Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Fairfax soft on Hamas, Nasty and Vicious on Israel

The Melbourne Age demonstrates today why it has become a nasty little joke on the Australian journalistic landscape with today's piece of front page sensationalism - Gillard accused of soft line on Tel Aviv

This is nothing but a vicious attack on Gillard, one that would not be tolerated if the subject matter wasn't about the Age's favourite whipping boys - Israel and the Jews. The piece highlights a letter written to the Sydney Morning Herald by Ross Burns, a former ambassador to Israel who believes Prime Minister Julia Gillard has been too soft on Tel Aviv (by the way Jerusalem is Israel's capital) over the blockade of Gaza which is run by the outlawed terrorist group. Conveniently, neither Burns in his letter nor the Age mention this or the fact that Egypt is also involved in the blockade because of it's own security concerns.    

In his spiteful attack, Burns raises "the propriety of Ms Gillard's partner, Tim Mathieson, being employed as a real estate salesman by the founder of the Australia Israel Forum, Melbourne property developer Albert Dadon." The article also cites the fact that Burns is supported by another former Australian ambassador to Israel, Peter Rodgers.

Mathieson's business connections with Dadon are no secret. They are matters which he has fully disclosed in the past. But non disclosure only seems to matter when the boot's on one foot. There is no attempt on the part of the Age to disclose the fact that, for a number of years, both Burns and Rodgers have shown sympathy to the Arab cause. Burns writes books (admittedly very boring books) about Arab culture. Indeed, it's fair to call both of them "Palestinian lobbyists" and this background information would be invaluable to Age readers in assessing their views on an article in which they attack the so-called "Israel lobby" or the "Jewish lobby". But the Age keeps it readers in the dark about the past association of both gentlemen with the Palestinian propaganda machine, of which the Age itself has chosen to be part with its one sided approach to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

The Age newspaper has for years turned the other cheek to the excesses of Palestinian terror. We rarely read about Hamas thuggery, its genocidal charter and its avowed policy to destroy Israel, it's treatment of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and its dreadful psychological warfare against his family. Nor do we hear much about incitement to violence against Jews in Palestine Authority media. When Hamas attacks mosques and kills dozens of worshippers, steals food from its own people and burns down school camps, the stories somehow miss the pages of this newspaper.

What we do get is bias dressed up as reporting from the likes of Paul McGeough who did a hatchet job on the Jewish State with his "insider's" view on the fraudulent Gaza flotilla which somehow missed the fact that the violence was initiated by Jihadist IHH activists on board on of the ships. Pity about the clear film of the mob attacking Israeli soldiers as they boarded the Mavi Marmara and even more so about the vision of the so-called "peace activists" throwing an Israeli overboard. McGeough could only retell a tale from a fellow traveller of throwing weapons overboard. The human being tossed over the deck was conveniently forgotten like so much of the truth about the excesses of terrorists in this region whose nefarious activities are airbrushed out of existence in the cause of producing sketches of a Palestine that doesn't really exist.

We know that the Age is not reticent about telling stories of Islamic Jihadists because this appeard in its papers last week - Hanging of eight-year-old turns many against Taliban. What chance is there that such a story would have appeared in the Age had the perpetrators been from Taliban's sister organisation, Hamas?

I can tell you the answer - absolutely nil because Fairfax and the Age are soft on Hamas.       

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bill Landeryou has also picked up on the attack.

http://www.vexnews.com/news/9866/anti-semitism-the-age-sinks-to-new-low-in-bizarre-front-page-attack-on-jewish-businessman/
ANTI-SEMITISM: The Age sinks to new low in bizarre front-page attack on Jewish businessman
By VEXNEWS June 29, 2010

Anonymous said...

This statement has been issued by Michael Danby who was mentioned in today's Age anti-Israel rant:

Age anti-Israel Innuendo
It is regrettable that The Age elevated the innuendo of Ross Burns, Australia’s former Ambassador to Syria to it’s front page. You may well ask why a letter to editor was published on the front page of the newspaper. Our new Prime Minister, Julia Gillard was unfazed by Melbourne ABC compere, John Faine when asked about her “pro-Israel” views. This is what she told him:
FAINE: Do you have a conflict of interest with your partner Tim Mathieson working for Albert Dadon and the Ubertas group which is one of the key lobbyists for the pro-Israel side of the Middle East debate in Australia, and a former Ambassador to the Middle-East writes a letter to the Fairfax newspapers today saying that you don’t criticise Israel because of those connections.
PM: Look I’ve seen that letter to the newspapers and of course that is not right. I’ve made up my own views about Israel and made them publicly known well before there was any suggestion that my partner would work in a property group associated with Mr Dadon.
Indeed the statements that got national attention here and some criticism about were the statements I made at the time of the Gaza conflict when I was Acting Prime Minister which was of course well before there was any suggestion that my partner would be employed in this way. So - simply not an accurate recording of history Jon, and not an accurate recording of how I’ve formed my views.
FAINE: Will Tim Mathieson continue to work for the Ubertas Group?
PM: Well, you know, Tim’s his own person with his own life, with his own job. I of course have taken advice, I took it at the time that Tim first took that job, to make sure that, you know, I don’t sit at a Cabinet table or make a decision that would be inappropriate given that he’s employed in that way and I’ve made all of the necessary declarations and disclosures.
You know Jon, I think maybe me sitting in this chair talking to you today as Prime Minister is saying very visibly to the nation we’re in a bit of a different age. Kevin obviously was an example of that, Kevin was the first Prime Minister as I understand it, to have a partner with her own career and a formidable and successful career it is.
Now of course I’m the first woman, I’m obviously the first person to have a male partner, he’s got his own career and own job and I hope that people would understand that, that he’s got a right to live his life too.
Of course The Age tried to rope me in it’s front page article:
“Mr Dadon is close to prominent pro-Israel Labor MP Michael Danby, who was influential last week in the coup that installed Ms Gillard as Prime Minister”.
As far as I’m concerned, “the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die”.
Thank you for your ongoing support, and I will continue to strongly represent our mutual interests in the National Parliament. Standing up for convictions that transcend politics does not always make me a popular guy, but as you know, after a decade in office, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Warm regards
Michael Danby

Anonymous said...

I wonder if Burns or the Age would sponsor this garbage -

Anti-Israel television for children 

The Birds of Paradise band has released a new song in which children express their desire to be shaheeds (martyrs).
 
The song, sung by young children on the Birds of Paradise television channel, includes the lyrics, "When we die as shaheeds we'll go to paradise. No, don't say we're young. This life has made us old. Without Palestine, what significance is there to our lives? Even if they give us the whole world, we'll never forget her (Palestine)."

Anonymous said...

Whilst it's not necessarily anti-Semitism to criticise Israel, the debate always dredges up the most loathesome creatures imaginable. On the Vex News story there's an Adrian Jackson, red neck Jew hater, crowing on about Israel. McGeough is one too. That article of his on the flotilla was pure venom and hatred blindly ignoring the facts and accepting the word of the provocateurs.

It's a dark day for Fairfax!

Charles Green said...

Burns was not only Ambassador to "Tel Aviv". He was also assigned elsewhere during his career, including to Syria and Lebanon which are both in a state of war with Israel. Syria's reputation as a rogue state which supplies weapons to Hezbollah, Hamas and insurgents fighting our troops in Irak is pretty well known but I wonder why the Age omitted to avail its readers of these facts.

Anonymous said...

Charles. No need to wonder. These people are part of the Palestine lobby.