Saturday, January 15, 2011

MARRICKVILLE MAULED

The decision last month of the Greens Party-controlled Marrickville Council to "boycott all goods made in Israel and any sporting, academic, government or cultural exchanges" demonstrates nothing less than the sheer ignorance of the councillors who voted in its favour. 

This You Tube interview conjures up the imagery I have in my mind of how these fools conduct themselves and demonstrates unbridled abuse of the power they were given to run the municipality when elected:- 


Federal Parliamentarian Anthony Albanese (ALP), who established the parliamentary Friends of Palestine group and was its founding secretary disapproves of the  boycott and explained why in yesterday's Australian Boycott of Israel is beyond the pale.
Philip Mendes, in a letter in the same edition of the Australian explains why any  boycott of Israelis alone is discriminatory. 
Discriminatory given that it is based on an ethnic stereotyping of all Israelis as evil, and is implicitly if not explicitly racist ("Council boycott of Israel 'self-indulgent' ", 13/1).

It is only fascists and xenophobes who classify whole peoples as inherently bad or inferior.

The experience of Britain's University and College Union, whose boycott was dropped on legal advice in September 2007, confirms that boycotts lead to a demonisation of those who support Israel's right to exist.

The key boycotters are not internationalist advocates of Israeli-Palestinian peace and reconciliation but unconditional supporters of Palestinian nationalism. They favour the dissolution of Israel and its replacement with an exclusivist ethno-religious Arab/Islamic state of Greater Palestine.

Apparently the ratepayers of Marrickville who weren't consulted aren't particularly impressed by this and countless other examples of councillors not doing properly what they were elected to do.

And this letter in today's edition of the Oz:-
JUST yesterday, I visited a Bedouin town called Rahat in southern Israel.

This town has about 50,000 residents who work hard at building a strong future for themselves. Part of this future is in education and making sure every child achieves matriculation.

Many local industries are co-owned by Jewish and Muslim Israelis.

Boycotting of goods and services from Rahat by my local council will hurt those people who live in communities such as this, who work to make sure their children can enjoy all their parents have worked for.

This action is contrary to Marrickville's well recognised and respected multicultural ethic and instead says to me, as an indigenous woman of Australia, that we are qualified and validated to pass judgment and sanction upon indigenous peoples of another country.
Lisa Jackson Pulver, Enmore, NSW

FOOTNOTE:

According to a report in the Australian Jewish News by Joshua Levi and Gareth Narunsky (24 December 2010)

"Marrickville Mayor Fiona Byrne said that while she was not au fait with the situation in the Middle East, the policy was important. 'I don’t know the full ins and outs of the situation because I’m not an expert, but I support a peaceful solution, two-states or otherwise,' Counciller Byrne said. 'Unless people start to take some action, whether economic or cultural, to put some pressure, then we can’t achieve any kind of change'"

Is this person for real?

She admits she is "not au fait with the situation" and that she doesn’t know the full ins and outs of the situation because she is not an expert and then votes to go with a boycott of a sovereign nation and its people which is designed to delegitimize and ultimately destroy that nation and she does this in the setting of a local council chamber.

Could someone please supply a straight jacket preferably not manufactured Israel so that this person can be appropriately dealt with?

18 comments:

Theo X said...

The Greens have demonstrated by this action in Marrickville that they simply can't be trusted. They were elected to facilitate the provision of services for the district and not to make partisan political decisions on matters of international relations. They did not consult with the community.

One of the Greens councillors who supported the move is standing for a seat in the coming state elections. Voters should be aware of the way she has conducted herself in the Grand Duchy of Marrickville.

Anonymous said...

Twin city status with Bethlehem where the Moslems have chased out the Christians in the short space of a little over a decade. Do the councillors get to rort the coffers for a few jaunts over there to inspect local government corruption at close quarters or don't they need to travel that far?

Anonymous said...

This has been taken from a comment on J-Wire at http://www.jwire.com.au/news/marrickville-council-and-its-israel-boycott/14268 by a poster named Lilith who said on January 12, 2011 at 11:00 am -

“Tonight on ABC news, Marrickville Council’s Mayor, Fiona Byrnes reported that Marrickville Council voted to boycott Israel “because the community told” her that’s what they wanted.”

Fiona Byrnes is not telling the truth. Many complaints have now been lodged with the ABC, who hopefully will be interviewing at least a few of them.

I am part of the group that raised the petition and we are in consultation with many rate payers in the Marrickville Municipality. You may be interested to know that most are not Jewish. I am

There are a number of avenues available for us to approach this situation. We probably need legal help and we don’t have the money available..so if anyone knows of a solicitor, who would like take on some pro bono work, we would be very happy to accept.

I have a very ‘nice’ email from Vic Macri, who is one of the Councillors who opposed the Motion. He agrees with the sentiments of the silent majority on this issue and has offered to help in any way he can.

We had received some very rude and quite insulting emails from “the 10”, including Cathy Peters, who is Jewish. They all claim not to be antisemitic, but their very actions show otherwise.

** Critics who habitually single out Israel for condemnation, while ignoring far worse actions by other countries (especially other Middle Eastern countries) are anti-Semitic.**

Peters said the following in approximately 30 emails

“The resolution was not related to Jewish people at all but rather the actions of the Israeli state.”…. antisemitic

“”I have taken your comments on board and understand that you are part of a strong lobby group that continues to use the holocaust to justify the illegal, unjust and undemocratic actions of the Israeli government”..antisemitic

As per the norm. It’s the noisy minority of ‘loony lefties’ who get their way, because others are too quiet to speak for themselves.

Should anyone wish to contact me, J-Wire has my permission to pass on my Gmail address they have on my registration."

Why am I not surprised to find a "Finkler" in there among these despicable councilors and why am I not surprised that the "Finkler" carries the same delusional pathology as her fellows so aptly described by Howard Jacobson in his recent award winning book The Finkler Question?

Anonymous said...

Marricklville has a large Muslim population as we have seen around the world governments and councils are pandering to them. The best way to pander to Muslims is to Bash Israel .


Just like around the globe we have seen how Muslims intimidate the locals to accommodate their ways, politically and socially this is what we can expect.

Unlike other religious and ethnic minorities Muslims do not want to assimilate and accept their host countries traditions and customs.

We have seen how Sydney and in particularly Lakemba has become a Muslim enclave which no Jew wearing a Kippa would dare enter.
Unfortunately the Muslims have powerful allies these include the traditional anti - Semites, the Left, academics and Trade Unions.

What we see now in Holland, France, UK and Germany we can expect here in Australia.

Gulliver-on-tour said...

Has anyone mentioned that Bethlehem's minicipal council is controlled by Hamas?

What was that saying about birds of a feather?

Anonymous said...

Fiona Byrne is the Greens candidate standing for election in the NSW seat of Marrickville in March.

Following this episode she needn't make any policy speeches since they'd be completely worthless. If you want to know her policies then google Hamas Covenant.

L D Bronstein said...

You stupid Zionist scum.Nothing will prevent the united front against the evil occupation.The merger of Hamas and the Greens will spread from Marrickville where we smoke funny cigaretten to Pyongyang and onward to the revolution...

Anonymous said...

The boycott bluff: trading to good neighbourly relations by David Frankfurter
http://dfrankfurter.livejournal.com/123187.html

by David Frankfurter

The Middle East is full of contradictions.  It’s hard to know what’s real and what’s bluff. If you call the wrong bluff, you can end up blown to pieces. And if you miss a real opportunity, you can end up a real sucker.

“Peace activists” attack with knives and rocks. “Human Rights” groups willfully ignore the persecution of Christians.  “War crimes” are attributed to self defense, but not to shooting children or pregnant mothers at point blank range.  Judges condemn protection of civilian populations while ignoring the use of private homes, mosques, schools and hospitals as shields for military operations.  Israel is accused of being an apartheid state, even though its minorities can live anywhere, are entitled to all the rights of the mainstream population, and are represented in parliament, in the judiciary and all walks of life.  But when Palestinian President Abbas territories says "I will never allow a single Israeli to live among us on Palestinian land" and when selling land to a Jew is punishable by death, no-one even blinks.

But what about the hypocrisy of the tidal wave of delegitimization tactics aimed at Israel, by people who want to fully exploit the benefit of their contact with the Jewish state?

We are asked to shun Israeli academics and universities by a boycott movement headed by Omar Barghouti - who studies for his doctorate at Tel Aviv University.  The same Palestinian Authority that asks the world not to buy produce from "settlements" approves tens of thousands of its citizens to work in those communities. Building them is an obstruction to the peace process - while the PA sends the construction workers to do the work. (continued)

Anonymous said...

The boycott bluff: trading to good neighbourly relations by David Frankfurter
http://dfrankfurter.livejournal.com/123187.html

by David Frankfurter (continued)

So while you are being asked to deprive yourself of the unique know-how and innovation that has brought so many Israeli inventions in every field to the world, and won Israelis and Jews such a disproportionate number of Nobel and other prizes, consider the following.

In March of this year, the hugely innovative Israeli agricultural industry will hold its annual showcase event - the AgroMashov - at which hundreds of Israeli companies will present their unique achievements.  Israel has long been known as an agricultural innovator.  A well known example is drip irrigation systems, which were developed here, and are now exported everywhere.  The organizers invited me to join a preview tour to some of the exhibitors, where I saw

a farm which had developed a unique strain of pitaya fruit,
leading edge bull sperm collection techniques (did you know that 98% of cattle were born via artificial insemination?),
the way the Hebrew University researches the best vegetation to plant in hot climate with little water,
a bee farm developing new (and surprisingly tasty!) health products,
a nursery applying modern inventory management techniques to factories around the globe supplying fresh spices, flowers and other plants to supermarkets and other outlets,
new packaging techniques for vegetables,
and more.
From this little taste, I could understand why visitors would come from all around the globe to learn, to share, to form relationships and to shop. But farmers are not the only ones who ignore anti-Israel boycott attempts.  The Palestinians won't deprive themselves of the opportunity.  As in every year, Palestinian farmers and industry representatives will be there in force.  Around 200 have already registered.  Not only that, but a large pavilion will hold exhibits specifically of Palestinian produce and farm machinery produced in the West Bank. And the delegation will be led by Palestinian Agriculture Minister, Dr. Ismail Daak.

This spirit of mutual dialogue, cooperation and trade, which is so essential if we are ever to see peace, is happening outside the spotlight of politics, and without the destructive grandstanding and double-talk of the boycott nonsense.  It is not just happening in agriculture.  The jewelry industry is another example of co-existence.  In July, the annual Jovella jewelery exhibition will be held in Tel Aviv.  For the last four years, the Peres Center for Peace has organized delegations from the West Bank to come and visit Jovella.  Last year they brought 44 delegates - and another 20 Palestinians just turned up under their own steam.

So is it a bluff? And if you are a farmer or in the jewelery industry, will you lose out by listening to the anti-Israel "human rights activists" who urge you to boycott Israeli products and exhibitions, while the Palestinians are attending? Confused? Welcome to the Middle East, where real life is rarely as reported in the main stream media. 

Anonymous said...

L D Bronstein said...

You stupid Zionist scum.Nothing will prevent the united front against the evil occupation.The merger of Hamas and the Greens will spread from Marrickville where we smoke funny cigaretten to Pyongyang and onward to the revolution...


THIS IS THE TYPE OF LOOSER THAT SUPPORT THE PALESTINIANS AND PROBABLY THE TYPE THAT LIVE IN AL' MARRIKVILLE...

L D Bronstein said...

Boom.Tish

Anonymous said...

Hey Bronstein, is your Greens/Hamas alliance going to repair potholes and remove grafitti from Marrickville?

Anonymous said...

Boom.Tish ???? Huh

Is that trotskyist, Arabic or Marrickvilist?

Whispering_Jack said...

Well, at least the Greens candidate for Marrickville has admitted her ignorance which probably explains why her council reached such a divisive and damaging conclusion as to support the partisan BDS movement whose leading lights have admitted their aim is to destroy the Jewish State. However, they not only demonstrate ignorance but you can add hypocrisy there for good measure.

We know the Palestinian instigators of BDS are rank hypocrites (as otherwise surely Omar Barghouti would withdraw from his studies at Tel Aviv University) but why have the Greens abandoned such primary objectives as preserving the environment and encouraging the practice of sustainable agriculture in favour of a particular world view that demonizes Israel for perceived ills, many of which are fictions, and ignores the failings of Arab society?

Israel leads the world in ecology and preservation of the environment. Beside it, archaic Palestinian agricultural systems are spoiling the land and poisoning the water systems. The corrupt practices of the PA and Hamas (particularly at levels about which these local government practitioners should be interested but apparently are not) are damaging their infrastructures. 

It seems that these councillors neither know nor care that only by co-operation between Israelis and Palestinians will the two peoples be able to resolve the many issues that affect the environment and their ways of living. This goes all the way up to the difficult question of how they can make peace with each other.

The Green controlled Marrickville Council, by supporting BDS which vetoes any sort of contact let alone mutual co-operation between Israel and Palestine has therefore abandoned its basic principles in favour of a process which will frustrate hopes for peace, encourage more hatred and vilification in the region and consign Jews and Arabs to a dismal future of inevitable and continued conflict.

If this is how the Greens operate, the sooner the party is over, the better.

L D Bronstein said...

"Hey Bronstein, is your Greens/Hamas alliance going to repair potholes and remove grafitti from Marrickville?"

Anonymous from 7:19 PM

The day when theGreens andHamas merge will be one of glory for the workers and for Islam in Marrickville.we will celebrate by firing kassams across the municipal borders into the evil zionist CBD of Sydney but don't worry, kassams are only home made missiles&no less or more harmful than icepicks.then we will erect giant posters of Khalid Mishal, Yassir Arafat, Paul McGeough and myself to cover the graffitis.the potholes is a big Amerikan ZOG lie.We don't smoke much pot at all inMarrickville.well just a little but only in council meetings.kapish!!!!!!!

Twitter said...

Anonymous 8:07.

I think when L D Bronstein says Boom. Tish it means that he or she has been taking the mikey.

L D is very funny.

Anonymous said...

Good cartoon.

Anonymous said...

Just in case these Greens think they're doing Palestinians a favour by giving succor to Hamas, this is one picture of how Hamas treats its own.

GAZA — Hamas police and supporters on Monday beat a number of professors and students of Al Azhar University, the last bastion of Fatah in Gaza, wounding several, witnesses said. Hamas denied it had acted improperly and said the police restored order. The students and staff were protesting a rally that Hamas insisted on holding inside the university campus in memory of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the founder of the militant Islamic group who was killed in an Israeli air strike in March 2004.
Al Azhar University has continued to operate, despite having been raided five times since Hamas routed rival Fatah forces and took control of Gaza last June.
Before dawn on Monday, Hamas activists entered the compound and set up equipment for the rally, hanging pictures of Hamas leaders and Hamas flags. When members of the academic staff protested outside, Hamas police beat them with clubs, said Ayman Shaheen, a professor of political science. Mr. Shaheen said he was hit twice.
“All they know is the language of force,” Mr. Shaheen said of Hamas. “We try to talk to them but they don’t listen.”
A number of female students were then attacked at the rally by participants who mostly came from outside, many armed with clubs, witnesses said. Tahrir Abu Latifa, 19, a student of commerce, was taken to Gaza’s main Al Shifa Hospital unconscious but was able to leave a few hours later.

Another woman, Riham Abu Arrus, was struck in the leg with an ax, according to friends who accompanied her to hospital. Ms. Abu Arrus was first taken to Gaza’s main Al Shifa hospital, which is now under Hamas control, but was refused immediate treatment, the friends said. Most of the wounded were treated at the private Ahli Arab Hospital.