Now here's a newie:
"The latest wave of violence was sparked last October by unsubstantiated rumours that Israel intended to exert control over the Noble Sanctuary precinct of the Old City, revered by Muslims. Containing the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque, it tops what is known to Jews and Christians as Temple Mount, and is holy to them, too." (Israel's Arab MPs warned of expulsion, Jamie Walker, The Australian, 6/2/16)
So, in addition to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Christans now want a slice of the Haram ash-Sharif.
As I always say: Only in The Australian...
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
Monday, February 8, 2016
Sow Confusion
The subject of the following report - an email sent to Fairfax Media - has Mossad PSYOP written all over it. Note the highlighted items:
"An international hacking gang who claim to be behind some of the hoax bomb threats at Australian schools claim they are about to attack again. On every school day since Friday, dozens of schools across the country have been evacuated after receiving similar computerised phone messages warning of a device on school grounds.
"A group calling themselves Evacuation Squad have claimed responsibility for some of the attacks, and say they are just about to launch more. However, they also claim some attacks in Australia have been the work of copycats. 'In fact we just hit several Sydney schools today, and we are going to hit various cities in Perth,' a spokesman for the group calling himself Viktor Olyavich told Fairfax Media by email. 'I don't think we're cowards. What would constitute that? Just for making threats? That is silly.' Fairfax Media has not been able to confirm Evacuation Squad's claims. Since his email on Thursday morning, schools in Adelaide and Sydney have been evacuated due to bomb threats.
"Mr Olyavich said the group had previously focused on the US, UK, Norway, Britain, France, Japan and Sweden. He said one member had a 'particular bias' for attacking schools in Massachusetts because he lived there before returning home to Iran. He claimed responsibility for Monday's attacks across NSW, Victoria and Queensland, but said a copycat was behind calls made on Tuesday and Wednesday. 'We are responsible for Monday's threats in Sydney, but we are not exactly sure who is behind the other threats. He said the calls would continue 'for as long as possible' and Australia was being targeted because 'it is an ally of the US and Britain.' The group has publicly offered to shut down schools in exchange for bitcoin payments. Mr Olyavich claimed the Australian attacks were requested by local students." (School bomb hoaxers say they will strike again, Liam Mannix & Rachel Olding, Sydney Morning Herald, 5/2/16)
For those interested in such matters see also Unmasking a troll: Aussie 'jihadist' Australi Witness a 20-year-old American nerd, Elise Potaka & Luke McMahon, Sydney Morning Herald, 12/9/15
"An international hacking gang who claim to be behind some of the hoax bomb threats at Australian schools claim they are about to attack again. On every school day since Friday, dozens of schools across the country have been evacuated after receiving similar computerised phone messages warning of a device on school grounds.
"A group calling themselves Evacuation Squad have claimed responsibility for some of the attacks, and say they are just about to launch more. However, they also claim some attacks in Australia have been the work of copycats. 'In fact we just hit several Sydney schools today, and we are going to hit various cities in Perth,' a spokesman for the group calling himself Viktor Olyavich told Fairfax Media by email. 'I don't think we're cowards. What would constitute that? Just for making threats? That is silly.' Fairfax Media has not been able to confirm Evacuation Squad's claims. Since his email on Thursday morning, schools in Adelaide and Sydney have been evacuated due to bomb threats.
