David Singer: Saudi Arabia Jolts Jordan to Negotiate with Israel on Trump Plan

Here's the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.

He writes:

Abdul Hameed Al-Ghabin – “a Saudi writer and a political and tribal figure” – has challenged Jordan to negotiate with Israel on President Trump’s “deal of the century” – or risk losing control of the Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem currently vested in Jordan under the 1994 Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty and the Washington Declaration.

 Al-Ghabin’s views have – significantly – been published by an Israeli newspaper. Saudi Arabia’s rulers have not condemned Al-Ghabin or disavowed his views – indicating that Al-Ghabin’s message could represent Saudi Arabia’s official position.
Al-Ghabin asserts:

“There is a major issue of contention: the future of the Palestinians and their right to self-determination. It is important and logical to us that Palestinians should have a state at the end of a peace process. However, anti-peace forces litter our region. An example of such a force is, sadly, the Kingdom of Jordan”.

Al-Ghabin asks:

 “How can we achieve peace if the Palestinian people remain without a place to call home?”

Al-Ghabin’s answer will assuredly jolt Jordan – and the United Nations – out of their long running historical, geographical and demographical memory loss:

“The answer is simple: Jordan is already 78 per cent of historical Palestine. Jordanians of Palestinian origin constitute more than 80 percent of the population according to U.S. intelligence cables leaked in 2010. Jordan is essentially already the Palestinian Arab state. The only problem is, the king of Jordan refuses to acknowledge this.
Nonetheless, the world will eventually recognize Jordan as the address for Palestinian statehood—and perhaps sooner than we think. We don’t know if the Jordanian royal family will still be in power when Jordan officially becomes Palestine, but we do know that if the royal family leaves and the Palestinian majority takes over, Jordan will officially become their homeland and we Arabs won’t feel guilty normalizing relations with Israel as another regional state.”

The sting in the tail is Al-Ghabin’s warning that Jordan’s custodianship of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem – created under article 9(2) of the Israel- Jordan Peace Treaty – could be ended if Jordan does not play ball.

Al-Ghabin is ruthless in his criticism of Jordan’s monarch – King Abdullah:

“As for the Al-Aqsa mosque, we have been financing it for over 70 years now. Saudi Arabia has donated billions of dollars to Jordan’s king and his father and grandfather, all in the name of “protecting” and “maintaining” Al-Aqsa. A quick look at the holy site is enough to show everyone that the king of Jordan has neither been maintaining nor protecting the site. The mosque is in a miserable state and unrest is always being stirred up there by the king’s appointed guards and loyalists.
We don’t need this, nor do the Israelis and Palestinians. Instead, Saudi Arabia could offer a proper custodianship of Al-Aqsa, under a new arrangement that secures the freedom of worship at the site for all. Our country has managed the holy shrines of Mecca and Medina for almost 100 years now, in the most efficient fashion. We welcome Iranian pilgrims and offer them generous services, despite Iran’s hostility and the fact that they belong to the Shiite sect”.

Abdullah has repeatedly called for the creation of a second Arab state in former Palestine – in addition to Jordan – claiming Middle East peace is only possible with the creation of such an additional State.

Al-Ghabin – and by extension Saudi Arabia – has signalled an alternative solution that might well be Trump’s proposed solution.

Abdullah needs to publicly commit to negotiating with Israel on whatever solution Trump proposes – or risk facing the unpleasant consequences telegraphed by Saudi Arabia.

Author’s note: The cartoon — commissioned exclusively for this article — is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones” —  one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators — whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades. His cartoons can be viewed at Drybonesblog

Much Ado About Peterloo

On 16 August this year people in the great UK city of Manchester turned out to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the city's tragic "Peterloo Massacre", when a two-year old boy and at least seventeen other people (male and female) lost their lives, and around 600 others were injured.  These victims of the charging militia were among a vast crowd of peaceful demonstrators gathered in St Peter's Field to demand repeal of the Corn Laws and the extension of the suffrage.

 The incident is well-known to people who take an interest in history.  But this year, as this report from the BBC shows, more and more people swelled the ranks of those who gathered to commemorate the event, including, I suspect, a number of fairly fresh members of the Labour Party. 

 You know: Corbynistas.

That the story  of Peterloo tugs at the heartstrings is not surprising. 

So, of course, does the story of the "Tolpuddle Martyrs", six agricultural from a village Dorset, who in 1834 were transported to Australia, having organised themselves into a proto-trade union. 

But among those exploiting the Peterloo event for their own ends were the ratbags pictured.  

And the annual Tolpuddle Martyrs' Festival, which occurs each July?

Well, the Unite union, which is one of the UK trades unions that is anti-Israel, calling it "an apartheid state" and calling for sanctions, is well-involved with that event.

Here's a familiar demagogue at this year's Tolpuddle event:

We can, no doubt, expect more of this hijackery in the years ahead.  Don't be surprised if the 1692 massacre at Glencoe is next!

David Singer: Democrats Backing Jew-Haters Over Israel Play into Trump’s Hands

Here's the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.

He writes:

The Democratic Party House majority is now in freefall backing two of its openly-avowed Jew-hating members – Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib – against decisions made by Israel banning them from unconditional entry into the Jewish State.

The Democrats leadership in the House issued the following statement on 11th February 2019 rebuking Omar for her antisemitic comments:

Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Majority Whip James E. Clyburn, Assistant Speaker Ben Ray Luján, Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries and Caucus Vice Chair Katherine Clark issued this joint statement condemning anti-Semitic comments made over Twitter by Congresswoman Ilhan Omar:

“Anti-Semitism must be called out, confronted and condemned whenever it is encountered, without exception.

“We are and will always be strong supporters of Israel in Congress because we understand that our support is based on shared values and strategic interests.  Legitimate criticism of Israel’s policies is protected by the values of free speech and democratic debate that the United States and Israel share.  But Congresswoman Omar’s use of anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israel’s supporters is deeply offensive.  We condemn these remarks and we call upon Congresswoman Omar to immediately apologize for these hurtful comments.

“As Democrats and as Americans, the entire Congress must be fully engaged in denouncing and rejecting all forms of hatred, racism, prejudice and discrimination wherever they are encountered.”

Omar has never recanted or apologized.

The House condemned the Global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS) on 23^rdJuly as one that:

• “does not recognize, and many of its supporters explicitly deny, the right of the Jewish people to national self-determination”;

• “promotes principles of collective guilt, mass punishment and group isolation, which are destructive of prospects for progress towards peace.”

Tlaib and Omar voted against this resolution which was overwhelmingly adopted by 398 votes to 17.

