The following letter appears in this week’s Australian Jewish News:
Dr Colin Rubenstein and others, who made a fuss about Hanan Ashrawi receiving the [Sydney Peace Prize] honour several years ago, have been truly vindicated [John Pilger won this year.] Maybe next year they will give the prize to Hizbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, or maybe even Antony Loewenstein, for their contributions to world peace.
Henry Herzog
St Kilda East, Vic
This is highly disappointing because I really want to be compared to Hitler and Osama Bin Laden and not be an afterthought, at best.
JOhn Pilger is Australian though so what are they whinging about? How dare they anyway.
It’s amazing in Australia – John Lyons actually got off his duff in the Weekend Magazine in the Australian to show the brutal thugs who call themselves “settlers” and the way they brutalise and dis possess Palestinians.
The AGE magazine told us that jews raised here by holocaust “survivors” are traumatised.
Well good bloody grief, are jews the only people on earth ever traumatised?
The real vindication is for those behind the Peace Prize, for whom the ‘unrepresentative swill’ of Rubinstein et al are an embarrassment at best, a disgrace at worst.
Dear Henry should move to Caulfield to join the higher concentration of fruitloops who choose to know nothing.
John Pilger is a perfect choice for Sydney peace Prize.
However,Rubinstein should be awarded Sydney prize for prejudice and bigotry!
.. I think it is a Sydney-Melbourne rivalry thing….that drags you into it,no,only joking!
Strange that I predicted you might win a similar prize as John in my e-mail to you,Antony!Apparently Henry,the letter writer had another honour in mind.
Notice two things :-
a)some people want to dictate and control and whinge about who gets a prize for a foundation they have nothing to do with and probably know very little about;
b)the world is divided up into those who see it as black-and-white and those,such as yourself-who are capable of seeing shades of grey without perceiving it as a weakness.Whenever a contribution has only one-side of the story presented as all that matters,it immediately turns me off.
It is good that you can keep a sense of levity, humour & perspective.As you have pointed out in your public talks,it is important for those in places of privilege , like Australia,like us,to provide an alternate view,How others react is their issue,it says more about them;jumping up and down at someone exercising their right to freedom of speech,thought ,and expression. Peter,
Bravo to Antony Loewenstein, and also David Langsam. I think Goot and Alhadeff should be encouraged to continue their campaign until they are well known as apologists for occupation and brutality; the kind of thing that John Pilger has exposed. John Pilger is just about mainstream in Britain, but unpublished here except in the Green Left Weekly. Says something about Australia’s mainstream media culture. Looking forward to hearing John Pilger in November.
Faruque Ahmed: “John Pilger is a perfect choice for Sydney peace Prize.
However, Rubinstein should be awarded Sydney prize for prejudice and bigotry!”
If ever there is a run-off for the Prejudice and Bigotry Prize between Rubinstein and Faruque Ahmed then the latter will win hands down.
Visit his anti-Semitic Yahoogroup ‘Free America Now’ for evidence of this.