Even Nine Entertainment Co (formerly, Fairfax) is echoing Murdoch's 'Albanese the Red' propaganda line, albeit far more faintly:
"Accustomed to losing, the left will have one of its fiercest combatants in the top job... 'Every fantasy of an old-time left-winger is finally happening,' said one factional enthusiast. 'We've been speculating for decades about what it would look like.' Lest anyone start waving the red flag and singing L'Internationale... " (Is Albanese new light on the hill? Michael Koziol, Sydney Morning Herald, 25/5/19)
Showing posts with label SMH. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SMH. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 29, 2019
Friday, March 8, 2019
Zionist Propaganda Fatigue
Yesterday's Sydney Morning Herald excelled itself, devoting half a page to Zionist propaganda.
"Spacecraft snaps epic selfie," reads the headline.
That was followed by this nauseous Zionist trumpeting:
"Organisers of a privately funded Israeli space mission released a striking photo on Tuesday, London time. It shows the spacecraft Beresheet, Hebrew for Genesis, orbiting some 37,500 kilometres away, with the entire Earth (including Australia) visible. A plaque includes the Hebrew inscription 'The People Of Israel Live'. It's scheduled to land on the moon on April 11."
And the "epic selfie" of the headline turns out to be a sticker (?), partly obscuring a distant planet Earth. It contains an Israeli flag and the words SMALL COUNTRY, BIG DREAMS - yes, in bold upper case letters.
Meanwhile, in yesterday's Australian, we find the screaming headline Israelis shoot Palestinians dead after car-ram attack.
When you read the report, however, the "car-ram attack" begins to look more like a road accident.
What appears to have happened is this:
1) Israeli troops were leaving a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank after a routine terrorising of its inhabitants.
2) Their vehicle broke down near a bend in the road.
3) Three young Palestinian men in a small car, travelling in the opposite direction, rounded the bend and accidentally collided with the stationary Israeli vehicle, injuring 2 soldiers in the process.
4) Trigger-happy troops opened fire, killing two of the Palestinians and wounding a third.
5) The wounded survivor was forced to confess that he and his friends had intended to ram the troops and also that they had been driving around, "hurling firebombs."
6) Conveniently, the troops allegedly "found additional firebombs" in the Palestinians' car.
In short, the Israeli troops murdered two Palestinian civilians, spun their crime as a response to a terrorist attack, tortured a wounded Palestinian to extract a confession, and planted 'evidence' at the scene of the crime.
Mahmoud Habbash, "a Palestinian supreme [court] judge and adviser to Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas," quoted in the AFP report, makes the bleeding obvious point: "It is inconceivable that three young men carry out an operation to run over the occupation soldiers in a car. One driver would be enough."
As it happens, we've seen this scenario before - in the Israeli film Foxtrot (2018), where troops manning a checkpoint shoot up a Palestinian car, killing those inside, and bury the vehicle with the bodies still inside as a cover-up.
Electronic Intifada's Maureen Clare Murphy provides the following context in her report of the incident:
"The Israeli newspaper Haaretz also noted: 'Veteran security figures who have been keeping watch on the West Bank for years can't recall a case of using a car to deliberately ram into people when there was more than one person inside the vehicle.' The paper added: 'Car ramming attacks generally involve one person, who may have acted on momentary impulse.' Israeli forces have opened fire on Palestinian vehicles in which more than one person was traveling in what Israel said were alleged attacks over the past few years, killing a brother in a car with his sister and a teenager travelling with his fiancee. Last year, Israeli forces and armed civilians killed 15 Palestinian assailants or alleged assailants in the West Bank." (Two Palestinians killed in alleged attack, 4/3/19)
But those details would be a bridge too far for Murdoch's Australian.
"Spacecraft snaps epic selfie," reads the headline.
That was followed by this nauseous Zionist trumpeting:
"Organisers of a privately funded Israeli space mission released a striking photo on Tuesday, London time. It shows the spacecraft Beresheet, Hebrew for Genesis, orbiting some 37,500 kilometres away, with the entire Earth (including Australia) visible. A plaque includes the Hebrew inscription 'The People Of Israel Live'. It's scheduled to land on the moon on April 11."
And the "epic selfie" of the headline turns out to be a sticker (?), partly obscuring a distant planet Earth. It contains an Israeli flag and the words SMALL COUNTRY, BIG DREAMS - yes, in bold upper case letters.
Meanwhile, in yesterday's Australian, we find the screaming headline Israelis shoot Palestinians dead after car-ram attack.
When you read the report, however, the "car-ram attack" begins to look more like a road accident.
What appears to have happened is this:
1) Israeli troops were leaving a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank after a routine terrorising of its inhabitants.
2) Their vehicle broke down near a bend in the road.
3) Three young Palestinian men in a small car, travelling in the opposite direction, rounded the bend and accidentally collided with the stationary Israeli vehicle, injuring 2 soldiers in the process.
4) Trigger-happy troops opened fire, killing two of the Palestinians and wounding a third.
5) The wounded survivor was forced to confess that he and his friends had intended to ram the troops and also that they had been driving around, "hurling firebombs."
6) Conveniently, the troops allegedly "found additional firebombs" in the Palestinians' car.
In short, the Israeli troops murdered two Palestinian civilians, spun their crime as a response to a terrorist attack, tortured a wounded Palestinian to extract a confession, and planted 'evidence' at the scene of the crime.
Mahmoud Habbash, "a Palestinian supreme [court] judge and adviser to Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas," quoted in the AFP report, makes the bleeding obvious point: "It is inconceivable that three young men carry out an operation to run over the occupation soldiers in a car. One driver would be enough."
As it happens, we've seen this scenario before - in the Israeli film Foxtrot (2018), where troops manning a checkpoint shoot up a Palestinian car, killing those inside, and bury the vehicle with the bodies still inside as a cover-up.
Electronic Intifada's Maureen Clare Murphy provides the following context in her report of the incident:
"The Israeli newspaper Haaretz also noted: 'Veteran security figures who have been keeping watch on the West Bank for years can't recall a case of using a car to deliberately ram into people when there was more than one person inside the vehicle.' The paper added: 'Car ramming attacks generally involve one person, who may have acted on momentary impulse.' Israeli forces have opened fire on Palestinian vehicles in which more than one person was traveling in what Israel said were alleged attacks over the past few years, killing a brother in a car with his sister and a teenager travelling with his fiancee. Last year, Israeli forces and armed civilians killed 15 Palestinian assailants or alleged assailants in the West Bank." (Two Palestinians killed in alleged attack, 4/3/19)
But those details would be a bridge too far for Murdoch's Australian.
Tuesday, February 5, 2019
Portrait of a Zionist Diva
In his book How I Stopped Being a Jew (2014), that formidable debunker of Zionist narratives and mythology, Israeli historian Shlomo Sand, writes that:
"We must recognize that the key axis of a secular Jewish identity lies nowadays in perpetuating the individual's relationship to the State of Israel and in securing the individual's total support for it. If, until the 1967 war, Israel occupied a relatively secondary place in the sensibility of Jewish descendants in the West, from that point onward, this little state - which had just given a display of its great strength, even appearing as quite a power - became a source of pride for a goodly number of Jewish descendants. As is well known, any power attracts a mass of followers and comes to constitute, to a lesser or greater degree, a locus of adulation and worship. The image of soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces, svelte and spirited, perched on powerful armoured cars or leaning proudly against jet fighters, serves as an identity card for many new Jews throughout the world. The prestige that this gives has been used to the maximum by the Israeli state." (pp 93-4)
Sand could have been writing about Australian singer/songwriter Deborah Conway, just featured in the Sydney Morning Herald's GoodWeekend magazine:
"Carl Conway's family fled Russia to England after the pogroms around 1900. Deborah Conway's upbringing was not particularly religious - she doesn't believe in God - but the family had Shabbat dinner on Friday night and synagogue visits a few times a year. Over time, though, she has become increasingly passionate about her heritage. Conway and [husband Willy] Zygier ran the Shir Madness Melbourne Jewish musical Festival in 2015 and 2017 and both are avowed Zionists, believing in the development and protection of Israel as a Jewish state. Asked why her passion for Zionism has increased, she says 'I hate bullies and I feel like the world is bullying Israel.' The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement - which aims to end international support for Israel - is, says Conway, 'nothing short of horrendous anti-Semitism.' 'Look, there's no question there are contentious aspects of the Jewish state, but it's the only place in the world where Jews have a state'." (Love of a lifetime, Melissa Fyfe, 2/2/19)
To deconstruct this particularly egregious example of delusional identity politics: here we have a 'secular Jew', with no discernible connection to Palestine/Israel, who swears blind that the Israeli bully is really a victim - of "the world" no less - and maliciously smears as anti-Semites those who demand justice for the bully's Palestinian victims.