President Trump had no compunction in calling on Israel to ban them in this succinct tweet:

It would show great weakness if Israel allowed Rep. Omar and Rep.Tlaib to visit. They hate Israel & all Jewish people, & there is nothing that can be said or doe to change their minds. Minnesota and Michigan will have a hard time putting them back in office. They are a disgrace!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 15, 2019

A specific Israeli law entitles Israel to ban Tlaib and Omar for supporting BDS – a Movement condemned by both Democrats and the House as abhorrent. No one – not even two US Congress members – should be above the law.

The Democrats and the House had – in taking their principled actions – provided sufficient justification for Israel to deny these two virulent Jew-haters entry into Israel. The Democrats should have been standing four-square behind Israel’s decision to exclude them.

The Democrats’ response to Israel’s decision – however – has been appalling.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called Israel’s decision:

“a sign of weakness, and beneath the dignity of the great State of Israel.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has joined the firing squad saying Israel’s decision:

“will only hurt the U.S.-Israeli relationship and support for Israel in America.”

Democratic Party leaders’ criticism of Israel’s decision could see large numbers of the 71 per cent of Jews who vote Democrat simply not turning up to vote at the 2020 elections.

The optics of the Democratic Party in being seen to be supporting two Jew-haters over Israel is not pretty – and will be repeatedly and mercilessly exploited by Trump in the 2020 election campaign.
The Democrats failure to stand with President Trump in supporting Israel’s decision has indeed played right into Trump’s hands.

 Author’s note: The cartoon — commissioned exclusively for this article — is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones” — one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators — whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades. His cartoons can be viewed at Drybonesblog

Fiftyish Shades of Grime: Holocaust Distorters, 9/11 Truthers, & Al Quds Conference Attendees

"Today a rooster.  Tomorrow a feather duster."

That's  a good old Aussie characterisation of once-high flying politicians.

I suppose we could apply it to our old mate the ex-Vicar of Virginia Water, that inveterate foe of Christian Zionism who in his time has rubbed shoulders with such individuals as the old rogue at left.

And who persists in having overt antisemites among his social media "friends",  and owes his notoriety largely, but not exclusively, to the post further down this thread. 

But this clerical rooster still has plenty of peck left in him, crusading against Christian Zionism, attempting through translations of his writings to infect Third World Christians, particularly in South East Asia, with his hostility to Israel.

 Moreover, in his role as head honcho of the Israel-bashing "Peacemakers" outfit, he seems to be trying to play "bigwig" on the world stage.   For he's signatory number 51 of a recent letter to no less a personage than the UN Secretary-General in support of this (Israel-hating) Nigerian sheikh, a letter that says, inter alia:

"Mr. Secretary General! According to the religious teachings and the unchangeable divine traditions; whatever you, other international officials and those so-called defenders of Human Rights, accomplish your legal, human and moral duty or not, the oppressed nations particularly the Yemeni, Syrian, Palestinian, Iraqi, Afghan and Nigerian peoples will win as they have decided to be free and not to accept any type of injustice ..."

What a group many of the 53 signatories turns out to be!  For a start, there are a number of 9/11 Truthers among them. Hold your nose and read on!  Here are the signatories (and definitions, as given, in bold font) with links/comments added by me below their names:

1. Prof. Johan Galtung (Norway), Sociologist, Mathematician, the principal Founder of the ‘discipline of peace & conflict studies, First Tun Mahathir Professor of Global Peace at the International Islamic University Malaysia, world's first chair in peace and conflict studies, at the University of Oslo (1969)

Says Wikipedia of this guy here (I've omitted footnote numbers):

'The Israeli newspaper Haaretz accused Galtung in May 2012 of antisemitism for: (1) suggesting the possibility of a link between the 2011 Norway attacks and Israel's intelligence agency Mossad; (2) maintaining that "six Jewish companies" control 96% of world media; (3) identifying what he contends are ironic similarities between the banking firm Goldman Sachs and the conspiratorial antisemitic forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion; and (4) theorizing that although not justified, antisemitism in post-World War I Germany was a predictable consequence of German Jews holding influential positions. As a result of such statements, in May 2012 TRANSCEND International, an organisation co-founded by Galtung, released a statement attempting to clarify his opinions. On August 8, 2012, the World Peace Academy in Basel, Switzerland announced it was suspending Galtung from its organization, citing what it posited were his "reckless and offensive statements to questions that are specifically sensitive for Jews." Galtung himself has vehemently repudiated the above attacks as "smearing and libel" in a published statement and a public lecture at the end of the year 2012.'

2. Prof. Ward Churchill (US), Former professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado Boulder, Author, Political Analyst

A rum sort of fella!

 From Wikipedia:

 'Churchill wrote an essay in September 2001 entitled On the Justice of Roosting Chickens. In it, he argued that the September 11 attacks were provoked by U.S. foreign policy. He compared the role of financial workers at the World Trade Center in "ongoing genocidal American imperialism" to the role played by Adolf Eichmann in organizing the Holocaust. In 2005, this essay was widely publicized when Hamilton College invited Churchill to speak. This led to both condemnations of Churchill and counter-accusations of McCarthyism by Churchill and supporters. Following the controversy, the University of Colorado interim Chancellor Phil DiStefano said, "While Professor Churchill has the constitutional right to express his political views, his essay on 9/11 has outraged and appalled us and the general public."....'

3. Prof. James Henry Fetzer (US), Philosopher, Emeritus professor of the philosophy of science at the University of Minnesota Duluth, Political Expert

Oh boy!

From Wikipedia (footnote numbers omitted here):

'Fetzer alleged that the 9/11 attacks were treason, and called for the military overthrow of President George W. Bush. He has asserted that the World Trade Center buildings collapsed by controlled demolitions or by high-tech weaponry, although his speculations have drawn further critical attention. In 2005, with Steven E. Jones, Fetzer co-founded Scholars for 9/11 Truth. Jovian Byford criticized Fetzer's speculations that Jews or Israel were involved in a conspiracy to commit the 9/11 attacks as "a contemporary variant of the old, antisemitic conspiracist canard about the disloyalty of Jews and their usurpation of power in the name of communal interests and the accumulation of wealth." 

An article by Fetzer published by Press TV and Veterans Today (a site, according to Oliver Kamm, which "promotes conspiracy theories") titled (by the latter) "Did Mossad death squads slaughter American children at Sandy Hook?" was described in January 2013 by Kamm in The Jewish Chronicle as "monstrous, calumnious, demented bilge" that "violates all bounds of decency". In 2015, Fetzer published a book titled Nobody Died at Sandy Hook: It Was a FEMA Drill to Promote Gun Control. Lenny Pozner, father of Sandy Hook victim Noah Pozner, sued Fetzer and his co-author, Mike Palacek, for defamation in a Dane County, Wisconsin court. In June 2019, circuit judge Frank Remington found that Fetzer and Palacek had defamed the Pozners, with damages to be awarded at an October 2019 trial. The book's publisher, Half Moon Books, personally apologized to the Pozners and agreed to take the book out of circulation. 

Regarding the Holocaust, Fetzer has written: "My research on the Holocaust narrative suggests that it is not only untrue but probably false and not remotely scientifically sustainable." In 2013, officials of the University of Minnesota said that "Fetzer has the right to express his views, but he also has the responsibility to make clear he's not speaking for the university." He is retired and no longer employed by the university.'

 4. Prof. Farid Esack (South Africa), Professor in the Study of Islam at University of Johannesburg

From Wikipedia (footnote numbers omitted) here:

'Esack served as a Commissioner for Gender Equality in South African and has taught at the Universities of Western Cape, and Hamburg, the College of William & Mary and Union Theological Seminary (NY) and at Xavier University in Cincinnati. He is currently a professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa.

He is head of the South-African branch of BDS. He was responsible for the boycott of Ben Gurion University by the University of Johannesburg.

In 2013, Esack said that BDS distanced themselves from the singing of "shoot the Jew" in song during a protest at Wits University’s Great Hall. "We unequivocally distance ourselves from the singing of this song and its sentiments. Also, to tarnish all Jews with the Zionist brush is racism regardless of who does it. Racism is racism and racism is abominable." Esack also bemoaned the advantage the incident had given the organisation's detractors. "It is unfortunate but not unexpected that supporters of Israel will focus on the singing of this song," he said. "The purpose and context of the protest were and remain the larger struggle against Israeli apartheid, Israel's illegal occupation and its violation of Palestinian rights."

In 2015 in the wake of 132 deaths caused by terror attacks in France, Esack lashed out at Western powers that had waged war on Muslim countries and that supported the invasion of Muslim countries. "I am not praying for Paris; I am not condemning anyone. Why the hell should I? I had nothing to do with it," "I am sickened by the perpetual expectations to condemn. I walk away from your shitty racist and Islamophobic expectations that whenever your chickens come home to roost then I must feign horror". "Stop supporting and funding terror outfits, get out of other people's lands and continents, stop outlawing peaceful resistance such as Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement, to occupations, abandon your cultural imperialism, destroy your arms industry that provides the weapons that kill hundreds of thousands of others every year". "The logic is quite simple: When you eat, it's stupid to expect that no shit will ever come out from your body. Yes, I feel sorry for the victims on whom the shit falls. But, bloody hell, own it; it's yours!"

5. Prof. William O. Beeman (US), Professor of Anthropology at University of Minnesota, Author

This Iran specialist blogs here

6. Prof. Rodney Shakespeare (UK), Former Professor of Binary Economics at Trisakti University [Jakarta], Economy Expert

A namesake more inventive than The Bard?:

 'Rodney Shakespeare said in an interview with the Press TV that Britain has always tried to depict the mass killing of Jews by the Nazi Germany in the Second World War as the most notorious tragedy of the last century, adding that other incidents such as the massacre of the Iranians has always been hushed.

“Yes there was the mass killing of Jews, but a greater number ... probably about eight to 10 million, was the killing of Iranians by the British in the two years 1917 to 1919, and the figure ... is more than the roughly six million Jews killed by the Nazis,” he said.

“That Iranian devastation is not mentioned today ... and whilst there are continuing remainders of one mass killing, that of Jews, there is silence about the other, the killing of Iranians,” he added.'

More on him here

7. Prof. Paul Sheldon Foote (US), Professor of Accounting at California State University, Fullerton, Political Analyst

Below his Twitter mugshot:

 8. Prof. Lawrence Davidson (US), Former professor of history at West Chester University, author, political analyst

Sample his views on 9/11 here

And his views on Israel and Zionism here; Inter alia:

"We are at a new stage of the fight to realize Palestinian rights and free both Palestinians and Jews from the consequences of Zionist racism. There was a time when very few in the West understood the racist nature of the Israeli state. For a long time the Zionists controlled the public relations message .... Of course, Israel had always been a racist place designed for one group alone. But now the contradictions created by post-war occupation made, and continue to make, that fact harder to hide, and the mythical picture of Israel as a grand democratic experiment has eroded.... As a result, Israel has largely lost the public relations battle at the popular level of Western society.

However, the winning of this battle is not to be equated with the winning of the fight mentioned above. The Zionists are still able to maintain Western financial and military support of Israel at obscene levels despite Israel’s revealed apartheid nature...."

9. Prof. Jacob Cohen (France), Former professor at Faculty of Law - Casablanca, Morocco, Author &Journalist

Voices unsavoury views re the Holocaust.  For example:

 To quote Memri.org:

'Moroccan-born French-Jewish Holocaust denier Jacob Cohen delivered a talk titled “The Holocaust and the Zionist Agenda” at the Lawyer’s Club in Rabat, Morocco, at an event commemorating the 10th anniversary of what the organizers termed “the 2008 Gaza Holocaust.” Cohen said that the Nuremberg Tribunal had been a "victor's court" that had arbitrarily decided that six million Jews had been killed in the Holocaust, and that there had been no mention of the Holocaust until the 1970s, which was a convenient time for the affair to surface because "it fit well with the history of the Middle East [and Israel]."

 He added that the Holocaust has become a "new religion" complete with its own dogmas, rituals, martyrs, saints, courts, anti-blasphemy rules, and disbelievers – the Holocaust deniers. Cohen also stated that the Zionists are always a step ahead and looking for something for their propaganda, and that MEMRI "supposedly translates statements by Iranian officials" in an effort to make Westerners "think that Iran wants to commit a second Holocaust." He said that people who do not dispute anything they hear about the Holocaust will unconsciously accept it, and he concluded: "This is why it is absolutely necessary… [to] protest and to not let them have their way."

 The event was held by the "National Work Group for Palestine" against the backdrop of King Muhammad VI’s recent decision to integrate the study of the Holocaust into Morocco’s educational curriculum. The video was uploaded to the Internet by Al3omk Online TV (Morocco) on January 5.'

10. Prof. Yahya Christian Bonaud (France), Islamologist, Writer, Translator, Commentator of the Quran, Mysticism Researcher

A German-born convert to Islam.

11. Dr. Kevin J. Barrett (US), Former lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Author, Political Analyst

A 9/11 Truther and then some! See this antisemitic conspiracy theorist's manic nonsense here

12. Dr. Maria Poumier (France), Former professor at University of Sorbonne

Read about this fragrant lady here

A whiff of her fragrance:

'[F]rom the beginning, the Jewish State has a detestable Mafia-like logic and practices the historical lie on an unprecedented scale: enough to drag in front of international tribunals many Israeli political figures... [I]f we add the crimes of the Jewish State in terms of mental manipulation around the collective memory, the permanent crimes against the Palestinians, and interference in the politics of each European State, as well as at the EU level, I claim the termination of diplomatic relations with the Jewish State, in a lasting manner.The pressure of the "Jewish State" is exerted in the form of blackmail to feelings; it is a lobbying that pollutes the souls, in other words, the conscious individual choices, but also the unconscious atavisms... The manufacturers and traders of each country are both partners and competitors with those of the Jewish state, and bribes are circulating, flooding the political world....'

For the entire nostril assaulting fragrance unhold your nose and sniff here

On the same page as Fetzer and Barrett here!

13. Dr. Paul Larudee (US), Anti-war Activist, Co-founder of Free Gaza Movement, Political Analyst

His Wikipedia entry here

A sample recent tweet below:

14. Dr. Christian Bouchet (France), Former Politician, Teacher, Publisher

A quick profile of this supporter of Arab nationalism here 

15. Dr. Zafar Bangash (Canada), Director of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought, Muslim Leader, Commentator of Holy Quran

Overview here

Note there his call for gays to be stoned to death and his anti-American statements:

"The imam's [Ayatollah Khomeini] designation of the U.S. as a great Satan was very precise. It emerged from a very careful study and understanding of the behaviour of the United States government and its policies down the generations... It has perpetrated over there [in Iraq] under the guise of delivering democracy and freedom when tens of thousands if not hundred of thousands of innocent people have been murdered in cold blood similar crimes are being perpetrated in Palestine by the US support of the Zionist occupiers of Palestine... It is an evil power that it needs to be dealt with and it needs to be continued and put in its place."

16. Dr. Rev. Randy Short (US), Minister African Orthodox Church of Washington

A Farrakhan fan. Glimpse his views here

17. Dr. Marwa Osman (Lebanon), Academic, Journalist, Political TV show host, Political Commentator

See her anti-Israel tweets here

18. George Galloway (UK), MP for 25 years, Broadcaster, Writer

Gorgeous George  really needs no introduction!  (Below, with the Vicar)

19. Craig Murray (UK), Whistleblower, Former Diplomat, Political Activist, Human Rights Campaigner, Author

Also terms himself a historian.  A Sizer apologist.  Murray's conspiracy theorising ("Israel has the nerve agents. Israel has Mossad which is extremely skilled at foreign assassinations....") shown up by Harry's Place here

Sample anti-Israel rant on his blog, earlier this year:

'Hezbollah’s defeat of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in the July war of 2006 was heroic and an essential redress to the Middle East power balance. I supported Hezbollah’s entirely defensive action then and I continue to applaud it now. That, beyond any shadow of a doubt, makes me guilty of the criminal offence of “glorifying terrorism”, now that [British Home Secretaary] Sajid Javid has proscribed Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation. I am unrepentant and look forward to the prosecution.

... Sajid Javid has simply gone too far ...

Together with the largely manufactured “Corbyn anti-semitism” row, Javid’s move is primarily aimed at pleasing Israel and looking to score political points over Jeremy Corbyn, whose past contacts with Hezbollah can now be deemed terrorist. But it is also a move to please the UK elite’s other paymaster, Mohammed Bin Salman, by further forwarding his attempt to delegitimise and to subjugate Arab Shia communities....'

20. Col. Alain Corvez (France), Former Advisor of Minister of Defense, Military Expert, International Strategy Advisor

A recent interview here

21. Stephen Lendman (US), Author, Radio Host, Political Analyst

Here's this "Progressive" dude.

A taste of his Israel-hate (beginning "Israeli occupation, colonialism and apartheid exceed the worst of South Africa’s high crimes") here

22. J. Michael Springmann (US), Ex-diplomat, Former head of the American Visa Bureau in KSA; Author, Political Analyst

This pro-Arab pro-BDS  elderly guy's Facebook page is full of swipes against Israel, which in at least one post he repeatedly refers to as Izzie-land.  (Bit antisemitic, eh?) He's fond of posting an image of the Israeli flag with a Stop sign through it.  Here, he links to a recent article that he wrote:

And see his post here

 23. Alison Weir (US), Activist, Writer, Journalist, Founder of if AmericansKnew, president of the Council for the National Interest

See here for her. As noted there, inter alia:

"...  The flavour of Alison Weir’s stance on Israel (readily available on her blog) may be seen in her posting “Israel Organ Trafficking and Theft: from Moldova to Palestine”, which gained international notoriety when it first appeared. (It is still there.) ..."

She also attended last year's Al Quds Conference in Teheran (see Springmann's post linked to above, or see below, under Teša Tešanović)

24. Imam Muhammad al-Asi (US), Former Imam at the Islamic Center of Washington, Muslim Leader

Inter alia, we learn here (where footnotes and sources appear):

'On September 10, 2006, in an interview on Iranian Channel 2 (as translated by the MEMRI), al-Asi stated that attacks of 9/11 were planned by the United State Government. Specifically, al-Asi stated that "The events of 9/11 were planned by the American administration, to be used as a pretext and justification to fight terrorism." 

Al-Asi had also stated in reference to the first Gulf War, "if Americans are placing their forces in the Persian Gulf, we should be creating another war front for the Americans in the Muslim world - specifically where American interests are concentrated."

In an undated article, entitled "The Qur'an says: Zionist Israel will be shattered," posted on the website Muslimedia.com, a publication of Crescent International, al-Asi wrote that "the Israeli Zionists have convinced themselves that their presence in Palestine is permanent. They have even managed to deceive world public opinion into believing this myth. The brainwashing that has gone into this effort is phenomenal ... To bolster their argument, they tell us indefatigably that the Jews are politically as strong as ever because they are in virtual command and control of the American and Russian administrations; not to mention their political and foreign policy clout in the European continent." 

Regarding the Israeli lobby, an article in the Arab American News quotes al-Asi as stating that "Very rarely we have American officials who can say no to the 700 pound gorilla on Capitol Hill that is the Israeli lobby. Many of us are wrong when we think that the U.S. government has the flexibility to adjust to the new reality. It doesn't have the flexibility when it has the toxins of the Israeli lobby in its bone marrow."

The Investigative Project on Terrorism has posted a video clip of al-Asi giving the following speech at UC-Irvine on February 21, 2001:

We have a psychosis in the Jewish community that is unable to co-exist equally and brotherly with other human beings. You can take a Jew out of the ghetto, but you can't take the ghetto out of the Jew, and this has been demonstrated time and time again in Occupied Palestine. And now they have American diplomats and politicians and decision makers and strategists in their pocket. ... 

