If you search the Internet for evidence of Nelson Mandela's support for the Palestinian struggle, you'll generally come across this particular statement: "We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians."
Given that too little is known of his principled and unequivocal support for the Palestinians (never of course referenced in the mainstream media), I'm posting the relevant sections of an interview he did with the presenter of the US Nightline program, Ted Koppel in 1990. The interview took place at a public meeting in the City College of New York. At the time, Mandela, not long out of prison, was in the US on a tour, advocating for the continuation of international sanctions against the apartheid regime in South Africa. Needless to say, Koppel being Koppel, New York being New York, and the US being the US, the question of Mandela's links with Yasser Arafat and the PLO loomed large at the meeting.
Note that I've selected only Mandela's statements on this issue, simplified Koppel's rambling questions, and, in only one case, abridged Mandela's answer. The entire interview, along with Mandela's trademark dignity, gravitas and humour, can be enjoyed at youtube.com/watch?v=mMT36t (My tribute to vintage Nelson Mandela of South Africa part 2)
Mandela: We identify with the PLO because, just like ourselves, they are fighting for the right of self-determination.
Koppel: You met over 3 times with Yasser Arafat.
Mandela: Yasser Arafat, Colonel Gaddafi and Fidel Castro support our struggle to the hilt.
Koppel: You've said some controversial things which might alienate some people in this country. That could cause them to contact their congressman and say, 'Go ahead, lift the sanctions on the South African government.'
Mandela: One of the problems we are facing in the world today are people who do not look at problems objectively but from the point of view of their own interests. That makes things difficult because once a person is not objective, it is extremely difficult to reach an agreement. One of the best examples of this is to think that because Arafat is conducting a struggle against the state of Israel we must therefore condemn him. We can't do that. It is just not possible for any organisation or individual of integrity to do anything of the sort... It would be a grave mistake for us to consider our attitude towards Yasser Arafat on the basis of the interests of the Jewish community. We sympathise with the struggles of the Jewish people and their persecution right down the years... but that does not mean to say that the enemies of Israel are our enemies. We refuse to take that position. You can call it 'impolitical' [Koppel had been suggesting that Mandela needed to be more political/flexible to win American Jewish support] or a moral question [a Jewish leader had earlier accused Mandela of being amoral] but a man who changes his principles depending on who he's dealing with - that is not a man who can lead a nation... They must know what our stand is: Arafat is a comrade-in-arms and we treat him as such.
Sunday, December 8, 2013
Saturday, December 7, 2013
'Moses' Mandela
How sweetly they're singing now:
"Nelson Mandela was one of the most prominent role models of our time. He was the father of his nation, a man of vision, a fighter for freedom who denounced violence. He gave a personal example to his people during the long years he was imprisoned." Benjamin Netanyahu, israelhayom.com, 6/12/13
But back in the 70s and 8os they were singing a very different tune:
"The Israeli-South African relationship was not only about profit and battlefield bravado... After Menachem Begin's Likud Party came to power in 1977, these economic interests converged with ideological affinities to make the alliance even stronger. Many members of the Likud Party shared with South Africa's leaders an ideology of minority survivalism that presented the two countries as threatened outposts of European civilization defending their existence against barbarians at the gates.
"Indeed, much of Israel's top brass and Likud Party leadership felt am affinity with South Africa's white government, and unlike Peres and Rabin they did not feel a need to publicly denounce apartheid while secretly supporting Pretoria. Powerful military figures, such as Ariel Sharon and Rafael (Raful) Eitan, drew inspiration from the political tradition of Revisionist Zionism - a school of thought that favoured the use of military force to defend Jewish sovereignty and encouraged settlement of the biblical lands of Greater Israel, including the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Sharon, Eitan, and many of their contemporaries were convinced that both nations faced a fundamentally similar predicament as embattled minorities under siege, fighting for their survival against what they saw as a common terrorist enemy epitomized by Nelson Mandela's African National Congress (ANC) and Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)." (The Unspoken Alliance: Israel's Secret Relationship with Apartheid South Africa, Sasha Polakow-Suransky, 2010, p 8)
***
"The end of the Cold War dramatically altered the political and strategic landscape of Southern Africa. Cuban troops were already withdrawing from Angola when F.W. de Klerk replaced P.W. Botha as president in August 1989. The Berlin Wall fell 3 months later and de Klerk soon embarked on a radically different course that led to the release of Nelson Mandela in early 1990. With the Soviet and Cuban threat gone, South Africa could no longer appeal for Western support by invoking anticommunist arguments, nor could it rationalize repression of the democratic opposition by cloaking apartheid in Cold War rhetoric.
"... In Pretoria, the Israeli government went to great lengths to improve its image after Mandela's release. Veteran left-wing critics of apartheid were appointed to key posts, including Alon Liel, who became ambassador in 1992 and worked hard to redefine Israeli-South African relations for the postapartheid era. Even so, the legacy of the 1970s and 1980s left Mandela with a sour taste.
"A year before South Africa's first democratic elections, Elazar Granot of Israel's far-left Mapam Party addressed the delegates of the Socialist International - a global gathering of Social Democratic leaders attended by many European heads of state. Granot lavished praise on Mandela, comparing him to Moses and arguing that South Africa's president-in-waiting was even greater than Moses for he had actually reached the Promised Land. But Mandela did not succumb to his flattery. As Granot recalls it, the first words from South Africa's icon of foregiveness and reconciliation were: 'The people of South Africa will never forget the support of the state of Israel to the apartheid regime'." (ibid, pp 218-219)
That was in 1993. Today, neither the people of South Africa nor its government have forgotten worse-than-apartheid Israel's alliance with apartheid South Africa:
"As reported by South Africa's Mail & Guardian newspaper, Times LIVE, [and] Israel's Haaretz newspaper... South Africa's Minister for International Relations, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, has confirmed a long-standing South African government position of not engaging with Israel. Speaking on Friday... Minister Nkoana-Mashabane said: 'Ministers of South Africa do not visit Israel currently... our Palestinian friends have asked us in formal meetings to not engage with the [Israeli] regime. We have agreed to slow down and curtail senior leadership contact with that regime until things begin to look better.' [She] also criticised the Israeli regime's recent announcement to build new, illegal, Jewish-only settler units on confiscated Palestinian lands: 'That arrangement there in Palestine keeps us awake... the last time I looked at the map of Palestine, I could not go to sleep. Its 'dots', smaller than those of the [former South African] homelands.'... Finally, [she] expressed her solidarity with the Palestinian people, saying: 'The struggle of the people of Palestine is our struggle'." (South Africa to 'curtail' relations with Israel, OptionsBDS South Africa, 2/12/13)
"Nelson Mandela was one of the most prominent role models of our time. He was the father of his nation, a man of vision, a fighter for freedom who denounced violence. He gave a personal example to his people during the long years he was imprisoned." Benjamin Netanyahu, israelhayom.com, 6/12/13
But back in the 70s and 8os they were singing a very different tune:
"The Israeli-South African relationship was not only about profit and battlefield bravado... After Menachem Begin's Likud Party came to power in 1977, these economic interests converged with ideological affinities to make the alliance even stronger. Many members of the Likud Party shared with South Africa's leaders an ideology of minority survivalism that presented the two countries as threatened outposts of European civilization defending their existence against barbarians at the gates.
"Indeed, much of Israel's top brass and Likud Party leadership felt am affinity with South Africa's white government, and unlike Peres and Rabin they did not feel a need to publicly denounce apartheid while secretly supporting Pretoria. Powerful military figures, such as Ariel Sharon and Rafael (Raful) Eitan, drew inspiration from the political tradition of Revisionist Zionism - a school of thought that favoured the use of military force to defend Jewish sovereignty and encouraged settlement of the biblical lands of Greater Israel, including the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Sharon, Eitan, and many of their contemporaries were convinced that both nations faced a fundamentally similar predicament as embattled minorities under siege, fighting for their survival against what they saw as a common terrorist enemy epitomized by Nelson Mandela's African National Congress (ANC) and Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)." (The Unspoken Alliance: Israel's Secret Relationship with Apartheid South Africa, Sasha Polakow-Suransky, 2010, p 8)
***
"The end of the Cold War dramatically altered the political and strategic landscape of Southern Africa. Cuban troops were already withdrawing from Angola when F.W. de Klerk replaced P.W. Botha as president in August 1989. The Berlin Wall fell 3 months later and de Klerk soon embarked on a radically different course that led to the release of Nelson Mandela in early 1990. With the Soviet and Cuban threat gone, South Africa could no longer appeal for Western support by invoking anticommunist arguments, nor could it rationalize repression of the democratic opposition by cloaking apartheid in Cold War rhetoric.
"... In Pretoria, the Israeli government went to great lengths to improve its image after Mandela's release. Veteran left-wing critics of apartheid were appointed to key posts, including Alon Liel, who became ambassador in 1992 and worked hard to redefine Israeli-South African relations for the postapartheid era. Even so, the legacy of the 1970s and 1980s left Mandela with a sour taste.
"A year before South Africa's first democratic elections, Elazar Granot of Israel's far-left Mapam Party addressed the delegates of the Socialist International - a global gathering of Social Democratic leaders attended by many European heads of state. Granot lavished praise on Mandela, comparing him to Moses and arguing that South Africa's president-in-waiting was even greater than Moses for he had actually reached the Promised Land. But Mandela did not succumb to his flattery. As Granot recalls it, the first words from South Africa's icon of foregiveness and reconciliation were: 'The people of South Africa will never forget the support of the state of Israel to the apartheid regime'." (ibid, pp 218-219)
That was in 1993. Today, neither the people of South Africa nor its government have forgotten worse-than-apartheid Israel's alliance with apartheid South Africa:
"As reported by South Africa's Mail & Guardian newspaper, Times LIVE, [and] Israel's Haaretz newspaper... South Africa's Minister for International Relations, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, has confirmed a long-standing South African government position of not engaging with Israel. Speaking on Friday... Minister Nkoana-Mashabane said: 'Ministers of South Africa do not visit Israel currently... our Palestinian friends have asked us in formal meetings to not engage with the [Israeli] regime. We have agreed to slow down and curtail senior leadership contact with that regime until things begin to look better.' [She] also criticised the Israeli regime's recent announcement to build new, illegal, Jewish-only settler units on confiscated Palestinian lands: 'That arrangement there in Palestine keeps us awake... the last time I looked at the map of Palestine, I could not go to sleep. Its 'dots', smaller than those of the [former South African] homelands.'... Finally, [she] expressed her solidarity with the Palestinian people, saying: 'The struggle of the people of Palestine is our struggle'." (South Africa to 'curtail' relations with Israel, OptionsBDS South Africa, 2/12/13)
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Spot the Hypocrite
"The next time any Western intellectual calls upon the rest of the world to show courage by speaking 'truth to power' he or she should lead the charge by speaking 'truth to power' on the Israel-Palestine dispute." Kishore Mahbubani
"I've only been in this job for a few years but I'm staggered at how powerful some of these lobby groups are and I'm astounded by the lack of courage shown by politicians on all sides when it comes to standing up to them." (Greens Senator Richard Di Natale, speaking to Fran Kelly on Radio National's Breakfast program this morning)
Right, Richard, I'm staggered too. It's great to see you standing up against the poker machine lobby. Well done!
However, if there's one thing Palestine teaches we who stand up for her, it's how to recognise a hypocrite when we hear one:
"Support for the Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement by the NSW Greens was a huge mistake, admitted Senator Richard Di Natale at the Limmud Oz conference last weekend. He said the position, adopted last year by NSW Senator Lee Rhiannonn never was or would be Greens federal policy. 'It was hugely damaging and it was the wrong thing to do. We are a democratic party, it was a state branch that passed it because people didn't understand what it meant, ' said Di Natale, who appeared on a panel... who probed The Greens on their policy affecting Israel and Australian Jews." (BDS was a huge mistake, admit Greens, The Australian Jewish News, 15/6/12) (See my 16/6/12 post Picking Off The Greens.)
"I've only been in this job for a few years but I'm staggered at how powerful some of these lobby groups are and I'm astounded by the lack of courage shown by politicians on all sides when it comes to standing up to them." (Greens Senator Richard Di Natale, speaking to Fran Kelly on Radio National's Breakfast program this morning)
Right, Richard, I'm staggered too. It's great to see you standing up against the poker machine lobby. Well done!
However, if there's one thing Palestine teaches we who stand up for her, it's how to recognise a hypocrite when we hear one:
"Support for the Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement by the NSW Greens was a huge mistake, admitted Senator Richard Di Natale at the Limmud Oz conference last weekend. He said the position, adopted last year by NSW Senator Lee Rhiannonn never was or would be Greens federal policy. 'It was hugely damaging and it was the wrong thing to do. We are a democratic party, it was a state branch that passed it because people didn't understand what it meant, ' said Di Natale, who appeared on a panel... who probed The Greens on their policy affecting Israel and Australian Jews." (BDS was a huge mistake, admit Greens, The Australian Jewish News, 15/6/12) (See my 16/6/12 post Picking Off The Greens.)
Simply the Best
Did you know that The Australian is the Satchmo of Australian newspapers? That's because no other newspaper blows its own trumpet in quite the same way.
Rock your sox off with this bravura editorial performance/toxic spray from yesterday's emission:
"Regardless of what he is writing about - the Gallipoli centenary, Labor's existential turmoil or the policy pratfalls of a new government, as he is today - our editor-at-large, Paul Kelly, brings his penetrating insight and peerless authority. The Australian is blessed with writers such as Dennis Shanahan on politics, Greg Sheridan on foreign affairs, John Durie on business and Judith Sloan and David Uren on economics, and many others in the top rank, who have lived through the big moments in the nation's history and are able to provide readers with a sense of perspective, knowledge and balance on the issues of the day. Along with experienced editors, they allow us to cut through the noise and tumult of a frenetic news cycle to explain events.
