Thursday, September 29, 2011

PROOF ...

... that we have at least one idiot sitting in the Senate

Ben Fordham interviews Green’s Senator Lee Rhiannon on …

http://www.2gb.com/index2.php?option=com_newsmanager&task=view&id=9951

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Getting It Right

The Palestinian propaganda machine has worked overtime recently with the objective of legitimising the claim of the Jewish people to their homeland. The most effect weapon of the propagandists is the lie. Many lies are told Goebells style about both the past and the present to willingly believing audiences by the machine and its supporters distorting history as well as current events. The Mavi Marmara lie is one example where we've seen truth and facts distorted by the propagandists and their supporters who do their handiwork in a variety of places including the media and social networks.

Here's an example from Kenneth Lasson in the Baltimore Jewish Times:
Getting It Right

It's not easy to fight hypocrisy and fraud anywhere, much less the Middle Eastern variety.

Several months ago, a Facebook group called "Freedom Will Come to Palestine" published a photograph that appeared to depict an Israeli soldier with his foot on the body of a prone Palestinian girl, a rifle aimed at her head. Readers were urged to "share this photo and let the world see what is really happening."

Although scarcely covered by the international media, the picture predictably provoked a storm of Internet reaction, mostly vituperative responses condemning Israel. Among the milder ones: "I hope the Israelis rot in hell!"

A small Israeli news organization called Tazpit noted that the rifle was a Kalashnikov AK47 assault rifle — not the standard issue M16 and M4 of the Israel Defense Forces. Careful scrutiny disclosed that the soldier's outfit was not an authentic IDF uniform. In short, the photo was a fraud of the kind often perpetrated by the Palestinians — not unlike the infamous al-Dura hoax (the staged "killing" of a young Arab boy caught in "Israeli crossfire" provocatively telecast around the world).

Facebook enables yet another incarnation of the Palestinians' Big Lie Machine to spread incitement against the "ruthless and oppressive Israeli occupiers." Hundreds of pro-Palestinian groups use the social networks so readily accessible in cyberspace to spread false information and encourage violent responses to alleged Israeli "aggression."

Tazpit seeks to combat such fabricated images. Its founder, a young IDF veteran named Amotz Eyal, was originally motivated by the international media's unfair reporting on Israel and what he saw as unfair coverage by the left-wing Israeli press. His group has some 60 volunteers, equipped with still and video cameras, who stand ready to document reporting they consider patently biased against the Jewish state and expose it by distributing more factual accounts to newspapers and websites.

They also make effective use of YouTube to disseminate footage of everything from environmental infractions and life-threatening traffic violations on West Bank roads to more outrageous offenses — such as their video evidence that Arab olive trees claimed to have been cut down by settlers were in fact purposefully destroyed by Palestinians.

Tazpit is but the latest in a line of committed, underfunded grassroots groups combating Palestinian propaganda, which is supported by millions of petro-dollars and abetted by biased international media. Others are Americans for a Safe Israel, a political support group for the Jewish communities of Judea, Samaria and the Golan; Stand With Us, aimed largely at campus advocacy; and Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, aimed at promoting "honest fact-based and civil discourse" on Israeli issues.

Better organized but still grossly outspent are the American-based Middle East media monitors CAMERA (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America) and Honest Reporting, which monitors the media for what it perceives as bias against Israel.

All are devoted to getting the facts right, lending a bit of balance to the world's perception of Israel's rightful place in the world of nations.

Kenneth Lasson, a law professor at the University of Baltimore, is a regular contributor to the Baltimore Jewish Times.
http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/opinion/jt/op_ed/getting_it_right1

Monday, September 26, 2011

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas must stop deluding himself

Today's Australian Editorial - - says it all about what is happening with the Palestinian pursuit for independent statehood.

http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Abbas is not the only one prone to delusion. All those who are baying for the creation of a Palestinian State in the absence of peace talks which Abbas is doing his best to avoid are causing inestimable damage to the cause of peace in the region.
Given the lessons of history, Mr Netanyahu can hardly be expected to exercise anything other than the utmost caution. Hamas, which only recently reconciled with Mr Abbas's Fatah movement, doesn't recognise Israel's right to exist. It's hell-bent on its destruction. It has rained down thousands of rockets on Israel. It opposes Mr Abbas's statehood bid, declaring the battle for the liberation of all Palestinian land the first priority. It is willing Mr Abbas to fail so it can capitalise on the Palestinian disillusionment to follow.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

TURKS SEIZE SYRIAN SHIP?

