Sunday, March 15, 2009

CRIKEY'S DELUSIONAL HYPOCRITE

They're a funny lot over at Crikey, the internet news outlet that chortles on about telling you "what they won't". You can tell that by their choice of person to write an article about the decision by the Australian Jewish News to refuse to accept an advertisement about Israel bashing propagandist Professor Jeff Halper's lecture tour of Australia. Even if you didn't expect a neutral observer to report on the facts, the choice of Antony Loewenstein would have come as a surprise (Loewenstein's IAJV sidekick Dr Peter Slezak is actually hosting one of Halper's lectures at UNSW later this month). The result, of course, was a lamentable effort drowning in its own sheer stupidity - The peace activist the Jewish News rejects.

The joke however, is on Crikey and the pathetic Loewenstein whose ignorance about Israel was put on exhibition a few years ago when he wrote a poorly researched book "My Israel Question" which was in fact nothing more than a lamentable encyclopaedia of ignorance about the Israel/Arab conflict. I could write a book on the errors contained in that dreary tome but just one example is the map of Israel which portrays the Galilee region of northern Israel as part of Lebanon (possibly wishful thinking on Loewenstein's and sloppy editing by Melbourne University Press and Louise Adler but a barrel of laughs, especially if you hail from that part of the world).

Still, we don't expect much from someone who once called Israeli political leader and Prime Ministerial hopeful Tzipi Livni as a "he" when any Jew worth their salt would know Tzipi was definitely a "she".

But back to Antony's Crikey piece. Unsurprisingly, his gripe is all about censorship but he doesn't appear particularly concerned about all forms of censorship - it's only when those who support Israel exercise their right to exclude detractors including those who are simply out and out charlatans like Halper.

But you won’t be reading about his Sydney events in the Australian Jewish News (AJN). The publisher has refused to run ads by Jews Against the Occupation (JAO) that simply inform people of Halper’s schedule. The group was given no reason for the decision except that the publisher had instructed the paper not to allow the ads to appear. Crikey has seen the ad and it only contains titles and locations of the lectures and contact phone numbers.

...

This latest example of censorship follows a long history of the mainstream Jewish establishment being fearful over honestly debating Israel/Palestine (something we’ve seen over the last days in the US over the forced resignation of Israel critic Charles W Freeman from the post of Chairman of the National Intelligence Council.


Loewenstein was delighted that the Sydney Morning Herald agreed with him - With friends like these (see the second editorial which is replete with hypocrisy given this is a Fairfax newspaper - and on Chas Freeman see Melanie Phillips for the real reasons why the execrable Freeman doesn't occupy any high office at this time)

Loewenstein doesn't have a problem with the censorship applied by the publisher of the Melbourne Age and the Sydney Morning Herald when it routinely omits to mention the excesses of Hamas and Hizbullah as it has done over the years or when it simply refuses to cover stories debunking earlier erroneous reports in its publications such as the false allegations of Israeli war crimes as part of the Gaza School scandal. That form of censorship is kosher with Loewenstein.

But if you wanted an insight into Loewenstein's sick pathology, take this disturbingly inane piece of drivel with which he concluded his rant -

... the AJN ran a piece last week by novelist Alan Gold, arguing against the UN’s upcoming anti-racism conference, Durban II: "And now that the storm clouds are gathering over Geneva, we can only look on in horror, and feel as our parents or grandparents must have felt in 1933."

Memo to the AJN: Hitler died in 1945.


The problem for Crikey is that when it selects someone to prattle on about the subject of censorship, then it isn't wise to settle on a Loewenstein who has a penchant for censorship himself. He is well known for often censoring comments made on his own blog with which he does not agree.

This morning, a colleague posted a comment on his blog on the subject Jews insulate themselves from reality. He drew attention to the fact that while he agreed that people should have the opportunity to hear what Halper had to say, they equally "deserved to know that he has been accused of pushing a deceptive and misleading agenda and distorting the truth." He then posted the following four references from Camera to support that very point:

JEFF HALPER DISTORTS INTERNATIONAL LAW

SABEEL’S RHETORIC QUESTIONED BY JEWISH PEACE ACTIVISTS

THE PROFESSOR'S TRUTH DEMOLITION

TRUTH DEMOLITION IN AN ANTI-ISRAEL ROAD SHOW

So Halper is not only a liar but he has often invoked the repugnant blood libel of Israelis-as-Nazis.

During the Sabeel conference at Old South Church in October, Halper said that while the Israeli public supports a two-state solution, successive Israeli governments have misled the Israeli public into thinking there is no political solution and no one to negotiate with on the Palestinian side of the conflict.

They don’t believe that peace is possible. The Israeli government has done the same thing that the Bush Administration is trying to do – mystify the conflict, to depoliticize it so that there’s no solution – the problem is them. [Applause.] And if the problem is them, then of course to put it in very harsh terms then of course the only solution is the Final Solution. [Emphasis added.]


The media of course has the right to print (or not to print) whatever it chooses. In this case, the publisher of the Australian Jewish News exercised his right not to accept an advertisement for a newspaper whose readership is made up largely of Holocaust survivors and their descendants who would find Halper's lies, misrepresentations and false connection of Israel with Nazism as totally repugnant.

Naturally, Loewenstein who has lately thrown in his lot with the Holocaust minimisers wouldn't understand this. His hypocrisy in censoring views presented as comment on his own website and then criticising others for it is breathtaking and demonstrates why he has become an object of disdain among the overwhelming majority of the Jewish community. Even some of his former friends who signed onto his IAJV statement think he's a lost cause.

As for Crikey, the joke's on you blokes. By selecting Loewenstein, you ensured that any opposing view on the matter would be ... well, er censored.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

They must be paying peanuts at Crikey because they ended up with a real monkey.

Anonymous said...

Thank you Wilbur Post for keeping us updated .

Anonymous said...

It's so difficult not to make ad hominem comments about Loewensting (sorry... Loewenant) when his "articles" leave nothing to the imagination about the author. Surely a nice Jewish boy who spends his entire life on obsessing about one cause, needs some sort of psychological assessment?

Anonymous said...

Forget Loewenstein. We all know he's an idiot but why does Crikey put up with him?

And what the hell is this Adler woman doing? A nice Jewish girl with an education can't figure out that Haifa's part of Israel. Not Lebanon?

Halper?

Lord help him if he's around and Hamas ever gets in power. He's a useful idiot Jewboy and they'll chew him up and spit out his bones like all of their other victims.

Anonymous said...

Dear BPOTA:

A very timely and excellent post on the disgusting Marxist circus freak Antony how Lowenstein can he go? All the way baby!

I recently posted the following on his bog, but it big 'effing surprise, never appeared! Shocked, eh? Nope. All the very best, you crazy diamond. Colonel Neville.

http://antonyloewenstein.com/blog/2009/01/24/the-bias-is-very-clear/

"Dear Tony Baloney:

How ironic a title: "The bias is very clear".

Hey, a book endorsement by John Pilger. Big as they say, ‘effing surprise. Oh the irony yet again.

An unhinged Marxist circus geek pal of Hamass and Jew hater, with zero journalistic credibility whatsoever, gives a worthless and laughable "endorsement" to er, you!

Fantastic and worthy of Python or Derek and Clive.

Gee, just what all the great empirical best sellers attract and need. A John Pillock blurb. Everything he says is a blurb. I'm sure your book, like all Leftard agitprop and trope tracts, will be a HUGE seller. Er, no.

A good word from Pilchard is like the first signs of the plague...

"Run away! It's diseased!"

Or like one's grossly deluded and senile Grandmother saying your taste in music and clothes are swell.

Pillhead is now soooo crazy a deluded, hyperbole sodden Marxist bore, that he apparently can't even get published in The Age etc. Hahahaha! Yuk.

Ya know, it's hard to tell how much of a pro-Islamic terrorist, Leftard Marxist asshat and talentless creep some people are. My guess is that some folks may have taken it all the way, baby.

Odd that I, a non-Jew, love Israel and the Jewish people more than perhaps golly, somebody seemingly ever will. Congrats. You appear to be in the running to win self-loather of the year. Five stars.

Are you mad or just a sane phony? Hilarious then.

And they even pay some people for this?

I mean not just fellow Marxist freaks and Hamass fans, and what for? Check. Apparently there must be a real shortage of treasonous Leftard terror apologist’s and Hamass licking crawlers, eh?

I hadn’t noticed, but whatever. Just asking an’ all. Great work if one can get it. Bravo. Encore.

Colonel Neville".

Anonymous said...

The Joke is on Aussie Comedian Max Gilles who married Louise Adler [ obviously not for her looks] Adler a perfect example of a self hating Jew.

Adler likened self confessed Jew hater, Muslim convert , Islamic freedom fighter and Australian favorite Muslim son [ after Waleeed Aly ] David Hicks to Nelson Manedlla .She is desperate to make money out of al' Hicks by publishing his book. Adler likes to make money out of people that hate Jews and Israelis like her newest best est friend Antony Loewenswine she published his book.

No doubt when Usama Bin Ladden is ready to have his anti semetic views published Adler will be first in line with her Cheque book.

Faygale.

Anonymous said...

Ah it doesn't get any better the Colonel http://colonelrobertneville.blogspot.com
and Wilbur what a fantastic tag team!

Anonymous said...

Lowenstein knows full well what he's doing - he's modeled himself on Chomsky/Pilger/Finkelstein and knows that the more he panders to his audience the more loot he makes.

Wilbur Post said...

Enjoy your work Colonel Neville.

Wilbur Post said...

Robert Magid in the SMH letters section 18/3/2009

We won't gag Israeli critic, but we won't promote him

Your editorial "With friends like these" (March 13) refers to the decision of the Australian Jewish News to refuse an advertisement promoting the speaking tour of an Israeli academic, Jeff Halper.

It says I pulled the ad because I didn't like the promoters. This suggests an impulsive decision, which was not the case - and not the way it was presented to your correspondent during a long interview.

Do publishers have the right to pull an advertisement they find objectionable? This is easily answered. Would the Herald advertise a symposium of racists, a homophobic convention or a lecture promoting female genital mutilation? How about apologists for the Bali bombing?

So what was so offensive about the ad in question? A leading promoter of Halper's tour, Antony Loewenstein, spoke at a demonstration in Sydney on January 18. The audience included people carrying Israeli flags with swastikas replacing the star of David. Anyone willing to speak before a crowd that is carrying swastikas is, as far as I'm concerned, beyond the pale. That this person is Jewish is unforgivable.

Some in the crowd carried the flags of terrorist organisations. Others chanted: "Look out Jews, the armies of Muhammad will seek their revenge." We are no longer talking about Israel or Palestine; we are talking about threatening violence against Jews. Should a Jewish paper offer its pages to someone welcomed by such a crowd?

I am unaware whether terrorist-supporting crowds have favourably received Professor Halper, but I know he has repeatedly called for Israel to be dissolved as a Jewish state. Why the Australian Jewish News is considered obliged to promote such a speaker is beyond me, especially since Australian Jews solidly support the maintenance of Israel's Jewish nature.

This has nothing to do with suppressing debate. Professor Halper is speaking in Australian universities, town halls and even Parliament. The AJN is not trying to stop him, but nor does it feel compelled to promote him.

As you state, Israel "contains many political parties with a wide spectrum of views". The Australian Jewish community is equally healthy and those interested in rational, honest reports and opinions of every hue will find them in the Australian Jewish News.

Robert Magid publisher, Australian Jewish News, Surry Hills

And Ashley Browne in Crikry

http://www.crikey.com.au/Your-Say/20090313-Comments-corrections-clarifications-and-cckups.html

Ashley Browne, National Editor, Australian Jewish News, writes: Re. "The peace activist the Jewish News rejects" (yesterday, item 13). Having Anthony Loewenstein report on the affairs of the Australian Jewish community is a bit like having Joffa report on the Carlton Football Club. Lots of bias, a bit of hatred and little intellectual rigour.

I can help you find plenty more creditable commentators on our community, with a similar ideological bent to your otherwise excellent band of commentators.

Philip Mendes or Mark Baker from Monash would do the job, for starters.