"Yet that can't be said of all media outlets, especially when seasoned journalists are being traded for ones unable to see beyond the dazzle of the instantaneous fix of Twitter or web-first publishing. These callow reporters and trainee talking heads are setting the pace at Fairfax Media and the ABC with their 'breaking' views and zippy analysis 5 minutes after something has happened. We can see the crude results in the way the Abbott government is being portrayed as bad, mad and chaotic by the baby faces in the press gallery and beyond. To date, the low-point of juvenilia was struck by John van Tiggelen, editor of the The Monthly*, old enough to know better but clueless about Canberra, who wrote about the Abbott government's 'onanistic reverence for John Howard' and described it as 'the frat party of Young Liberals who refuse to grow up'.
"This twaddle would be harmless if these ill-informed innocents were on the fringes of new media, learning their craft in the minor leagues. Alarmingly, these infantile musings reflect the priorities of their organisations: it's a reverse-publishing model, which sees the trivialities of Generation Y setting the agenda for once-venerable newspapers, which traditionally served older, educated, middle-income readers in Sydney and Melbourne. No wonder Fairfax Media editors have lost touch with loyal readers and the respect of the old-hands still in the newsroom. At the ABC, Triple-J alumni have wrested editorial and cultural control in the face of insipid leadership from managing director Mark Scott and his news director, Kate Torney. You wonder if anyone's really in charge at Pyrmont, Docklands and Ultimo and how long this idiocy can last." (Comment should not be cheap: Juveniles are setting the standard at Fairfax and the ABC)
[*Here's a tip: buy a copy of the Dec-Jan Monthly and read My Beautiful Bromance with Tony Abbott by Greg Sheridan. Its 'infantile musings', 'Gen Y trivialities', and general, all-round 'idiocy' will have you in the proverbial aisles. Who needs Barbara Cartland if you've got Greg Sheridan?]
Rock your sox off with this bravura editorial performance/toxic spray from yesterday's emission:
"Regardless of what he is writing about - the Gallipoli centenary, Labor's existential turmoil or the policy pratfalls of a new government, as he is today - our editor-at-large, Paul Kelly, brings his penetrating insight and peerless authority. The Australian is blessed with writers such as Dennis Shanahan on politics, Greg Sheridan on foreign affairs, John Durie on business and Judith Sloan and David Uren on economics, and many others in the top rank, who have lived through the big moments in the nation's history and are able to provide readers with a sense of perspective, knowledge and balance on the issues of the day. Along with experienced editors, they allow us to cut through the noise and tumult of a frenetic news cycle to explain events.
"Yet that can't be said of all media outlets, especially when seasoned journalists are being traded for ones unable to see beyond the dazzle of the instantaneous fix of Twitter or web-first publishing. These callow reporters and trainee talking heads are setting the pace at Fairfax Media and the ABC with their 'breaking' views and zippy analysis 5 minutes after something has happened. We can see the crude results in the way the Abbott government is being portrayed as bad, mad and chaotic by the baby faces in the press gallery and beyond. To date, the low-point of juvenilia was struck by John van Tiggelen, editor of the The Monthly*, old enough to know better but clueless about Canberra, who wrote about the Abbott government's 'onanistic reverence for John Howard' and described it as 'the frat party of Young Liberals who refuse to grow up'.
"This twaddle would be harmless if these ill-informed innocents were on the fringes of new media, learning their craft in the minor leagues. Alarmingly, these infantile musings reflect the priorities of their organisations: it's a reverse-publishing model, which sees the trivialities of Generation Y setting the agenda for once-venerable newspapers, which traditionally served older, educated, middle-income readers in Sydney and Melbourne. No wonder Fairfax Media editors have lost touch with loyal readers and the respect of the old-hands still in the newsroom. At the ABC, Triple-J alumni have wrested editorial and cultural control in the face of insipid leadership from managing director Mark Scott and his news director, Kate Torney. You wonder if anyone's really in charge at Pyrmont, Docklands and Ultimo and how long this idiocy can last." (Comment should not be cheap: Juveniles are setting the standard at Fairfax and the ABC)
[*Here's a tip: buy a copy of the Dec-Jan Monthly and read My Beautiful Bromance with Tony Abbott by Greg Sheridan. Its 'infantile musings', 'Gen Y trivialities', and general, all-round 'idiocy' will have you in the proverbial aisles. Who needs Barbara Cartland if you've got Greg Sheridan?]
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Unlovable Rogues
Monday's 7.30 Report:
Leigh Sales, Presenter: The furore over Australia's spying activities overseas has taken a new turn today with revelations of potential domestic spying here at home on Australian soil. A new document dating from 2008, purportedly from American whistleblower Edward Snowden, appears to show Australia's surveillance agency, then known as the Defence Signals Directorate, discussing the idea of sharing data collected about Australian citizens with its overseas counterparts.
Carl Ungerer, Security Analyst: Australians have to understand that the Australian Signals Directorate is operating within Australian law and doing so for the direct benefit of Australia's national security. The idea that they're a rogue agency out there collecting in inappropriate ways should be anathema to anyone who understands national security.
Tuesday's 7.30 Report:
Leigh Sales: As we go to air tonight, there are reports that ASIO has raided the office of the Canberra-based lawyer who claims Australia bugged the East Timorese cabinet during sensitive negotiations about a billion-dollar gas deal. For the first time there's a hint as to who provided the information that's the basis for that case, with the East Timor lobby claiming a retired Australian spy who acted as a whistleblower was arrested today.
Frank Brennan, Law Faculty, Aust. Catholic Uni: It seems that yesterday, 15 ASIO agents descended on the home and office of Bernard Collaery... conducted a very ruthless search... and took away everything which is germane to this case. There was also a visit made to the home of the prime witness for the Timorese and these proceedings, a retired ASIS agent. He and his wife were detained and he was questioned for some time. Whether or not he was arrested, I am not apprised of that information. But I can tell you that on Thursday these proceedings were to begin at the Hague with the arbitration. And the understanding was that the parties were to determine how to deal with the witnesses, particularly this key whistleblower, the allegation of the Timorese being that this whistleblower is able to provide credible, direct evidence of the bugging of the cabinet room and that that was done for commercial gain and would require the approval not only of the Director-General of Intelligence but of the requisite Australian Minister.
Today's 7.30 Report:
Conor Duffy, Reporter: Under the guise of an aid program for the impoverished country, a spy from the ASIS slipped into Dili. Far from helping out, he was there to bug the East Timorese cabinet, the room where the negotiating team talked tactics... The spy has now revealed all and is the star witness for an East Timorese legal action in The Hague to have the billion-dollar treaty scrapped... 7.30 has part of his crucial affidavit, which says that the then head of ASIS instructed him to plant a listening device in East Timor on the orders of then ASIS head and now ASIO boss, David Irvine... Yesterday, ASIO launched a pre-emptive strike, raiding Mr Collaery's home and office just before the hearings in The Hague, which start on Thursday... They also raided the ASIS whistleblower, seizing his passport and cancelling it, effectively stopping him from backing up his affidavit with oral evidence... Today, Attorney-General George Brandis rejected suggestions the raids were designed to hobble East Timor's case.
Leigh Sales, Presenter: The furore over Australia's spying activities overseas has taken a new turn today with revelations of potential domestic spying here at home on Australian soil. A new document dating from 2008, purportedly from American whistleblower Edward Snowden, appears to show Australia's surveillance agency, then known as the Defence Signals Directorate, discussing the idea of sharing data collected about Australian citizens with its overseas counterparts.
Carl Ungerer, Security Analyst: Australians have to understand that the Australian Signals Directorate is operating within Australian law and doing so for the direct benefit of Australia's national security. The idea that they're a rogue agency out there collecting in inappropriate ways should be anathema to anyone who understands national security.
Tuesday's 7.30 Report:
Leigh Sales: As we go to air tonight, there are reports that ASIO has raided the office of the Canberra-based lawyer who claims Australia bugged the East Timorese cabinet during sensitive negotiations about a billion-dollar gas deal. For the first time there's a hint as to who provided the information that's the basis for that case, with the East Timor lobby claiming a retired Australian spy who acted as a whistleblower was arrested today.
Frank Brennan, Law Faculty, Aust. Catholic Uni: It seems that yesterday, 15 ASIO agents descended on the home and office of Bernard Collaery... conducted a very ruthless search... and took away everything which is germane to this case. There was also a visit made to the home of the prime witness for the Timorese and these proceedings, a retired ASIS agent. He and his wife were detained and he was questioned for some time. Whether or not he was arrested, I am not apprised of that information. But I can tell you that on Thursday these proceedings were to begin at the Hague with the arbitration. And the understanding was that the parties were to determine how to deal with the witnesses, particularly this key whistleblower, the allegation of the Timorese being that this whistleblower is able to provide credible, direct evidence of the bugging of the cabinet room and that that was done for commercial gain and would require the approval not only of the Director-General of Intelligence but of the requisite Australian Minister.