There's a Walkely in the waiting for an enterprising, creative journalist (preferabley from the Fairfax organisation) who can take this story and milk it for all it's worth.

Breaking news from Turkey is that PM Erdogan has seized a Syrian-flagged ship and will intercept any arms shipments headed to Syria - Turkey seizes Syrian ship, announces arms embargo
Speaking to reporters in New York late on Friday where he attended the UN General Assembly, Erdogan said Turkey had stopped a Syrian-flagged ship in Marmara, according to state-run Anatolia News Agency. It did not indicate whether the ship was stopped in the Sea of Marmara or the port of Marmara.

Erdogan did not say when the ship was seized or whether any weapons were found aboard.

"We have already made a decision to stop and prevent any vehicle carrying any type of weapon to Syria. We told them our decision as well as shared it with neighboring countries," Anatolia quoted Erdogan as saying.

This is the same Erdogan who was recent pilloried in the Palmer Report for knowingly allowing IHH terrorists to board the ill fated 2010 Gaza flotilla to confront the Israelis and prevent them from conducting their own embargo on arms suppliers who threatened Israeli citizens.

Erdogan has one law when fellow Muslims are being murdered and a different one altogether when people are targeted because they live in a Jewish State.

Friday, September 23, 2011

AGE OP EDS

From Gerard Henderson' Media wAtch (apparently)

I heard a good joke about The Age recently.

What is the difference between the Age’s op-ed page and the crossword?

ANSWER: You need clues to know what’s in the crossword.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

OBAMA AND ABBAS - TWO VERY DIFFERENT VIEWPOINTS

With thanks to elderofziyon who notes the crucial differences bewteen the viewpoints of Obama and Abbas:

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Bigoted, Dangerous and Shameful

The annual freakshow of bigoted, dangerous and shameful haters were out and about tonight outside Crown Casino. Around fifty or so of these feral losers showed their true colours when they chanted slogans such as "Palestine will be free from the river to the sea" which means they support the racist movement to deny the Jewish people and the Jewish people alone of the right to self-determination. This is a catchcry for those extremists in Palestinian society who not only advocate the denial of and the destruction of Israel but also the genocide of its Jewish inhabitants. Their hatred was palpable as they hissed, screamed and frothed at their mouths resembling the Nazi rallies of the 1930s which seems to be their inspiration.

The irony is that they were demonstrating at a function organised by the Jewish National Fund at which representatives of the nation's two main parties were among the thousand guests who heard a keynote speaker describe how the embattled nation and its people are thriving despite the racist boycotts and the constant warlike threats of their neighbours.

Ironically, the nation's lesser third party which to its shame tolerates, and in some cases supports, the bigoted BDS campaign would no doubt be green with envy to know that Israel is the world's only nation that boasts more trees today than a century ago and that the JNF is a major contributor to a sustantial number of environmental initiatives that are improving the lives of not only Israelis but of its Palestinian neighbours.

At the end of the evening, there was not one demonstrator to be seen. The freaks had gone home to hate another day.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

The UN's tragic failure

This Jerusalem Post Editoria looks at the UN's tragic failure
Today, perhaps more than ever before in history, there is a desperate need for an objective, responsible international body capable of peacefully arbitrating conflicts, enforcing human rights and mitigating the more negative forces of globalization.

The United Nations no longer fills the bill. Rather it panders to the racism of many of its corrupt consituents in the General Assembly where "about 20 anti-Israel resolutions are adopted each year, as opposed to just five or six against other countries."

We live in dark times where irresponsible terrorists are feted and bankrupt regimes are acclaimed at the expense of democracies.

With its automatic majority of human rights violators who condemn the Jewish State and champion the cause of its corrupt leaders, the United Nations is about to throw the Palestinian people under a bus by giving succor to the hatreds of their disgraceful leadership.

Monday, September 19, 2011

THE BLAME GAME

No Apologies: Israel Isn’t to Blame for Its Growing Isolation
If only Israel had apologized to Turkey for killing nine of its nationals on last year’s Gaza flotilla, so the argument goes, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erodgan would not be threatening now to send warships against the Israeli coast. If only Israel had apologized to Egypt for the accidental killing of six of their soldiers when Israeli helicopters entered Egyptian territory in pursuit of terrorists last August, an Egyptian mob wouldn’t have ransacked the Israeli embassy in Cairo, as Egyptian leaders refused to take calls from desperate Israeli leaders. And if only Israel had stopped building in settlements and offered the Palestinians a fair solution, they would not now be turning to the U.N. to substitute an imposed solution for the negotiating process.

