While growing numbers of global unions are showing solidarity with Palestinians calling for BDS, a few groups prefer to ignore the elephant in the room; the occupation. How to manage it? It doesn’t exist. History will record who stood tall against oppression and who equivocated: An Australian version of the British organisation, Trade Unions For…
Showing all posts tagged West Bank
Just another day of racism in Israel
One: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that his cabinet needed more time to decide when and how to dismantle certain illegal West Bank outposts, due to the “political implications” involved. The government “needs time to consider its priorities” with regard to these outposts, Netanyahu said ahead of a High Court of Justice deliberation on…
Mike Leigh, a Jew of integrity, says no to Israeli racism
A man of principle who dares to take a stand when saying and doing nothing (and getting a free trip) is so much easier: Bafta-winning film-maker Mike Leigh has pulled out of a teaching trip to Israel due to his concern over the country’s proposed loyalty oath bill. Leigh said he was not prepared to…
Jewish settlements are keeping the Zionist “dream” alive
Looks like Zionist colonies will never end, then. If nobody seriously pressures Israel to cease settlement building, the Jewish state will soon find itself an even more isolated, pariah state. This is brain-dead and dead-end Zionism: Israel will only stop its disputed settlement building when the Palestinians make a peace agreement, its UN ambassador said…
“The Palestinians want to destroy the world”
Zionist propaganda on the Birthright trip is almost pathological. Arabs are ignored but loathed. Everybody is an enemy. It’s militarism run riot. The occupation is excused and defended (the soldiers manning the checkpoints have families, the young Jews are told, as if this excuses illegally brutalising an entire people). This is sad:
Meeting Tony Abbott in Sydney and shooting the Palestinian breeze
Last night I attended an event in central Sydney at Gleebooks with Leader of the Liberal Opposition Tony Abbott and writer and speech-writer Bob Ellis. The room was packed with around 200 people and the two men initially talked about the war in Afghanistan (Abbott backs it, “the best of the worst options” for the…
Australian unions recognise the power and necessity of BDS
Now this is news, a growing realisation that the status-quo in Palestine is simply oppressing Palestinians. Civil society is rising: Australian unions are signing up to an international campaign to boycott Israeli goods. But a fight is brewing over a proposal for the Australian Council of Trade Unions to endorse the movement. The broad-based divestment…
Moving forward? Australia’s relationship with Israel is dire
My following lead essay appears in the Australian literary journal Kill Your Darlings: I first discovered the importance of the Israel/Palestine conflict in my early teens, in Melbourne. I remember sitting around the Sabbath table with my parents and cousins, discussing the events of the week as we consumed schnitzels, soggy vegetables and chicken soup.…
Livni hopes that the noble Zionist state will still inspire
In case any readers think that Israel’s opposition leader, Tzipi Livni, is a “moderate” leader who would bring peace to the Middle East, think again. Apart from the fact that the Tablet writer seems to be upset that American Jews don’t understand (enjoy?) military service and the apparently necessary role of killing Arabs, it is…
But there are no Middle East “peace talks”
This is pathetic. Once again, Washington is seen to be begging its client state, Israel, to please continue the non-existent settlement “freeze” for another two months. Yes, laughing is the only sane response: Senior White House officials told a group of Jewish lawmakers Wednesday morning that the Obama administration is pushing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin…