In Australia, a New Kid in the Anti-Israel Bloc

Elizabeth (Libby) Coker is the Australian Labor Party (ALP) member for the Victorian seat of Corangamite in the Australian Federal Parliament.  An ALP parliamentary hopeful for quite some time, Ms Coker achieved her aim of entering the federal House of Representatives at the 18 May 2019 federal election.

Her maiden speech, delivered on 10 September last year, was notable, inter alia, for its rambling length.  During it, she declared that

"One of the key challenges in making a better Australia for all of our children is to address the great contradiction that our success has been achieved in someone else’s land at their expense.... [K]nowing our history cannot be separated from the history of Aboriginal Australia, and that includes understanding what it means for all of us that Aboriginal land was stolen, never ceded...."

On 26 February this year she (below, in white dress) joined federal Greens leader Adam Bandt and hard left federal ALP member for Macquarie Susan Templeman in a public anti-"Apartheid" Israel fest under the auspices of APAN (the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, whose name she mangles here):

Note (squint at black box) her endorsement of this ludicrous comment (describing "the Palestinian people" as "possibly the most oppressed people in the world") below that post on Facebook!

More recently, on 4 March, Ms Coker delivered a squalid little Israel-demonising speech in the House, in which she showed her faith in a certain contentious kangaroo court:

"I want to talk about Palestine and Israel. The underpinning of a civilised world is not only Australian domestic law but also international law. The International Criminal Court was set up to deal with war crimes and crimes against humanity.

 We were one of the first signatories to the treaty that established the court. The third most recent country to join the treaty was the State of Palestine. The ICC prosecutor has spent five years in a preliminary investigation looking at allegations, including that Israeli authorities have settled Israeli civilians into Palestinian territories, a clear breach of the Geneva Conventions; that Palestinian Security Services in the West Bank have committed torture against civilians under their control; and that there has been criminal behaviour by both the Israeli military and Palestinian armed groups. The prosecutor wants to prosecute these alleged crimes.

 Given the territorial complexity, the pre-trial court has sought submissions to determine whether it has jurisdiction. The Australian government, along with only five other governments, has indicated it does not think that the court has jurisdiction—not because there are no crimes to answer but because we do not recognise Palestine as a state. I ask: why did Australia feel it necessary to make this observation and risk the capacity for the ICC to consider these possible crimes? Why should Australia not leave the umpire to do its job?

Ms Coker's support for the Palestinian Arabs, who of course have so successfully rebranded themselves as the "Palestinians", with its very unfortunate implication that they, not the Jews, are the indigenous people of Eretz Israel, reflects her support for the Australian aborigines.

Numerous Australian aborigines themselves know better, seeing the analogy between themselves and Jews as dispossessed First Nations, and support Israel for that reason. See, for instance, here and here

One who doesn't is long term activist  Gary Foley.  He, too, is a member of APAN, and that organisation, headed by retired Anglican prelate Dr George Browning, seems to be upping the ante of late.  Check it out.

The Christchurch Atrocity: APAN Supporters Accuse Da Joos

APAN is the Australian Palestine Advocacy Network.

Its president, as regular readers of this blog may recall, is George Browning, former Anglican Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn.

Presumably Browning will take steps to clear the Augean Stable that APAN appears to have become by casting out from the organisation the APAN supportes who have written and supported the antisemitic nonsense that has been spewed out on the APAN Facebook page, as follows:

Blaming da Joos for the crazy, evil actions of the Christchurch gunman has also been expressed elsewhere.  See, for instance (hat tip: Australian Jewish Association), the blood libels here and here

Meanwhile, beneath one of the many posts relating to the atrocity posted by Stephen Sizer, a dodgy looking comment from one of his followers.  (Please explain.)

Sizer, Najar, & Two Anglican Prelates Called George

On Stephen Sizer's Facebook page, beneath a post of his linking to this Guardian report, eyebrow-raising posts by a Michigan-based "friend" of his, Linda Najar:

And on Najar's own Facebook page, such current uglies as these:

Is the ex-vicar of Virginia Water, now CEO of the so-called Peacemakers Trust, really happy to have Facebook friends such as she?  If he is not, he should demonstrate his disapproval by de-friending such people forthwith. 

