SANTA JOINS HAMAS

MAN OF COURAGE HONOURED

Steve Lewis of the Melbourne Herald Sun covered this story - Israel gives rare honour to Australian Aboriginal activist yesterday but where was Jason Koutsoukis of the Fairfax media organisation?

Covering a pro Fatah or Hamas rally, perhaps?

LETTER OF THE WEEK

A letter in today's Sydney Morning Herald correctly condenses it all down to this:-

Grasping the real issue on Israel

There is a great scene in Wall Street, when Gordon Gekko advises his protege to focus on the real issue. "The rest," he says, "is just conversation".

The editorial "Back to Mid-East drawing board" (December 13) depicts Israel's settlements as "the roadblock" to peace. The real issue is the Palestinian leadership's consistent refusal to accept Israel's presence; the rest is just conversation.

Settlements, refugees, borders, Jerusalem can all be discussed once the real roadblock has been removed. The Palestinian people deserve a state - and leaders who will negotiate in good faith.

Vic Alhadeff Chief executive, NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, Darlinghurst

One can only hope that the people at Fairfax grasp the point he is making because there's been a hell of a lot of irrelevant conversation in their newspapers about the conflict.

PEACE TEAM

The Peace Team comprising of 13 young Israelis and 13 young Palestinians competed among 16 national teams at the AFL's last world championships held in Melbourne in 2008. The concept was a raging success and drew compliments wherever they travelled during the tournament.

The objective of the Peace Team jointly sponsored by the Peres Center for Peace & Al Quds Association for Democracy is to promote dialogue between the two peoples and to ultimately bring about peace in the region and a film about the team's tour of Australia recently won an international award for best documentary.

However, not everybody supported the Peace Team back then. The paradox is that pro-Palestinian groups claiming to be in the "peace camp" opposed it vehemently. The team was fiercely opposed by Australians for Palestine and by others who are now in the BDS movement, the phony Free Gaza movement and the ISM.

No surprise there because these people, particularly their slimy "movers and shakers" and the media pack that supports them have no interest in bringing about a reconciliation between the people and achieving a peaceful two State solution. They are in fact "the war camp".

I understand that during the championships of 2008 threats were made to the courageous young Palestinians by such groups even before they entered the country.

During one of the games a war camper turned up at a Prace Team game with an Istael Apartheid banner.

Now imagine that!

There's a mixed team of Israelis and Palestinians out there playing a game of footy together and some cretinous supporter of the terrorists has the gall to waive a placard alleging apartheid. That's how stupid the war campers are.

This fellow fully deserved the wrath of a burly British footballer who told him to "p___ off". And being the gutless wonder that he was, that's exactly what he did.

The majority of people on both sides of the conflict want peace and it is a pity that there are extremists that want to make mischief, especially in a country like Australia.

In the meantime, please read this Op-Ed piece from Ynet about the supposed blockade in Gaza entitled "Blockading the Truth", which highlights just how much aide is going into Gaza and exposes claims of a siege as complete falsehoods.

3 Reasons Why Paul McGeough's Flotilla Coverage Doesn't Deserve Prestigious Award

Honest Reporting's Backspin provides a scathing analysis of the Walkely Award piece by Fairfax spin doctor Paul McGeough that raises questions about how an award which should go to a well researched piece of journalism was give to what was nothing more than a one-sided propaganda piece - 3 Reasons Why Paul McGeough's Flotilla Coverage Doesn't Deserve Prestigious Award (BPOA believes there are at least 97 other reasons but space does not permit this time).

Sydney Morning Herald correpsondent Paul McGeough was aboard Challenger One, some 150 meters away from the Mavi Marmara when the Israeli navy intercepted the Gaza flotilla.

Now, his account of the incident has earned him a prestigious Walkley Award, the Australian equivalent of a Pulitzer Prize. The honor disturbs me for three reasons.

Two of the reasons deal with points of contention McGeough was in a unique position to clarify for history's first draft -- but he instead muddied the waters. The third reason has more to do with the language of his dispatch.

1. McGeough failed to shed light on the flotilla's radical Islamic organizers.

Most prominent among the convoy's organizers was the IHH, a radical Islamic relief fund based in Turkey. As Malam points out, the IHH is linked to Hamas,and "supported jihadist terrorist networks in Bosnia, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Chechnya." It is also has ties to Turkey's ruling party.

What did McGeough say about the organizers? Not much:

The flotilla drew on funds from NGOs in Turkey, Malaysia, Ireland, Algeria, Kuwait, Greece and Sweden.

