From a profile of Israeli writer Etgar Keret in Saturday's Spectrum by Susan Wyndham, wife of the execrable Paul Sheehan:
"Keret is on a month-long publicity tour, finishing in Australia, with Gessen (wife)and Lev (son), who has been obsessed with visiting a country that his father tells him 'is just like Israel except that everyone speaks English and they don't kill each other'." (Telling tales, Sydney Morning Herald, 27/2/16)
What rubbish this is! Like referring to Germans and French, in German-occupied France, killing each other.
Monday, February 29, 2016
Sunday, February 28, 2016
Gormless LibLab Yoof Who Just Can't Say No
Along with the dismal failure of this year's NSW Labor conference to come up with a simple NO to Zionist lobbyists touting free propaganda tours to the apartheid state, comes this year's first rambamming:
"A young political leaders mission to Israel brought a group of politically inclined young people face to face with the conflicts of the region when it took place in January. The Israel/Palestine Political Study Tour comprised 15 participants, representing both the Liberal and Labor parties, and who, for the most part, were not Jewish. As well as seeing some of the sites of the country, over 9 days the group met with high-level officials via visits to the Australian Embassy, the Knesset and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs... This is the fourth time this mission has run. It was launched in 2013 by Joshua Koonin, a Sydney-based lawyer and former political adviser who sought to bring politically minded people to Israel to gain a better understanding of the political issue that Israel* faces. From 6 liberal delegates on the inaugural mission, it has grown to encompass both sides of politics, as well as growing in numbers." (Young pollies visit Israel, Australian Jewish News, 19/2/16)
The AJN features testimonials from 2 of the rambammed in its report: Daniel Weil, Lib, Caulfield branch vice-chair, and Adrian Wong, Lab, adviser to Chris Hayes MP for Fowler**and Chief Opposition Whip. After reading these, all I can say is, thankyou, Joshua Koonin, for getting the show on the road, because without it the following profundities from Daniel and Adrian would never - perish the thought! - have seen the light of day:
Weil: "Standing at the Syrian border we could clearly see and hear the civil war going on... Seeing that really emphasised the instability of the whole region... Everybody who participated came away thinking that this is a much more complex conflict than they otherwise would have thought. Without having been in Israel, you can't be an armchair expert."
So anything you want to know about Israel, Danny Boy's yourman boy! We also learn from his on-tour tweets that for authentic hummus you need go no further than Tel Aviv:
Hey@Ostrov_A -where is the best place for good authentic hummus in Tel Aviv? (2/1/16)
And that building in Jerusalem with the golden dome you've often wondered about? Well, that's not the Dome of the Rock but Al Aqsa Mosque:
#jerusalem, the Holy City. Western Wall with the Al Aqsa mosque behind (31/12/15)
Wong: "Many of us have read about the Israeli and Palestinian conflict in the Middle East, however, to be able to meet everyday people on the ground and hear their personal experiences was very insightful and informative in this debate. I found Israel to be a very hardworking and technologically successful country. After the visit, I remain committed to two states for Israelis and the Palestinian people to live in peace."
Thanks Adrian, if you hadn't told me, I would never have guessed that the Israeli and Palestinian conflict was in the Middle East. Or that the MKs and Israeli Foreign Ministry officials are everyday people on the ground. Or that Israel was so hardworking.
But Adrian has saved his most penetrating insight for a tweet:
Travelling around #Israel and inside the #Palestine territories has been an interesting experience (9/1/16)
So these are our future MPs. Good to know the ship of state will be in such good hands going forward.
[*So much for the Palestine part of the 'Israel/Palestine Political Study Tour equation'; **Julia Irwin's old seat!]
"A young political leaders mission to Israel brought a group of politically inclined young people face to face with the conflicts of the region when it took place in January. The Israel/Palestine Political Study Tour comprised 15 participants, representing both the Liberal and Labor parties, and who, for the most part, were not Jewish. As well as seeing some of the sites of the country, over 9 days the group met with high-level officials via visits to the Australian Embassy, the Knesset and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs... This is the fourth time this mission has run. It was launched in 2013 by Joshua Koonin, a Sydney-based lawyer and former political adviser who sought to bring politically minded people to Israel to gain a better understanding of the political issue that Israel* faces. From 6 liberal delegates on the inaugural mission, it has grown to encompass both sides of politics, as well as growing in numbers." (Young pollies visit Israel, Australian Jewish News, 19/2/16)
The AJN features testimonials from 2 of the rambammed in its report: Daniel Weil, Lib, Caulfield branch vice-chair, and Adrian Wong, Lab, adviser to Chris Hayes MP for Fowler**and Chief Opposition Whip. After reading these, all I can say is, thankyou, Joshua Koonin, for getting the show on the road, because without it the following profundities from Daniel and Adrian would never - perish the thought! - have seen the light of day:
Weil: "Standing at the Syrian border we could clearly see and hear the civil war going on... Seeing that really emphasised the instability of the whole region... Everybody who participated came away thinking that this is a much more complex conflict than they otherwise would have thought. Without having been in Israel, you can't be an armchair expert."
So anything you want to know about Israel, Danny Boy's your
Hey@Ostrov_A -where is the best place for good authentic hummus in Tel Aviv? (2/1/16)
And that building in Jerusalem with the golden dome you've often wondered about? Well, that's not the Dome of the Rock but Al Aqsa Mosque:
#jerusalem, the Holy City. Western Wall with the Al Aqsa mosque behind (31/12/15)
Wong: "Many of us have read about the Israeli and Palestinian conflict in the Middle East, however, to be able to meet everyday people on the ground and hear their personal experiences was very insightful and informative in this debate. I found Israel to be a very hardworking and technologically successful country. After the visit, I remain committed to two states for Israelis and the Palestinian people to live in peace."
Thanks Adrian, if you hadn't told me, I would never have guessed that the Israeli and Palestinian conflict was in the Middle East. Or that the MKs and Israeli Foreign Ministry officials are everyday people on the ground. Or that Israel was so hardworking.
But Adrian has saved his most penetrating insight for a tweet:
Travelling around #Israel and inside the #Palestine territories has been an interesting experience (9/1/16)
So these are our future MPs. Good to know the ship of state will be in such good hands going forward.
[*So much for the Palestine part of the 'Israel/Palestine Political Study Tour equation'; **Julia Irwin's old seat!]
Friday, February 26, 2016
Journalists in Glass Houses
"A tissue of lies: Paul Sheehan & 'Louise': The most perfunctory of checks would have shown Paul Sheehan's allegations were almost certainly untrue. But he couldn't help himself"
So runs the headline for Richard Cooke's 25/2 post on The Monthly's Greasy Pole blog.
According to Richard's twitter account, he writes for "The Monthly, The Saturday Paper, The Guardian, The Chaser & The Check Out."
Although I saw nothing in his piece that I'd disagree with (and even learnt a few things about loopy Louise), I nonetheless found myself wondering whether he was really the best qualified to write it, given the old adage that people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
I mean, I can overlook a young scribbler's working for Morry Schwartz's 'Don't talk about the Occupation' publications. Jobs are hard to find after all.
But that crap he once wrote for the Sydney Morning Herald in 2005 about Gaza and Hamas, where he referred to occupied Gaza as a "troubled territory," and the Islamic resistance movement, Hamas, as a "terrorist organization," (Hamas vs The Lions Club, 13/9/05), was a classic example of a smartarse journalist tackling a serious subject that he knew absolutely SFA about.