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr George Carey, now a life peer, is seen below asserting, in  an interview on i24NEWS with video anti-antisemitism campaigner and Middle East analyst Jonathan Sacerdoti, a few home truths on Holocaust Memorial Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E8Xx58zq68

Inter alia, to quote the uploader:

'.... Lord Carey of Clifton told i24NEWS on Sunday that 'Christians are to blame as well' for high-levels of anti-Semitism in the UK, which he suggested was linked to the one-sided narratives many received on pilgrimages to Israel and the West Bank. 'What I think we need to do is to better educate Christians who go on these pilgrimages to see this as not the total story,' Lord Carey said, urging the thousands attending such religious trips to prominent and widely-contested holy sites in the region to seek the entire picture with regards to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Many of the religious sites such as Jesus’ birthplace in Bethlehem and the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron are located in the West Bank, often flashpoint and conflict-centric areas. 'What they don’t realize is what is happening to the Jewish communities in their own land who are sidelined and in a way persecuted by Palestinians. You’ve got to get a much more balanced view of what’s going on,' he continued. 'I think of Israel as a wonderful, sophisticated, democratic society surrounded by undemocratic nations. I mean we must support one another,' he said, emphasizing shared the Judeo-Christian heritage. 'Christians owe so much to the Jewish scriptures and Jewish history, so we stand as one,' the former top church leader added. Lord Carey of Clifton has often spoken out publicly against anti-Semitism in the church and across the UK. 'It’s not going to cost my life, it’s not going to cost my future, and this is what Jews fear, you know, the persecution, indirect persecution,' he asserted, referring to the detrimental impact anti-Semitism can often have on daily life. 'Think of Jewish children walking to school with armed guards, guards outside synagogues — in an advanced civilization such as ours, this is quite deplorable,' he told i24NEWS'

On the other side of the world, meanwhile, here's George Browning, former Anglican Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn, who's president of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN), warming the hearts of supersecessionists everywhere, and (in a passage not quoted by me in the excerpt below) giving the nod to Stephen Sizer, with no mention of that gentleman's dodgy postings and dodgy associations over the years:

'Christian Zionism does not support Israel for Israel’s sake, but because ‘believers’ have been led to understand the Bible teaches Israeli sovereignty from the Nile to the Euphrates will herald the end of the world and trigger the ‘rapture’, when Jesus will come again and establish his Kingdom – from Jerusalem. So important is the acquisition of land to this cult like ideology that Zionists resist ‘land for peace’ or the unfolding of a peace process that would ultimately see the establishment of a Palestinian state.

It should not simply be left to secularists to describe this for what it is – absurd, dangerous, nonsense .... Tiptoeing around is to condone cruel apartheid for Palestinians who, through accident of birth and heredity, inconveniently stand in the way of these delusional ambitions, cloaked as they may be in saccharine piety. Tiptoeing around is not simply to support Israel in its overtly apartheid system of colonisation, it is also to turn a blind eye to the reality that Saudi Arabia has been the cradle from which terrorism has sprung, while the demonization of Iran leaves it dangerously outside the checks and balances that come with being part of an international community of trade and diplomacy.

Just as Christian Zionism’s concern for Israel resides in a very different priority; similarly, US Middle Eastern politics is driven not by events in the Middle East, but by US domestic politics and the base from which Donald Trump relies on for support – the Evangelical Christian right. We are confronted with utter hypocrisy and disdain for truth on every corner. It is very unlikely that Donald Trump believes the nonsense of the Christian Zionist position, but being their champion keeps him in the White House. (By contrast the very honourable John McCain refused to accept endorsement from this quarter). It is almost incomprehensible that Christians of any description could condone Trump’s deceitfulness, self-aggrandisement, and appalling behaviour, particularly to women, and yet none of this seems to matter to the Christian right, as long as he supports their agenda.

[Emphasis asdded; the irony of citing Trump's alleged misogyny, while turning a blind eye to the appalling reality of Islamic subjugation of women, not least in Iran, will surely not be lost on readers!]

.... So, what of Australia? How many Christians are motivated by a Zionist ideology is very hard to know. What motivates [Liberal federal politician] Eric Abetz to demonise Palestinians and unconditionally laud the state of Israel? Only he could answer. His public statements following the Labor Party motion to make the recognition of Palestine a priority indicate either he has callous disregard for Palestinian suffering at the hands of the occupation and settlement program, or that he chooses to block this reality from his mind. He continues to insist that Palestine refuses to accept the right of Israel to exist even though since the Oslo accord more than 20 years ago Palestinians have accepted a territorial divide based on 1967 borders. Further he refuses to acknowledge that the boot is on the other foot, most ministers in the Netanyahu government have said they will never allow a Palestinian state.

