"[T]he demonisation of Israel is of a nature and type extended to no other country.
While atrocities by tyrannies and rogue states provoke almost total indifference, Israel is treated as in a class apart: apparently the very worst country in the entire world, a kind of global blight which has to be expunged altogether from civilised society if not from the face of the earth.
.... Part of the madness is that we are totally forbidden to identify what this actually is - a prejudice directed solely at the Jewish people, who in this latest manifestation are uniquely demonised as usurpers in their own historic homeland." http://www.thejc.com/comment-and-debate/columnists/54423/camerons-dismissal-israelShe's talking about Israel Derangement Syndrome in Britain, but of course the passage refers perfectly to Israel Derangement Syndrome elsewhere in the Western World, including Australia.
A month ago, following mob protests outside the Max Brenner chocolate shop in Melbourne, the Victorian state government of premier Ted Baillieu asked the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to investigate calls for a consumer boycott of Max Brenner in order to determine whether the BDS campaign is in breach of Commonwealth of Australia law. The ACCC has now ruled that there is no breach - and the demonisers are crowing.
Here's a consequent report, complete with Israel-demonising Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon, from Iran Press TV's Sydney reporter: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xkxw0s_accc-upholds-right-to-protest-israeli-owned-companies_news
Meanwhile (hat tip reader Shirlee) here are two interesting related items.
The first reports that New South Wales Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham has split with his party over the BDS issue, which he labels "counterproductive to the cause of peace and human rights in the Middle East."
The second reports that Victorian Trades Hall Council assistant secretary David Cragg has slammed the BDS drive. He cites the "totally repugnant history" of boycotting Jewish businesses, and observes:
"If the strategic goal of BDS is not just to end the settlements in the West Bank but to change the demographic composition of Israel, it is clearly a racist and frankly ludicrous enterprise at odds with the global consensus, which has always recognised Israel's right to exist specifically as the state of the Jewish people legitimately created under international law and the UN Charter.
Israel, as it is currently, would no longer exist if BDS achieves its goals."http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/antiisrael-boycott-opens-fresh-split-in-greens-20110908-1jzy7.html
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/unionist-slams-ludicrous-and-racist-anti-israel-drive/story-fn59niix-1226132637719
http://www.aijac.org.au/news/article/boycotters-free-expression-costs-businesses-plen
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