However, it's an episode from 2006, in which Richard managed to display what seems to me something of a malicious streak (as well as confirming his truly abysmal ignorance of the Palestine problem), that reminded me of the old injunction about glass houses and stones. Did he, I wonder, even for a moment, recall his own particular fall from journalistic grace at this time as he wrote about Sheehan's?:
"Asked why he sent a cartoon by Michael Leunig to a Holocaust cartoon competition launched by an Iranian newspaper, freelance journalist Richard Cooke pauses. He is an articulate person, and the pause is an awkward break in an otherwise fluid conversation. 'I'm not sure a can give you a good answer to that,' he said yesterday. He was, however, able to explain how the cartoon, which was rejected by former Age editor, Michael Gawenda, in 2002, found its way onto the Hamshahri website. The newspaper contest - to find a cartoon on the Holocaust - came after a Danish newspaper published caricatures of the prophet Muhammad, angering Muslims around the world.
"Cooke, 26, who contributes to the satirical website The Chaser and has been a contributor to various Fairfax publications said he read about the Holocaust competition on the web and remembered the Leunig cartoon. He then found himself wondering 'what would happen if these two things were brought together.' The Leunig cartoon stirred 'multiple feelings, some of them conflicting' within him, he said. The first frame, Auschwitz 1945, shows a man with the Star of David on his back walking towards an arched entrance bearing the words 'Work Brings Freedom.' The second frame, Israel 2002, shows a man with the Star of David and a rifle. He also walks towards an arched entrance, this one bearing the words 'War Brings Peace.' Cooke says he is personally unsympathetic to the sentiments in the cartoon. Of Leunig he says: 'I don't think he is an anti-Semite but I think that work could be interpreted by some people... in a way that he hadn't intended it to be taken.'
"Cooke did not send the cartoon itself to the Hamshahri competition, but he sent the link to Media Watch and an accompanying note purporting to be from Leunig. The consequences of writing a note in the cartoonist's name was not something he thought about because 'it never occurred to me that it would be quoted.' But Cooke was seriously mistaken. He saw the cartoon - the first entry in the competition - and the faked note posted on the site about 1am on Tuesday. At 2am he rang the Fairfax switchboard in Sydney wanting to pass on the anonymous message that the words on the irancartoons.com website did not belong to Leunig but he could not raise anyone. At News Ltd he found only a security guard at the Daily Telegraph. Later on Tuesday morning, when he checked Google, he found 150-related stories on the Leunig story.
"Cooke knew that because he had left the telephone number of The Chaser on the email - 'not the smartest move' - the hoax would be traced to him. 'If I had gotten a second opinion I probably wouldn't have done something so stupid.' He spent much of Tuesday watching more stories on the hoax being posted on the web. 'My feelings at this point were confused,' he says. 'A lot of them were nervous feelings.'
"On Tuesday evening, Cooke received a telephone call from Julian Morrow, executive producer of the television satire, The Chaser, who asked what he knew about the hoax. Morrow said he knew nothing of it until he received a call from The Age that night. Morrow advised Cooke to apologise to the cartoonist, something Cooke said he had wanted to do when the controversy began to erupt. Cooke does not remember exactly what he said to Leunig, but he recalls 'that he mainly seemed to be relieved that it wasn't a neo-con pressure group who had posted the cartoon, just a dipshit from The Chaser.' He also admits he has played pranks before... Morrow said when he found out on Tuesday night that a person connected to The Chaser website had perpetrated the hoax, he was particularly unhappy that Leunig had been misrepresented. He was pleased that Cooke's apology had been accepted by the cartoonist." (Satirist wishes he got a second opinion before starting Leunig hoax, Katherine Kizilos, The Age, 16/2/06)
What a goose...
So runs the headline for Richard Cooke's 25/2 post on The Monthly's Greasy Pole blog.
According to Richard's twitter account, he writes for "The Monthly, The Saturday Paper, The Guardian, The Chaser & The Check Out."
Although I saw nothing in his piece that I'd disagree with (and even learnt a few things about loopy Louise), I nonetheless found myself wondering whether he was really the best qualified to write it, given the old adage that people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
I mean, I can overlook a young scribbler's working for Morry Schwartz's 'Don't talk about the Occupation' publications. Jobs are hard to find after all.