South African apartheid enjoyed the imprimatur of conservative Christians based on spurious interpretation and application of biblical text. To be doing the same in the land of Jesus who revealed that in God there are no boundaries, no divisions; common or shared humanity is more important than tribal, ethnic or religious identity; is to deny the very foundations of Christianity itself.'

What a ripper of an article, by contrast, and on the ABC site no less, by co-CEO of the Executive Australian Jewry Peter Wertheim, who having ably described Australia's support for Jewish statehood at the UN General Assembly in 1949, remarks:

 'If [the Australian] Labor [Party, which at its conference last month voted to recognise a Palestinian state on assuming office] today were to apply the same criteria to recognition of a Palestinian state that it applied to recognition of Israel, "Palestine" would fail on all of them. In particular, due to the schism within the Palestinian national movement, there is no Palestinian entity that exercises "control of all forms of administration within specified areas" that comprise the territory claimed by the Palestinians ― namely, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

The internal divide between the secular nationalist movement among Palestinians, represented by the PLO and Palestinian Authority (PA) which controls parts of the West Bank, and the theocratic movement, represented by Hamas which controls the Gaza Strip, has resulted in internecine violence on many occasions. They are at odds over the most basic questions, not only concerning peace with Israel and other policy issues, but also on the essential nature of a future Palestinian State, and the basic rules by which it will be governed.

Hamas refuses to relinquish its arms to the PA and to place its operatives under the PA's command. The PA is too weak to force Hamas to do so. The Palestinians have never had their "Altalena" moment.

So for reasons which are entirely internal to Palestinian society, there is no reasonable prospect for the foreseeable future of any government being formed which would exercise effective control over both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and possess the capacity to give effect to any agreements signed by "Palestine" ― including any peace treaty that might be negotiated with Israel.

Recognising a Palestinian state in these circumstances would therefore not help to end the conflict with Israel, but would almost certainly inaugurate a new and bloodier phase of that conflict, at the likely cost of many more lives than the conflict has claimed thus far.'

"Shekel for the Good Goy": Anti-"Zionists" bare their antisemitic fangs

James Paterson, who's not yet 30, has been since last year a Liberal member of the Australian Senate, representing Victoria.   In his maiden speech he called on Australia to relocate its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

And in the latest issue of the Australian Jewish News Senator Paterson has a splendid article regarding the brouhaha over the casting of an Israeli actress in the movie Wonder Woman.

It's replicated on his web page.

'Superhero movies have become a staple of Hollywood, but few have garnered as much political attention as Wonder Woman. It’s the latest target of the ugly anti-Israel Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign.

The film has already been banned in Lebanon and Tunisia, pulled from the Nuits du Cinéma film festival in Algeria, and temporarily banned in Jordan.

This pointless boycott neatly highlights the deep undercurrent of anti-Semitism within the BDS campaign, despite the protests to the contrary by its advocates.

Wonder Woman is not a movie about Israel, or the Israel-Palestine conflict. It’s silent on Israel’s right to exist, and its right to defend itself. It takes no view on the validity of the claims of Palestinians.

The only crime Wonder Woman is alleged to have committed is to feature an Israeli woman as the lead actress. This fact alone has been sufficient to justify and excuse boycotts, bans, and over the top criticism.

Like other Israeli women, Gal Gadot served in the Israeli Defence Force. Like most people, Gadot has condemned Hamas for its terrorism.

Her views on the right of Israelis to live free from the threat of violence, and her support for the IDF’s securing of this right, are no different to the support that the vast majority of Australians give to our troops fighting in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere.

Gadot’s role in Wonder Woman has even been denounced in the pages of the Fairfax press, with columnist Ruby Hamad claiming it’s an example of the how Western feminism ignores the plight of Arab women.

Hamad claims that the praise the movie has received from her fellow feminists’, despite Gadot’s role, is “a frustrating reminder of what I call the Arab blindspot of Western feminism.”

She continues: “Hailing Wonder Woman as a hero for all women is an ironic assault given the huge gulf between the character’s anti-war idealism and the hawkish views of the actor who portrays her.”

Hamad is correct to call attention to the plight of Arab women. But it is wrong to blame this on Israel – the only country in the Middle East that provides women the same level of freedom and opportunity, regardless of their race or religion, that exists in the west.