"Mr Olyavich said the group had previously focused on the US, UK, Norway, Britain, France, Japan and Sweden. He said one member had a 'particular bias' for attacking schools in Massachusetts because he lived there before returning home to Iran. He claimed responsibility for Monday's attacks across NSW, Victoria and Queensland, but said a copycat was behind calls made on Tuesday and Wednesday. 'We are responsible for Monday's threats in Sydney, but we are not exactly sure who is behind the other threats. He said the calls would continue 'for as long as possible' and Australia was being targeted because 'it is an ally of the US and Britain.' The group has publicly offered to shut down schools in exchange for bitcoin payments. Mr Olyavich claimed the Australian attacks were requested by local students." (School bomb hoaxers say they will strike again, Liam Mannix & Rachel Olding, Sydney Morning Herald, 5/2/16)
For those interested in such matters see also Unmasking a troll: Aussie 'jihadist' Australi Witness a 20-year-old American nerd, Elise Potaka & Luke McMahon, Sydney Morning Herald, 12/9/15
Sunday, February 7, 2016
Beattie's Obsession with Israel
"Mr Beattie described a proposed ban on politicians travelling to Israel on trips funded by Jewish organisations as an 'extreme view' counter-productive to a two-state solution, which he supports. It smacks of [a] single-minded obsession with Israel. This is becoming an obsession and I don't think that's healthy politically,' Mr Beattie said." (Beattie blasts ALP's 'Stalinist' stance on Israel, Sharri Markson, The Australian, 4/2/16)
A single-minded obsession with Israel? Beattie should know:
"A Queensland-based Corporate Research Centre for software company SAP has become the primary IT solutions provider for the Israeli Government. Under the contract Queensland centre staff would collaborate with SAP Portals in Israel to develop software for SAP's global customers. Queensland Premier Peter Beattie congratulated the centre, saying 'A contract of this size is a tremendous coup for SAP and a glowing endorsement of SAP Australia's decision to choose the Smart State as the base for this Corporate Research Centre in 2001. I am told the Brisbane centre has quickly grown in status to become one of the major contributors to SAP'a global research arm,' Beattie said." (QLD provides IT solution for Israel, itnews.com.au, 25/3/04)
"A new drive by small and medium size exporters is beginning to impact on one of Australia's curious trading anomalies: our relatively modest export sales to Israel... But fresh enthusiasm is emerging for sales to Israel, driven partly by friendly rivalry between Queensland and Victoria for a greater slice of the export pie. Queensland Premier, Peter Beattie, has declared he wants his state to become the major focus of Australian business with Israel..." (Israel export, Joe Parkes, dynamicbusiness.com, 1/2/06)
That was then. How about now?
Seems his single-minded obsession with the apartheid state has only grown:
"In her second Sydney appearance, ex MK Einat Wilf shared a platform with past Queensland Premier Peter Beattie before an audience of Labor and union stalwarts at Trades Hall. The two former Labor parliamentarians appeared together to launch the Australia-Israel Labor Dialogue, a new organisation which aims to foster dialogue and fraternal links between the Australian and Israeli Labor parties... Beattie argued for a future of creative partnership with Israel which he cited as the world's best model of the innovative high-tech based entrepreneurial spirit that he had hoped to foster with his 'Smart State' reforms while Premier of Queensland. In his speech Beattie gave pride of place to 'six perspectives to appeal to a new generation of Labor moderates' from a widely circulated recent article 'Labor must not turn its back on Israel' by former Union NSW Secretary, Michael Easson." (Australia-Israel Labor Dialogue launched, jwire.com.au, 18/2/15)
So what, pray, are these 6 "perspectives" which have been widely circulated among Labor moderates? Here's number one:
"The single greatest reason for continuing Israel-Palestine conflict remains Jew-hatred within Palestinian society. Until Palestinians find their Mandela moment, this long, tragic conflict will continue. In slogans on every public wall in Gaza and in much of the West Bank, in Arabic-language television shows, in Palestinian school classes, there is incitement to kill Jews as Jews not just Israelis. How can there be real peace in that atmosphere?"
The Palestine/Israel conflict is a colonial conflict, the natural and inevitable outcome of a British attempt (1917-48) to impose a European settler-colonial movement, Zionism, on an unwilling indigenous people. It has nothing whatever to do with Jews as such. The simple truth is that even if the colonists had been Buddhists, we'd have had the same outcome.
If perspective 1 is fundamentally flawed, why bother with the rest? That Beattie is prepared to swear by Easson's poppycock speaks volumes about him.
Beattie+Easson=Grin & Spin
A single-minded obsession with Israel? Beattie should know:
"A Queensland-based Corporate Research Centre for software company SAP has become the primary IT solutions provider for the Israeli Government. Under the contract Queensland centre staff would collaborate with SAP Portals in Israel to develop software for SAP's global customers. Queensland Premier Peter Beattie congratulated the centre, saying 'A contract of this size is a tremendous coup for SAP and a glowing endorsement of SAP Australia's decision to choose the Smart State as the base for this Corporate Research Centre in 2001. I am told the Brisbane centre has quickly grown in status to become one of the major contributors to SAP'a global research arm,' Beattie said." (QLD provides IT solution for Israel, itnews.com.au, 25/3/04)
"A new drive by small and medium size exporters is beginning to impact on one of Australia's curious trading anomalies: our relatively modest export sales to Israel... But fresh enthusiasm is emerging for sales to Israel, driven partly by friendly rivalry between Queensland and Victoria for a greater slice of the export pie. Queensland Premier, Peter Beattie, has declared he wants his state to become the major focus of Australian business with Israel..." (Israel export, Joe Parkes, dynamicbusiness.com, 1/2/06)
That was then. How about now?