With the paper's considerable resources, McGeough and his editors could have and should have been aware of the IHH's background before the correspondent even made his travel plans. If indeed they knew, it was irresponsible to not disclose this.

2. The flotilla was not a "humanitarian convoy."

The convoy's humanitarian veneer masked a political agenda to provoke an embarrassing confrontation with Israel. Some of the people aboard the ships were specifically recruited to attack Israeli soldiers. Among the items found aboard were bullet-proof vests, night vision equipment and rifle scopes, saws, knives, gas masks and slingshots.

Hardly humanitarian.

McGeough missed it.

If the critique ended here, you could reasonably conclude that McGeough was either sloppy,simply had the bad luck of being on the wrong boat while one of 2010's biggest stories unfolded meters away. But then there's my third concern.

3. Inflammatory language suggests sympathy for the flotilla.

This particular snippet rightly outraged the Jewish community, and called into question McGeough's impartiality:

Then, the tightening noose. Sneaking up and around every boat, there were bullet-shaped hulks which soon became impossible to hide as the moonlight made fluorescent tubes of their roiling wakes. First one, then two and maybe four could be seen sneaking in from the rear.

They hunted like hyenas – moving up and ahead on the flanks; pushing in, then peeling away; and finally, lagging before lunging.

Lest we forget, here's the headline, which sets a tone for the rest of the story:

Prayers, Tear Gas, and Terror

If there's terror, it's because there are terrorists. That's McGeough and the SMH's subtle, most damning stab at Israel.

You can't expect journalists to write be-all end-all stories. The descriptive language of his own voice suggests McGeough saw exactly what he wanted to see.

And that's not worthy of the honor conferred by the Walkley Foundation's award.

The three reasons reported by Backspin would surely be enough to demonstrate that nowhere near the necessary research was put into McGeough's effort and one wonders what criteria (if any) were applied in the case of this particular award.

And there's more to this story with questions being asked about McGeough's Good Weekend lift out which appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald and the Melbourne Age and the "corrections" subsequently published in both newspapers which blamed others for a glaring error in the text but more of that later.

AGE WIKILEAKES ON ITSELF AGAIN

Is there any reason why the Age needs to go to great lengths to tell its readers what everyone already knows?

I mean the fact that Australia's government believes that Iran is a problem and that while it continues to threaten a friend, Israel, there is every chance that the Israelis might launch a preemptive attack before the Iranians have a nuclear weapon that works.

And when the Australian intelligence community warns that Iran should not be seen "merely" as a rogue state, that does not mean that Iran is no longer a danger to regional and international security.

Nor does it mean that the Age should refrain from telling its readers about the WikiLeak revelations about Iran moving weapons around for Hizbullah in ambulances during the 2006 war or about Turkey's PM and his Swiss bank accounts.

Oh dear ... but that's blank page stuff only, is it?

WE DIDN'T START THE FIRE

WHAT YOU WON'T READ IN THE AP OR THE AGE

Now that Hamas has had a big hand in a Walkely Award it's interesting to observe (as does elderofziyon in Something you won't read in AP) how the media lies for the Islamist terrorist group.

In this Associated Press piece Hamas PM: We're ready for referendum on peace deal, we're told that ... "In recent years, Hamas has tried to reach out to the West, and its supreme leader in exile, Khaled Mashaal, has expressed support for a Palestinian state in 1967 borders.

At the same time, Hamas has not revoked its founding charter which calls for Israel's destruction, and Hamas officials won't say whether they see a two-state deal as a final arrangement or a step toward eliminating Israel."

As the esteemed Elder points out this the sort of unmitigated bullshit that Hamas groupies would like the world to believe. From Firas Press

[Hamas leader Mahmoud al-] Zahar stressed in a speech in the beginning of celebrations of the 23rd anniversary of Hamas' inception "that the [Hamas] movement was launched to continue the jihad until the liberation of all Palestine."

Zahar burned an Israeli flag on the occasion of the 23rd anniversary of its launch in southern Gaza City.

He said "The journey of jihad and martyrdom began 23 years ago and will continue until the liquidation of the masses of aggression, treachery and even high banners of faith and bring us day after day, year after year from Palestine .. all of Palestine."

"The Jihad will continue until the liberation of the Palestinian city of Jerusalem to pray a prayer of thanks after the liberation of all Palestine..."

