but can't stand the sight or smell of Labor voters, hey?" (The Latham Diaries, 1/11/04, Mark Latham, 2005, pp 369-370)

Sheridan: Nakba Denier

Part of the transcript of ABC TV's Q&A program, 7/5/09:

TONY JONES: Let's just hear from Guy Rundle [journalist, crikey.com].
GUY RUNDLE (to Mark Arbib [Parliamentary Secretary for Government Service Delivery]) : What do you think of Randa's [Randa Abdel-Fattah, author & lawyer] argument that Israel was founded on ethnic cleansing and the dispossession of a people?
MARK ARBIB: Well, sorry, I understand the argument, and I certainly understand the argument in terms of dispossession, but in terms of ethnic cleansing, I don't accept that. [So you accept that the Palestinians were dispossessed, but not ethnically cleansed?!]
GUY RUNDLE: But where - but hang on, Mark, when Israeli historians like Benny Morris use the Israel Defense Forces archives to document dozens of massacres of Palestinian people in 1948; men, women and children lined up against a wall and machined gunned by, among other people, Menachem Begin, who became a prime minister of Israel...
GREG SHERIDAN: No. No. No. I don't think we can accept anything that Guy Rundle is saying as true here.
GUY RUNDLE: That is absolutely true. Hang on. Absolutely true.
GREG SHERIDAN: It's all rubbish. That is just rubbish.
GUY RUNDLE: Yes, he has said that.

And what has Benny Morris said? "In certain conditions expulsion is not a war crime. I don't think the expulsions of 1948 were war crimes. You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs. You have to dirty your hands... There are circumstances in history that justify ethnic cleansing... What the new material shows is that there were far more Israeli acts of massacre than I had previously thought. To my surprise, there were also many cases of rape." (Interviewed by Ari Shavit in Haaretz, 9/1/04 - See my 11/5/08 post Benny Unhinged) Morris went on to quantify these massacres (24) and rapes (about a dozen).

And here's his account of the best known massacre, that of the Palestinian villagers of Deir Yassin: "The attacking units [Jewish terrorists of the Irgun, Stern Gang and Haganah: MERC] had advanced from house to house, lobbing grenades and spraying the interiors with fire... They blew up several houses with explosives. The attackers shot down individuals and families as they left their homes and fled down alleyways. They apparently also rounded up villagers, who included militiamen and unarmed civilians of both sexes, and murdered them, and executed prisoners in a nearby quarry. On 12 April, Haganah Intelligence Service (HIS) officer in command (OC) in Jerusalem, Yitzhak Levy, reported: 'The conquest of the village was carried out with great cruelty. Whole families - women, old people, children, were murdered viciously by their captors'. The following day he added: 'LHI [Stern Gang] members tell of the barbaric behaviour of the IZL [Irgun] toward the prisoners and the dead. They also relate that the IZL men raped a number of Arab girls and murdered them afterward [we don't know if this is true]'. The HIS operative on the spot, Mordechai Gichon, reported on 1o April: 'Their [ie, the IZL?] commander says that the [initial] order was: To take prisoner the adult males and to send the women and children to Motza. In the afternoon [of April 9], the order was changed and became to kill all the prisoners... The adult males were taken to town in trucks and paraded in the city streets, then taken back to the site and killed with rifle and machine-gun fire. Before they [ie, other inhabitants] were put on the trucks, the IZL and LHI men... took from them all the jewlry and stole their money. The behaviour toward them was especially barbaric [and included] kicks, shoves with rifle butts, spitting and cursing [people from Givat Shaul took part in the torture]'. Gichon reported that the HIS's 'regular informer', 'the mukhtar's son', was 'executed [in front of his mother and sisters] after being taken prisoner'. Meir Pa'il, a Palmah intelligence officer who claimed to have spent part of the afternoon of April 9 in Deir Yassin as a 'guest' of the LHI, reported on 10 April: 'In the quarry near Givat Shaul I saw the 5 Arabs they had paraded in the streets of the city. They had been murdered and were lying one on top of the other... I saw with my own eyes several families [that had been] murdered with their women, children and old people, their corpses were lying on top of each other... The dissidents were going about the village robbing and stealing everything: Chickens, radio sets, sugar, money, gold and more... Each dissident walked about the village dirty with blood and proud of the number of persons he had killed...' Altogether about 100-120 villagers died that day." (The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited, 2004, pp 237-238)