The Investigative Project has posted another video clip from a speech by al-Asi at UC-Irvine on May 15, 2002, in which he states:

If the only thing the Israelis and their mentors, and their sponsors, and their superiors in Washington DC, are going to understand is the use of force, then that's the language we're going to communicate with, we're going to use force, and whatever was taken by force can only be retrieved by force. ....'  [Emphasis added]

25. Joe Iosbaker (US), National Coordinator, 2012 Anti-War March on NATO Summit

Chicago-based Joe (Facebook page here) tweets here

26. Ajamu Baraka (US), Political Activist, Former Green Party nominee for US Vice President election (2016), National Organizer for Black Alliance for Peace

A Green from Chicago, he

'has been a vehement critic of Israel. In October 2014, Baraka traveled to the Palestinian territories as part of an 18-member "African Heritage delegation" organized by the Interfaith Peace-Builders group. The delegation issued six "findings and demands" and urged the Congressional Black Caucus to place pressure on Israel. The group specifically called the expansion of Israeli settlements "ethnic cleansing and 21st century colonialism"; called for an end to U.S. aid to Israel; accused Israel of apartheid; and praised the "Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions" movement as "an essential tool in the struggle for Palestinian liberation."

After making the visit, Baraka wrote that "a negotiated, relatively 'peaceful' resolution of the conflict is impossible" because "the Israeli state has no interest in a negotiated settlement with Palestinians." He accused Israel of carrying out what he termed a "brutal occupation and illegal theft of Palestinian land," adding:

'During my activist life I have traveled to many of the countries that Western colonial/capitalist leaders characterized as despotic totalitarian states – the old Soviet Union, North Korea, Cuba before 1989 – but in none of those states did I witness the systematic mechanism of population control and scientific repression that I witness in "democratic" Israel. The security walls, towers, checkpoints, and armed settlers created an aura of insecurity and impending assault on one's dignity at any time. I left that space wondering how anyone with a modicum of humanity and any sense of morality could reconcile living in that environment from the spoils of Palestinian dispossession and degradation and how any nation could support the Israeli political project.'

Baraka also questioned news stories about the June 2014 kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers, which Israel blamed on Hamas members and which led to Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip against Hamas. One month after the kidnappings, which he called a "false flag operation," Baraka indicated in an interview his belief that "the kids were supposed to be kidnapped but they weren't supposed to be murdered. That was an accident. But nevertheless it gave Israel the pretext that they were setting up for, and that was the opportunity to basically attack Hamas in order to destroy the unity government." Two suspects, both members of Hamas, were killed in a shootout with Israeli forces in September 2014, while a third Hamas member was convicted of the murders in January 2015.

In March 2015, Baraka condemned Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's comments on the day of the 2015 Israeli elections. Netanyahu had warned supporters in a video posted to his Facebook page that his government was in danger because "Arab voters are coming out in droves to the polls." Baraka called Netanyahu's words a "racist rant" that exposed "the brutal and immoral reality of the Israeli colonial project" and the "illusion" of a two-state solution.'   [Emphasis added; footnotes at source]

27. David Swanson (US), Anti-war Activist, Blogger, Author, Political Analyst

For pro-BDS Swanson's various blogging outlets see here

28. Greta Berlin (US), Anti-war Activist, Co-founder of Free Gaza Movement, Political Analyst

Showing her colours:

 Who can forget this notorious claim by her?  Namely, “Zionists operated the concentration camps and helped murder millions of innocent Jews.”

29. Gordon Duff (US), Military analyst, Veterans Today’s Senior Editor, Marine Combat Veteran of the Vietnam War

Chairman of Veterans Today, founded 2003, which has been characterised as "an American propaganda and conspiracy theory website" (with links to Tran's Press TV) whose "anti-Israel bent ... can slide pretty quickly into overt anti-Semitism.":

'A joint article with Press TV, written by Jim Fetzer, was entitled: "Did Mossad death squads slaughter American children at Sandy Hook?" According to Veterans Today, Israel was behind the 9/11 attacks in collaboration with the United States and Julian Assange of WikiLeaks is controlled by the Israeli government....

According to British journalist Oliver Kamm, Veterans Today "promotes conspiracy theories". James Kirchick, writing in Time magazine, calls Veterans Today a "virulently anti-Semitic website". The Times of Israel describes it as "a clearinghouse of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories". According to The Jerusalem Post, the website has published "articles defending Hitler, and promotes Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke and the anti-semitic musician Gilad Atzmon". The Daily Beast describes it as a "Holocaust denial outfit". Veterans Today has said The Holocaust either did not occur or has been greatly inflated alleging it has been invented by the Jews to manipulate non-Jews....'  (Emphasis added; ootnotes at source)

30. William Rodriguez (US), Anti-war Activist, 911 truther
Read about this Puerto Rican-born former janitor at one of the Twin Towers here


31. Wayne Madsen (US), Journalist, Columnist, Author of "Decade of Death: Secret Wars & Genocide in Africa 1993-2003"

About this charmer:

 '.... Madsen has asserted in The Palestine Telegraph that hundreds of Iraqi scientists who had been assassinated or died in accidents after the invasion in 2003 were actually murdered by Mossad hit teams operating in Iraq.

In September 2005 he said that the pro-Israel lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, had pressured American politicians to avoid protests against the Iraq War. In October 2005, he wrote that "an unidentified former CIA agent" claimed that the USS Cole was hit by a Popeye cruise missile launched from an Israeli Dolphin-class submarine.

In a 2008 ArabNews article suggesting that the criminal prosecution of New York State governor Eliot Spitzer was partly due to the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, Wayne Madsen says that the prostitution firm that entangled Spitzer in a call girl ring, is seen as a front for Israel's intelligence agency, the Mossad. Further Madsen suggested that Spitzer was outed by Russian-Israeli gangsters angry at Spitzer's crack down on Wall Street malfeasance.

He has asserted that members of AIPAC and Israel's Mossad dominate CNN's management and urges his readers to boycott CNN and its advertisers until they are fired. He has begun a project to oppose Israel as a threat to world peace. Madsen has stated in an interview that "the Israeli lobby owns the Congress, media, Hollywood, Wall Street, both political parties and the White House".

In 2010, Madsen reported in the Pakistan Daily that unnamed sources suggested that the company formerly known as Blackwater, had been conducting false-flag operations in Pakistan that were blamed on the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan....' (Emphasis added; footnotes at source)

32. Michael Maloof (US), Former senior security policy analyst in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Military Expert

See here and here  He attended last years Al Quds Conference in Teheran see below, under Teša Tešanović

33. Jim W. Dean (US), Managing Editor of Veterans Today, Military Expert

Perhaps start your acquaintanceship with this guy here

34. Carol Brouillet (US), 2012 Green Party candidate for U.S. House to represent the 18th Congressional District of California

Ah, the Greens! For this 9/11 truther see here and here

35. Ken O’Keefe (Ireland), Former US Marine and Gulf War Veteran, Political Analyst

Israel-hating 9/11 Truther Ken, who's written fot Veterans Today and appears on Press TV, tweets under the rather randy-sounding Twitter handle KOK69

To quote Marilyn Mayo in 2016:

 ' [A]t a talk in Berkeley, California, on March 17, hosted by the conspiracy theorist group 9-11Truth.org, O’Keefe promoted a vast array of conspiracy theories vilifying Jews and Israel. He alleged that a small group of individuals—later referred to as Jewish bankers—controls the world’s money. He called these individuals traitors, psychopaths, sociopaths, pedophiles and “otherwise corrupt, immoral, lacking in empathy people” who “bought everything and everyone that can be bought.”

He went on to say that Jews control the media and Hollywood. He also claimed that Israel operates within “Talmudic dictates” and alleged that the Talmud allows for Jews to rape non-Jewish three-year-old girls.

Later, when talking about Israel’s 1967 accidental attack on an American ship, the U.S.S. Liberty, O’Keefe asserted that Israel can do anything with impunity. He added, “They even abduct, torture, have sex with and ritually sacrifice young children.” He also promoted the conspiracy theory that Israel would take the “Samson option,” and exterminate the world “if it feels that its existence is threatened.”

Earlier in the week, at a program in San Diego, also hosted by the 9-11Truth.org, O’Keefe expounded on similar anti-Semitic themes. He claimed that Israel and Mossad were behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks..... 

.... His YouTube videos, some of which have garnered hundreds of thousands of views, feature anti-Jewish and anti-Israel themes. He supports the Palestinian cause and has claimed both Irish and Palestinian citizenship....'

36. David Lawley Wakelin (UK), Documentary film maker, Author of "The Alternative Iraq Enquiry"

37. Edward C. Corrigan (Canada), International Human Rights Lawyer, Barrister, Solicitor, Certified Specialist in Citizenship, Immigration & Refugee Protection

Check him out here

38. Eric Walberg (Canada), Journalist, Political & Cultural Analyst, author

Check him out here

39. Peter Koenig (Switzerland), Economist, Geopolitical Analyst

See here for him

40. Laurent Louis (Belgium), Politician, Former Member of Chamber of Representatives

Anti-Israel, pro-Islam.  We read here (footnotes at source):

'L'évolution de Laurent Louis vers des positions « antisionistes » attire l'attention du petit parti belge Islam, créé l'année précédente, qui prend alors contact avec lui. En septembre 2013, Laurent Louis adhère à Islam, annonçant qu'il sera à la fois porte-parole et tête de liste du parti à Bruxelles pour les élections fédérales de 2014. Il entre toutefois très vite en conflit avec le bureau de cette formation. Après avoir voulu s'autoproclamer président du parti1, il en est exclu le 27 octobre 2013, un mois après son adhésion. Il s'ensuit une polémique entre les membres d'Islam et Laurent Louis, qui dit être propriétaire du logo du parti. Redouane Ahrouch, conseiller communal d'Islam à Anderlecht, déclare : « on nous avait prévenus que ce n’était pas une personne stable. Mais nous avions décidé de lui laisser une chance. Dimanche, il s’est présenté au conseil du parti et il a voulu s’autoproclamer président. Abdelhay Bakkali Tahiri, notre président, fait du très bon boulot et nous avons évidemment refusé ».

41. Doğan Bermek (Turkey), Muslim Leader, President of Alevi Philosophy Center - Turkey.

On You Tube here

42. Manuel Ochsenreiter (Germany), Journalist, Political Analyst, Editor-in-chief of the Monthly "Zuerst!"

A rightwing nationalist, apparently.

We read here:

'Im September 2014 war Ochsenreiter Referent („Israelische Lobby in Deutschland“) der Konferenz „New Horizon“ in Teheran, die, wie die Vorgängerkonferenz von 2006, Holocaustleugnern eine Plattform bot. ( Stephan Grigat: Truther in Teheran Im Iran hat eine Konferenz von Holocaust-Leugnern und Verschwörungstheoretikern stattgefunden. In: Jungle World, Nr. 41, 9. Oktober 2014.)'

43. Rainer Rupp (Germany), Former Intelligence Agent, Journalist, Economist MA

Brief introduction here  Regarding Israel here

44. Jürgen Cain Külbel (Germany), Investigative Journalist, Political Analyst, Former Criminal Investigator of the GDR

See this brief bio for his anti-Israel thrust

45. Gilles Munier (France), investigative Journalist, Author, Political Analyst

Inter alia, we are informed here:

'.... Il y a publié quatre articles de soutien à la lutte des peuples palestinien et vietnamien et à celle des noirs américains, dont une interview du représentant des Black Panther Stokely Carmichael. Dans l'un de ces articles, il écrit : « Depuis 20 ans, les "six millions de morts" [de la Shoah] servent d'alibi pour commettre en Israël les pires atrocités[»Il a quitté l'Algérie en 1970 pour effectuer son service militaire, puis a milité dans diverses associations dites "pro arabes", à Paris et en Bretagne....

En juillet 2003, il reçoit des menaces de mort sous la forme d'une lettre contenant une balle de 22 Long Riffle avec la mention: « La prochaine n'arrivera pas par la poste ». L'auteur des menaces, un pro-israélien, dont la cave était bourrée d'armes et de munitions, n'a été condamné qu'à une peine symbolique...' (Footnotes at source)

46. Isabelle Coutant Peyre (France), International Lawyer, Political Activist, Law Expert

According to this article, she married Carlos the Jackal in a non-state-recognised Muslim ceremony when still married to someone else (as indeed was he) ... and has been the lawyer for several notorious clients.

These include Stellio Capo Chichi (a French Nation of Islam adherent) and Yousseof Fofana, leader of the gang that kidnapped and killed by torture young Parisian Jew Ilan Halimi:

'In December 2004, Capo Chichi founded the Parisian political group Tribu KA, which promotes black identity and has been accused of racism against Jews. The group said it followed the ideology of the American NOI leader, Louis Farrakhan. They have also been described as proponents of a mix of antisemitic Kemetism and Guénonian Islam.The group's name is an abbreviation for 'The Atenian Tribe of Kemet'. (From here; footnotes at source)

They also include the now-dead Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy. serial killer Charles Sobhray, and the Islamic Republic of Iran itself.

47. Max Igan (Australia), Radio Host, Political Analyst
  
This pseudonymous Queenslander has made several appearances on Press TV denouncing Israel. Moreover, to quote the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC), during one such interview, regarding the status of Jerusalem,

'Exposing himself as a fan of conspiratorial thinking, Igan said that “They [Israel] are claiming that it was our capital for 3,000 years ago [sic]. Well, we don’t really know what happened 3,000 years ago, especially with the history we are given by mainstream academia.”

Igan’s hint that academics are in some way complicit in an evil plan to falsify Jewish history in Jerusalem would be no surprise to anyone who visits Igan’s website, which harbours content about and links to a variety of antisemitic Nazi-inspired sources such as the Greek neo-Nazi group Golden Dawn, Holocaust denying texts (“I Don’t Deny Any Holocaust… Do You?”), conspiracy theories against vaccinations and the like. Extreme anti-Israeli propaganda is everywhere on Igan’s site, including posts suggesting such notorious tropes as “Jews control the world” and “Israel is behind ISIS.”'  [Emphasis added]

48. Iurie Rosca (Moldova), Former Deputy Prime Minister, former Deputy President of Parliament, former MP

A stalwart opponent of the totalitarian juggernaut that is the European Union, and of mass Muslim immigration into Western Europe, he does not seen to have expressed any opinions about Israel.