Reality couldn't be more twisted. But, to make matters worse, the feature's author, journalist Melissa Fyfe, apparently saw no need to raise an editorial eyebrow, or in any way challenge, Conway's appalling diatribe.
"We must recognize that the key axis of a secular Jewish identity lies nowadays in perpetuating the individual's relationship to the State of Israel and in securing the individual's total support for it. If, until the 1967 war, Israel occupied a relatively secondary place in the sensibility of Jewish descendants in the West, from that point onward, this little state - which had just given a display of its great strength, even appearing as quite a power - became a source of pride for a goodly number of Jewish descendants. As is well known, any power attracts a mass of followers and comes to constitute, to a lesser or greater degree, a locus of adulation and worship. The image of soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces, svelte and spirited, perched on powerful armoured cars or leaning proudly against jet fighters, serves as an identity card for many new Jews throughout the world. The prestige that this gives has been used to the maximum by the Israeli state." (pp 93-4)
Sand could have been writing about Australian singer/songwriter Deborah Conway, just featured in the Sydney Morning Herald's GoodWeekend magazine:
"Carl Conway's family fled Russia to England after the pogroms around 1900. Deborah Conway's upbringing was not particularly religious - she doesn't believe in God - but the family had Shabbat dinner on Friday night and synagogue visits a few times a year. Over time, though, she has become increasingly passionate about her heritage. Conway and [husband Willy] Zygier ran the Shir Madness Melbourne Jewish musical Festival in 2015 and 2017 and both are avowed Zionists, believing in the development and protection of Israel as a Jewish state. Asked why her passion for Zionism has increased, she says 'I hate bullies and I feel like the world is bullying Israel.' The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement - which aims to end international support for Israel - is, says Conway, 'nothing short of horrendous anti-Semitism.' 'Look, there's no question there are contentious aspects of the Jewish state, but it's the only place in the world where Jews have a state'." (Love of a lifetime, Melissa Fyfe, 2/2/19)
To deconstruct this particularly egregious example of delusional identity politics: here we have a 'secular Jew', with no discernible connection to Palestine/Israel, who swears blind that the Israeli bully is really a victim - of "the world" no less - and maliciously smears as anti-Semites those who demand justice for the bully's Palestinian victims.
Reality couldn't be more twisted. But, to make matters worse, the feature's author, journalist Melissa Fyfe, apparently saw no need to raise an editorial eyebrow, or in any way challenge, Conway's appalling diatribe.
Sunday, February 3, 2019
Mike Carlton's 'On Air' 5
In conclusion...
"It was Fairfax that cracked. Ignominiously, Darren Goodsir, a decent man and a good journalist, was trapped between the devil and the deep blue sea. From the boardroom and the executive suite, his lords and masters were howling for my head on a platter. So was the lobby. They had to be placated, he told me, yet he wanted to keep me writing for the paper. I could see his dilemma, an added distraction he did not need. As the Herald slowly imploded, with more and more of its best and brightest journalists 'taking redundancy' - that cloying euphemism - he had to battle to shore up newsroom morale and to keep the show on the road. Nor was his own job safe: notoriously, Herald editors had the career prospects of a subaltern on the Somme.
"For my part, I was angry that few at the paper seemed at all interested in the filth heaped upon me. Still less was I accorded the courtesy of a face-to-face meeting where I could put my case... Our negotiations were by phone and email. Goodsir wanted to suspend me for a cooling-off period of about three weeks until the end of the month, and he pushed me again to apologise to the aggrieved. I reluctantly agreed, with the proviso that I would not grovel to anyone who had called me Hitler's cocksucker and the like. I thought the deal was done...
"[A]t around ten pm, the phone rang again. It was Sean Aylmer, Fairfax's editorial director, and therefore Goodsir's boss... [H]is voice was cold. 'We've decided to suspend you indefinitely,' he said... The arrogance, the impertinence of this apparatchik calling late at night to relay this decision was bad enough. But Fairfax had broken its word to me. A rank and cowardly betrayal. Weak-kneed, the company had buckled to the pressure from the lobby and the bullying from the Murdoch press. How they would cheer in Holt Street when they heard they had won. I was not going to cop it anymore. 'You needn't bother suspending me. You can get fucked, Aylmer. I've just quit.' I slammed the phone down in his ear." (pp 513-15)
"It was Fairfax that cracked. Ignominiously, Darren Goodsir, a decent man and a good journalist, was trapped between the devil and the deep blue sea. From the boardroom and the executive suite, his lords and masters were howling for my head on a platter. So was the lobby. They had to be placated, he told me, yet he wanted to keep me writing for the paper. I could see his dilemma, an added distraction he did not need. As the Herald slowly imploded, with more and more of its best and brightest journalists 'taking redundancy' - that cloying euphemism - he had to battle to shore up newsroom morale and to keep the show on the road. Nor was his own job safe: notoriously, Herald editors had the career prospects of a subaltern on the Somme.
"For my part, I was angry that few at the paper seemed at all interested in the filth heaped upon me. Still less was I accorded the courtesy of a face-to-face meeting where I could put my case... Our negotiations were by phone and email. Goodsir wanted to suspend me for a cooling-off period of about three weeks until the end of the month, and he pushed me again to apologise to the aggrieved. I reluctantly agreed, with the proviso that I would not grovel to anyone who had called me Hitler's cocksucker and the like. I thought the deal was done...
"[A]t around ten pm, the phone rang again. It was Sean Aylmer, Fairfax's editorial director, and therefore Goodsir's boss... [H]is voice was cold. 'We've decided to suspend you indefinitely,' he said... The arrogance, the impertinence of this apparatchik calling late at night to relay this decision was bad enough. But Fairfax had broken its word to me. A rank and cowardly betrayal. Weak-kneed, the company had buckled to the pressure from the lobby and the bullying from the Murdoch press. How they would cheer in Holt Street when they heard they had won. I was not going to cop it anymore. 'You needn't bother suspending me. You can get fucked, Aylmer. I've just quit.' I slammed the phone down in his ear." (pp 513-15)
Saturday, February 2, 2019
Mike Carlton's 'On Air' 4
Great globs of bias and invention in the Murdoch gutter tradition...
"The Herald was getting twitchy. There was a snowstorm of letters to the editor from Jewish readers protesting furiously about the column, the headline and the Le Lievre cartoon. The cartoon drew the initial fire; a lot of people assumed I had drawn it, and written the headline as well. There were angry demands for me to be sacked. Dutifully, the editor published some of the more rational letters in the paper. Other people cancelled subscriptions. A number of Jewish-owned businesses withdrew their advertising... On the grapevine, I heard that directors on the Fairfax board were having their arms twisted and their ears bent, not least by the AIJAC. Many were receptive.
"On Monday, 4 August the editor-in-chief of the Herald, Darren Goodsir, publicly apologised for the cartoon. He also phoned to ask me to apologise to anyone I had offended. Reluctantly, I said I would consider it. The time bomb was ticking.