But that crap he once wrote for the Sydney Morning Herald in 2005 about Gaza and Hamas, where he referred to occupied Gaza as a "troubled territory," and the Islamic resistance movement, Hamas, as a "terrorist organization," (Hamas vs The Lions Club, 13/9/05), was a classic example of a smartarse journalist tackling a serious subject that he knew absolutely SFA about.
However, it's an episode from 2006, in which Richard managed to display what seems to me something of a malicious streak (as well as confirming his truly abysmal ignorance of the Palestine problem), that reminded me of the old injunction about glass houses and stones. Did he, I wonder, even for a moment, recall his own particular fall from journalistic grace at this time as he wrote about Sheehan's?:
"Asked why he sent a cartoon by Michael Leunig to a Holocaust cartoon competition launched by an Iranian newspaper, freelance journalist Richard Cooke pauses. He is an articulate person, and the pause is an awkward break in an otherwise fluid conversation. 'I'm not sure a can give you a good answer to that,' he said yesterday. He was, however, able to explain how the cartoon, which was rejected by former Age editor, Michael Gawenda, in 2002, found its way onto the Hamshahri website. The newspaper contest - to find a cartoon on the Holocaust - came after a Danish newspaper published caricatures of the prophet Muhammad, angering Muslims around the world.
"Cooke, 26, who contributes to the satirical website The Chaser and has been a contributor to various Fairfax publications said he read about the Holocaust competition on the web and remembered the Leunig cartoon. He then found himself wondering 'what would happen if these two things were brought together.' The Leunig cartoon stirred 'multiple feelings, some of them conflicting' within him, he said. The first frame, Auschwitz 1945, shows a man with the Star of David on his back walking towards an arched entrance bearing the words 'Work Brings Freedom.' The second frame, Israel 2002, shows a man with the Star of David and a rifle. He also walks towards an arched entrance, this one bearing the words 'War Brings Peace.' Cooke says he is personally unsympathetic to the sentiments in the cartoon. Of Leunig he says: 'I don't think he is an anti-Semite but I think that work could be interpreted by some people... in a way that he hadn't intended it to be taken.'
"Cooke did not send the cartoon itself to the Hamshahri competition, but he sent the link to Media Watch and an accompanying note purporting to be from Leunig. The consequences of writing a note in the cartoonist's name was not something he thought about because 'it never occurred to me that it would be quoted.' But Cooke was seriously mistaken. He saw the cartoon - the first entry in the competition - and the faked note posted on the site about 1am on Tuesday. At 2am he rang the Fairfax switchboard in Sydney wanting to pass on the anonymous message that the words on the irancartoons.com website did not belong to Leunig but he could not raise anyone. At News Ltd he found only a security guard at the Daily Telegraph. Later on Tuesday morning, when he checked Google, he found 150-related stories on the Leunig story.
"Cooke knew that because he had left the telephone number of The Chaser on the email - 'not the smartest move' - the hoax would be traced to him. 'If I had gotten a second opinion I probably wouldn't have done something so stupid.' He spent much of Tuesday watching more stories on the hoax being posted on the web. 'My feelings at this point were confused,' he says. 'A lot of them were nervous feelings.'
"On Tuesday evening, Cooke received a telephone call from Julian Morrow, executive producer of the television satire, The Chaser, who asked what he knew about the hoax. Morrow said he knew nothing of it until he received a call from The Age that night. Morrow advised Cooke to apologise to the cartoonist, something Cooke said he had wanted to do when the controversy began to erupt. Cooke does not remember exactly what he said to Leunig, but he recalls 'that he mainly seemed to be relieved that it wasn't a neo-con pressure group who had posted the cartoon, just a dipshit from The Chaser.' He also admits he has played pranks before... Morrow said when he found out on Tuesday night that a person connected to The Chaser website had perpetrated the hoax, he was particularly unhappy that Leunig had been misrepresented. He was pleased that Cooke's apology had been accepted by the cartoonist." (Satirist wishes he got a second opinion before starting Leunig hoax, Katherine Kizilos, The Age, 16/2/06)
What a goose...
Thursday, February 25, 2016
It's Time for Paul Sheehan to Go
On Monday the Sydney Morning Herald published a highly dubious piece on its opinion pages by its highly dubious columnist Paul Sheehan: The horrifying untold story of Louise. It was the story of an alleged 2002 rape/ bashing, by alleged Arabs (behind Sydney's St Mary's Cathedral of all places), of an alleged nurse known only as 'Louise'. Louise's 'experience', as related by Sheehan, was so horrific that it was reminiscent of a wartime enemy atrocity story.
Red flags, bells, and whistles abounded, unheard by Sheehan. Among them (in order of appearance):
1) Louise, having just completed back-to-back shifts at St. Vincent's Hospital, was too tired to drive home, and so decided to park her car in a secluded lane behind SMC, as you would, and sleep in it - without, unbelievably, locking the doors. Sheehan didn't ask about this elementary precaution.
2) The gang who dragged her from her car spoke "Arabic." Sheehan didn't ask how Louise knew it was Arabic.
3) One of the gang allegedly sodomised Louise whilst simultaneously cutting her throat with a knife. Sheehan didn't question either the Herculean strength or the - ahem - multi-tasking needed to accomplish this incredible feat.
4) Of the next lurid detail I will say only that while I've heard of synchronised swimming, I've never heard of synchronised, pinpoint urination.
5) "It was August 2002." I see. How convenient that the alleged atrocity should fit neatly within the 2001-06 timeframe of Sheehan's book 'Girls Like You.'
6) Sheehan writes that: "After I gave a speech at a gathering at NSW Parliament, I was approached by someone who told me that hers [Louise's] was a story that had never been told, given that I had written Girls Like You..." Sheehan doesn't tell us what this gathering was about or who had convened it, although it should be pointed out that Fred Nile's Christian Democrats call for a moratorium on Muslim immigration. Details of this meeting have been ommitted. Why?
7)
Louise: A couple of homeless guys had seen it... One of them told me later, 'I'll never forget what happened when the MERCS got you. We thought you were dead.'
Sheehan: MERCs?
Louise: It had been going on for years and was so frequent it had a name: MERCs. Middle Eastern raping c__...
So frequent were these MERC atrocities, apparently, that until Louise had told him about them, Sheehan, who had written an entire book on the subject of rape by men of 'Middle Eastern appearance', knew nothing of them. Right...
Today, we get this apology from Sheehan:
"At 6pm on Monday I had a heart-sinking conversation with Louise... In my third conversation with her that afternoon, as I was saying she needed to talk to the police... she told me I was 'oppressing' her. Then she said: 'I don't want to continue this conversation,' and hung up. She has remained incommunicado ever since. This led quickly to 3 realisations. First, I was countenancing the near certainty that in the areas of her story where I had given her the benefit of the doubt, I had been wrong to do so. Second, I had not considered the possibility that her story had been carefully constructed on a foundation of embellishments, false memories and fabrications. Third, I owed an apology to the NSW Police... After publication I learnt that a woman had made very similar claims of rape during two rallies last year organised by Reclaim Australia... In the story recounted to me by Louise, she made insulting references to rapes committed by Middle Eastern men. I had wrongly amplified this insult by including her words in the column. Had I known on Sunday what I knew by Wednesday, the column would not have been written..." (The story of Louise: police have no case to answer, but I do)
Sheehan certainly does have a case to answer: for years of Islamophobic, Arabophobic and Zionist columns carefully constructed on a foundation of embellishments and fabrications. Simply scan my Sheehan posts and you'll see why he fell for Louise's story - it fitted so well with his prejudices. The opinion editor and those higher up the Fairfax food chain also have a case to answer: for enabling him all these years.
Frankly, it's time for Sheehan to go, time for the Herald to publicly apologise for his nastiness over the years, and time for its management to get down on its knees, and beg Mike Carlton to come back in Sheehan's place.
Red flags, bells, and whistles abounded, unheard by Sheehan. Among them (in order of appearance):
1) Louise, having just completed back-to-back shifts at St. Vincent's Hospital, was too tired to drive home, and so decided to park her car in a secluded lane behind SMC, as you would, and sleep in it - without, unbelievably, locking the doors. Sheehan didn't ask about this elementary precaution.
2) The gang who dragged her from her car spoke "Arabic." Sheehan didn't ask how Louise knew it was Arabic.
3) One of the gang allegedly sodomised Louise whilst simultaneously cutting her throat with a knife. Sheehan didn't question either the Herculean strength or the - ahem - multi-tasking needed to accomplish this incredible feat.
4) Of the next lurid detail I will say only that while I've heard of synchronised swimming, I've never heard of synchronised, pinpoint urination.
5) "It was August 2002." I see. How convenient that the alleged atrocity should fit neatly within the 2001-06 timeframe of Sheehan's book 'Girls Like You.'
6) Sheehan writes that: "After I gave a speech at a gathering at NSW Parliament, I was approached by someone who told me that hers [Louise's] was a story that had never been told, given that I had written Girls Like You..." Sheehan doesn't tell us what this gathering was about or who had convened it, although it should be pointed out that Fred Nile's Christian Democrats call for a moratorium on Muslim immigration. Details of this meeting have been ommitted. Why?
7)
Louise: A couple of homeless guys had seen it... One of them told me later, 'I'll never forget what happened when the MERCS got you. We thought you were dead.'
Sheehan: MERCs?
Louise: It had been going on for years and was so frequent it had a name: MERCs. Middle Eastern raping c__...
So frequent were these MERC atrocities, apparently, that until Louise had told him about them, Sheehan, who had written an entire book on the subject of rape by men of 'Middle Eastern appearance', knew nothing of them. Right...
Today, we get this apology from Sheehan:
"At 6pm on Monday I had a heart-sinking conversation with Louise... In my third conversation with her that afternoon, as I was saying she needed to talk to the police... she told me I was 'oppressing' her. Then she said: 'I don't want to continue this conversation,' and hung up. She has remained incommunicado ever since. This led quickly to 3 realisations. First, I was countenancing the near certainty that in the areas of her story where I had given her the benefit of the doubt, I had been wrong to do so. Second, I had not considered the possibility that her story had been carefully constructed on a foundation of embellishments, false memories and fabrications. Third, I owed an apology to the NSW Police... After publication I learnt that a woman had made very similar claims of rape during two rallies last year organised by Reclaim Australia... In the story recounted to me by Louise, she made insulting references to rapes committed by Middle Eastern men. I had wrongly amplified this insult by including her words in the column. Had I known on Sunday what I knew by Wednesday, the column would not have been written..." (The story of Louise: police have no case to answer, but I do)
Sheehan certainly does have a case to answer: for years of Islamophobic, Arabophobic and Zionist columns carefully constructed on a foundation of embellishments and fabrications. Simply scan my Sheehan posts and you'll see why he fell for Louise's story - it fitted so well with his prejudices. The opinion editor and those higher up the Fairfax food chain also have a case to answer: for enabling him all these years.
Frankly, it's time for Sheehan to go, time for the Herald to publicly apologise for his nastiness over the years, and time for its management to get down on its knees, and beg Mike Carlton to come back in Sheehan's place.
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Lobbyotomised
The power of the Israel/Palestine issue to remove the mask and reveal the true face of our political representatives was evident once again on Monday night's Q&A.
The following ludicrous question, in compere Tony Jones rephrasing, was lobbed at Labor's shadow foreign affairs minister Tanya Plibersek:
"What do you say to the general notion that... the Israeli mentality, the Israeli way of dealing with [terrorism] is something that Australia should learn from?"
You will of course recall Plibersek's 2002 assertion (in federal parliament) that, in so many words, Israel was a US-funded rogue state which massacres civilians. (See my 17/10/13 post A Heretic Recants)
That, it goes without saying, was a rare case (as was Liberal MP Craig Laundy's December 2014 speech in the same place) of a simple, bleeding obvious truth spoken by a political neophyte who, critically, had not yet undergone a lobbyotomy.