Seems his single-minded obsession with the apartheid state has only grown:
"In her second Sydney appearance, ex MK Einat Wilf shared a platform with past Queensland Premier Peter Beattie before an audience of Labor and union stalwarts at Trades Hall. The two former Labor parliamentarians appeared together to launch the Australia-Israel Labor Dialogue, a new organisation which aims to foster dialogue and fraternal links between the Australian and Israeli Labor parties... Beattie argued for a future of creative partnership with Israel which he cited as the world's best model of the innovative high-tech based entrepreneurial spirit that he had hoped to foster with his 'Smart State' reforms while Premier of Queensland. In his speech Beattie gave pride of place to 'six perspectives to appeal to a new generation of Labor moderates' from a widely circulated recent article 'Labor must not turn its back on Israel' by former Union NSW Secretary, Michael Easson." (Australia-Israel Labor Dialogue launched, jwire.com.au, 18/2/15)
So what, pray, are these 6 "perspectives" which have been widely circulated among Labor moderates? Here's number one:
"The single greatest reason for continuing Israel-Palestine conflict remains Jew-hatred within Palestinian society. Until Palestinians find their Mandela moment, this long, tragic conflict will continue. In slogans on every public wall in Gaza and in much of the West Bank, in Arabic-language television shows, in Palestinian school classes, there is incitement to kill Jews as Jews not just Israelis. How can there be real peace in that atmosphere?"
The Palestine/Israel conflict is a colonial conflict, the natural and inevitable outcome of a British attempt (1917-48) to impose a European settler-colonial movement, Zionism, on an unwilling indigenous people. It has nothing whatever to do with Jews as such. The simple truth is that even if the colonists had been Buddhists, we'd have had the same outcome.
If perspective 1 is fundamentally flawed, why bother with the rest? That Beattie is prepared to swear by Easson's poppycock speaks volumes about him.
Beattie+Easson=Grin & Spin
Saturday, February 6, 2016
Why Peter Beattie?
As readers of this blog will know, Murdoch's Israel fanzine The Australian routinely and relentlessly campaigns against any and every manifestation of public support, however small, timid or symbolic, for the rights of the Palestinian people.
The latest such manifestation, of course, is a proposal by NSW Labor Friends of Palestine to call for the adoption at this month's NSW Labor conference of a ban on party members joining Israel lobby-sponsored propaganda tours (aka rambammings) of Israel.
An integral feature of these campaigns is the trotting out of a handful of Zionist spear-carriers (so far we've heard from Vic Alhadeff, Michael Danby, Warren Mundine & Michael Forshaw) to 'slam' or 'blast' - the preferred terminology - the pro-Palestine initiative as 'misguided' or 'divisive' or 'counter-productive,' and/or smear the offending party as 'anti-Semitic' or 'verging on the anti-Semitic.'
Which is where Peter Beattie now comes in:
"Former Queensland premier (1998-2007) Peter Beattie says the Labor Party risks becoming politically irrelevant over its 'Stalinist' approach to Israel, which he argues has become obsessive." (Beattie blasts ALP's 'Stalinist' stance on Israel, Sharri Markson, 4/2/16)
Now let's not get too excited over what Beattie says - 'Stalinist' is just another smear in the arsenal after all. What's far more interesting is what kind of public figure in this day and age, when the verdict is well and truly in on the matter, is still prepared to go into bat for Israeli apartheid?
If Wordsworth's principle that 'The Child is father of the Man' is any guide to an individual's conduct in later life, maybe we should be examining Beattie's childhood for signs which might herald a future going over to the dark side.
Fortunately, Courier-Mail journalist and novelist, Matthew Condon,* has sketched Beattie's early years. It seems that the lad had, as they say, a few issues:
"Beattie targeted the humanitarian stream in his final two years in school. One classmate recalled: 'He used to say to me - why are you studying those subjects? He would only study what would get him the best results. Peter Beattie was always for Peter Beattie. He always did everything so he looked the best. He wasn't very popular. We always thought he was up himself. He was a crawler that's for sure, and he always knew who to influence and who to make friends with.' Another classmate said Beattie was almost addicted to trophies and tangible symbols of achievement. 'In the scouts he had so many badges on his sleeves they were actually curling underneath the sleeve hem,' he said. 'In his bedroom at the house in Robert Street you couldn't see the walls for all the ribbons and pennants he'd put up. There was everything there on display; even those little minor ribbons you wouldn't think twice about, going right back to primary school. He loved to surround himself with symbols of success. Another student recalled a young myth-maker already at work: 'He used to say he was related to (Otto von) Bismarck (founder of the German Empire), or had some German aristocratic background. It was ridiculous. He'd make up the most fantastic stories'."
And now he's calling NSW Labor - not the Qld mob, note - 'Stalinist'.
"In 1970 - his final year of high school - two issues involving Beattie left a sour note amongst his fellow students, and are still heatedly debated amongst them today. The first was a question of loyalty. Peter Beattie was school captain, and his female counterpart was Jenny Whebell. In the middle of that year a young boy was ordered by a prefect to pick up some papers he had dropped in the schoolyard. He refused. The boy was the son of the principal Morrie Harnell. When the matter was brought to Mr Harnell's attention, the prefect was stripped of her badge. Jenny Whebell and the other prefects felt the principal's actions were unjust. They all resigned their positions until a meeting of the school council could be held. The only one not to turn in his badge was Peter Beattie. 'Peter wouldn't hand his badge in,' one source said. 'Being a small town, the whole thing hit the fan over the weekend. He had his gold medal and he wouldn't let it go. He lost a lot of face over that. The rest of them were prepared to put everything on the line, but not Peter Beattie. Jenny Whebell, now Jenny Butler, confirmed the incident but declined to comment. Another contemporary of Beattie also said the story was accurate. She added: 'I never had much to do with him. I didn't associate with him outside of school. I do know he was interested in himself. That will stick in my brain forever.'
Me, myself & I. So telling that.
"The second issue was the awarding of School Dux to Peter Beattie. His name is painted in gold on the wooden honour board at Atherton State High School today. Some contemporaries still believe the award was granted to Beattie 'by default.' The 1970 Barrinean records that the only academic awards Beattie was granted in that final year were for English and Geography. As is custom, Beattie's final year results as Dux were published in the following year's school magazine. He achieved a single 7, three 6's, one 4 and one 3. In the senior exam at the end of the tear, several former students claimed Beattie was only third or possibly fourth in the class. The School Dux honour was awarded by Principal Harnell, as was tradition, prior to the final senior exam. 'He was very ordinary, academically,' one former student said 'We always felt he was Dux by default'." (Peter Beattie: The Atherton Years, Moo Ink, mathewcondon.blogspot.com.au, 25/11/05)
Very ordinary, academically? Sounds about right. Take Beattie's grasp of history, for example.
Markson quotes him in her 'report' thus:
"Mr Beattie said Australia had played a crucial role in the formation of Israel and should continue to play that constructive role."
This, of course, is a reference to Labor's 1945-49 foreign minister, 'Doc' Evatt, who, as head of the United Nations Ad Hoc Committee on the Palestine Question in 1947, was instrumental in recommending the partition of Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state as opposed to referring the matter to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for an opinion. The resulting UNGA partition resolution emboldened the Zionist movement in Palestine to embark on a campaign of ethnic cleansing that reduced the Palestinian majority to a minority and led to the Palestinian refugee problem which is still with us 67 years later.
And that, according to the Dux of Atherton High, was constructive?
Next post: Beattie's Obsession with Israel
[*Matt Condon is the author of a 3-volume (2013-15) study of the corrupt former Qld Police Commissioner, Terry Lewis.]
The latest such manifestation, of course, is a proposal by NSW Labor Friends of Palestine to call for the adoption at this month's NSW Labor conference of a ban on party members joining Israel lobby-sponsored propaganda tours (aka rambammings) of Israel.
An integral feature of these campaigns is the trotting out of a handful of Zionist spear-carriers (so far we've heard from Vic Alhadeff, Michael Danby, Warren Mundine & Michael Forshaw) to 'slam' or 'blast' - the preferred terminology - the pro-Palestine initiative as 'misguided' or 'divisive' or 'counter-productive,' and/or smear the offending party as 'anti-Semitic' or 'verging on the anti-Semitic.'
Which is where Peter Beattie now comes in:
"Former Queensland premier (1998-2007) Peter Beattie says the Labor Party risks becoming politically irrelevant over its 'Stalinist' approach to Israel, which he argues has become obsessive." (Beattie blasts ALP's 'Stalinist' stance on Israel, Sharri Markson, 4/2/16)
Now let's not get too excited over what Beattie says - 'Stalinist' is just another smear in the arsenal after all. What's far more interesting is what kind of public figure in this day and age, when the verdict is well and truly in on the matter, is still prepared to go into bat for Israeli apartheid?
If Wordsworth's principle that 'The Child is father of the Man' is any guide to an individual's conduct in later life, maybe we should be examining Beattie's childhood for signs which might herald a future going over to the dark side.
Fortunately, Courier-Mail journalist and novelist, Matthew Condon,* has sketched Beattie's early years. It seems that the lad had, as they say, a few issues:
"Beattie targeted the humanitarian stream in his final two years in school. One classmate recalled: 'He used to say to me - why are you studying those subjects? He would only study what would get him the best results. Peter Beattie was always for Peter Beattie. He always did everything so he looked the best. He wasn't very popular. We always thought he was up himself. He was a crawler that's for sure, and he always knew who to influence and who to make friends with.' Another classmate said Beattie was almost addicted to trophies and tangible symbols of achievement. 'In the scouts he had so many badges on his sleeves they were actually curling underneath the sleeve hem,' he said. 'In his bedroom at the house in Robert Street you couldn't see the walls for all the ribbons and pennants he'd put up. There was everything there on display; even those little minor ribbons you wouldn't think twice about, going right back to primary school. He loved to surround himself with symbols of success. Another student recalled a young myth-maker already at work: 'He used to say he was related to (Otto von) Bismarck (founder of the German Empire), or had some German aristocratic background. It was ridiculous. He'd make up the most fantastic stories'."
And now he's calling NSW Labor - not the Qld mob, note - 'Stalinist'.
"In 1970 - his final year of high school - two issues involving Beattie left a sour note amongst his fellow students, and are still heatedly debated amongst them today. The first was a question of loyalty. Peter Beattie was school captain, and his female counterpart was Jenny Whebell. In the middle of that year a young boy was ordered by a prefect to pick up some papers he had dropped in the schoolyard. He refused. The boy was the son of the principal Morrie Harnell. When the matter was brought to Mr Harnell's attention, the prefect was stripped of her badge. Jenny Whebell and the other prefects felt the principal's actions were unjust. They all resigned their positions until a meeting of the school council could be held. The only one not to turn in his badge was Peter Beattie. 'Peter wouldn't hand his badge in,' one source said. 'Being a small town, the whole thing hit the fan over the weekend. He had his gold medal and he wouldn't let it go. He lost a lot of face over that. The rest of them were prepared to put everything on the line, but not Peter Beattie. Jenny Whebell, now Jenny Butler, confirmed the incident but declined to comment. Another contemporary of Beattie also said the story was accurate. She added: 'I never had much to do with him. I didn't associate with him outside of school. I do know he was interested in himself. That will stick in my brain forever.'
Me, myself & I. So telling that.
"The second issue was the awarding of School Dux to Peter Beattie. His name is painted in gold on the wooden honour board at Atherton State High School today. Some contemporaries still believe the award was granted to Beattie 'by default.' The 1970 Barrinean records that the only academic awards Beattie was granted in that final year were for English and Geography. As is custom, Beattie's final year results as Dux were published in the following year's school magazine. He achieved a single 7, three 6's, one 4 and one 3. In the senior exam at the end of the tear, several former students claimed Beattie was only third or possibly fourth in the class. The School Dux honour was awarded by Principal Harnell, as was tradition, prior to the final senior exam. 'He was very ordinary, academically,' one former student said 'We always felt he was Dux by default'." (Peter Beattie: The Atherton Years, Moo Ink, mathewcondon.blogspot.com.au, 25/11/05)
Very ordinary, academically? Sounds about right. Take Beattie's grasp of history, for example.
Markson quotes him in her 'report' thus:
"Mr Beattie said Australia had played a crucial role in the formation of Israel and should continue to play that constructive role."
This, of course, is a reference to Labor's 1945-49 foreign minister, 'Doc' Evatt, who, as head of the United Nations Ad Hoc Committee on the Palestine Question in 1947, was instrumental in recommending the partition of Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state as opposed to referring the matter to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for an opinion. The resulting UNGA partition resolution emboldened the Zionist movement in Palestine to embark on a campaign of ethnic cleansing that reduced the Palestinian majority to a minority and led to the Palestinian refugee problem which is still with us 67 years later.
