Yes, please, more defence of the indefensible

Visiting Israeli/American peace activist Jeff Halper remains in Australia and continues his tour (with his latest opinion piece published last week detailing a dedication to equal human rights for both Israelis and Palestinians).

His visit has attracted a great deal of controversy thanks to the decision by the Australian Jewish News (AJN) and the Zionist lobby to block advertising Sydney events in the name of a publisher’s prerogative (aka not liking the precious Jewish state being challenged publicly). It’s been a spectacular own goal, once again showing the intolerance of the Zionist establishment in debating the Middle East and its hysterical inability to articulate why honestly discussing Israel/Palestine is so threatening.

AJN publisher Robert Magid appeared on Sydney community radio yesterday to further embarrass himself and his paper. His stated reasons for rejecting the ad and comparing critics of Israel to anti-Semites (rough quotes below)?

I don’t like those sorts of people…Loewenstein…or people like him…I don’t want to talk about the human rights of Israel…our paper has a policy, like every other policy…Targeting Israel’s human rights abuses and nobody else’s is clearly anti-Semitic.

Could somebody please ensure that Magid remains the public face of the Jewish establishment for a very long time?

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