Now listen to the opening two sentences of Plibersek's Q&A response - the only ones of any consequence in her entire performance:
"I'm not sure that the premise of the question that Israel hasn't been attacked by IS holds, as Eldad [Beck] has said. There has been a series of knife attacks at bus stops and so on as well."
The rogue state and the massacres of 2002, obviously, are conspicuous by their absence, seemingly erased from memory.
The opportunity to reference a representative of the rogue state which massacres civilians, thoughtfully provided by Q&A, is taken full advantage of.
Desperate acts of resistance (those not concocted by the rogue state itself, that is) by a people groaning under the tyranny of a brutal near 60-year occupation are vilely and casually tarred with the IS brush.
And the incredible hold of the Israel lobby over the minds of our elected representatives is once again manifest.
The following ludicrous question, in compere Tony Jones rephrasing, was lobbed at Labor's shadow foreign affairs minister Tanya Plibersek:
"What do you say to the general notion that... the Israeli mentality, the Israeli way of dealing with [terrorism] is something that Australia should learn from?"
You will of course recall Plibersek's 2002 assertion (in federal parliament) that, in so many words, Israel was a US-funded rogue state which massacres civilians. (See my 17/10/13 post A Heretic Recants)
That, it goes without saying, was a rare case (as was Liberal MP Craig Laundy's December 2014 speech in the same place) of a simple, bleeding obvious truth spoken by a political neophyte who, critically, had not yet undergone a lobbyotomy.
Now listen to the opening two sentences of Plibersek's Q&A response - the only ones of any consequence in her entire performance:
"I'm not sure that the premise of the question that Israel hasn't been attacked by IS holds, as Eldad [Beck] has said. There has been a series of knife attacks at bus stops and so on as well."
The rogue state and the massacres of 2002, obviously, are conspicuous by their absence, seemingly erased from memory.
The opportunity to reference a representative of the rogue state which massacres civilians, thoughtfully provided by Q&A, is taken full advantage of.
Desperate acts of resistance (those not concocted by the rogue state itself, that is) by a people groaning under the tyranny of a brutal near 60-year occupation are vilely and casually tarred with the IS brush.
And the incredible hold of the Israel lobby over the minds of our elected representatives is once again manifest.
Monday, February 22, 2016
Ideas? What Ideas?
OFFS:
"[Howard] Jacobson is a novelist of ideas. Shylock is My Name ponders why Jews aren't at home in nature, why the People of the Word prefer order to disorder, why Jews have a kosher frame of mind even without a kosher kitchen, why the stereotype of the masturbating Jew persists, why reading the Guardian newspaper makes an enraged Manchester man a Zionist..." (From Louise Adler's review - The villain's response to Shakespeare - of Howard Jacobson's Shylock is My Name, Sydney Morning Herald, 20/2/16)
How can anybody take this Howard Z Jacobson bloke seriously? This is the Guardian of C.P. Z Scott who introduced Chaim Z Weizmann to David Z Lloyd George, co-daddy with M'Lord Z Balfour of the bloody Balfour Z Declaration, and is today run by Jonathan Z Freedland, who has given the keys of the shop to the likes of Hadley Z Freeman, Nick Z Cohen and Rafael Z Behr etc. Seriously, Howard, what's not to like about the Guardian?
"[Howard] Jacobson is a novelist of ideas. Shylock is My Name ponders why Jews aren't at home in nature, why the People of the Word prefer order to disorder, why Jews have a kosher frame of mind even without a kosher kitchen, why the stereotype of the masturbating Jew persists, why reading the Guardian newspaper makes an enraged Manchester man a Zionist..." (From Louise Adler's review - The villain's response to Shakespeare - of Howard Jacobson's Shylock is My Name, Sydney Morning Herald, 20/2/16)
How can anybody take this Howard Z Jacobson bloke seriously? This is the Guardian of C.P. Z Scott who introduced Chaim Z Weizmann to David Z Lloyd George, co-daddy with M'Lord Z Balfour of the bloody Balfour Z Declaration, and is today run by Jonathan Z Freedland, who has given the keys of the shop to the likes of Hadley Z Freeman, Nick Z Cohen and Rafael Z Behr etc. Seriously, Howard, what's not to like about the Guardian?