According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap report Israel is ranked as the 49th most gender-equal society in the world, slightly behind Australia at 46.

This is in stark contrast to the extensive legal and cultural oppression that exists throughout the rest of the middle east. After Israel, the next highest ranked country in the region is Qatar, at 119. And the majority of the middle east is even worse, filling 12 of the bottom 20 places.

This is because of systemic legal and cultural inequality, covering everything from laws enforcing strict Islamic dress codes, to woman’s testimony in court being worth half of that of a man’s – a policy that exists for at least some issues in 14 Middle Eastern countries. The horrific treatment of women under ISIS, with their widespread practice of capturing women to be kept as sex-slaves, is even worse.

There have recently been some small advances, with King Salman of Saudi Arabia issuing a decree that will allow women to study, work, and access government services without requiring permission from a male guardian. But these advances are long overdue, and sadly, few and far between.

Feminists who care about the plight of Arab women would do better to examine their own blindspots and focus on these real outrages, rather than a Hollywood movie with a Jewish actress'

On Facebook Senator Paterson doe not resile from proclaiming his staunch support for Israel:

Needless to say, the usual suspects are not happy:

And many, including thee two

 

and the sample below, have revealed the grubby antisemitism that motivates their hatred of Israel:

"Ridiculous", Rant the Routed

Amid wailing and whimpering and gnashing of teeth and tugging of hair in the wake of Bibi Netanyahu's spectacularly successful visit Down Under, the routed forces of Bishop Browning's APAN (which sought to keep him out) limply regroup and rally, in response to an article in the Sydney Morning Herald by Dr Colin Rubenstein, executive director of the Australia/Israel Public Affairs Council (AIJAC) and Jamie Hyams, a senior policy analyst at AIJAC. 

It will indeed be difficult to represent as "ridiculous" the eminently justified and sensible points made in the article.  Inter alia:

 'Israel captured the West Bank in a defensive war in 1967 and, when its offer to exchange land for peace was unequivocally rebuffed by the Arab League, began establishing settlements in the area.

This was partly for the need for security, given the hostile intentions and actions of its neighbours, and partly to allow some Jews to live in places that had Jewish communities going back hundreds if not thousands of years, until the Jordanians ethnically cleansed them in 1948.

Jordanian troops expelling Jews from their Jerusalem homes

 Jerusalem, which has always had a substantial Jewish population and been the centre of the Jewish world, was annexed.

 The United Nations passed the pivotal Security Council resolution 242, requiring Israel to withdraw from territory in return for peace, with the borders to be negotiated.

 Under the 1993 Oslo accords, the Palestinians finally accepted Israel's existence, and the Palestinian Authority was formed. Ninety-five per cent of West Bank Palestinians now live under the authority's rule. Travel between Israel and the West Bank was relatively unfettered, and many Palestinians worked in Israel, travelling home to the West Bank each night. In 2000, then authority president Yasser Arafat infamously refused the Camp David offer of a Palestinian state and launched the second intifada, characterised by widespread terrorism inside pre-1967 Israel, most notably suicide bombings. The terrorism killed more than 1000 Israelis and maimed thousands more.

Some Israeli child victims of Palestinian Arab terrorism

 It was in those circumstances that Israel set up the checkpoints to monitor the movement of terrorists, and the security barrier, which for most of its length is a fence, and is only a wall where Palestinian terrorists were in the habit of taking pot shots at Israeli civilians.... The barrier was erected to save lives by keeping terrorists out, and has been markedly successful. The Berlin Wall was to keep a captive population in. The checkpoints between Palestinian towns are now largely non-existent – they are just at the entries to Israel.

Despite the rebuff at Camp David, and the terrorism, Israel again offered the Palestinian Authority a state on increasingly generous terms in 2001 and 2008, only for the authority to again walk away. A unilateral total Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, intended to allow the Palestinians there to rule themselves as a peaceful entity alongside Israel, instead resulted in a Hamas takeover, more than 10,000 rockets and mortars, terror tunnels and three wars.

 Since Benjamin Netanyahu resumed power in 2009, he has repeatedly offered to negotiate without preconditions, repeatedly confirmed his support for a two-state peace, and instituted goodwill measures including an unprecedented 10-month freeze on building in settlements and releasing Palestinian prisoners who have killed Israelis. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, however, has refused to negotiate in good faith. US Middle East envoy Martin Indyk has said that, in 2014, Netanyahu was sweating bullets to make peace, but Abbas just walked away.