Today's 7.30 Report:
Conor Duffy, Reporter: Under the guise of an aid program for the impoverished country, a spy from the ASIS slipped into Dili. Far from helping out, he was there to bug the East Timorese cabinet, the room where the negotiating team talked tactics... The spy has now revealed all and is the star witness for an East Timorese legal action in The Hague to have the billion-dollar treaty scrapped... 7.30 has part of his crucial affidavit, which says that the then head of ASIS instructed him to plant a listening device in East Timor on the orders of then ASIS head and now ASIO boss, David Irvine... Yesterday, ASIO launched a pre-emptive strike, raiding Mr Collaery's home and office just before the hearings in The Hague, which start on Thursday... They also raided the ASIS whistleblower, seizing his passport and cancelling it, effectively stopping him from backing up his affidavit with oral evidence... Today, Attorney-General George Brandis rejected suggestions the raids were designed to hobble East Timor's case.
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Crying Wolf Over Anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism up 21% asserts the heading of a 25 November 2013 'news' item on the J-Wire website.
Its introductory spiel adds:
"In his report covering the 12 months' period ending on September 30, 2013, Jeremy Jones has reported 657 incidents defined by the Australian Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission as 'racist violence' against Jews. The figure reflects a 21% increase over the previous year... Incidents included physical assault, vandalism, threatening phone calls, hate mail, graffiti, leaflets, posters and abusive and intimidatory electronic mail. Jones has made it clear that incidents based on criticism of Israel or references to Australian Jewry's involvement in politics were not taken into account."
(Note that the HREOC definition of 'racist violence' is defined as "a specific act of violence, intimidation, or harassment carried out against an individual, group or organisation (or their property) on the basis of race, colour, descent, or ethnic origin.")
What then follows is a list of what I assume is meant to be 19 examples of the above alleged "incidents" of "'racist violence' against Jews." I thought I'd check some of them out:
1) "Cartoonist Leunig's defence of Nazi/ Jewish comparisons (Dec 2012)"
Leaving aside the incredible suggestion that everyone on the planet can presumably be compared to Nazis - except Jews - I've just taken the trouble to reread Leunig's essay Calm the hatred & try to love those who are not 'us' (The Age, 21/12/12), which I assume is the "defence" referred to, and for the life of me I can find no such thing. And even if I could, how the hell could this possibly be characterised as an incident of 'racist violence'?
2) "With the initial calling of the 2013 Fed Election on the Jewish Holy Day of Yom Kippur, Jews were accused of 'whinging' for raising this as a concern (Jan 2013)"
So an accusation of "whinging" is 'racist violence'? And who was the perpetrator? Well, Israeli writer Judd Yadid for one:
"For the first time on record, Australians will go to the polls... on the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. Given that voting in Australia is compulsory, what issues... are at play? Here are some points to ponder: Jewish Australians who want to vote... can do so either by voting early at special booths or by post. Some of the Jewish community's most prominent leaders have said that it really isn't a big deal, and that it's no different to the predicament faced by all observant Jews every Saturday election day. Perhaps the outcry from some quarters is just plain old whinging." (Stuck between a rock and a holy place: The impact of Australia's decision to hold Election Day on Yom Kippur, Haaretz, 7/2/13)
Hm... this was all Julia Gillard's fault, and yet, despite setting the scene for this particular "incident" of "racist violence," she's just been awarded the 2013 Jerusalem Prize by the Zionist Council of Victoria, the Zionist Federation of Australia, and the World Zionist Organisation. Work that one out.
3) "The tragic story of Ben Zygier, an Australian/Israeli dual citizen who died in an Israeli prison, was used as a pretext by antisemites to accuse Jews in Australia of disloyalty (Feb 2013)"
Antisemites? Surely he's not referring to ABC Radio National's Breakfast presenter Fran Kelly, who dared - DARED! - to raise the question of loyalty in relation to Australian citizens working for Mossad. (See my 17/2/13 post Prisoner X5.) This is getting sillier by the minute.
4) "Call to 'eliminate' Jews in song, in Arabic, on ABC Radio (Feb 2013)"
I'm sorry, but one can only take so many red herrings. I simply refer you to my 8/3/13 post The Ultimate Zionist Whinge on this one.
Jones' list, of course, goes on, including even Max Brenner boycotts (May 2013)... but frankly, I've had enough already, and anyway I'm sure you've got the idea.
Its introductory spiel adds:
"In his report covering the 12 months' period ending on September 30, 2013, Jeremy Jones has reported 657 incidents defined by the Australian Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission as 'racist violence' against Jews. The figure reflects a 21% increase over the previous year... Incidents included physical assault, vandalism, threatening phone calls, hate mail, graffiti, leaflets, posters and abusive and intimidatory electronic mail. Jones has made it clear that incidents based on criticism of Israel or references to Australian Jewry's involvement in politics were not taken into account."