This convergence of blame comes at a time of spiritual vulnerability for Jews. This is, after all, our season of contrition. As we approach Rosh Hashanah, the process of self-examination intensifies. And as Jewish tradition emphasizes, the basis for penitence is apology. Before seeking forgiveness from God, we are to seek forgiveness from those we have hurt, even inadvertently.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

MAHMOUD ABBAS - IN HIS OWN WORDS



Does this man act or talk as if he desires peace?

Friday, September 16, 2011

ARAB SPRING SPRINGS A LEAK

The BBCNEWS site tells an everyday tale of anti-Semitism in Cairo which does not bode well for the future of the region.

Relieved that a seemingly random assault was over, I was appalled by the apology offered by one of my assailants. "Sorry," he said contritely, offering his hand, "we thought you were a Jew."

Shaking his head in disbelief on hearing the news, an Egyptian friend sympathised:

"That's stupid, you are obviously not a Jew."

The chilling implication I was left with was that, had I been Jewish, the assault would have apparently been justified.

Nice of the Beeb to even mention the story in this context. I know of one local news outlet that wouldn't touch this.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Nice pay if you can get it.


The man pictured is Abdel Bari Atwan, editor in chief of pan-Arab daily Al Quds al Arabi who often appears on the BBC and CNN.

According to elderof ziyon, Atwan has been a big supporter of terror attacks on Israel.

From Wikipedia:

Speaking about Iran's nuclear capability in an interview on Lebanese television in June 2007, Atwan stated, "If the Iranian missiles strike Israel, by Allah, I will go to Trafalgar Square and dance with delight."In March 2008, Atwan said that the Mercaz HaRav shooting, in which a Palestinian gunmen killed eight students (aged 15 to 26), "was justified." He added that the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva is responsible for "hatching Israeli extremists and fundamentalists" and that the celebrations in Gaza following the attack symbolized "the courage of the Palestinian nation."Atwan described the the attacks on Israelis in Eilat as correcting "the course of the Arab revolutions and refocused them on the most dangerous disease, namely the Israeli tyranny. This disease is the cause of all the defects that have afflicted the region for the past 65 years."

According to The Elder, Arabic media has been reporting that the new Libyan government has released documents showing that Atwan, as well as Jordanian Al-Dostour reporter Khairy Mansour, were being paid by Gaddafi a sum of $3000 every month. Atwan vehemently denies it and is threatening to sue everyone who makes these accusations.

Good to know if you ever come across this scumbucket on your television screen.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

PALESTINE AUTHORITY DEMANDS APARTHEID

Haaretz Headline:

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Sunday, September 11, 2011

LATEST LATMA FUN

Friday, September 09, 2011

BDS LUDICROUS AND RACIST

The Australian newspaper leads the way in exposing the racism of the BDS movement

Unionist slams 'ludicrous and racist' anti-Israel drive

THE anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign has been dismissed by one of Victoria's most senior unionists as potentially racist, ludicrous and a recipe for a civil war in the Middle East.

In a scathing critique of the campaign, Victorian Trades Hall Council assistant secretary David Cragg warned the union leadership of the flaws in the logic and integrity of the BDS strategy.

Mr Cragg also reminded his colleagues of the "totally repugnant history" of boycotting Jewish businesses, and questioned the comparison of Israel with apartheid South Africa.

"If the strategic goal of BDS is not just to end the settlements in the West Bank but to change the demographic composition of Israel, it is clearly a racist and frankly ludicrous enterprise at odds with the global consensus, which has always recognised Israel's right to exist specifically as the state of the Jewish people legitimately created under international law and the UN Charter," he said.

Thursday, September 08, 2011

TALKING TURKEY

Yaacov Kirschen from Dry Bones Blog brings us another fantastic piece - this time on Turkey and its duplicitous leadership which is trying to bully its way to a fight with the Israelis.

It's a fight he won't win.

Tuesday, September 06, 2011

A Scottish Professor responds to the haters

A Scottish professor responds to campus boycott. The Edinburgh Student's Association made a motion to boycott all things Israeli since they claim Israel is under an apartheid regime. Dr. Denis Maceoin (a non-Jew) is an expert in Middle Eastern affairs. Here is his letter to those students.

Dr. Denis MacEoin is a senior editor of the Middle East Quarterly.

TO: The Committee Edinburgh University Student Association.