"Unsurprisingly, it exploded in the Murdoch press, led by the Australian and the Daily Telegraph. I had been on their notorious 'shit list' for years. The Australian had managed to get hold of the tweets and a lot of the emails I had sent to my attackers. The tweets were available for all to see, but the emails were not and obviously had been forwarded to the paper in a bunch. By whom? Your guess is as good as mine. The next day they were splashed in a long front-page story. It was heaven on a stick for the Murdochracy. There were two big birds to kill with one stone: the hated Fairfax press in general, and me in particular. Away they went. 'Fairfax Media is under pressure to sack columnist Mike Carlton, who has been ordered to apologise for using anti-Semitic and abusive language towards readers,' it began. On and on it went, a poisonous cocktail of a few facts heavily larded with great globs of bias and invention in the Murdoch gutter tradition. With malicious dishonesty, the paper mentioned not once the torrent of Jewish hatred which had prompted my response. There was not a syllable of the Nazi smear, the 'Hitler's bitch' stuff. The impression given - deliberately - was that I had exploded with rage at polite, reasoned criticism.
"I believe the Telegraph was even more vile in its attack on me. I never bothered to read what it ran - not then, not since - but I was told it splashed all over the shop as well. Somebody showed me the artwork they had confected. Against the background of a bombed and burning village, my head had been wrapped in a keffiyeh, the chequered Arab scarf, then photo-shopped onto the stooped and evidently fleeing body of a man in burned and tattered clothing. Carlton's a terrorist, geddit?" (pp 511-12)
To be continued...
"The Herald was getting twitchy. There was a snowstorm of letters to the editor from Jewish readers protesting furiously about the column, the headline and the Le Lievre cartoon. The cartoon drew the initial fire; a lot of people assumed I had drawn it, and written the headline as well. There were angry demands for me to be sacked. Dutifully, the editor published some of the more rational letters in the paper. Other people cancelled subscriptions. A number of Jewish-owned businesses withdrew their advertising... On the grapevine, I heard that directors on the Fairfax board were having their arms twisted and their ears bent, not least by the AIJAC. Many were receptive.
"On Monday, 4 August the editor-in-chief of the Herald, Darren Goodsir, publicly apologised for the cartoon. He also phoned to ask me to apologise to anyone I had offended. Reluctantly, I said I would consider it. The time bomb was ticking.
"Unsurprisingly, it exploded in the Murdoch press, led by the Australian and the Daily Telegraph. I had been on their notorious 'shit list' for years. The Australian had managed to get hold of the tweets and a lot of the emails I had sent to my attackers. The tweets were available for all to see, but the emails were not and obviously had been forwarded to the paper in a bunch. By whom? Your guess is as good as mine. The next day they were splashed in a long front-page story. It was heaven on a stick for the Murdochracy. There were two big birds to kill with one stone: the hated Fairfax press in general, and me in particular. Away they went. 'Fairfax Media is under pressure to sack columnist Mike Carlton, who has been ordered to apologise for using anti-Semitic and abusive language towards readers,' it began. On and on it went, a poisonous cocktail of a few facts heavily larded with great globs of bias and invention in the Murdoch gutter tradition. With malicious dishonesty, the paper mentioned not once the torrent of Jewish hatred which had prompted my response. There was not a syllable of the Nazi smear, the 'Hitler's bitch' stuff. The impression given - deliberately - was that I had exploded with rage at polite, reasoned criticism.
"I believe the Telegraph was even more vile in its attack on me. I never bothered to read what it ran - not then, not since - but I was told it splashed all over the shop as well. Somebody showed me the artwork they had confected. Against the background of a bombed and burning village, my head had been wrapped in a keffiyeh, the chequered Arab scarf, then photo-shopped onto the stooped and evidently fleeing body of a man in burned and tattered clothing. Carlton's a terrorist, geddit?" (pp 511-12)
To be continued...
Tuesday, January 22, 2019
I Read the Herald Today, Oh Boy
I see that Nine Entertainment Co. rag The Sydney Morning Herald is crowing about polling that shows that its "readership has surged ahead of its News Corp rivals after the way digital and newspaper audiences are measured was changed to better take into account growing consumption on mobile devices." (Herald moves further ahead in readership, 21/1/19)
But what exactly are readers 'consuming'?
Among other things, chief executive of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies Vic Alhadeff''s account of his recent junket in Germany as a "guest of the German Foreign Ministry" (Confronting Germany's new generation of neo-Nazis, 19/1/19).
Parenthetically, just why the German government would be squandering its taxpayers' money on a Zionist shill from down under is anyone's guess.
After informing us that "German Jews - who include an estimated 30,000 Israelis - are overwhelmingly positive, while profoundly concerned at the emergence of the AfD [Alternative for Deutschland]" party, which includes "neo-Nazi elements," he proceeds to tell us that "3600 British Jews have applied for German citizenship in the event Jeremy Corbyn becomes that country's prime minister."
Now before you exclaim, 'the mind boggles', remember that what you're dealing with here is a typical propaganda trick: cherry-picked facts taken out of context.
Here's The Times report on the subject:
"Thousands of British Jews have applied for foreign passports since 2016, driven mainly by a desire to retain EU citizenship after Brexit but also by fears over rising antisemitism and the prospect of Jeremy Corbyn coming to power. New figures obtained by The Times show that more than 3,600 Britons have applied for German nationality under a 2015 scheme inviting the descendants of those driven out on religious, racial or political grounds by the Nazis to reclaim citizenship, with most applications from Jewish people." (British Jews apply for foreign passports as 'insurance policy', Kaya Burgess, 17/11/18)
"... driven mainly by a desire to retain EU citizenship after Brexit... " says it all.
But what exactly are readers 'consuming'?
Among other things, chief executive of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies Vic Alhadeff''s account of his recent junket in Germany as a "guest of the German Foreign Ministry" (Confronting Germany's new generation of neo-Nazis, 19/1/19).
Parenthetically, just why the German government would be squandering its taxpayers' money on a Zionist shill from down under is anyone's guess.
After informing us that "German Jews - who include an estimated 30,000 Israelis - are overwhelmingly positive, while profoundly concerned at the emergence of the AfD [Alternative for Deutschland]" party, which includes "neo-Nazi elements," he proceeds to tell us that "3600 British Jews have applied for German citizenship in the event Jeremy Corbyn becomes that country's prime minister."
Now before you exclaim, 'the mind boggles', remember that what you're dealing with here is a typical propaganda trick: cherry-picked facts taken out of context.
Here's The Times report on the subject:
"Thousands of British Jews have applied for foreign passports since 2016, driven mainly by a desire to retain EU citizenship after Brexit but also by fears over rising antisemitism and the prospect of Jeremy Corbyn coming to power. New figures obtained by The Times show that more than 3,600 Britons have applied for German nationality under a 2015 scheme inviting the descendants of those driven out on religious, racial or political grounds by the Nazis to reclaim citizenship, with most applications from Jewish people." (British Jews apply for foreign passports as 'insurance policy', Kaya Burgess, 17/11/18)
"... driven mainly by a desire to retain EU citizenship after Brexit... " says it all.
Saturday, November 3, 2018
Herald Plumbs New Depths in Editorial Vileness
One of the most despicable editorials ever to appear in the Sydney Morning Herald cropped up on Monday, October 29. It concerned the recent appalling anti-Semitic shooting rampage in a Pittsburgh synagogue which left 11 worshipers dead and 6 injured.
At first, it stuck to the facts, namely that the gunman, Robert Bowers, was a dyed-in-the-wool anti-Semite, nothing more, nothing less, connected to the American alt-right. Then it veered way off course with this vile conflation of the unconflatable:
"This is not to besmirch the mainstream right, which has often led the way in protecting minority groups, nor to play down anti-Semitism and political violence among African-American and left-wing anti-Zionist movements. A left-wing extremist shot a senior US Republican in 2017." (Alt-right terrorism now stalks the US)
Let me unpack its nastiness.
*"This is not to besmirch the mainstream right... " Just who exactly are "the mainstream right"? Trump's Republicans? What precisely does the editorialist mean by this term?
*"... nor to play down anti-Semitism and political violence among African American... movements... " Who exactly are these anti-Semitic and politically violent African American movements, and when, if ever, has a representative of one of them gone on a shooting rampage in a Jewish institution, spewing, like Bowers, his hatred of Jews? I'd really like to know.
*"... and left-wing anti-Zionist movements." What "movements" are referred to here? Can we have a list of them? And when, if ever, has a representative of one of them gone on a shooting rampage in a Jewish institution, spewing, like Bowers, his hatred of Jews?
*"A left-wing extremist shot a senior US Republican in 2017."
The "left-wing extremist" obliquely referred to here is James Hodgkinson, who harboured a dislike for Trump and a partiality for Bernie Sanders. This, apparently, in the eyes of the editorialist, is all one needs to qualify for the label "left-wing extremist." And, since Sanders is a Jewish supporter of a Jewish state in Palestine, in other words a Zionist, quite how this qualifies Hodgkinson as a card-carrying anti-Zionist is beyond me.
What the editorialist is doing here, of course, is conflating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism, a smear straight out of the Zionist playbook. To go on and explain the simple fact that when Zionism first emerged in the late 19th century, the vast majority of the world's Jews were anti-Zionists would be wasted on the Herald editorialist. To conflate the likes of Bowers and Hodgkinson with ant-Zionists, many of whom today are Jews, is about as low as it gets. In fact, it speaks volumes that not even the editorial in the Australian of the same day (Toxic ingredients in America) on the same subject went that far.
Enough said...
At first, it stuck to the facts, namely that the gunman, Robert Bowers, was a dyed-in-the-wool anti-Semite, nothing more, nothing less, connected to the American alt-right. Then it veered way off course with this vile conflation of the unconflatable:
"This is not to besmirch the mainstream right, which has often led the way in protecting minority groups, nor to play down anti-Semitism and political violence among African-American and left-wing anti-Zionist movements. A left-wing extremist shot a senior US Republican in 2017." (Alt-right terrorism now stalks the US)
Let me unpack its nastiness.
*"This is not to besmirch the mainstream right... " Just who exactly are "the mainstream right"? Trump's Republicans? What precisely does the editorialist mean by this term?
*"... nor to play down anti-Semitism and political violence among African American... movements... " Who exactly are these anti-Semitic and politically violent African American movements, and when, if ever, has a representative of one of them gone on a shooting rampage in a Jewish institution, spewing, like Bowers, his hatred of Jews? I'd really like to know.
*"... and left-wing anti-Zionist movements." What "movements" are referred to here? Can we have a list of them? And when, if ever, has a representative of one of them gone on a shooting rampage in a Jewish institution, spewing, like Bowers, his hatred of Jews?
*"A left-wing extremist shot a senior US Republican in 2017."
The "left-wing extremist" obliquely referred to here is James Hodgkinson, who harboured a dislike for Trump and a partiality for Bernie Sanders. This, apparently, in the eyes of the editorialist, is all one needs to qualify for the label "left-wing extremist." And, since Sanders is a Jewish supporter of a Jewish state in Palestine, in other words a Zionist, quite how this qualifies Hodgkinson as a card-carrying anti-Zionist is beyond me.
What the editorialist is doing here, of course, is conflating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism, a smear straight out of the Zionist playbook. To go on and explain the simple fact that when Zionism first emerged in the late 19th century, the vast majority of the world's Jews were anti-Zionists would be wasted on the Herald editorialist. To conflate the likes of Bowers and Hodgkinson with ant-Zionists, many of whom today are Jews, is about as low as it gets. In fact, it speaks volumes that not even the editorial in the Australian of the same day (Toxic ingredients in America) on the same subject went that far.
Enough said...
Monday, August 13, 2018
When Zionists Urge
The "independent, always" Sydney Morning Herald is now almost as much a conveyor belt for Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) propaganda as Murdoch's Australian.
In today's AIJAC emission, Colin Rubenstein, AIJAC's executive director, informs us, essentially, that Iran is a rogue state, run by extremists - a classic case, of course, of the pot calling the kettle black.
Particularly touching is his tender concern for the "long-suffering" people of Iran. What a mensch!
But it's this that really gets me heaving:
"Australia needs a clear and consistent position that should be based on Australia's national interest in robustly addressing the threat posed by a belligerent, expansionist and irresponsible (pot/kettle/black again!) Iran." (Australia must face the new Iran reality, 13/8/18)
A Zionist operative pontificating on the subject of Australia's "national interest"?
Think about that!
Was it not Zionist operatives, otherwise known as neocons, who were instrumental in persuading the Americans that it was in their national interest to invade Iraq in 2003? And, hey, didn't that end well?
And was it not Zionist operatives, in the form of Chaim Weizmann's Zionist Organisation, who persuaded Lord Balfour and his colleagues in 1917 that it was in Britain's national interest to lay the foundations of a Jewish State in Palestine? And, hey, how has that turned out?
And don't forget: when a Zionist operative urges us to "robustly address" a "threat," think what he means by that word 'robust'.
Think Deir Yassin, or Sabra & Shatila. Think operations Cast Lead, Pillar of Defense and Protective Edge. Think death, hell and the grave.
Have a nice day!
In today's AIJAC emission, Colin Rubenstein, AIJAC's executive director, informs us, essentially, that Iran is a rogue state, run by extremists - a classic case, of course, of the pot calling the kettle black.
Particularly touching is his tender concern for the "long-suffering" people of Iran. What a mensch!
But it's this that really gets me heaving:
"Australia needs a clear and consistent position that should be based on Australia's national interest in robustly addressing the threat posed by a belligerent, expansionist and irresponsible (pot/kettle/black again!) Iran." (Australia must face the new Iran reality, 13/8/18)
A Zionist operative pontificating on the subject of Australia's "national interest"?
Think about that!
Was it not Zionist operatives, otherwise known as neocons, who were instrumental in persuading the Americans that it was in their national interest to invade Iraq in 2003? And, hey, didn't that end well?
And was it not Zionist operatives, in the form of Chaim Weizmann's Zionist Organisation, who persuaded Lord Balfour and his colleagues in 1917 that it was in Britain's national interest to lay the foundations of a Jewish State in Palestine? And, hey, how has that turned out?
And don't forget: when a Zionist operative urges us to "robustly address" a "threat," think what he means by that word 'robust'.
Think Deir Yassin, or Sabra & Shatila. Think operations Cast Lead, Pillar of Defense and Protective Edge. Think death, hell and the grave.
Have a nice day!
Sunday, July 8, 2018
Mugs
In my 15/4/18 post Sydney Morning Herald Readers & Syria, I recorded the Herald readership's reaction to the question: Do you think Australia should join a joint response to the [April 7] Syrian chemical attack [in Douma]? 39% of readers answered 'yes'.
The following data, from the OPCW interim report (which no Australian corporate media outlet, including the Herald, to my knowledge, has shown any interest in), is dedicated to that 39%, who, no doubt misled by years of anti-Syrian government propaganda in the paper, thought we should shoot first and ask questions later:
"No traces of any nerve agents have been found at the site of a suspected chemical attack in the Syrian city of Douma, an interim report issued by the OPCW says, adding that several chlorine compounds were detected... The purported chemical incident in Douma allegedly took place on April 7. A week later, Washington and its allies launched a massive retaliatory missile strike against Syria, without waiting for the OPCW to start its investigation of the incident." (Nerve agents not found in samples from Syria's Douma - interim OPCW report, rt.com, 6/7/18)
PS 9/7: Sydney's Sun-Herald finally got around to mentioning the OPCW's report. It was buried inside another report - Rebels surrender south to Assad (Suleiman al-Khalidi, Reuters) - and mentioned only that "'various chlorinated chemical's" were found at the site... indicating chlorine may have been used as a weapon." IOW, there was no mention of nerve agents.
