The following letters appear in today’s Australian newspaper: IT was shocking to read that Malcolm Fraser accused Israel of using the Holocaust to justify state-sanctioned murder (“Holocaust no excuse for murder: Fraser”, 27-28/2) . No, it is not anti-Semitic to criticise Israel, but to suggest that the alleged killers of Hamas militant Mahmoud al-Mabhouh are…
Showing all posts tagged Zionism
Iran is not an existential threat (repeat again and again)
Avner Cohen wonders in Haaretz why Israel has allowed itself to be supposedly petrified of Iran’s alleged nuclear program (discounting the possibility that it pays to keep a populace petrified of an enemy): What if Israel had treated Iran’s nuclear project as an exhibitionist, even childish, attempt by a nation mired in a deep identity…
2SER interview on the Australia/Israel passport scandal
I was interviewed late last week on Sydney’s 2SER current affairs radio, The Razor’s Edge, on Australia’s currently testy relationship with Israel over the passport debacle.
Former Aussie ambassador questions the closeness between Israel and Australia
The following article in today’s Sunday Age is by Ross Burns, a former Australian Ambassador in the Middle East: In the course of a career in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, much of it spent handling Middle East matters, I rarely heard language as portentous as the statements on relations with Israel from…
Canberra joins the Dubai hunt for Israeli clues
At least publicly, Australia is moving forward with its investigation into Israel’s alleged criminality in Dubai: Australian authorities are working in an international team to track down the killers of a top Hamas militant who are suspected of being Israeli agents. A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed Australian officials were…
Australia needs to find its voice over Israel (but it ain’t likely)
A fine letter in yesterday’s Sydney Morning Herald: Finally, Kevin Rudd has done the unthinkable and questioned Israel about its actions (”Betrayed PM should not be taken for granted by Israel”, February 26). As Peter Hartcher points out, this is not the Prime Minister’s style. Mr Rudd seems to have a distorted his Christianity by…
The Australian public is getting a good, long hard look at Israeli behaviour
The latest developments in the Australia/Israeli passport scandal: First this: A terrified Australian woman whose identity was used in the assassination of a top Hamas official says the federal government has not yet offered her any help. Pregnant Nicole McCabe, 27, said she had no idea how her identity was stolen, as she still had…
Americans still seem to overwhelmingly love the Jewish state
For those of us who know and believe that debate in the US is shifting over Israel/Palestine, this Gallop poll is sobering: For the first time since 1991, more than 6 in 10 Americans — 63% — say their sympathies in the Middle East situation lie more with the Israelis than with the Palestinians. Fifteen…
Israeli PR needs a lobotomy
While Israelis are being encouraged to promote their country overseas – unsurprisingly ignoring the less savoury aspects of the occupation – one Israeli commentator is pleased that the country’s so-called enemies are fearful of “crazy Israel”: The Goldstone Report, which claimed that Israel goes crazy when it is being attacked, caused us some damage (which…
Israel feels a little more exposed in the UN
For Australian diplomacy – usually little more than a rubber-stamp for everything Israel does – this is significant: Australia was last night preparing to abstain in a United Nations vote on a resolution urging Israel and the Palestinian Authority to investigate allegations of war crimes committed during last year’s war in Gaza. The UN General…