49. Teša Tešanović (Serbia), Journalist, Editor in chief of "Balkan info", Political Activist

To quote Michael Springmann (see above) here: 

'Following a surprise invitation to attend an all-expenses-paid trip to the 6th International New Horizon Conference (about al-Quds, i.e. Jerusalem), I arrived in Mashhad, Iran on May 11, 2018.  From the 12th to the 14th, the conference covered an extremely broad range of subjects, such as U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, the new multi-polar world, the plight of the Palestinians, and Israel’s involvement in chaos and terrorism.Speakers came from all over the world.  They included journalists, such as Pepe Escobar, Giulietto Chiesa, Tesa Tešanović, and Hafsa Kara-Mustapha; former government officials such as Philip Giraldi, ex-CIA; Michael Maloof, ex-Defense Department; Peter Van Buren, ex-State Department; and Scott Bennett, ex-U.S Army psychological operations officer. A number of European politicians attended and spoke as well. Some were Karl Richter, Munich city councilman, and Ivan Pernar, founder of the Croat party Human Shield.' 
[Emphasis added]


Participants also included Alison Weir (see above), Tony Blair's sister-in-law Lauren Booth, and (I notice from the photo above left, seated third from right as we view the image) Stephen Sizer's Aussie Anglican cobber Father Dave Smith, of Sydney.

50. Shabbir Hassanally (UK), Political Analyst

See his in-yer-face attitude to Israel here

51. Stephen Sizer (UK), Former vicar of the Anglican parish of Christ Church, Virginia Water, in Surrey, Author, Political Analyst

See examples of his analysis here.

52. Sara Flounders (US), Political Writer, Anti-war Activist, Member of Secretariat of “Workers World Party”, Leader of “International Action Center”

Make her acquaintance here

53. Matthew Hoh (US), Former Diplomat, Senior Fellow at the Center for International Policy in Washington, DC

For an insight into his views on Israel see here

David Singer: Trump Reaffirms Bush’s Recognition of Jewish claims in West Bank

Here's the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.

He writes:

The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) is frothing at the mouth at media reports indicating that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking a public declaration from US President Donald Trump recognizing Israeli sovereignty over parts of the occupied West Bank prior to the Israeli elections on 17 September.

PLO spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh stressed that any procedure or decision affecting Palestinian national rights and the resolutions of international legitimacy shall be considered illegitimate. Abu Rudeineh warned such a move would have “serious implications”.

Abu Rudineh continued:

“This step, if taken, would constitute ongoing playing with fire,” he added, and stressed that stability and security are indivisible and that “peace would not be made at any price”.
“Neither this step would establish any right [to Israel], nor it will create a viable false reality,” he added.”

Such a Trump declaration would undoubtedly help Netanyahu’s re-election chances – as have Trump’s declarations on Jerusalem being Israel’s capital, moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv and recognising Jewish claims in the  Golan Heights.

However Trump’s US Ambassador to Israel – David Friedman – has already made such a declaration – telling the New York Times on 8 June 2019:

 “Under certain circumstances I think Israel has the right to retain some, but unlikely all, of the West Bank.”

Friedman diplomatically continued:

“We really don’t have a view until we understand how much, on what terms, why does it make sense, why is it good for Israel, why is it good for the region, why does it not create more problems than it solves… These are all things that we’d want to understand, and I don’t want to prejudge … Certainly Israel’s entitled to retain some portion of it,”

Friedman confirmed what has been declared American policy since 2004 – when President Bush made the following written commitment in his letter to Israel’s then Prime Minister – the late Ariel Sharon – on 14 April 2004:

“As part of a final peace settlement, Israel must have secure and recognized borders, which should emerge from negotiations between the parties in accordance with UNSC Resolutions 242 and 338. In light of new realities on the ground, including already existing major Israeli populations centres, it is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949, and all previous efforts to negotiate a two-state solution have reached the same conclusion. It is realistic to expect that any final status agreement will only be achieved on the basis of mutually agreed changes that reflect these realities.”

This commitment was overwhelmingly endorsed by the House of Representatives 407:9 on 23 June 2004 and the Senate 95:3 the next day.

Bush’s letter welcomed the disengagement plan Sharon had prepared:

“under which Israel would withdraw certain military installations and all settlements from Gaza, and withdraw certain military installations and settlements in the West Bank. These steps described in the plan will mark real progress toward realizing my June 24, 2002 vision, and make a real contribution towards peace”

Israel honoured its commitment – at great personal loss of life, injury and property damage to both its civilian population and military forces. Israel continues to pay a heavy price for that disengagement as Hamas remains in control of Gaza with the avowed aim of wiping Israel off the face of the map.
Trump has already recognized – and will continue to recognize – Jewish rights in the West Bank as sacrosanct.

The PLO is shouting loads of codswallop from its Ramallah-Headquarters rooftop – as the ceiling slowly collapses under its feet.

Author's note:   Author’s note: The cartoon — commissioned exclusively for this article — is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators — whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades. His cartoons can be viewed at Drybonesblog

Messages from Mecca (video)

In Mecca, indoctrinated followers of the mad mullahs explain the purpose of their pilgrimage:

To quote the translator and uploader, Memri.org:

 'On August 10, 2019, IRINN TV (Iran) aired a report about a "disavowal of polytheists" ceremony held by Iranian pilgrims at the plains of Arafat in Mecca. During the ceremony, a message from Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was read and the pilgrims chanted: "Death to America! Death to Israel!... America is the enemy of Allah! Israel is the enemy of Allah [and] should be erased from the face of the Earth!" A young boy who was interviewed said that the pilgrimage to Mecca is a religious act as well as a political one, and he declared that he would sacrifice his life for the Leader. The reporter said: "This is the cry of the Islamic nation against the child-killing Zionist regime and [America]." A pilgrim said: "We have gathered here [to] punch America and Israel on the mouth." Ghorbanali Dorri-Nafajabadi, a member of Iran's Expediency Council and the Assembly of Experts, said: "All supporters of the front of truth must stand [united] against the front of heresy, polytheism, hypocrisy, Zionism, arrogance, and reactionism."'

Meanwhile,on the theme of "crazy things they say", a Corbynista MP, Paul Sweeney, wants to abolish his own country (and presumably theirs).

Jesus, St Paul to the Colossians, & Prisoner Pell

In March this year, as Cardinal George Pell (pictured) began the six-year term of solitary confinement against which he has appealed (the Supreme Court of Victoria's verdict still awaits him), his 2002 biographer, journalist Tess Livingstone, reported:

'A decade ago, Pell’s close friend, the late cardinal Francis George of Chicago, who died of cancer in 2015, predicted hard times for faithful church leaders in an increasingly aggressive secular Western culture.