(Note that the HREOC definition of 'racist violence' is defined as "a specific act of violence, intimidation, or harassment carried out against an individual, group or organisation (or their property) on the basis of race, colour, descent, or ethnic origin.")
What then follows is a list of what I assume is meant to be 19 examples of the above alleged "incidents" of "'racist violence' against Jews." I thought I'd check some of them out:
1) "Cartoonist Leunig's defence of Nazi/ Jewish comparisons (Dec 2012)"
Leaving aside the incredible suggestion that everyone on the planet can presumably be compared to Nazis - except Jews - I've just taken the trouble to reread Leunig's essay Calm the hatred & try to love those who are not 'us' (The Age, 21/12/12), which I assume is the "defence" referred to, and for the life of me I can find no such thing. And even if I could, how the hell could this possibly be characterised as an incident of 'racist violence'?
2) "With the initial calling of the 2013 Fed Election on the Jewish Holy Day of Yom Kippur, Jews were accused of 'whinging' for raising this as a concern (Jan 2013)"
So an accusation of "whinging" is 'racist violence'? And who was the perpetrator? Well, Israeli writer Judd Yadid for one:
"For the first time on record, Australians will go to the polls... on the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. Given that voting in Australia is compulsory, what issues... are at play? Here are some points to ponder: Jewish Australians who want to vote... can do so either by voting early at special booths or by post. Some of the Jewish community's most prominent leaders have said that it really isn't a big deal, and that it's no different to the predicament faced by all observant Jews every Saturday election day. Perhaps the outcry from some quarters is just plain old whinging." (Stuck between a rock and a holy place: The impact of Australia's decision to hold Election Day on Yom Kippur, Haaretz, 7/2/13)
Hm... this was all Julia Gillard's fault, and yet, despite setting the scene for this particular "incident" of "racist violence," she's just been awarded the 2013 Jerusalem Prize by the Zionist Council of Victoria, the Zionist Federation of Australia, and the World Zionist Organisation. Work that one out.
3) "The tragic story of Ben Zygier, an Australian/Israeli dual citizen who died in an Israeli prison, was used as a pretext by antisemites to accuse Jews in Australia of disloyalty (Feb 2013)"
Antisemites? Surely he's not referring to ABC Radio National's Breakfast presenter Fran Kelly, who dared - DARED! - to raise the question of loyalty in relation to Australian citizens working for Mossad. (See my 17/2/13 post Prisoner X5.) This is getting sillier by the minute.
4) "Call to 'eliminate' Jews in song, in Arabic, on ABC Radio (Feb 2013)"
I'm sorry, but one can only take so many red herrings. I simply refer you to my 8/3/13 post The Ultimate Zionist Whinge on this one.
Jones' list, of course, goes on, including even Max Brenner boycotts (May 2013)... but frankly, I've had enough already, and anyway I'm sure you've got the idea.
Sunday, December 1, 2013
The 'Dauntingly Clever' Greg Hunt
Australia's environment minister, Greg Hunt, is now famous for his admission that Wikipedia is the go-to site for all things environmental, as in:
"'I looked up what Wikipedia said just to see what the rest of the world thought,' he advised the BBC... when put on the spot about whether there might be a link between Australia's latest bushfires and climate change. 'It opened with the fact that, 'bushfires in Australia are frequently occurring events during the hotter months of the year due to Australia's mostly hot, dry, climate'." (Wikipedia's verdict on Greg Hunt: 'terrible at his job', Tony Wright, Sydney Morning Herald, 25/10/13)
Killer quotes such as the one above notwithstanding, a feature on Hunt in yesterday's Fairfax magazine, Good Weekend, assures us that Hunt is no fool - at least academically:
"Dauntingly clever, Hunt graduated from Melbourne University with first-class honours in law, and won a Fulbright scholarship to Yale, where he completed a masters in international relations. He... did a stint as an intern with the United Nations Centre for Human Rights in Geneva..." (The weather vane, Frank Robson)
At which point I can't help but ask: How can anyone with at least 25 years of formal education under his belt - with a focus on international relations and human rights to boot - get something like Palestine wrong? (OK, so why do I raise the issue of Palestine here? Only because Robson references it twice in his Good Weekend piece).
Here's the first:
"What... does he make of Immigration Minister Scott Morrison's insistence that all asylum seekers arriving here by boat should now be called 'illegals'? At first, Hunt toes the expected line, saying it's refugees encamped in places like Cambodia, east Africa and Gaza who are 'missing out because those that are better off are able to take a flight to Jakarta and pay people smugglers to bring them to Australia'."
OK, he's got that Gaza's chockas with refugees - and that's an advance on fellow Liberals such as NSW MLC Peter Phelps, who thinks that the population of the Gaza Strip (aka Mordor) is composed of Orcs and Trolls* - but does he seriously think that Palestinian refugees, in Gaza or anywhere else, have been sitting around all these years dreaming of Australian visas, as opposed to one day returning to their stolen homes and lands in 'Israel'?
Now here's the second, even more telling reference:
"When he was 18, Hunt spent a year living on a kibbutz in Israel... The overseas adventure was... carefully planned, with help from a Jewish MP in Victoria who persuaded the kibbutz organisers to let Hunt stay, telling them, 'You never know, in 25 years' time this guy may do something with the government here'."
The very fact that Hunt volunteered this little anecdote as some kind of positive, commendable element in his life's trajectory speaks volumes about him. It's a bit like admitting that you formed your views on the Middle East conflict by reading Leon Uris' Exodus as a raw youth and have had no occasion since to revise them.
Add to that the fact that he clearly sees nothing wrong with the import of the anonymous Jewish MP's statement.
Now top that with the fact that Hunt's kibbutz 'experience' came in the immediate wake of Israel's brutal invasion of Lebanon in 1982, culminating in the massacre of Palestinian refugees in West Beirut's Sabra and Shatila camps in September of that year.
So here we have a 48-year-old who's spent over half his life in formal education, with a focus on human rights, who just doesn't get Palestine.
Astonishing!
Quite frankly, if he can't get something as simple as Palestine right, should we be surprised if he gets his take on climate science from a Wikipedia entry?
[*See my 20/8/12 post Frodos Gaze Upon Mordor.]
"'I looked up what Wikipedia said just to see what the rest of the world thought,' he advised the BBC... when put on the spot about whether there might be a link between Australia's latest bushfires and climate change. 'It opened with the fact that, 'bushfires in Australia are frequently occurring events during the hotter months of the year due to Australia's mostly hot, dry, climate'." (Wikipedia's verdict on Greg Hunt: 'terrible at his job', Tony Wright, Sydney Morning Herald, 25/10/13)
Killer quotes such as the one above notwithstanding, a feature on Hunt in yesterday's Fairfax magazine, Good Weekend, assures us that Hunt is no fool - at least academically:
"Dauntingly clever, Hunt graduated from Melbourne University with first-class honours in law, and won a Fulbright scholarship to Yale, where he completed a masters in international relations. He... did a stint as an intern with the United Nations Centre for Human Rights in Geneva..." (The weather vane, Frank Robson)
At which point I can't help but ask: How can anyone with at least 25 years of formal education under his belt - with a focus on international relations and human rights to boot - get something like Palestine wrong? (OK, so why do I raise the issue of Palestine here? Only because Robson references it twice in his Good Weekend piece).
Here's the first:
"What... does he make of Immigration Minister Scott Morrison's insistence that all asylum seekers arriving here by boat should now be called 'illegals'? At first, Hunt toes the expected line, saying it's refugees encamped in places like Cambodia, east Africa and Gaza who are 'missing out because those that are better off are able to take a flight to Jakarta and pay people smugglers to bring them to Australia'."
OK, he's got that Gaza's chockas with refugees - and that's an advance on fellow Liberals such as NSW MLC Peter Phelps, who thinks that the population of the Gaza Strip (aka Mordor) is composed of Orcs and Trolls* - but does he seriously think that Palestinian refugees, in Gaza or anywhere else, have been sitting around all these years dreaming of Australian visas, as opposed to one day returning to their stolen homes and lands in 'Israel'?
Now here's the second, even more telling reference:
"When he was 18, Hunt spent a year living on a kibbutz in Israel... The overseas adventure was... carefully planned, with help from a Jewish MP in Victoria who persuaded the kibbutz organisers to let Hunt stay, telling them, 'You never know, in 25 years' time this guy may do something with the government here'."
The very fact that Hunt volunteered this little anecdote as some kind of positive, commendable element in his life's trajectory speaks volumes about him. It's a bit like admitting that you formed your views on the Middle East conflict by reading Leon Uris' Exodus as a raw youth and have had no occasion since to revise them.
Add to that the fact that he clearly sees nothing wrong with the import of the anonymous Jewish MP's statement.
Now top that with the fact that Hunt's kibbutz 'experience' came in the immediate wake of Israel's brutal invasion of Lebanon in 1982, culminating in the massacre of Palestinian refugees in West Beirut's Sabra and Shatila camps in September of that year.
So here we have a 48-year-old who's spent over half his life in formal education, with a focus on human rights, who just doesn't get Palestine.
Astonishing!
Quite frankly, if he can't get something as simple as Palestine right, should we be surprised if he gets his take on climate science from a Wikipedia entry?
[*See my 20/8/12 post Frodos Gaze Upon Mordor.]
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