Eretz Israel is our unforgettable historic homeland...The Jews who will it shall achieve their State...And whatever we attempt there for our own benefit will redound mightily and beneficially to the good of all mankind. (Theodor Herzl, DerJudenstaat, 1896)

We offer peace and amity to all the neighbouring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all. The State of Israel is ready to contribute its full share to the peaceful progress and development of the Middle East.
(From Proclamation of the State of Israel, 5 Iyar 5708; 14 May 1948)

With a liberal democratic political system operating under the rule of law, a flourishing market economy producing technological innovation to the benefit of the wider world, and a population as educated and cultured as anywhere in Europe or North America, Israel is a normal Western country with a right to be treated as such in the community of nations.... For the global jihad, Israel may be the first objective. But it will not be the last. (Friends of Israel Initiative)

Sunday 9 December 2012

An Australian Lynching For A Jerusalem Academic (plus videos)

How low is the anti-Israel movement capable of sinking, how mean-minded and downright ridiculous it can be!

The Australian newspaper in its Wednesday "Higher Education" pages last week reported that Associate Professor Jake Lynch, head of the pro-BDS  Cen­tre for Peace and Con­flict Stud­ies at the University of Sydney, rebuffed Hebrew University of Jerusalem academic Dan Avnon's request "for as­sis­tance with study­ing civics ed­u­ca­tion in Aus­tralia under a fel­low­ship agree­ment be­tween the two in­sti­tu­tions".

Professor Avnon, the report explains, "is cred­ited with de­vel­op­ing and im­ple­ment­ing the only state pro­gram in civics writ­ten for joint Jew­ish-Arab high schools".  In turning down his request, Lynch cited the Centre's espousal of BDS as the reason, telling Avnon:
"Your re­search sounds in­ter­est­ing and worth­while. How­ever, we are sup­port­ers of the cam­paign of Boy­cott, Di­vest­ment and Sanc­tions, and that in­cludes the call for an aca­d­e­mic boy­cott of Is­raeli uni­ver­si­ties."
 Responded Avnon:
"I find it ironic that you pro­mote a pol­icy of boy­cott that does not dis­tin­guish one in­di­vid­ual from an­other. It is ironic be­cause, like my­self, many (prob­a­bly most) in­tel­lec­tu­als and schol­ars in rel­e­vant fields are doing our best to ef­fect change in Is­raeli po­lit­i­cal cul­ture. We pay prices for going against the in­sti­tu­tional grain. And then we turn around and meet such a ‘blind to the per­son’ pol­icy."
He added:
"One com­mon ten­dency that must be changed if we ever want to live sane lives is to de­bunk cat­e­gor­i­cal and stereo­typ­i­cal think­ing when deal­ing with human be­ings."
No reply from Lynch (who in 2009 vainly called for the University of Sydney to sever ties to the Hebrew University and the Haifa Technion) was forthcoming.

But in a subsequent report the following day the newspaper quoted him as defending his rejection of Avnon's request:
'In a sting­ing cri­tique of Aus­tralia’s for­eign pol­icy, Jake Lynch said the cen­tre boy­cotted Is­raeli in­sti­tu­tions "be­cause of the de­fi­cien­cies of of­fi­cial for­eign pol­icy and diplo­macy by Aus­tralia and other in­flu­en­tial states".
He said sup­port­ing the Boy­cott, Di­vest­ment and Sanc­tions move­ment against Is­rael sent a “mes­sage of un­ac­cept­abil­ity for Is­rael’s ex­pan­sion­ist poli­cies and mil­i­tarism”. “The mes­sage has not been clear enough from many gov­ern­ments, in­clud­ing Aus­tralia’s, and that has con­tributed to the prob­lem,” Mr Lynch said.
"By with­hold­ing our co-op­er­a­tion on an in­sti­tu­tional level, we are doing our bit to make up for that."
  To its credit, the University of Sydney distanced itself from Lynch's attitude, while Oppostion foreign affairs spokesperson Senator Julie Bishop made the reasonable point that the Centre's decision
 "to put a ban on con­tacts with Is­raeli aca­d­e­mics is com­pletely at odds with the aims of a cen­tre that pur­ports to be ded­i­cated to stud­ies in peace"
and queried whether Cen­tre de­clared its pro-BDS stance be­fore it re­ceiv­ed a $A47,000 grant from Au­sAid a couple of years ago.


So that's the latest on BDS in Sydney.  Now for the latest on BDS in Melbourne.

Hat tip to reader Shirlee for the following footage of BDSers ("Students For Palestine") there wearing Santa hats warbling bad cheer towards the Zionist Entity; here, it's evidently not going to be over because the fat lady, instead of singing, is taking pictures:


Those dodgy choristers and their fellow activists were attending a "Don't Buy Israeli Apartheid for Christmas" rally on 7 December in  City Square,  bent on spreading their Israel-demonising messages via alternative lyrics to Christmas carols, and wielding props bearing such slogans as "Israel is a terrorist state" (what, nothing about Syria?):




 Hullo 'ullo 'ullo, do I see the long arm of the law? – what's this all about, then?:


"And so this is Christmas, let's boycott Israel" ...  Not over yet; the fat lady's still not singing:


Oy!

Update: Another in the series (arguably the "best" in its horribly fascinating way of all).  Eardrum warning: screeching female demoniser at large:


Thanks, Shirlee!

7 comments:

  1. OY!! is about right Daph.

    The Sydney version of this is today. I and a few others are going to 'observe'. Yes don't panic, you will get at least one video.!


    It occurred to me last night, that this group "Action for Palestine Sydney" which was started by, and is being run by a Lebanese Arab. They too are going to be singing bastardised Christmas carols.

    Baring this in mind, can you just imagine the furore if we did that to a Muslim song. Well no, it can't be a song, as they forbid music. But you get the point I'm making I'm sure

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  2. There was a counter group present at this rally pity no one had any footage.

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  3. You can’t get any more offensive than fascists, singing Christians hymns, advocating a boycott of Jews and the destruction of the Jewish state. That giant present looks awfully like a St. Georges Cross, that will get you arrested in England if you’re in the EDL. PLO, IJ, Hamas and Hezbollah flags no so much.

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  4. So it's a new Kristalnacht. Fair enough. Israel needs to break all ties with 100% of every Australian academic institution forever. Kick every Australian passport holding academic out of the country if they're doing work in Israel as an academic. If Australia sees a way clear to change the circumstances in their own country then Israel can revisit it. If not, so be it. 10 years? 20? 100? ok then.

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  5. they seem sedate compared to the mob we have at demonstrations here - there comments if you engage in debate is always cliched and incapable of viewing Jews as human.

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