FALLOUT

The news is full of the Passportgate Affair and it's interesting to observe how it's being treated by the media. Officially, the government is following all of the normal protocols in such situations including the calling in of the Israeli ambassador, talking the hard talk and banging on about the integrity of our passports.

The media has found Israel guilty as it usually does and even those who normally support Israel are expressing annoyance. Never mind that Australia is part of the alliance in Afghanistan that is wiping out Taliban members in their droves along with ordinary rank and file civilians as a result of "blunders" by its soldiers. No guilt, no war crimes there, just look away please.

On the other hand, the Australian street is full of admiration for whoever perpetrated the act of wiping out el-Mabhouh who is seen as "a scumbag terrorist". Listen to the talkback callers who say Israel has no case to answer and our Jewish community does not have to respond to the cacophony of accusations. Andrew Landeryou who might not be to everyone's liking but he does talk straight on this issue in his Vex News and has it nailed to the wall - USE MY PASSPORT: Hamas mass murderer got what he deserved, all else is trivia.

CAN WE STOP THIS TRIVIAL PURSUIT?

And in this case where the allegation – completely unproven – that those responsible for protecting Israeli citizens safe from those whose intentions are the same as Adolf Hitler before them (just not quite as organised) have engaged in a little creative Photoshop and Passport manufacture in order to get their agents in and out of hostile dictatorships, we look at the front-page outrage and we hear the Prime Minister’s Churchillian denunciations and are left saying ‘so what if they did?'

Notwithstanding, when you open up tomorrow's papers you will be confronted with a fairly hefty modicum of Israel bashing, so enjoy it all in the knowledge that whoever did it has disposed of one more mass murdering Jew hater. It's worth reading the product of these shonks knowing that their pathology requires them to vent as often as they can at their traditional targets.

Why does this happen?

Well, I'm not a shrink but this article from Hudson on New York might contain the answer - Fatahgate Fallout: Where are the Media? "Editors Are Not Interested Unless It Has an Anti-Israeli Angle".

When a former senior intelligence officer of the Palestinian Authority's Anti-Corruption Department had a story to tell about corruption within the PA most media outlets were not interested.

Shabaneh, who lives in East Jersualem, Israel, said he decided to break the story to Abu Toameh after most of the Arab and Western journalists, including those at Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya, refused to listen to him. Shabaneh said the journalists cited various reasons, including fear of retribution from the Palestinian Authority; a lack of desire to publish anything that would reflect negatively on the Palestinians; fear of 'losing access,' and, 'Editors are not interested in a story unless it has an anti-Israeli angle.'

Get it?

It boils down to racism and you'll see exactly how it works tomorrow when we witness the true fallout and how the accusations will be directed at a country and a people who might well be implicated but, to date, there is no evidence of guilt on Israel's part.

Tomorrow, the faking of a passport will be the most heinous crime ever committed in the history of mankind and the Israelis will be pronounced guilty in spite of some baffling evidence which points us elsewhere in the search for the wrongdoer. Agents for Hamas and Fatah have been detained in connection with the killing of the would be mass murderer el-Mabhouh who was responsible for the deaths of more Arabs than Jews. Why would an organisation noted for it's skill and efficiency require a cast of plenty to execute a lone man without bodyguards? Why would the Mossad escape through Iran? Why has the Dubai police chief suddenly gone off on a pilgramage to Mecca and why did his police force allow a known terrorist to go around Dubai on a false passport whilst involved in weapons trading.

Why indeed!