The following data, from the OPCW interim report (which no Australian corporate media outlet, including the Herald, to my knowledge, has shown any interest in), is dedicated to that 39%, who, no doubt misled by years of anti-Syrian government propaganda in the paper, thought we should shoot first and ask questions later:
"No traces of any nerve agents have been found at the site of a suspected chemical attack in the Syrian city of Douma, an interim report issued by the OPCW says, adding that several chlorine compounds were detected... The purported chemical incident in Douma allegedly took place on April 7. A week later, Washington and its allies launched a massive retaliatory missile strike against Syria, without waiting for the OPCW to start its investigation of the incident." (Nerve agents not found in samples from Syria's Douma - interim OPCW report, rt.com, 6/7/18)
PS 9/7: Sydney's Sun-Herald finally got around to mentioning the OPCW's report. It was buried inside another report - Rebels surrender south to Assad (Suleiman al-Khalidi, Reuters) - and mentioned only that "'various chlorinated chemical's" were found at the site... indicating chlorine may have been used as a weapon." IOW, there was no mention of nerve agents.
Thursday, June 21, 2018
On Crossing Lines
Where some people draw the famous 'red line' never ceases to amaze me:
"A line was crossed last week when Charles Sturt University students turned up at a 'politically incorrect'-themed party in costumes from three of the most horrendous episodes in history." (Ignorance or arrogance behind offensive outfits, Vic Alhadeff, Sydney Morning Herald, 20/6/18)
Golly, gosh, gee, isn't this the same Vic Alhadeff (chief executive of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies) who, as (LOL) NSW Community Relations Commissioner, just couldn't restrain himself from leaping to apartheid Israel's defence while it was busy dispatching Palestinian civilians in Gaza to kingdom come by rocket and shellfire, and, as a consequence, ended up resigning from the CRC position after coming under criticism? (See my posts Baruch O'Farrell's Poisoned Chalice (13/7/14), They Hardly Felt a Thing (14/7/14) & Vic Alhadeff: Multicultural in NSW, Monocultural in Israel (28/7/14) for the gory details.)
Not that Alhadeff considered himself to have crossed a line at the time. In fact, far from blaming himself for his decision to resign, he blamed "the reaction from some" (to his whitewashing of Israeli murder and mayhem) for constituting "a distraction to the work of the CRC."
Nonetheless, the Herald has no compunction whatever in hosting Alhadeff's humbug from time to time. For example, in the same piece we get the following gem of gems:
"[W]hen we lose sight of fundamental principles of decency and the lessons of history, we risk losing our moral centre and slipping into dangerous territory in which prejudice and bigotry are permitted to flourish."
"A line was crossed last week when Charles Sturt University students turned up at a 'politically incorrect'-themed party in costumes from three of the most horrendous episodes in history." (Ignorance or arrogance behind offensive outfits, Vic Alhadeff, Sydney Morning Herald, 20/6/18)
Golly, gosh, gee, isn't this the same Vic Alhadeff (chief executive of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies) who, as (LOL) NSW Community Relations Commissioner, just couldn't restrain himself from leaping to apartheid Israel's defence while it was busy dispatching Palestinian civilians in Gaza to kingdom come by rocket and shellfire, and, as a consequence, ended up resigning from the CRC position after coming under criticism? (See my posts Baruch O'Farrell's Poisoned Chalice (13/7/14), They Hardly Felt a Thing (14/7/14) & Vic Alhadeff: Multicultural in NSW, Monocultural in Israel (28/7/14) for the gory details.)
Not that Alhadeff considered himself to have crossed a line at the time. In fact, far from blaming himself for his decision to resign, he blamed "the reaction from some" (to his whitewashing of Israeli murder and mayhem) for constituting "a distraction to the work of the CRC."
Nonetheless, the Herald has no compunction whatever in hosting Alhadeff's humbug from time to time. For example, in the same piece we get the following gem of gems:
"[W]hen we lose sight of fundamental principles of decency and the lessons of history, we risk losing our moral centre and slipping into dangerous territory in which prejudice and bigotry are permitted to flourish."
Wednesday, May 16, 2018
Ziobabbling Away
Zionist propaganda has been around for as long as perfidious Albion opened the door of poor, unsuspecting Ottoman Palestine to the Zionist hordes in 1918 and held it open for them for the next 30 years. And since then, that is since 1948, it has reached the veritable crescendo proportions we see today, with all the old propaganda tropes trotted out again and again, or merely updated for the times.
In short, there really is no excuse whatever these days for anyone with a pretense to journalistic integrity uncritically regurgitating this nonsense in the way the Sydney Morning Herald's editorialist has today. Here's the editorial's opening paragraph:
"Consider how much Israel had to celebrate on the occasion of its 70th anniversary this week. The achievements are impressive almost everywhere you look - in agriculture, science and innovation, medicine and technology and in the living standards Israel offers its citizens. Above all, Israel has created a vibrant liberal democracy in a region where autocracy and theocracy are the norm." (More pain in Gaza amid celebrations)
I'm sorry, but what half sentient being would bother reading on (and what follows is none too flash) after that?
In short, there really is no excuse whatever these days for anyone with a pretense to journalistic integrity uncritically regurgitating this nonsense in the way the Sydney Morning Herald's editorialist has today. Here's the editorial's opening paragraph:
"Consider how much Israel had to celebrate on the occasion of its 70th anniversary this week. The achievements are impressive almost everywhere you look - in agriculture, science and innovation, medicine and technology and in the living standards Israel offers its citizens. Above all, Israel has created a vibrant liberal democracy in a region where autocracy and theocracy are the norm." (More pain in Gaza amid celebrations)
I'm sorry, but what half sentient being would bother reading on (and what follows is none too flash) after that?
Sunday, April 15, 2018
Sydney Morning Herald Readers & Syria
Every Saturday the Sydney Morning Herald features an item called The Readers' Panel. Four questions are asked, and the results - yes/no/don't know - are recorded as pie graphs at the foot of the letters page.
One of yesterday's 4 questions was: Do you think Australia should join a joint response to the Syrian chemical attack?
The results were as follows: Yes - 39%; No - 39%; Don't Know - 21%
For the pessimists among us this will be a glass-half-empty:
That is, 39% of Herald readers appear sufficiently brain-dead as not to be aware of the fact that they are being bombarded daily with anti-Asad, regime-change propaganda recycled from the New York Times and the Washington Post.
For the optimists, a glass-half-full:
Despite this bombardment, 39% smell a rat, or two, or three, and remain capable of thinking for themselves.
One of yesterday's 4 questions was: Do you think Australia should join a joint response to the Syrian chemical attack?
The results were as follows: Yes - 39%; No - 39%; Don't Know - 21%
For the pessimists among us this will be a glass-half-empty:
That is, 39% of Herald readers appear sufficiently brain-dead as not to be aware of the fact that they are being bombarded daily with anti-Asad, regime-change propaganda recycled from the New York Times and the Washington Post.
For the optimists, a glass-half-full:
Despite this bombardment, 39% smell a rat, or two, or three, and remain capable of thinking for themselves.
Thursday, April 5, 2018
The SMH Editorialist Does Syria
The Sydney Morning Herald's April 2 editorial on Syria, Forget the politics, this is a catastrophe, plumbs shocking new depths in editorial ignorance.
Some gems:
*"Has any country had a more unfortunate history since the end of World War II than Syria?"
Hello? Ever heard of Palestine? Once part of Greater Syria - southern Syria - it was torn from the whole by the Britz and handed to the predatory Zionist movement on a platter. At least today's Syria wasn't flooded with French colons.
*"Granted its independence from France, which had ruled the territory since 1920, in 1946 the new republic enjoyed three years of democracy before undergoing three separate coups in 1949."
Oh, so French "rule" of Syria began as some sort of immaculate conception, did it? Apparently, there's no need to trouble the reader with the inconvenient fact that la belle France mugged Syria's first ever independent and representative government when it brutally invaded and occupied Damascus in 1920. As for the coups of 1949, it was the manifest failure of the Syrian 'democrats' to adequately confront the Zionist usurpation of Palestine in 1948 that prompted the army to enter politics on the basis that the way to Tel Aviv lay through the Arab capitals. But what would the Herald know about that?
*"A loosely defined aggregation of widely disparate peoples, cultures and territories set out under the self-serving Sykes-Picot agreement to carve up the Turkish empire between Britain, France and Russia in 1916, Syria was always going to struggle to achieve unity."
Not at all. Syrians shared, and continue to share, one Arab culture, and one language, Arabic - despite the best efforts of la belle France to divide one sect against the other during the period of its mandate, not to mention the more recent best efforts of the US and its regional clients to do the same. But, of course, you wouldn't expect the Herald's editorialist to be on top of that - too much reading to do!
*"Its population includes Syrian and Palestinian Arabs,* Syriac Christians,** Syrian Kurds, Assyrians,*** Circassians, Turkmens,**** ethnic Greeks and ethnic Armenians*****... The majority Muslim population is predominantly Sunni and Sufi,****** it also includes a large number of Shiites and Alawites."
*Now how did they get there? (Hint: something to do with the Britz)
**Arabs!
*** Now how did they get there? (Hint: something to do with the Britz)
****Now how did they get there? (Hint: something to do with the Russians)
***** Now how did they get there? (Hint: something to do with the Turks)
****** Sufis??? You're kidding me!
*"This unworkable degree of ethnic, religious and cultural diversity has proved a recipe for chaos."
Or multicultural, multi-sectarian acceptance?
As for the rest of the editorial, "the al-Assad dynasty" (1971-2018) - father and son - is reduced to the current demonising label of "malign dictatorship prepared to use every available tool, including chemical weapons, against its people," while "Russia, America, Iraq and Saudi Arabia are just some of the nations still intent on using the conflict to advance their own interests."
Exactly what American and Saudi Arabia "interests" in Syria could possibly be is not even hinted at. Nor does the editorialist explore how those powers have gone about furthering those alleged "interests" - by the fostering of sectarian, takfiri gangs, many of them foreign imports, intent on ripping to shreds Syria's secular, multicultural, multi-sectarian fabric.
What a juvenile, Wikipedia-cribbed effort this is. Better off sticking to the local scene.
Some gems:
*"Has any country had a more unfortunate history since the end of World War II than Syria?"
Hello? Ever heard of Palestine? Once part of Greater Syria - southern Syria - it was torn from the whole by the Britz and handed to the predatory Zionist movement on a platter. At least today's Syria wasn't flooded with French colons.
*"Granted its independence from France, which had ruled the territory since 1920, in 1946 the new republic enjoyed three years of democracy before undergoing three separate coups in 1949."
Oh, so French "rule" of Syria began as some sort of immaculate conception, did it? Apparently, there's no need to trouble the reader with the inconvenient fact that la belle France mugged Syria's first ever independent and representative government when it brutally invaded and occupied Damascus in 1920. As for the coups of 1949, it was the manifest failure of the Syrian 'democrats' to adequately confront the Zionist usurpation of Palestine in 1948 that prompted the army to enter politics on the basis that the way to Tel Aviv lay through the Arab capitals. But what would the Herald know about that?
*"A loosely defined aggregation of widely disparate peoples, cultures and territories set out under the self-serving Sykes-Picot agreement to carve up the Turkish empire between Britain, France and Russia in 1916, Syria was always going to struggle to achieve unity."
Not at all. Syrians shared, and continue to share, one Arab culture, and one language, Arabic - despite the best efforts of la belle France to divide one sect against the other during the period of its mandate, not to mention the more recent best efforts of the US and its regional clients to do the same. But, of course, you wouldn't expect the Herald's editorialist to be on top of that - too much reading to do!
*"Its population includes Syrian and Palestinian Arabs,* Syriac Christians,** Syrian Kurds, Assyrians,*** Circassians, Turkmens,**** ethnic Greeks and ethnic Armenians*****... The majority Muslim population is predominantly Sunni and Sufi,****** it also includes a large number of Shiites and Alawites."
*Now how did they get there? (Hint: something to do with the Britz)
**Arabs!
*** Now how did they get there? (Hint: something to do with the Britz)
****Now how did they get there? (Hint: something to do with the Russians)
***** Now how did they get there? (Hint: something to do with the Turks)
****** Sufis??? You're kidding me!
*"This unworkable degree of ethnic, religious and cultural diversity has proved a recipe for chaos."
Or multicultural, multi-sectarian acceptance?
As for the rest of the editorial, "the al-Assad dynasty" (1971-2018) - father and son - is reduced to the current demonising label of "malign dictatorship prepared to use every available tool, including chemical weapons, against its people," while "Russia, America, Iraq and Saudi Arabia are just some of the nations still intent on using the conflict to advance their own interests."
Exactly what American and Saudi Arabia "interests" in Syria could possibly be is not even hinted at. Nor does the editorialist explore how those powers have gone about furthering those alleged "interests" - by the fostering of sectarian, takfiri gangs, many of them foreign imports, intent on ripping to shreds Syria's secular, multicultural, multi-sectarian fabric.
What a juvenile, Wikipedia-cribbed effort this is. Better off sticking to the local scene.
Tuesday, March 27, 2018
Sydney Morning Herald Fails Again & Again
Off topic, but not really given the Sydney Morning Herald's USrael-friendly treatment of the Middle East...
Well said, Julian Burnside QC:
"What does it say about the state of our democracy when it falls upon everyday people to stop a billionaire building the largest coal mine in the southern hemisphere? And what does it say about our politicians that they will let Adani's mine proceed when the vast majority of Australians don't want it, and scientists are urging us to keep coal in the ground to avoid more dangerous climate change? This month, nine people... were collectively fined more than $70,000 for their efforts in January to keep Adani's coal in the ground." (Everyday heroes step up as leaders fail, Sydney Morning Herald, 26/3/18)
And what does it say about the state of Fairfax's SMH that the $70,000 fine imposed on those 9 anti-Adani protesters was, to my knowledge, nowhere reported in the SMH prior to Burnside's opinion piece?
And what does it say about the SMH that its Sunday equivalent of 25/3/18, the Sun-Herald, nowhere reported that just the day before thousands of people from every corner of NSW (the Nature Conservation Council has estimated 10,000) marched through the streets of Sydney in protest at the pillaging of the state by mining corporations?
Well said, Julian Burnside QC:
"What does it say about the state of our democracy when it falls upon everyday people to stop a billionaire building the largest coal mine in the southern hemisphere? And what does it say about our politicians that they will let Adani's mine proceed when the vast majority of Australians don't want it, and scientists are urging us to keep coal in the ground to avoid more dangerous climate change? This month, nine people... were collectively fined more than $70,000 for their efforts in January to keep Adani's coal in the ground." (Everyday heroes step up as leaders fail, Sydney Morning Herald, 26/3/18)
And what does it say about the state of Fairfax's SMH that the $70,000 fine imposed on those 9 anti-Adani protesters was, to my knowledge, nowhere reported in the SMH prior to Burnside's opinion piece?
And what does it say about the SMH that its Sunday equivalent of 25/3/18, the Sun-Herald, nowhere reported that just the day before thousands of people from every corner of NSW (the Nature Conservation Council has estimated 10,000) marched through the streets of Sydney in protest at the pillaging of the state by mining corporations?
Sunday, March 25, 2018
Israeli Apartheid Justice
Let's get this straight:
An Israeli OCCUPATION soldier caves in the head of a cousin of a 16-year-old Palestinian girl. Later, the girl bravely confronts Israeli OCCUPATION soldiers lurking in front of her home and, even more bravely, slaps one. The girl is then arrested, imprisoned for 8 months and heavily fined.
By contrast, another Israeli OCCUPATION soldier cold-bloodedly shoots a prone, wounded Palestinian in the head. That soldier, Elor Azaria, is sentenced to 9 months in prison.
This is an example of Israeli apartheid justice.
The Palestinian girl, of course, is Ahed Tamimi.
The following perfunctory piece is the FIRST EVER to appear on her case in the Sydney Morning Herald:
"A teenage Palestinian girl who was filmed kicking and slapping an Israeli soldier in the occupied West Bank has accepted a plea deal under which she will be sentenced to 8 months in prison, her lawyer said. Ahed Tamimi, 17, pictured, became a hero to Palestinians after the December 15 incident outside her home in the village of Nabi Saleh was streamed live on Facebook by her mother and went viral." (23/3/18)
Needless to say, there's been not a whisper about Ahed Tamimi in the Murdoch press.
An Israeli OCCUPATION soldier caves in the head of a cousin of a 16-year-old Palestinian girl. Later, the girl bravely confronts Israeli OCCUPATION soldiers lurking in front of her home and, even more bravely, slaps one. The girl is then arrested, imprisoned for 8 months and heavily fined.
By contrast, another Israeli OCCUPATION soldier cold-bloodedly shoots a prone, wounded Palestinian in the head. That soldier, Elor Azaria, is sentenced to 9 months in prison.
This is an example of Israeli apartheid justice.
The Palestinian girl, of course, is Ahed Tamimi.
The following perfunctory piece is the FIRST EVER to appear on her case in the Sydney Morning Herald:
"A teenage Palestinian girl who was filmed kicking and slapping an Israeli soldier in the occupied West Bank has accepted a plea deal under which she will be sentenced to 8 months in prison, her lawyer said. Ahed Tamimi, 17, pictured, became a hero to Palestinians after the December 15 incident outside her home in the village of Nabi Saleh was streamed live on Facebook by her mother and went viral." (23/3/18)
Needless to say, there's been not a whisper about Ahed Tamimi in the Murdoch press.
Monday, March 19, 2018
'Journalism', SMH, 17/3/18
"At Aida Refugee Camp we meet another young man who walks us through the camp he calls home, which has existed for 70 years since the Europeans arrived in Palestine." (Where the West was lost: The Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem is one of the world's truly great art hotels, Nina Karnikowski, Traveller, Sydney Morning Herald, 17/3/18)
So just 70 years ago a mob of generic 'Europeans' just turned up in Palestine and, lo, a Palestinian refugee camp came into being???
"Increasingly, as we have seen in Iraq and Afghanistan, savage 'wars among the people' are simply not viable." (Never-ending wars make for more My Lai massacres, C. August Elliott, Sydney Morning Herald, 17/3/18)
So one day the people of Iraq and Afghanistan just decided to turn on one another - and not an American, Brit or Australian soldier in sight???
So just 70 years ago a mob of generic 'Europeans' just turned up in Palestine and, lo, a Palestinian refugee camp came into being???
"Increasingly, as we have seen in Iraq and Afghanistan, savage 'wars among the people' are simply not viable." (Never-ending wars make for more My Lai massacres, C. August Elliott, Sydney Morning Herald, 17/3/18)
So one day the people of Iraq and Afghanistan just decided to turn on one another - and not an American, Brit or Australian soldier in sight???
Sunday, March 18, 2018
Tel Aviv, Mon Amour
OMFG:
"Young filmmaker Naor and his mother are on a road trip through Israel, and Naor is telling his near-silent mother the story of recent events in his life. In this, he and his writer grandfather and his artist girlfriend, Yael, have defied the order to evacuate Tel Aviv and are living in the near-abandoned city under threat of being bombed. This is the contemporary world but there is no indication of a date, reinforcing the real-world fact that Tel Aviv is frequently under threat. Raphael Jerusalmy, a former member of the Israeli intelligence services turned humanitarian worker turned antiquarian book dealer and novelist, lives in Tel Aviv. Like the famous photograph of the string quartet in the ruins of Sarajevo, his book celebrates the persistence of art in times of chaos... it combines a jolting realism with the timeless quality of fables." (Review of Evacuation by Raphael Jerusalmy, In short fiction, Spectrum, Kerryn Goldsworthy, Sydney Morning Herald, 10/3/18)
What can I say?
First, I'm reminded of Rowan Atkinson's wonderful 'Devil Sketch', modified thus:
'Israeli poet-warriors, if you step forward - my God there are a lot of you... '
Second, "there is no indication of a date" because there is no "real-world fact that Tel Aviv is frequently under threat."
Yes, in the context of the first Gulf War, the Iraqis fired Scuds at Tel Aviv in January 1991, but let's stick with the "real-world facts," shall we? Here's the BBC: "... eight missiles streaked in and exploded in balls of flame... Casualties are believed to have been light - nobody was killed, and only a few people injured. It is the first time Tel Aviv has been hit in the history of the Israel-Arab conflict." (BBC ON THIS DAY/18/1991: Iraqi Scud missiles hit Israel, 18/1/91)
And as for projectiles fired more recently from the bombed out Gaza Strip, here's The Jerusalem Post of 16/11/12: "Hours earlier, two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip in the direction of the greater Tel Aviv area and prompted a red alert air raid siren to be sounded in the city for the second straight day. The IDF stated that the rocket had not landed in Tel Aviv, but local residents reported hearing an explosion following the siren. No injuries or damage were reported." (Two rockets land outside Jerusalem; two fired at TA, Yaakov Lappin, 16/11/12)
Obviously, more racket than rocket...
Third, and related to the above, whence the "chaos" in Tel Aviv?
Fourth, since Kerryn has risibly dragged the 1992-96 Siege of Sarajevo into this, it should be remembered that almost 14,000 Sarajevans were killed in the siege, 10,000 apartments were destroyed and 100, 000 damaged.
And finally, the million dollar question: has Kerryn never heard of that bloody great pile of rubble somewhere to the south of Tel Aviv called the Gaza Strip?
"Young filmmaker Naor and his mother are on a road trip through Israel, and Naor is telling his near-silent mother the story of recent events in his life. In this, he and his writer grandfather and his artist girlfriend, Yael, have defied the order to evacuate Tel Aviv and are living in the near-abandoned city under threat of being bombed. This is the contemporary world but there is no indication of a date, reinforcing the real-world fact that Tel Aviv is frequently under threat. Raphael Jerusalmy, a former member of the Israeli intelligence services turned humanitarian worker turned antiquarian book dealer and novelist, lives in Tel Aviv. Like the famous photograph of the string quartet in the ruins of Sarajevo, his book celebrates the persistence of art in times of chaos... it combines a jolting realism with the timeless quality of fables." (Review of Evacuation by Raphael Jerusalmy, In short fiction, Spectrum, Kerryn Goldsworthy, Sydney Morning Herald, 10/3/18)
What can I say?
First, I'm reminded of Rowan Atkinson's wonderful 'Devil Sketch', modified thus:
'Israeli poet-warriors, if you step forward - my God there are a lot of you... '
Second, "there is no indication of a date" because there is no "real-world fact that Tel Aviv is frequently under threat."
Yes, in the context of the first Gulf War, the Iraqis fired Scuds at Tel Aviv in January 1991, but let's stick with the "real-world facts," shall we? Here's the BBC: "... eight missiles streaked in and exploded in balls of flame... Casualties are believed to have been light - nobody was killed, and only a few people injured. It is the first time Tel Aviv has been hit in the history of the Israel-Arab conflict." (BBC ON THIS DAY/18/1991: Iraqi Scud missiles hit Israel, 18/1/91)
And as for projectiles fired more recently from the bombed out Gaza Strip, here's The Jerusalem Post of 16/11/12: "Hours earlier, two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip in the direction of the greater Tel Aviv area and prompted a red alert air raid siren to be sounded in the city for the second straight day. The IDF stated that the rocket had not landed in Tel Aviv, but local residents reported hearing an explosion following the siren. No injuries or damage were reported." (Two rockets land outside Jerusalem; two fired at TA, Yaakov Lappin, 16/11/12)
Obviously, more racket than rocket...
Third, and related to the above, whence the "chaos" in Tel Aviv?
Fourth, since Kerryn has risibly dragged the 1992-96 Siege of Sarajevo into this, it should be remembered that almost 14,000 Sarajevans were killed in the siege, 10,000 apartments were destroyed and 100, 000 damaged.
And finally, the million dollar question: has Kerryn never heard of that bloody great pile of rubble somewhere to the south of Tel Aviv called the Gaza Strip?
Tuesday, February 13, 2018
WAPO/SMH Portrays Israel as Innocent Bystander in Syria
"The Syrian war has seen no shortage of twists this year, but this weekend, it saw one of its most consequential. Despite its proximity, Israel has largely stood on the sidelines over the past seven years. Saturday's airstrike suggests it may soon end up sucked into a conflict that is looking increasingly chaotic." (Biggest step yet, but what's next, analysis, Adam Taylor, Washington Post/Sydney Morning Herald, 12/2/18)
Have you ever read such bullshit? Israel, which violates Syrian and Lebanese airspace regularly and routinely attacks what it calls 'Hezbollah supply convoys' in Syria, has "largely stood on the sidelines"? Seriously?
Now see how this WAPO hack, Adam Taylor, then contradicts himself:
"Still, Israel has conducted dozens of covert airstrikes against Hezbollah weapons convoys in Syria."
Moreover, that sentence is immediately preceded by this one:
"Israel has little reason to support the Islamic State or al-Qaida-aligned Islamist groups that became Syria's primary rivals."*
Can Taylor seriouly be unaware of the much publicised Israeli hospital which patches up jihadis operating in Syria?
Far out...
[*"A former leader of Syria's Al-Qaeda branch commended Israel for striking Syria on Saturday, after the Assad regime shot down an Israeli F-161 fighter jet." (Al Qaeda leader praises Israeli strike on Syria, israelnationalnews.com, 2/11/18)]
Have you ever read such bullshit? Israel, which violates Syrian and Lebanese airspace regularly and routinely attacks what it calls 'Hezbollah supply convoys' in Syria, has "largely stood on the sidelines"? Seriously?
Now see how this WAPO hack, Adam Taylor, then contradicts himself:
"Still, Israel has conducted dozens of covert airstrikes against Hezbollah weapons convoys in Syria."
Moreover, that sentence is immediately preceded by this one:
"Israel has little reason to support the Islamic State or al-Qaida-aligned Islamist groups that became Syria's primary rivals."*
Can Taylor seriouly be unaware of the much publicised Israeli hospital which patches up jihadis operating in Syria?
Far out...
[*"A former leader of Syria's Al-Qaeda branch commended Israel for striking Syria on Saturday, after the Assad regime shot down an Israeli F-161 fighter jet." (Al Qaeda leader praises Israeli strike on Syria, israelnationalnews.com, 2/11/18)]
Tuesday, December 19, 2017
The Sydney Morning Herald is a Disgrace
Locals channel their disapproval (Andrew Taylor) runs the headline on page 12 of the print edition of yesterday's Sydney Morning Herald.
"Residents," it goes on to tell us "are not impressed with the developer's latest plan for the Channel Nine site on Sydney's north shore." The report, which dominates the page, is accompanied by a photograph of 11 residents, one of whom displays a placard which reads, 'Channel 9 is back again: it's too high, too dense'.
Well, good on those residents! I wish them and their cause well. It's not them but the Sydney Morning Herald itself that is the subject of this angry post.
On the very same day (17/12) as those 11 residents gathered for their north shore photoshoot, thousands of Sydney residents, largely from Western Sydney, gathered at Sydney Town Hall to protest Trump's decision to recognise Israeli control over Jerusalem. They flooded Town Hall Square, and then, after speeches, marched down George Street to the American consulate in Martin Place, chanting their outrage all the way.
And yet, incredibly, there wasn't so much as a mention of their presence or outrage in the pages of the SMH.
Not, mind you, that the Herald ignored the local response to the issue entirely. After all, they saw fit to devote an entire opinion piece, Recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital is a welcome, symbolic move - by Israel lobbyist Colin Rubenstein, executive director of Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) - to it.
Of course, you could conclude that the Herald is simply under the thumb of the Israel lobby, but I'm inclined to see an element of racism here. Whatever the precise motive, or mix of motives, behind the Herald's appalling failure to report the spirited activism of thousands of protesters in Sydney's CBD, the Herald, which claims on its masthead to be 'Independent. Always.', is an utter disgrace.
"Residents," it goes on to tell us "are not impressed with the developer's latest plan for the Channel Nine site on Sydney's north shore." The report, which dominates the page, is accompanied by a photograph of 11 residents, one of whom displays a placard which reads, 'Channel 9 is back again: it's too high, too dense'.
Well, good on those residents! I wish them and their cause well. It's not them but the Sydney Morning Herald itself that is the subject of this angry post.
On the very same day (17/12) as those 11 residents gathered for their north shore photoshoot, thousands of Sydney residents, largely from Western Sydney, gathered at Sydney Town Hall to protest Trump's decision to recognise Israeli control over Jerusalem. They flooded Town Hall Square, and then, after speeches, marched down George Street to the American consulate in Martin Place, chanting their outrage all the way.
And yet, incredibly, there wasn't so much as a mention of their presence or outrage in the pages of the SMH.
Not, mind you, that the Herald ignored the local response to the issue entirely. After all, they saw fit to devote an entire opinion piece, Recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital is a welcome, symbolic move - by Israel lobbyist Colin Rubenstein, executive director of Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) - to it.
Of course, you could conclude that the Herald is simply under the thumb of the Israel lobby, but I'm inclined to see an element of racism here. Whatever the precise motive, or mix of motives, behind the Herald's appalling failure to report the spirited activism of thousands of protesters in Sydney's CBD, the Herald, which claims on its masthead to be 'Independent. Always.', is an utter disgrace.
Wednesday, November 8, 2017
Oh-Puh-lease... 2
Mini book review in Saturday's Sydney Morning Herald by Fiona Capp: Dear World: A Syrian Girl's Story of War & Plea for Peace, Bana Alabed:
"For her first three years, Bana Alabed lived an ordinary, middle-class life with her family in Aleppo. Then bombs started exploding in her neighbourhood and everything changed. This child's eye view of the unfolding conflict in Syria brings home with great poignancy what it is like to have your childhood shattered by war. During the siege of Aleppo, her family's apartment is hit by a bomb and all they can do is crouch in their disintegrating basement and 'be stoned by the sky'. Bana's account is interspersed with letters from her mother, Fatemah, who writes eloquently of her guilt at being unable to shield her daughter from so much pain. Dear World is a moving antidote to compassion fatigue."
Note: Dear World: Inside the 'Bana of Aleppo' propaganda story (21stcenturywire.com, 29/9/17) is a sobering antidote to the warm and fuzzies should any of you succumb to this particular malady after reading the above.
"For her first three years, Bana Alabed lived an ordinary, middle-class life with her family in Aleppo. Then bombs started exploding in her neighbourhood and everything changed. This child's eye view of the unfolding conflict in Syria brings home with great poignancy what it is like to have your childhood shattered by war. During the siege of Aleppo, her family's apartment is hit by a bomb and all they can do is crouch in their disintegrating basement and 'be stoned by the sky'. Bana's account is interspersed with letters from her mother, Fatemah, who writes eloquently of her guilt at being unable to shield her daughter from so much pain. Dear World is a moving antidote to compassion fatigue."
Note: Dear World: Inside the 'Bana of Aleppo' propaganda story (21stcenturywire.com, 29/9/17) is a sobering antidote to the warm and fuzzies should any of you succumb to this particular malady after reading the above.
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