After Israel refused entry to Noam Chomsky into the occupied, Palestinian territories, he was interviewed extensively on Israeli TV and of course told that he didn’t believe in Israel’s right to exist etc etc. The same, tired cliches that are effectively demolished by Chomsky. He makes the key point; the best friends of Israel are…
Showing all posts tagged Hizbollah
The concerned Australian legal liberal who wants Israel to act humanely
Leading Australian legal academic Ben Saul wrote back in March that Israel should no longer be a protected species in the international arena. He’s back with an equally strong statement. And note the growing number of public figures who no longer accept Zionist exceptionalism: Britain’s expulsion of an Israeli diplomat is a lesson for Australia…
Liberal Zionism debates what Judaism should be in the 21st century
I’m coming late to this essay but there’s a long piece in the New York Review of Books by Peter Beinart talking about the failure of American Jewish elites and the wider Zionist community to understand the real effects of blind backing for Israel. Arabs are openly loathed and yet liberal, American Jewry is walking…
Hizbollah must be quaking in their boots
The US empire contributes greatly to peace and security in the Middle East: U.S. gives some stylish new bikes to Lebanon
ABC TV broadcast on internet freedom and anti-censorship
I recently debated in Sydney on the motion that governments shouldn’t censor the internet. ABC TV broadcast the discussion and our team included a robust explanation on the principles of free speech. An edited version of the debate was broadcast tonight on ABC Radio National Big Ideas:
Daddy Zionist, tell me about the day we fought Tehran
What fun-loving Israelis do on the weekend, imagine war scenarios with a nuclear-armed Iran: A nuclear-armed Iran would blunt Israel’s military autonomy, a wargame involving former Israeli generals and diplomats has concluded, though some players predicted Tehran would also exercise restraint. Sunday’s event at a campus north of Tel Aviv followed other high-profile Iran simulations…
Why internet censorship is a fool’s paradise
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…
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…
No concern with cuddly Americans killing for Israel
In case anybody was unsure, this story in Politico includes a key point about the profound hypocrisy of America’s foreign policy (and the situation is little different in Australia). It’s alright for Jewish, American citizens to visit Israel and kill Arabs in the name of “fighting terrorism” but anybody caught on the side of the…
10 tips to convince those virulent Israel haters
Rabbi Marvin Hier is the founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, a leading Jewish organisation in the US. The document below is truly astounding, a hilariously clueless attempt to refute allegedly unfair claims against Israel and Jews. Black is white, the occupation is a charming day in the park and Israel just wants…