May I be permitted to say a few words to members of the EUSA? I am an Edinburgh graduate (MA 1975) who studied Persian, Arabic and Islamic History in Buccleuch Place under William Montgomery Watt and Laurence Elwell Sutton, two of Britain's great Middle East experts in their day.

I later went on to do a PhD at Cambridge and to teach Arabic and Islamic Studies at Newcastle University. Naturally, I am the author of several books and hundreds of articles in this field. I say all that to show that I am well informed in Middle Eastern affairs and that, for that reason, I am shocked and disheartened by the EUSA motion and vote.

I am shocked for a simple reason: there is not and has never been a system of apartheid in Israel. That is not my opinion, that is fact that can be tested against reality by any Edinburgh student, should he or she choose to visit Israel to see for themselves. Let me spell this out, since I have the impression that those members of EUSA who voted for this motion are absolutely clueless in matters concerning Israel,
and that they are, in all likelihood, the victims of extremely biased propaganda coming from the anti-Israel lobby.

Being anti-Israel is not in itself objectionable. But I'm not talking about ordinary criticism of Israel. I'm speaking of a hatred that permits itself no boundaries in the lies and myths it pours out. Thus, Israel is repeatedly referred to as a "Nazi" state. In what sense is this true, even as a metaphor? Where are the Israeli concentration camps? The einzatsgruppen? The SS? The Nuremberg Laws? The Final Solution? None of these things nor anything remotely resembling them exists in Israel, precisely because the Jews, more than anyone on earth, understand what Nazism stood for.

It is claimed that there has been an Israeli Holocaust in Gaza (or elsewhere). Where? When? No honest historian would treat that claim with anything but the contempt it deserves. But calling Jews Nazis and saying they have committed a Holocaust is as basic a way to subvert historical fact as anything I can think of.

Likewise apartheid. For apartheid to exist, there would have to be a situation that closely resembled how things were in South Africa under the apartheid regime. Unfortunately for those who believe this, a weekend in any part of Israel would be enough to show how ridiculous the claim is.

That a body of university students actually fell for this and voted on it is a sad comment on the state of modern education. The most obvious focus for apartheid would be the country's 20% Arab population. Under Israeli law, Arab Israelis have exactly the same rights as Jews or anyone else; Muslims have the same rights as Jews or Christians; Baha'is, severely persecuted in Iran, flourish in Israel, where they have their world center; Ahmadi Muslims, severely persecuted in Pakistan and elsewhere, are kept safe by Israel; the holy places of all religions are protected under a specific Israeli law. Arabs form 20% of the university population (an exact echo of their percentage in the general population).

In Iran, the Bahai's (the largest religious minority) are forbidden to study in any university or to run their own universities: why aren't your members boycotting Iran? Arabs in Israel can go anywhere they want, unlike blacks in apartheid South Africa. They use public transport, they eat in restaurants, they go to swimming pools, they use libraries, they go to cinemas alongside Jews - something no blacks were able to do in South Africa.

Israeli hospitals not only treat Jews and Arabs, they also treat Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank. On the same wards, in the same operating theatres.

In Israel, women have the same rights as men: there is no gender apartheid. Gay men and women face no restrictions, and Palestinian gays often escape into Israel, knowing they may be killed at home.

It seems bizarre to me that LGBT groups call for a boycott of Israel and say nothing about countries like Iran, where gay men are hanged or stoned to death. That illustrates a mindset that beggars belief.

Intelligent students thinking it's better to be silent about regimes that kill gay people, but good to condemn the only country in the Middle East that rescues and protects gay people. Is that supposed to be a sick joke?

University is supposed to be about learning to use your brain, to think rationally, to examine evidence, to reach conclusions based on solid evidence, to compare sources, to weigh up one view against one or more others. If the best Edinburgh can now produce are students who have no idea how to do any of these things, then the future is bleak.

I do not object to well-documented criticism of Israel. I do object when supposedly intelligent people single the Jewish state out above states that are horrific in their treatment of their populations. We are going through the biggest upheaval in the Middle East since the 7th and 8th centuries, and it's clear that Arabs and Iranians are rebelling against terrifying regimes that fight back by killing their own citizens.

Israeli citizens, Jews and Arabs alike, do not rebel (though they are free to protest). Yet Edinburgh students mount no demonstrations and call for no boycotts against Libya, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Iran. They prefer to make false accusations against one of the world's freest countries, the only country in the Middle East that has taken in Darfur refugees, the only country in the Middle East that gives refuge to gay men and women, the only country in the Middle East that protects the Bahai's.... Need I go on?

