Expelling Israeli diplomat was a confected, self-serving exercise

Greg Sheridan:Expelling Israeli diplomat was a confected, self-serving exercise

The Hamas terrorist leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was assassinated in Dubai earlier this year, almost certainly by Mossad agents. They used Australian, British, French and Irish passports.

First to the morality of the operation. Mabhouh was a leader of Hamas, which is pledged to Israel's violent destruction. He had much innocent blood on his hands. His assassination is morally exactly the same as when an Australian SAS unit targets an al-Qa'ida leader for attack in Afghanistan, as the SAS has often done. It is an even closer parallel to US drones hitting a terrorist in a border area of Pakistan. US President Barack Obama has decided, with Australian support, that merely fleeing the conflict zone of Afghanistan to the haven of Pakistan will not prevent an al-Qa'ida or Taliban terrorist being killed by US forces. So any Canberra moral outrage at the Israeli operation, which Foreign Minister Stephen Smith describes without qualification, or sophistication, as murder, is hypocritical and confected. Objecting to the misuse of Australian passports is entirely reasonable. But the manner in which the Rudd government has effected the expulsion demonstrates cynicism and short-term political opportunism.

When the passport misuse was first revealed in February, the Rudd government made a great song and dance about it. Emotions ran high. The government in effect sooled the Australian media on to savage Israel. It made sure there were cameras outside the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade when the Israeli ambassador, Yuval Rotem, was summoned for a ritual dressing down.

The long delay of three months with nothing happening, and the deliberate resumption of diplomatic dialogue, led the Israelis, and Israel's friends in Australia, to believe the government was going low key. Then, all of a sudden, some internal dynamic changed and a couple of weeks ago, the government sent ASIO director David Irvine to Israel. Irvine is an official of the highest possible quality. But his trip, and the fact that Smith this week publicised it, represents an overt politicisation of ASIO by the government. The Irvine trip, which could produce nothing more than the AFP trip, gave the government cover for the expulsion. The manner and timing of the expulsion reflect very poorly on Rudd.

Response

At least the Sydney Morning Herald gave space for a response to yesterday's ill informed piece of drivel from reader Denson (which is more than can be said of the other tired old hack in the Fairfax stable):

Giving generously

To answer Rod Denson's letter (May 28) one need only paraphrase The Life of Brian. What have the Israelis ever done for us? All right, but apart from the mobile phone, Pentium MMX chip technology, USB, medications for heart disease, stroke and cancer, medical imaging, solar power, education, irrigation and desalination for fresh water systems, what have the Israelis ever done for us?

Perhaps it's time Rod stopped beating the same old anti-Israel drum and woke up to see the reality. Israel is a productive, democratic nation, despite having to struggle for its survival.

Jasmine Green McMahons Point

RANCID FAIRFAX

Last Monday, The Guardian splurged out with a sensational front page article by Chris McGreal suggesting that Israel offered to sell nuclear weapons to South Africa in the 1970's. The Age couldn't resist the temptation and followed suit by reproducing the article even as grave doubts as to the reliability of the report were surfacing. Respected elder statesman and current Israeli President Shimon Peres scorned the suggestion and it's become clear from the various analyses that the whole saga is based on yet another fiction (see Melanie Phillips both here and here) by the Bash Israel Lobby that has such prevalence within the ailing Fairfax organisation.

The end result can be seen in this nasty piece of lying by a letter writer whose work can be found in yesterday's Sydney Morning Herald:

Nuclear questions Israel must answer

We have now been given ''conclusive proof'' about Israel's offer to sell apartheid South Africa nuclear weapons in 1975 (''Top secret: Israel offered to sell nuclear bombs'', May 25).

Kambiz Afrachteh Potts Point

Even in McGreal's nasty piece of work the claim that Israel offered to sell nuclear arms is at best a contested issue but by publishing this letter, the SMH accepts the lie that an alleged offer was made or even discussed by Israel at the time.

The constant lies and abuse of this one nation under siege from neighbours ready to pulverise it into extinction leads to thoughts such as these from another uninformed SMH reader:

Despite repeated inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency, there has been no ''conclusive proof'' that Iran is engaged in a nuclear weapons program.
Therefore it may be politic for Evan Guttman (Letters, May 26) and other apologists for Israel's actions to stop scapegoating Iran and to drop from their repertoire of ''relative immoralisms'' any reference to nuclear proliferation. If not, the world might start to get suspicious about its ''inconclusively proven'' arsenal of 200 nuclear weapons. Goodness me, they could even conclude that Israel's regional nuclear monopoly is inevitably the first domino in the nuclear proliferation of the Middle East.

This is journalism at its most rancid.

LETTER OF THE WEEK

On spooks and passports, Bishop states the obvious

The Australian May 27, 2010

JULIE Bishop's statement about the use of faked passports has politicians and commentators spinning like Kevin Rudd's doctors ("Bishop attacked over spy claims", 26/5).

The discussions never get to grips with the issue. Let us ask ourselves some sensible questions and see if we can come to some reasonable conclusions about what is happening in the real world.

Does Australia have an intelligence agency? Does this agency have frontline operatives who could be in danger? Do they ever use false identities to protect themselves or their political masters? Do they ever travel abroad in a professional capacity?

If the answer to all of the above is yes, then we have to ask a further question: who creates and provides the appropriate documentation. If the answer to the questions is no, we have a problem.

R. J. Lock, Brisbane, Qld

Hatred is not an act of charity

This story has been around for while and is demonstrates an appalling abuse by the Palestinian rulers in the West of the charitable intentions of World Vision and a show of contempt by that leadership towards the “peace process” – Hatred is not an act of charity

That it was published in The Australian but there’s not a word about it in the Age which chooses to dredge up 35 year old unsubstantiated tales of accusations of alleged sales by Israel of plans to establish nuclear facilities (strongly denied by Shimon Peres who was supposed to have been involved) demonstrates where the latter newspaper is positioned in the pursuit for truth and for peace in the region.

Lack of Transpency in Rudd Decision

Greg Sheridan usually gets it right on Israel and his analysis in today's Australian is no exception - Israeli diplomat expulsion reflects badly on Rudd

THE Rudd Government has overreacted and made a bad mistake in expelling an Israeli diplomat over the Dubai passports affair.

Its action has already dismayed and divided the government's supporters. Michael Danby, the Labor member for Melbourne Ports, and the chairman of the parliamentary sub-committee on foreign affairs, immediately condemned the expulsion.

"I do not agree with the decision," Mr Danby said.

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith cited Britain, France, Germany and Ireland in justifying his overreaction.

Yet of these only the British have expelled an Israeli diplomat and that was the action of a dying government desperately casting around for minority support.

Surely the Rudd government is more mature and worldly than the most desperate days of the dying Gordon Brown interregnum?

Surely, it is not and sadly, the Rudd government may well as a result of this blunder which indirectly affects the well-being of Australians as well as Israelis and Palestinians.

HELLO MOTHER, HELLO FATHER HERE I AM AT CAMP GAZA

A U.N.-sponsored summer camp in Gaza has been burned down apparently by Muslim extremist firebugs. Read about it on the CNN website because you won't read about it in Al Age - Gaza summer camp burned, witnesses say.

As an aside it's interesting how the headline uses the words "witnesses say" when the story is accompanied by the above photograph which makes it clear that the bit about the witnesses is completely superfluous.

OBUMMER

I like conservative commentator Mark Steyn's appraisal of Obama in this Orange County Register opinion piece - Obama's lazy truibute to Daniel Pearl

Like a lot of guys who've been told they're brilliant one time too often, President Obama gets a little lazy, and doesn't always choose his words with care. And so it was that he came to say a few words about Daniel Pearl, upon signing the "Daniel Pearl Press Freedom Act." Pearl was decapitated on video by jihadist Muslims in Karachi on Feb. 1, 2002. That's how I'd put it. This is what the president of the United States said:

"Obviously, the loss of Daniel Pearl was one of those moments that captured the world's imagination because it reminded us of how valuable a free press is."