And a correspondent quoting from the HAMAS TV children's show "Tomorrow's Pioneers", Hamas TV, 9/22/09:-

Nassur and Saraa have a disagreement about what the "expulsion" of the "Jews or Zionists" means. Saraa adopts the argument that they should be "chased away" and that "we don't want to do anything to them, just expel them from our land." Nassur, on the other hand, endorses the view that they should be "erased" and that "we want to slaughter them so they will be expelled from our land." Saraa eventually concedes, and the two compromised that "we will expel them from our land using all means, and if they don't want to go peacefully, by words or talking, we'll have to do it by slaughter.""

Nice words to teach your kids and its no wonder that the Walkely Award people must be so proud to endorse idiots who would have us believe that all this talk shouldn't be taken seriously.

ANOTHER LIE IN THE MELBOURNE AGE

Thomas Friedman of The New York Times once wrote that "criticizing Israel is not antisemitic, and saying so is vile. But singling out Israel for opprobrium and international sanction - out of all proportion to any other party in the Middle East - is antisemitic, and not saying so is dishonest"

Today, that was demonstrated in a letter published in the Melbourne Age and written by Michael Medawar, North Melbourne in which the lie that mere criticism makes you antisemitic was repeated:-

"IF YOU criticise the US you're labelled a terrorist; if you criticise Israel, you are labelled anti-Jewish/Semitic. If you criticise China, Islam or Christianity, it's called freedom of speech."

Mr. Medawar, you are as much of an idiot as the Age editor who allowed this tripe to be published.

SHAME

The Walkely Awards are now completely debased.

The best news story was won by The Sydney Morning Herald's Paul McGeough for his coverage of the Gaza aid flotilla, also run prominently in The Age.

The story described what happened from a jaundiced perspective that has subsequently been completely debunked and discredited.

The twitterers on WikiLeaks have come up with a saying that sums up the emerging challenges which that phenomenon bring to society and to the journalists and commentators who are supposed to be recording the events of our times:

"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." 

The Walkelys of 2010 demonstrate clearly to us that there are no revolutionaries in Australian journalism today.

Quite the opposite and, as a result, the journalist profession in this country is now in tatters.

THE BLANKEST PAGE

Former Dutch EU commissioner says "recognizable" Jews are no longer safe in Netherlands due to Muslim anti-Semitism.

This is truly shameful - 'I see no future for Jews in the Netherlands'

POTPOURRI

Latest Latma

CEO

The news is that Fairfax Media chief executive Brian McCarthy has resigned from the company, effective immediately, and has left the company’s Sydney Pyrmont headquarters yesterday afternoon.

It must be a frustrating gig running a flotilla of sinking ships.

Christian Communities in the Middle East

Dry Bones cartoonist Yaakov Kirschen on just one of the under reported matters of concern arising from the conflict between Israel and her Arab neighbours ... Christian communities.

IMPARTIAL ANTI-ISRAEL U.N. OFFICIAL RESIGNS AFTER UN WATCH CAMPAIGN

An important breakthrough from the Office of the Executive Director, Geneva Headquarters of UN Watch as an "impartial" UN official charged with making decisions about a country he despises has decided to quit. The big question is how on earth is it possible for a world body like the United Nations that was formed to promote peace and harmony to act so corruptly and unethically as to appoint such people in the first place?

I just learned great news: German law professor Christian Tomuschat, the anti-Israel and anti-American official heading the U.N. committee to enforce the Goldstone Report, has resigned. The biased U.N. probe now has no leader, and is in disarray.

This unprecedented resignation follows a global campaign by UN Watch that exposed Professor Tomuschat's egregious bias and breach of his obligation under international law to be objective and impartial:

• UN Watch's team of researchers tracked down and translated Professor Tomuschat's German academic writings.

We published a 30-page report revealing how he had frequently compared Israeli actions with the "barbarism" and "inferno" of World War II; how he performed legal work for PLO leader Yasser Arafat; and how he repeatedly accused Israel of “state terrorism.” This was reported worldwide.

• When Tomuschat delivered his report to the U.N. Human Rights Council in September - calling for the investigation of Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni for alleged war crimes in Gaza - UN Watch was the only group to take the floor and directly challenge Tomuschat for his bias, stirring reactions from Tomuschat as well as the council president himself.

• When Tomuschat then appeared at a U.N. press conference, journalists followed up on UN Watch's campaign and challenged Tomuschat to defend himself.

Finally, thousands of UN Watch supporters worldwide have been taking action on our website every day to demand from the U.N. that Tomuschat resign. In the end, he gave in.

It's one more UN Watch victory for the genuine principles of human rights, international law, and Middle East peace and security.

If you would like to ensure our ability to achieve more such victories in the future, please, Margot, consider sending a secure online donation now so we can continue speaking truth to power. Any donation, $25, $100, or $1,000, will make a true difference.