The imbalance is perceptible, and it sheds no credit on anyone who voted for this boycott. I ask you to show some common sense. Get information from the Israeli embassy. Ask for some speakers. Listen to more than one side. Do not make your minds up until you have given a fair hearing to both parties. You have a duty to your students, and that is to protect them from one-sided argument.

They are not at university to be propagandized. And they are certainly not there to be tricked into anti-Semitism by punishing one country among all the countries of the world, which happens to be the only Jewish state. If there had been a single Jewish state in the 1930's (which, sadly, there was not), don't you think Adolf Hitler would have decided to boycott it?

Your generation has a duty to ensure that the perennial racism of anti-Semitism never sets down roots among you. Today, however, there are clear signs that it has done so and is putting down more. You have a chance to avert a very great evil, simply by using reason and a sense of fair play. Please tell me that this makes sense. I have given you some of the evidence. It's up to you to find out more.

Yours sincerely,
Denis MacEoin

Sunday, September 04, 2011

A RARE VOICE OF SANITY IN THE AGE

From Stephen Pollard - Whiff of Weimar on a summer night at the Proms

Now watch out for letters from the apologists.

Friday, September 02, 2011

STEALING WATER ... STEALING THE TRUTH

The devastating truth about water and Palestinian statehood

The stubborn refusal to work with Israel on mutual interests like improvement of the water infrastructure, and the way the PA subsequently uses that lack of improvement to demonize Israel, prove that the PA is not interested in the two-state solution, or peace.

Thursday, September 01, 2011

Who's "Right-Wing?"

This excellent article by Barry Rubin comes from the MIDDLE EAST REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS (MERIA) JOURNAL #3

Who's "Right-Wing?" by Barry Rubin

An AFP dispatch about the firing of Larry Derfner has been published widely throughout the world. It mentions correctly that I defended Derfner's right to free speech and said he should not have been fired.

There are two points in the article, however, I would like to challenge. First, is the description of me as "right-wing" and found it surprising that I defended Derfner.

I reject that entirely. There is more of a choice in politics today--I hope--than being either "left-wing" or "right-wing." As I have repeatedly made clear, I am more accurately described as a traditional liberal in American terminology and as a moderate social democrat in European or Israeli terminology. Since I was a parliamentary candidate in the last Israeli election of a social democratic party that might be some clue as to my political views.

By redefining everyone as extreme, the common ground of democracy is being destroyed. I judge each issue on its merits rather than on a preconceived ideological framework. Moreover, the defense of democracy, civil liberties, free speech, and judging someone's work on the basis of merit are important ideas to fight for. Political life should not be reduced to a battle between two extremes that ignore fair play in the search for victory.

Have we reached the point that it is shocking for someone to echo the famous statement that I might not agree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it (in this case, without being fired)? Is it surprising that someone actually agrees with the idea that an open democratic debate is the best solution for a society and opposes all of the various forms of "hate speech" thought crimes?

Because, you see, the founders of the United States were completely correct in understanding that once someone is able to set the boundaries of free speech--with the exception of speech intended directly to lead to criminal action - they can define it any way they want? Even laws defining "Holocaust denial" as a crime are pernicious and, as we have seen, were the opening wedge for far greater denials of free speech.

As for Israel today, a "right-winger" might be someone glad to hold onto control over territory. But most of the center and moderate left, though preferring a two-state solution, knows very well from experience that holding control over the territories in the framework of the 1973 and later agreements between Israel and the Palestinians is a necessity. That isn't "right-wing" that is sanity.

Finally, the AFP dispatch went out of its way to disagree with my point that in practice Palestinian-populated territory is not under Israeli occupation except for east Jerusalem and 20 percent of Hebron - both by agreement with the Palestinian Authority, by the way. The AFP says that international law interpretations say that everything--including the Gaza Strip--is "under occupation."

What this means in the context of the Derfner discussion is that a Palestinian can dwell completely within a Palestinian-ruled territory and be governed in every aspect of life by Palestinian authorities, and then kill Israeli civilians on the basis that he is suffering from a horrible Israeli occupation. This is absurd but then that's par for the course regarding Western news coverage of these issues.

Of course, the AFP had no space for my critique of Derfner's argument: that giving independence would not end the "right to kill Israelis" claim. But then they don't want their readers to know that the problem keeping this conflict going is not the lack of a Palestinian state but the existence of Israel.

Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center, editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal.