Prisoner X: The Movie?

The ABC's Rafael Epstein, "who knew [Ben] Zygier from their shared time in Melbourne Zionist groups in the 1980s," has just published a book on the latter called Prisoner X, an edited extract of which appeared in Fairfax's GoodWeekend of 22/2/14.

Given that nowhere in the extract is there any kind of acknowledgment that Zygier, who was so damn drunk on Zionist Kool-Aid that he even joined the Mossad, was both the product and victim of a highly toxic ideological brew, I was bound to find it inadequate to say the least.  The following two references, however, really pissed me off:

1) "In mid-2008, he applied for an Australian government-funded loan to to help pay for a post-graduate management degree in Melbourne the following year" while "still receiv[ing] a salary from [Mossad]." ('The heart secret')

Oh great. Just great. A hopelessly deluded Australian Muslim who goes to Syria for a scrap loses his passport. A hopelessly deluded Australian Jew who goes to Israel and joins Mossad or the IDF gets an Australian government loan.

2) "There were a number of overseas students in the management course... Significantly for Ben, there was also a businessman who had links to Iran, and it was this Iranian who played a key role in his downfall. My understanding is that Ben began talking about things he should not have ever discussed, not only telling people that he used to work for the Mossad but divulging details of the operations against Iran in which he'd been personally involved. It seems incomprehensible that someone who'd received Mossad training and was so committed to Israel would do this... Yet two sources tell me that's what Ben did in conversations at the university, including with the Iranian businessman. This man is described as being 'unscrupulous', which makes Ben's willingness to disclose important facts to him even more surprising... [Ben] had been to Tehran, and he knew plenty about what the Mossad was trying to do. His loose talk was a serious problem, especially as the program of assassination of Tehran scientists was then near its peak."

Hello?! Have I got this right? The Iranian student was "unscrupulous" because he patriotically passed on details of Zygier's boasting (about Israel screwing Iran?) to his embassy, but Zygier, a cog in a terror machine involved in knocking off Iranian civilians, wasn't?

Something Missing

Notice something missing here?:

"Tim Mathieson, the partner of Prime Minister Julia Gillard, has quit his job with ALP benefactor and prominent Melbourne property developer Albert Dadon. A senior Jewish business figure last night told The Age his resignation had been 'inevitable' and that moving away from any such employment was 'the right thing to do'. Last month, The Age reported that if Labor won the election, Mr Mathieson would resign, with senior figures in Labor and the Jewish community concerned about his position with Mr Dadon's Ubertas property business. The ALP increasingly regards Mr Dadon as a conduit to donations, including from the Jewish business community. On the last Sunday before polling day he hosted a large breakfast function at his home, where Ms Gillard met members of the Jewish community. The Prime Minister's spokeswoman said Mr Mathieson had decided to resign from his job only because he wanted to pursue more advocacy and charity work, in line with his responsibilities 'as the partner of a Prime Minister'." (PM's partner quits property job with ALP benefactor, Rafael Epstein, The Age, 22/9/10)

That's right, not a whisper about Dadon's role as a leading Israel lobbyist and sponsor (through his Australia-Israel Cultural Exchange & Australia-Israel Leadership Forum) of Labor heavyweight visits to Israel (Gillard/Rudd in 2005; Gillard in 2009). Or about Gillard's declaration, in the lead-up to the last federal election, that Australia and Israel share a "unique bond [that] endures through good times and difficult ones," and promise to "take our friendship [with Israel] to new heights" should she remain prime minister (See my 20/8/10 post A Pre-Poll Breakfast Tradition).

On Being Honest

On Radio National's Correspondents Report (24/2/08) the ABC's Europe correspondent, Rafael Epstein, reflected thus on the declaration of Kosovo's independence: " I know from my own heritage that these moments are powerful. They sear themselves into the collective consciousness of a people. I grew up being told about the mythical, almost magical moment, when Israel declared itself independent in 1948. Then, as now, the Prime Minister of the new nation is [sic] idolised by his own people and to be honest, despised by those who feel they've been displaced."

Does Epstein honestly believe that the 750,000 odd Palestinians driven from their homes in 1948 into an exile that lasts till this day were not, in fact, displaced, but only felt displaced?

I'd hate to think so. However, Epstein and many of his fellow foreign correspondents have yet "to be honest" about that "mythical...magical moment when Israel declared independence."

An excellent starting point would be Israeli historian, Ilan Pappe's brilliant book The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine (2006): "This book is written with the deep conviction that the ethnic cleansing of Palestine must become rooted in our memory and consciousness as a crime against humanity and that it should be excluded from the list of alleged crimes. The perpetrators here are not obscure - they are a very specific group of people: the heroes of the Jewish war of independence, whose names will be quite familiar to most readers. The list begins with the indisputable leader of the Zionist movement, David Ben-Gurion, in whose private home all early and later chapters in the ethnic cleansing story were discussed and finalised. He was aided by a small group of people I refer to in this book as the 'Consultancy', an ad hoc cabal assembled solely for the purpose of plotting and designing the dispossession of the Palestinians." (p 5)

Or, if that's a bridge too far for Epstein & Co, perhaps they could at least read John V Whitbeck's essay, If Kosovo, Why Not Palestine? at http://www.counterpunch.org/ (20/2/08).