“I expect to die in bed; my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square,” he said. “His successor will pick up the shards of a ruined society and slowly help rebuild civilisation, as the church has done so often in human history.’’

Like many of his church heroes, Pell has been a formidable leader, a builder and a teacher. But unlike hero cardinals imprisoned for their faith over the centuries, Pell stands convicted of five grotesque crimes.

Time, and higher courts, will determine whether church history, the subject in which he excelled at Oxford, will deride him in the long term as an arch hypocrite or rank him among church heroes persecuted by sinister forces that have run amok.'  [Emphasis added here and below]

Also in March, longtime Pellophobe David Marr (one of the principal proponents of an extraordinary left-orchestrated campaign of vilification of the cardinal long before he was charged with, let alone convicted of, historic sex crimes: see, for instance's, Marr's interview with the ABC's obligingly receptive Heather Ewart here) gloated:

"[B]y jailing a cardinal for these sordid crimes Australia has demonstrated once again that the rule of law runs in this country. Getting here hasn’t been easy but no other country stares down the Catholic church as we do now. This is a day to be proud of that record. In their rage and confusion, Pell’s supporters have declared their man a martyr to the mob, a victim of press vendettas, a great priest whose reputation has been sullied beyond repair by the left. But that’s not what his fall is about. Somewhere in the past few years, Rome lost the power to protect men like him.This secular country at the far end of the Earth stood up to Rome to hold the first national inquiry in the world into the role of faiths – particularly the Catholic faith – in a systematic, old and hidden regime of child abuse."

(Incidentally, Marr neglected to tell us that in this "secular country at the far end of the Earth"  one faith, Islam, had specifically been excluded by the federal Labor government of the day from the inquiry's scrutiny.)

Tess Livingtone's article revealed:

'When he prays his daily Office — the psalms, scripture and prayers Catholic priests read every day from the breviary — George Pell offers part of it for his accusers, including the man whose testimony was accepted by a jury in December, landing the cardinal into an isolation cell in a Melbourne jail.

“I pray for them. That’s what we’re supposed to do,’’ he told a friend a few weeks ago.

For all the vitriol hurled at Pell, supporters are outraged, anxious for his safety and distraught over what they are convinced is a gross miscarriage of justice.

This week’s release of his video interview with Victoria police in Rome in October 2016 was a telling development for those close to Pell, as well as for others who do not like him or his views but who recognise why the claims against him are so implausible. The interview was played to the juries in both trials.

Questioned by police about accusations that he abused two choir boys after Mass in St Patrick’s ­Cathedral in 1996, Pell looked and sounded gobsmacked. He rejected the grotesque, sacrilegious claims as “deranged falsehood’’ and “a load of garbage … in the sacristy after Mass? Need I say more?’’

The allegations, as he told police, involved “vile and disgusting conduct contrary to the explicit teachings of the church, which I have spent my life representing’’. They were made, he said, knowing he was the first bishop in the Western world to create a church structure to “recognise, compensate and help heal the wounds inflicted by sexual abuse of children at the hands of some in the Catholic Church”.

Pell’s answers were succinct and clear, prompting his friends and outside observers to believe his defence would have been stronger had he taken the stand in court. In person, Pell is warmer, kinder and more humorous than he has appeared in media interviews in which, conscious of the responsibility of his position, he has measured his words carefully. The gentler, softer side of his nature shone through in the character references presented in court.

Pell, who was brought up to keep a stiff upper lip in facing ­adversity, has been stoic since he arrived back in Australia, voluntarily, in July 2017 to face the music. “It wouldn’t do for me to fall apart. What would that achieve?’’ he told one friend. “My faith and my innocence’’ were sustaining him, he said.

A few months ago, he said he was ‘‘beyond anger’’.

On occasions, the cardinal has referred to his protracted tribulations as “a small penance’’. A priest who has been close to Pell for 35 years says the cardinal is acutely conscious of the church’s failings in dealing with child abuse and that his attitude to his personal ordeal is shaped by St Paul’s letter to the Colossians, which spoke of offering personal sufferings for the good of the church....'

A leaked circular letter, apparently written by a person close to Cardinal Pell, found its way onto Facebook some time ago:

This past week, as reported by the Catholic News Agency, a letter in what has apparently been verified as in the cardinal's handwriting, has appeared on a (since deleted) pro-Pell Twitter page.  The letter thanked supporters for their letters (he's received between 1500 and 2000 since being jailed) and prayers, before expressing his opposition to a working document,the Instrumentum Laboris of the Amazonian Synod.

These lines from the letter, misunderstood and twisted (televised examples here), have enraged Pellophobes, and the Victorian Department of Justice is investigating the possibility that the cardinal, as a convicted prisoner, broke the law by perhaps arranging for his letter to be posted to the internet:

“The knowledge that my little suffering can be used for good purposes by joining Jesus' suffering gives me purpose and direction. The challenges and problems in the life of the Church must be faced with a similar spirit of faith.”

For facsimile of letter see her link; Age report here

A Victorian state minister joins the anti-Pell chorus:

But a former Victorian state premier stands his ground in declaring his belief in Pell's innocence:

Meanwhile, a disturbing report and dire prediction by Christopher Akehurst in the Aussie conservative intellectual journal Quadrant:

' .... The only Australian public figure I can think of to compare with Sir John Kerr in the pantheon of leftist demonology is the still-jailed Cardinal George Pell. He is loathed for being a conservative, a climate-change ‘denier’ and, above all, as the personification of child sexual abuse, both as a senior representative of the Catholic hierarchy and latterly as a convicted abuser himself. We do not yet know what will be the decision in his appeal, but we can be pretty sure that if the appeal is successful his enemies will not be pleased, to say the least.

A rational individual, whatever his politics, who believes Pell to be justly convicted, would shrug his shoulders if the appeal were upheld and accept that the law had taken its course. But the anti-Catholic obsessives of the Left have repeatedly shown that they have no time for that kind of rational response. At its more sophisticated, academic level, the Left has doubtless dismissed rationality itself as some sort of discredited manifestation of white ‘privilege’; at its lower shrieking street-mob base, rational argument is simply – congenitally – beyond their comprehension. And while we can expect the ABC and the ‘quality’ media, if true to past form, to do their utmost if the appeal is successful to continue their commitment to poisoning the public mind against Pell (‘Court betrays survivors’, ‘An appeal which ought never to have been permitted’ etc), the danger is that the less cerebral Left will turn physically nasty, assaulting clergy and setting fire to churches.... 

 And how would Pell himself be kept safe if freed? By going into exile like Sir John, perhaps? ....'

Be sure to read the entire article, here