My following article is published today by the Sydney Morning Herald/Age online: We live under the illusion that governments can protect us from the evils of the world. Paedophilia, extreme violence, lessons in self-harm and suicide, race hatred and terrorism. We have every right to expect governments to monitor hate and terror sites and arrest…
Showing all posts tagged Lebanon
Israel must be judged how it treats its minorities
The ghosts of Israel’s past are far from resolved. But who really wants to address this today? The Jewish Diaspora? Hardly: More than one unwitting visitor to Jerusalem has fallen prey to the bizarre delusion that they are the Messiah. Usually, they are whisked off to the serene surroundings of Kfar Shaul psychiatric hospital on…
Hizbollah rearms and accused of terrorism and Israel just continually rearms
Remind me who is the neighbourhood bully in the Middle East? It certainly isn’t Hizbollah or Lebanon: Hezbollah on Wednesday shot back at US charges it was stockpiling sophisticated weapons, accusing Washington of destabilising the Middle East and vowing to continue to build its artillery. “The resistance has the right to use all legitimate means…
Casual talk of destroying Lebanon
The Tablet on what’s at stake: In the event of a Hezbollah attack, all that is certain is that Israel will level Lebanon. “People believe there is a confrontation in Lebanon between the bad guys, Hezbollah, and the good guys, the government of Lebanon,” Giora Eiland says. “But the only real strategic decisions are made…
An Israeli Arab has some rights
Hands up who wants to visit an “enemy state”?: The High Court of Justice on Tuesday granted permission for Israeli Arab writer Ala Halihal to visit Beirut, despite opposition from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Interior Minister Eli Yishai. Generally, it is forbidden for Israeli citizens to visit Lebanon, considered by Israel to be an…
Australia and its close mates in Mossad
The following is an extract from an ABC Radio program “Rear Vision” titled “The story of the Israeli secret service the Mossad” broadcast this week. Israeli historian Professor Benny Morris and Yossi Melman, journalist and intelligence expert for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, admit that the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) and some other western intelligence…
Being an Iraqi in Lebanon
The Iraq war has produced nightmares for generations: When one mentions refugees in Lebanon, one usually thinks about the estimated 300,000 Palestinians who live here in appalling social and economic conditions. But an estimated 50,000 Iraqis have sought refuge in Lebanon in the last few years, most of them without legal status and in constant…
Major Australian union shows colleagues the real Israel
APHEDA is the aid arm of Australia’s biggest union, the ACTU. Yesterday they released the following statement: Union Aid Abroad–APHEDA study tour to the Middle East Union Aid Abroad–APHEDA, the overseas humanitarian aid agency of the ACTU, led a study tour of trade union officials and members to the Middle East from Monday 1st March…
Christmas Island ”˜pressure cooker’ could explode after UN review
My following article appears in today’s edition of Crikey: Christmas Island is a “pressure cooker”, according to one recently-returned refugee advocate. And the situation will blow up completely if the federal government is allowed to deport asylum seekers back to strife-torn Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. As more boats arrive at the offshore immigration processing centre”‰—”‰and…
Hariri doesn’t look towards the West for support
Syria and Saudi Arabia are the real powers behind the throne in Lebanon. Israel and the US should remember this reality.