I wouldn't exactly call that a tribute to Daniel Pearl. More of an insult to his memory and to those who survived him and cherish the notion of freedom. I'm pretty sure Steyn thinks so too.

Palestine Betrayed

From the blog The Page 99 Test Professor Ephraim Karsh applied the “Page 99 Test” to his new book, Palestine Betrayed, and reported the following:

My latest book Palestine Betrayed rejects conventional ideas about the collapse and dispersal of Palestinian Arab society during the 1948 war, called al-Naqba or the catastrophe by Palestinians. Drawing on a wealth of recently declassified documents, it presents a new interpretation of the Naqba and of the origins of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

While many view the Naqba as an unavoidable result of the struggle between two national movements for the same land, I argue that there was nothing inevitable about the Palestinian-Jewish confrontation. Not only had the Zionist movement always been amenable both to a substantial non-Jewish minority existing on an equal footing with others in the prospective Jewish state, and to the two-state solution, but it went out of its way to foster Arab-Jewish coexistence. In the 30 years from the end of the First World War to the proclamation of the state of Israel on 14 May 1948, Zionist spokesmen held hundreds of meetings with Arab leaders at all levels, while ordinary Jews lived side by side with their Arab neighbors, who for their part were eager to take advantage of opportunities created by the evolving Jewish national enterprise. Consequently, throughout the Mandate era (1920-48) the periods of peaceful coexistence far exceeded those of violent eruptions, and the latter were the work of only a small fraction of Palestinian Arabs.

The breakdown of this coexistence was the result of a relentless campaign to obliterate the Jewish national revival waged from the early 1920s onward by the corrupt and extremist Palestinian Arab leadership headed by the militant Mufti of Jerusalem Hajj Amin Husseini. This culminated in the violent attempt, supported by the entire Arab world, to abort the UN resolution of 29 November 1947, stipulating for the partition of mandatory Palestine into two states - one Jewish, the other Arab, linked in an economic union. Had the Arab leaders accepted the UN resolution, there would have been no war and no dislocation.

Page 99 fits nicely into this thesis in that it describes both the Mufti’s war preparations (including the assassination of moderate Palestinian Arab leaders) in the run up to the UN vote, and the animosity and distrust between the Palestinian leaders and their Arab counterparts, which played a crucial role in the creation of the Palestinian tragedy.

Horror Show at USCD

MISS USA 2010

It's great to see a Muslim winner of the Miss USA pageant even if she is a suspected supporter of Hizbullah.

She ain't getting any love back from her Hezbo friends who would have preferred the winner to look a little more like the lady on the right.

Israeli soldier saves Palestinian girl's life

THIS WEEK'S SUSPECT ...

Photo from AP shows da late big hero Mabhouh. So far, according to the cops in Dubai, it took 69 assassins to send him to his 72 virgins. The latest suspect is a 62 year old Scotsman who, shock horror, entered Dubai on his own passport.

The Dubai police have turned to a source with a different twist for their suspect of the week. After fingering Israelis, Palestinians, boat people fleeing in the direction of Iran and a violin repairer, the Dubai sleuths have really done it this time.

Scotsman suspected in Mabhouh hit

No mention of whether the suspect was wearing a kilt or whether he poisoned his victim with some dodgy haggis but I'm certain that Age Middle East correspondent Jason Kousoutkis is all over the story and will bring us the answer very soon.

You can put your house on this one

Y-Net quotes Associated Press on this story - Hamas destroys dozens of homes in Gaza

Strip's rulers say buildings knocked down with bulldozers were constructed illegally on government land. 'They promised reform and change – instead they've destroyed our homes," shouts newly homeless resident

This is solid line and length stuff for the blank pages. You'll never read about it in Al Age.

On form, it doesn't seem to be the sort of thing those folks think might interest their readers.

Only Truth Will Set Palestine Free

Khaled Abu Toameh, an Israeli Arab Muslim journalist, who declares: "I'd rather be a second-class citizen in Israel than a first-class citizen in any Arab country."

Journalist says only truth will set Palestine free

The Palestinian diaspora in Australia is facing an unexpected catastrophe. Normally, May 15, Israel's Independence Day, is the most important day of their year for celebrating their victimhood: the catastrophe, as they see it, of the founding of Israel.

Palestinians architects of their own misery

Bren Carlill's sage words about the Palestinian catastrophe which is one of their own making Palestinians architects of their own misery :

Palestinians are the only people on Earth that use, as their national day, someone else's independence day. Tomorrow is Nakba Day. "Nakba" means catastrophe in Arabic, and the "catastrophe" they commemorate is the establishment of Israel.

Of course I would go even further because in truth, the real catastrophe from the Palestinian point of view is the failure of the Arab armies supported by the Palestinian leadership of the time to massacre the Jews in the region. That was their stated aim at the time and no amount of massaging of the truth by their spin doctors will change history and fact.

Not even some of the deluded individuals who show their ignorance with some of the comments below the article which bear no relation to the true facts.

PROXIMITY TALKS

It has become commonplace for all of the ills of the Muslim world to be blamed on the Israel/Palestine conflict.

Fix that up and Muslims will stop blowing up Buddhists in Bali, Christians in Nigeria and they'll stop flying planes into buildings in New York. Let the Jews disappear in one small place on the planet and there will be peace on earth and goodwill to all men and women.

This idiotic worldview is even gaining acceptance with American generals and a few would be do gooder Jews on J Street but it's a concept that has no traction whatsoever in reality.

This is plain for all to see when within hours of the commencement of proximity talks aimed at achieving peace between Israel and Palestinians (Mideast 'proximity talks' underway), Islamic extremists were running amok in Baghdad - At least 49 killed in Baghdad bombings.

Go expain this to the blockheads on J Street!

CHRISTIAN SLAUGHTERED - THE UN ROARS INTO ACTION

Jihad Watch reports on the slaughter of Christans in Nigeria - Nigeria: Lack of response by authorities aided slaughter of Christians.

Actually, I was only kidding about the UN roaring into action. The human rights crowd there only takes action when it's necessary to admonish Jews for fighting back against terrorist attackers.

The Christians of Nigeria can fend for themselves as far as the rest of the world is concerned.

PICTURES OF GAZA AND THE WEST BANK

These pictures are from Jericho Jenin and Gaza.

Buchenwald was never this bad was it?

BAD ANALYSIS

This opinion piece by Fairfax Middle East correspondent Jason Koutsoukis appears in today's Melbourne Age under the heading "Analysis" - Israel, Palestinians set for new talks but gap is a gulf.

A cursory read of this piece will tell you that it is not analysis but rather, the journalist's view and a jaundiced one at that.

Despite the fact that the Palestinians are not prepared to meet the Israelis face to face in peace talks unless the the Jewish State rolls over on what have always been final status issues, Koutsoukis ignores all else (including well documented official Palestinian incitement against Jews and Abbas' refusal to recognise Israel as a Jewish State while demanding a Palestinian State of his own minus any Jews) and concludes that because Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has set out a position on certain issues these are supposedly "preconditions" (which they are not) and Netanyahu is therefore the unreasonable party.

No mention is made of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' "preconditions" to peace talks, his inability to get Hamas to the peace table (or to even stop talking about destroying Israel and killing Jews) or his party's celebration of a Palestinian mass murderer and other examples of incitement, details of which usually never see the light of day in this newspaper.

Shameful journalism at its very worst.

Hava Nagilah!

Hava Nagilah, What Is It? from Katahdin Productions on Vimeo.