Thank you so much for your support.

Yours truly,
Hillel C. Neuer
Executive Director

http://www.unwatch.org

WikiLeak UFO cables reveal extraterrestrial life forms

Hillary Rodham Clinton, photographed in 1995 with a copy of Paul Davies' UFO book "Are We Alone?" during a briefing on UFOs from the late tycoon philanthropist Laurance Rockefeller.

The latest batch of WikiLeak confidential US embassy cables tell of the discovery of extraterrestrial life forms on earth according to this morning's Sunday Sun newspaper.

The dispatches sent out by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton earlier this year reveal that the space visitors, who first arrived on the planet in the late 1940s, are friendly and "willing to share their technology and culture for the good of mankind."

The Sunday Age refused to report on the leaked UFO cables. A Fairfax spokesperson would neither confirm or deny that his organisation's reluctance to reveal these startling revelations has anything to do with the fact that the aliens travel around in tanks and communicate only in the Hebrew language.

MOURNING THE DEAD

Victoria, Australia 2009/Haifa, Israel 2010

GONE TO TAKE A WIKILEAK

Separated at birth: Thre Wikileak analysts from Fairfax

Those WikiLeaks sure are a slap in the face to those who want you to believe in a nefarious Israel lobby that somehow controls US policy in the Middle East, that Israel alone is the major force in driving the campaign against Iran's nuclear weapons programme and that Iran itself, its close allies such as Syria and now Turkey and the thuggish recipients of its largesse such as Hizbullah and Hamas are as pure as the driven snow.

Mearsheimer and Walt's flawed thesis about the Israel Lobby must now surely be in tatters following the revelations that so many Arab States have lobbied hard for United States action against Iran.

Yet, after being implored by Arab leaders to cut of the head of the snake, the Americans could not be persuaded to attack the dictatorship whose Revolutionary Guards last year butchered and raped their own people in their own streets to avail themselves of absolute power.

Naturally, one didn't get this feeling about Iran when one read what one thinks was supposed to be passing for analysis on the WikiLeaks from Fairfax Middle East guru Paul McGeogh.

Nor would one expect this from a man who produced six pages of twaddle (aka free publicity) for the Free Gaza movement without mentioning Hamas and its genocidal policies. For Age readers, Hamas is the boy scout movement that helps little old ladies cross the busy streets of Gaza on their way to modern air conditioned well stocked supermarkets that we don't need to know about. The same Hamas that today rivals Mahatma Ghandi for loving peace and its Jewish neighbours.

Any person who can consign the thuggish Hamas junta in Gaza to the blank pages would have been expected to be champing at the bit in waiting for the WikiLeak revelations to damn the Little Satan Israel and therefore must have been most disappointed to discover nothing of the kind in the Assange revelations.

McGough's WikiLeak analysis still predictably scoffs at Israel and the Arab states concerned about Iran's nuclear buildup and its arming of local terror groups but, true to blank page tradition, it misses the leaks about Iran moving weapons to Hizbullah in Red Crescent ambulances during the Second Lebanon War in 2006, not to mention Turkey's questionable dealings with terror groups. Heaven forbid that the host of the flotilla that carried jihadists, useless medicine and a bunch of warm and fuzzy Pinocchios through the Mediterranean last May is a shonk with secret Swiss bank accounts and who sleeps with and accommodates would be mass murderers.

No, just as Basil doesn't mention the Germans, we don't mention much about Iran. What we do instead is we mock Israel because one of its diplomats expressed concern privately as early as 1993 about the possibility of Iran developing a nuclear weapons programme. But instead of laughing that off as McGeough does, we should be congratulating him for his prescience in predicting the future. Actually, it wasn't that hard really because, after all, those who had their eyes open when Iran and Irak fought out their little war in the 80's know that the leadership of both sides were nasty bastards.

And nasty bastards like Iran, Irak, Syria, Turkey, Hizbullah, Hamas and the IHH must be consigned to the blank pages of the Age.

WikiLeaks – I Will Make A Lot Of Peace In The Middle East

Thanks to MERE RHETORIC for "WikiLeaks – I Will Make A Lot Of Peace In The Middle East"

It makes a lot more sense that what passed for analysis in my local broadsheet and is a lot funnier.

Another example of Zionists taking a cut

Those zionists are all too clever - Judge cuts into trial so lawyer can attend circumcision ceremony

Please send beady eyed McGeough out to investigate this Mr. Fairfax because he surely couldn't make more of a mess with that than he has done with his so-called analysis of Wikileaks.