Following the Australian’s article on the weekend about the Australian government’s impending trip to Israel, today’s paper publishes the following responses: The anti-Israel bigotry to which you refer in the editorial defending Julia Gillard’s visit to Israel (“A trip worth taking”, 13-14/6) is vividly illustrated in Amnesty International’s recently released annual global report. The survey…
Showing all posts tagged Hamas
Australian Jews have a chance
The Australian Jewish Democratic Society has just released the following petition (which I have signed): The Australian Jewish Democratic Society together with other Jewish Australians who care greatly for both the future of Israel and the legitimate national aspirations of Palestinians we strongly endorse the views recently expressed by the US President in Cairo. His…
How to describe the Gaza experience
Jewish writer and blogger Phil Weiss recently returned from Gaza. His latest report is stunning: Over two weeks in the Middle East, I came to the idea that Israel/Palestine has become an epicenter of hatred; and hatred flows out to the outside world from both sides. The insistence that all of Palestine is Palestinian and…
Our government does not speak for us
The following letter is circulating around Australia and reflects the deep anger towards the government and its media whores: As citizens of conscience we would like to protest in the strongest possible terms against the proposed Australia-Israel cultural exchange trip to Israel to be led by Julia Gillard and involving other parliamentarians, academics, business people,…
Bomb and bomb some more
In the mind of Canada’s neo-con paper The National Post, it’s perfectly acceptable to bomb civilians in the name of the “war on terror” against “terrorists”. It’s curious that the paper positively compares Israel’s war against Gaza and Sri Lanka’s onslaught against the Tamils. That two such rogue nations should get together isn’t surprising; they…
If they renounce violence, when will you?
Interesting analysis from the MEC Analytical Group about Britain, Hamas and Hizbollah: There are indications of some flexibility in British policy towards Hamas and Hizbullah. On 21 May the Foreign Secretary David Miliband made a speech at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies (text here) in which he called for “a coalition of consent” between…
Repeating bad actions time and time again
This story – Israeli commandos killed a senior Hamas militant in the West Bank on Thursday – led an American colleague to make the following observations: It is a classic Israeli technique to respond to uncomfortable political situations (such as the current moment of too much talk of a “peace process” and of “two states”)…
Directly killing women and children
This report is a few days old – I’ve been flying to the US – but its importance cannot be under-estimated: Amnesty International has accused Israel of repeatedly violating the rules of armed conflict during its recent offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. “Israeli forces repeatedly breached the laws of war, including by carrying…
Killing Arabs in the name of Judaism
The London Times writes about the growing radicalism of the IDF: During the Gaza war this year, Schmuel Kaufman, a military rabbi from a West Bank settlement, used to stride between the Israeli soldiers’ tents and urge them to fight what he deemed an “obligatory war” ordained by ancient scripture. “It’s a holy war to…