Sunday, February 21, 2016
A Year is a Long Time in Federal Politics
Craig Laundy MP said this in federal parliament on 1/12/14:
"We hear the constant reference to the two-state solution [but] I believe this is used as a line to hide behind..." & "If you look at the Middle East [today]... we can trace it pretty much back to this region some 60 or 70 years ago. Anyone who stands in this place and argues differently is not being fair dinkum." (See my 18/2/16 post Craig Laundy MP Gets It)
Now, in The Australian Jewish News of 19/2/16, we read:
"He later told The AJN that he supported a two-state solution and he meant to convey that he would like to see more done. 'I never have, nor will I, place the blame for the range of current issues in the region solely with Israel or any other state,' he said. Laundy reiterated his support for a two-state solution this week. 'Both the Australian government's and my long-standing position is that we remain committed to Israel and a Palestinian state existing side by side in peace and security, within internationally recognised borders,' he told The AJN. 'As Assistant Minister for Multicultural Affairs, I very much look forward to working side by side with the Australian Jewish community and building on the wonderful relationships that I have established during my time in Parliament within the community'." (Laundy's controversial past)
Is The AJN's coverage kosher? If so, what happened?
Did the lobby perhaps follow the advice of the always charming and forever lovely Liat Kirby-Nagar?
"You [Colin Rubenstein] should have come out fighting on this one, not pander... in smarmy tones to a man whose sum of experience rests in his own electorate, and always will. The only way to deal with him is full on. He should be forced to consider the Israeli perspective... Our Jewish leaders need to command respect, and maintain dignity; this will not happen by playing diplomatic games with a man whose sympathies lie elsewhere and whose intellectual capacity appears limited. If Laundy can't broaden his horizon he should go. Is he still the co-chair of The Friends of Palestine? If so, he should relinquish that position as it's not appropriate to his new role..." (Comment to Eager to meet a new member of the ministry, jwire.com.au, 17/2/16)
Craig... are you OK?
"We hear the constant reference to the two-state solution [but] I believe this is used as a line to hide behind..." & "If you look at the Middle East [today]... we can trace it pretty much back to this region some 60 or 70 years ago. Anyone who stands in this place and argues differently is not being fair dinkum." (See my 18/2/16 post Craig Laundy MP Gets It)
Now, in The Australian Jewish News of 19/2/16, we read:
"He later told The AJN that he supported a two-state solution and he meant to convey that he would like to see more done. 'I never have, nor will I, place the blame for the range of current issues in the region solely with Israel or any other state,' he said. Laundy reiterated his support for a two-state solution this week. 'Both the Australian government's and my long-standing position is that we remain committed to Israel and a Palestinian state existing side by side in peace and security, within internationally recognised borders,' he told The AJN. 'As Assistant Minister for Multicultural Affairs, I very much look forward to working side by side with the Australian Jewish community and building on the wonderful relationships that I have established during my time in Parliament within the community'." (Laundy's controversial past)
Is The AJN's coverage kosher? If so, what happened?
Did the lobby perhaps follow the advice of the always charming and forever lovely Liat Kirby-Nagar?
"You [Colin Rubenstein] should have come out fighting on this one, not pander... in smarmy tones to a man whose sum of experience rests in his own electorate, and always will. The only way to deal with him is full on. He should be forced to consider the Israeli perspective... Our Jewish leaders need to command respect, and maintain dignity; this will not happen by playing diplomatic games with a man whose sympathies lie elsewhere and whose intellectual capacity appears limited. If Laundy can't broaden his horizon he should go. Is he still the co-chair of The Friends of Palestine? If so, he should relinquish that position as it's not appropriate to his new role..." (Comment to Eager to meet a new member of the ministry, jwire.com.au, 17/2/16)
Craig... are you OK?
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