Australian academic Nick Dyrenfurth clearly has much time on his hands, writing essay after essay defending the glories of Israel but essentially ignoring the reasons so many people are increasingly against a state that willingly discriminates against Arabs based on race. He’s… s a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Discipline of Work and Organisational Studies at Sydney University, clearly an area with vast understanding of what colonisation means for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
In yet another piece yesterday, he attacks the notion of anybody challenging Israeli politics:
Whilst I support Israel’s continuing existence I do not subscribe to key Zionist principles, namely that Jewish life in Israel is inherently superior to that of the Diaspora, and nor as a non-religious Jewish-identifying agnostic do I base that support upon religious grounds. Crucially I also reject the Zionist proposition that Jews inevitably cannot live amongst non-Jews. These are complex distinctions, much like the Palestinian/Israel conflict itself, which do not conform to a binary Zionist/Anti-Zionist worldview propounded by the likes of Brull, his anarchist idol Noam Chomsky and blogger-journalist Antony Loewenstein.
Once again, Dyrenfurth has the opportunity to get past name-calling and actually acknowledge what Israel is doing in Palestine but he refuses, either out of ignorance or dishonesty. It’s far easier simply damning Chomsky and me. Does he have any idea what Israel does to Palestinians under occupation? Does he care? And what is he doing to address these points, if helping Israel survive is a priority in his life?
Fellow Jewish dissident Michael Brull demolishes Dyrenfurth in a far more comprehensive way.