And that, according to the Dux of Atherton High, was constructive?
Next post: Beattie's Obsession with Israel
[*Matt Condon is the author of a 3-volume (2013-15) study of the corrupt former Qld Police Commissioner, Terry Lewis.]
Thursday, February 4, 2016
Such Tender Concern
And the (drum)beat(up) goes on...
Murdoch's Australian is sooo worried aboutIsrael NSW Labor:
"As a former national president of the ALP, Warren Mundine is correct to suggest it is NSW Labor that will suffer from its anti-Israel escapade. Israel is the only vibrant democracy in the Middle East; it can look after itself. But, as Mr Mundine says, NSW Labor risks becoming a fringe party." (Editorial: Labor's anti-Israel obsession, 3/2/16)
Now we know why the paper calls itself 'The Heart of the Nation'.
A letter to the Australian fromdingaling John Bell, Heidelberg Heights, Vic:
"When a party luminary such as Warren Mundine is sickened by the move and says it has a political agenda verging on anti-Semitism..." (3/2/16)
So even if your twice-rambammed "party luminary" jumps ship for Tony Abbott, who famously characterised the British invasion and colonisation of Aboriginal Australia as "a form of foreign investment by the British Government,"* he's not a rat but a "party luminary"?
OK... So what does that make Ben Chifley?
BTW, have you noticed the form taken by the anti-Semitism smear these days? How no one in the Labor Party who supports Palestinian rights is called an anti-Semite directly? That's reserved for people outside the Labor Party. Inside, they're always accused of "verging on anti-Semitism," or "supporting an anti-Semitic agenda." Neat, eh?
[*Tone's words were: "I guess our country owes its existence to a form of foreign investment by the British Government in the then unsettled Great South Land."]
Murdoch's Australian is sooo worried about
"As a former national president of the ALP, Warren Mundine is correct to suggest it is NSW Labor that will suffer from its anti-Israel escapade. Israel is the only vibrant democracy in the Middle East; it can look after itself. But, as Mr Mundine says, NSW Labor risks becoming a fringe party." (Editorial: Labor's anti-Israel obsession, 3/2/16)
Now we know why the paper calls itself 'The Heart of the Nation'.
A letter to the Australian from
"When a party luminary such as Warren Mundine is sickened by the move and says it has a political agenda verging on anti-Semitism..." (3/2/16)
So even if your twice-rambammed "party luminary" jumps ship for Tony Abbott, who famously characterised the British invasion and colonisation of Aboriginal Australia as "a form of foreign investment by the British Government,"* he's not a rat but a "party luminary"?
OK... So what does that make Ben Chifley?
BTW, have you noticed the form taken by the anti-Semitism smear these days? How no one in the Labor Party who supports Palestinian rights is called an anti-Semite directly? That's reserved for people outside the Labor Party. Inside, they're always accused of "verging on anti-Semitism," or "supporting an anti-Semitic agenda." Neat, eh?
[*Tone's words were: "I guess our country owes its existence to a form of foreign investment by the British Government in the then unsettled Great South Land."]
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
Send in the Clowns
Murdoch's campaign to head off a move to ban rambamming at this month's NSW Labor conference grinds on:
"Former labor national president Warren Mundine has launched a blistering attack on the party, saying its move to ban sponsored trips to Israel is 'verging on anti-Semitic' and is 'sickening to watch'." (Anti-Jew Labor bid 'sickens' Mundine, Sharri Markson, The Australian, 2/2/16)
Seriously, does anyone really care what Gerald Gollum Henderson's twice-rambammed (2006/2009) son-in-law, who deserted Labor in 2012 to join Abbott's Indigenous Advisory Council, thinks?
I mean, what are we to make of a bloke with supposed expertise on indigenous issues in Australia, who emerges from the woodwork on occasions like this for a froth & bubble defence of the apartheid state in occupied Palestine? Talk about sickening to watch!
Then there's this numbers man:
"The NSW ALP international relations policy committee chairman Michael Forshaw told The Australian yesterday that 39 resolutions had been received concerning Israel and Palestine, compared with 17 resolutions dealing with other international issues, such as the Syrian war, the Myanmar junta, Paris terror bombings, China free trade and foreign aid. There were none on Saudi Arabia or Iran." (ibid)
39 to 17?
It couldn't possibly be because, unlike all the other issues, Palestine dates back to 1917, now could it?
Finally, we have 'Senior Writer' (LOL) Sharri Markson "commenting" that:
"The NSW branch of the Labor party should be focusing on refining its health, education and transport policies before it begins to get involved in the Middle East." (Racist views pushing ALP's stand on Israel)
Followed by this rider: "Sharri Markson last year travelled to Israel with the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council."
Sickening, eh?
"Former labor national president Warren Mundine has launched a blistering attack on the party, saying its move to ban sponsored trips to Israel is 'verging on anti-Semitic' and is 'sickening to watch'." (Anti-Jew Labor bid 'sickens' Mundine, Sharri Markson, The Australian, 2/2/16)
Seriously, does anyone really care what Gerald Gollum Henderson's twice-rambammed (2006/2009) son-in-law, who deserted Labor in 2012 to join Abbott's Indigenous Advisory Council, thinks?
I mean, what are we to make of a bloke with supposed expertise on indigenous issues in Australia, who emerges from the woodwork on occasions like this for a froth & bubble defence of the apartheid state in occupied Palestine? Talk about sickening to watch!
Then there's this numbers man:
"The NSW ALP international relations policy committee chairman Michael Forshaw told The Australian yesterday that 39 resolutions had been received concerning Israel and Palestine, compared with 17 resolutions dealing with other international issues, such as the Syrian war, the Myanmar junta, Paris terror bombings, China free trade and foreign aid. There were none on Saudi Arabia or Iran." (ibid)
39 to 17?
It couldn't possibly be because, unlike all the other issues, Palestine dates back to 1917, now could it?
Finally, we have 'Senior Writer' (LOL) Sharri Markson "commenting" that:
"The NSW branch of the Labor party should be focusing on refining its health, education and transport policies before it begins to get involved in the Middle East." (Racist views pushing ALP's stand on Israel)
Followed by this rider: "Sharri Markson last year travelled to Israel with the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council."
Sickening, eh?
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
Australia's Dogs of War in Yemen
The Australian mainstream media, asleep at the wheel as usual, has NOT reported this:
"An Australian citizen is the commander of an elite UAE military force deployed in Yemen as part of the Saudi-led coalition which human rights groups accused of war crimes. Mike Hindmarsh, 59, is a former Australian army officer who is publicly listed as commander of the UAE's Presidential Guard... a unit of marines, reconnaissance, special forces and mechanised brigades according to the US State Department website... The Presidential Guard has been lauded for playing a key role in the Saudi-led coalition seeking to reinstall the exiled Yemeni government of President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi... While the Arab coalition fighting in Yemen is widely described as being led by Saudi Arabia, one Gulf official told Middle East Eye on condition of anonymity that the external ground forces were in reality being steered by the UAE... [I]n October 2009 it was announced that the Australian government had approved Hindmarsh's retirement from the army to take up a new role commanding the UAE Presidential Guard... [A] quick search through LinkedIn throws up numerous results of experienced soldiers - mainly from Australia - who occupy senior roles in the elite force..."
That's the gist of Revealed: the mercenaries commanding UAE forces in Yemen, Rori Donaghy, middleeasteye.net, 23/12/15.
"An Australian citizen is the commander of an elite UAE military force deployed in Yemen as part of the Saudi-led coalition which human rights groups accused of war crimes. Mike Hindmarsh, 59, is a former Australian army officer who is publicly listed as commander of the UAE's Presidential Guard... a unit of marines, reconnaissance, special forces and mechanised brigades according to the US State Department website... The Presidential Guard has been lauded for playing a key role in the Saudi-led coalition seeking to reinstall the exiled Yemeni government of President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi... While the Arab coalition fighting in Yemen is widely described as being led by Saudi Arabia, one Gulf official told Middle East Eye on condition of anonymity that the external ground forces were in reality being steered by the UAE... [I]n October 2009 it was announced that the Australian government had approved Hindmarsh's retirement from the army to take up a new role commanding the UAE Presidential Guard... [A] quick search through LinkedIn throws up numerous results of experienced soldiers - mainly from Australia - who occupy senior roles in the elite force..."
That's the gist of Revealed: the mercenaries commanding UAE forces in Yemen, Rori Donaghy, middleeasteye.net, 23/12/15.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)