The Australian Zionist lobby has spent years demonising Arabs, Palestinians and moderate Jews in the name of “saving Zionism”. The effect? A Jewish state with a serious image problem. That’s money well spent, people.
Now, a more “moderate” Zionist lobbyist is around, Albert Dadon. There’s nothing really different here – “we want peace”, he says, “we really love Palestinians” and “we’re happy to take politicians and journalists on a propaganda trip to Zionist paradise” – but his piece in today’s Murdoch Australian is a gem:
Fortunately, Julia Gillard, whose moral clarity on the Middle East was first evident when she backed Israel in its war against Hamas in December 2008, is reportedly at odds with Rudd’s view [to abstain from the forthcoming UN vote on Palestine]
Fourth, a yes vote at the UN General Assembly will be nothing but a Pyrrhic victory for the Palestinians. Why? Because full membership requires the backing of the 15-member Security Council and the US has already stated its intention to veto the proposal.
So what the Palestinians will likely end up with is the status of a non-member state, an upgrade from its observer status but a step short of full membership, which requires a two-thirds majority of the 193 countries in the General Assembly. Abbas will achieve a toothless resolution in the General Assembly with no legal force.
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Finally, an abstention by Australia’s envoy to the UN would be (mis)construed by the Greens — and their leftist allies — as a victory.
For despite Bob Brown’s public statements, among his growing ranks are those who try to disguise their anti-Israel vitriol under the veneer of progressive politics.
The newly elected senator for NSW, Lee Rhiannon, is the quintessential case in point. She openly defended Marrickville Council’s ill-fated support for the Israel boycott, a campaign that has morphed into the targeting of Max Brenner chocolate shops across Australia.
Make no mistake. Factions of this mob of anti-Israel protesters — some of whom are due in court next month for breaching bail conditions after they were initially arrested in the melee outside Max Brenner in Melbourne on July 1 — are red, not green.
One of their chants reveals their true colour: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”
This is straight out of the Hamas song sheet and is not-so-subtle code for the elimination of Israel and, in its place, a Palestinian state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean.
Moreover, what is so galling is their rank hypocrisy. Where are the mass protests about the slaughter of innocents in Syria, or Libya, or Egypt? Their silence about these crimes is deafening.
Optimists hope that this act of unilateralism by the Palestinians will help resuscitate the stillborn peace process because the alternative is much worse. But it’s a forlorn hope.
Dadon and his friends will come to regret such pointless vitriol. No path to ending the occupation (no mention of it, actually) and a message straight out of the Israeli government.
How’s that two-state solution dream coming along, Zionists?