The settlements, as even Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat has admitted, occupy less than 2 per cent of the West Bank. Furthermore, the vast majority of settlers live in blocs that it is generally accepted Israel will retain as part of land swaps in any peace deal. Israel has not established a new settlement since 1999, and the settlements have hardly expanded beyond their geographic boundaries since 2003, while population growth has not even kept pace with natural growth. Settlements did not prevent the previous Israeli offers of statehood, and they would not prevent a two-state outcome if the Israelis had a genuine peace partner....

 The Netanyahu government still supports a two-state peace, but its concerns about the present circumstances are understandable. If Hamas was to take over the West Bank as it did Gaza, the rockets would hit Israel's population and economic heartland, and its airport, and the country, would be shut down.

 Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority, Israel's supposed peace partner, demonises Israel internationally, incites its people against Israel with false claims of Israeli intentions to take over the Temple Mount, and rewards terrorists by lionising them and giving them and their families generous lifetime pensions.

[P]ressure must be brought to bear on the Palestinians to cease their destructive behaviour, to genuinely accept Israel's right to exist in peace and to negotiate in good faith, if they are genuine about wanting a two-state outcome.'

By George, Vicar! Another Turbulent Priest!

To date, the Asia Pacific regional contingent on the rather strangely titled "Board of Reference"of Rev Dr Stephen Sizer's so-called "Peacemaker Moderators" outfit, which is to be launched on 6 May following the vicar's resignation from his Surrey pulpit on Easter Sunday, consists of the following persons:

 Dr Philip Church, a senior research fellow at Laidlaw College in New Zealand whose publications include (as joint editor) The Gospel and the Land of Promise: Christian Approaches to the Land of the Bible, published in 2011.

Alistair Donaldson, who lectures in Biblical Theology, Biblical Studies and Hermeneutics at Laidlaw College and is the author of“The Kingdom of God and the Land: The New Testament Fulfillment of an Old Testament Theme,” an essay in the above-mentioned book.

The Right Revd Azad Marshall, about whom I wrote here

Rev Abraham W. Yeung, principal of the Macau Bible Institute (more here)

and

Sydney Anglican priest and keen amateur boxer Father Dave Smith, a sort of antipodean Sizer whose anti-Israel bias will be familiar to regular readers of my blog.

See, for example, his breath-taking Al Quds Day corker here

 Father Dave is seen in this photo practising some nifty dance steps at a function given by the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) last year.

The president of APAN (the top photo, rather tellingly showing Arabic poems superimposed on a certain map, was a prize at their annual dinner in 2015) is another cleric with a hostile view of Israel.

For report click here

He's British-born, Aussie-raised George Browning, former Anglican Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn.

A firm and outspoken BDSer is he.

Yesterday (4 January) a letter by Browning was printed in the Brisbane Courier Mail, which has long been one of the most anti-Israel of Australian newspapers.

It's behind a paywall, but is entitled "Malcolm Turnbull is wrong Australia must not side with Israel"

Intended as a riposte to  prime minister Turnbull's condemnation of UN Security Council Resolution 2334, it consists of the usual bile, with all the usual Israel-hating disregard for Israeli sufferings, Hamas atrocities, and Arab rejectionism.

It concludes:

"For the prime minister to ally Australia with Israel against both our ANZUS partners and almost the whole of the international community raises some troubling questions regarding his foreign policy priorities.

What Australian interests are being served in taking such an isolated position on an issue of such international sensitivity? Has Mr Turnbull thought through the national security implications of this policy?

While such partisanship may win him the support of certain powerful domestic constituencies [emphasis added], it is no substitute for a realist foreign policy based upon an understanding that Australia’s interests are best served by upholding a regime of collective security grounded in a commitment to universal human rights and international law."

(Above at left, a "domestic constituency" with which APAN flirted in May last year.)

APAN-indoctrinated Aussie politicians pose in Canberra late last year

What is striking about Browning's letter is the number and calibre of the comments denouncing his stance.

At random:

Commenter Michael:

"So despite the multitude of Human Rights abuses in Saudi Arabia,Syria, Iran and other predominately Muslim countries the UN over the last year has made the majority of it's rulings against Israel.

 The Muslim countries and Palestinians have openly professed to destroy Israel and have backed that up by launching major wars in 1948,1967 and 1973. Followed up by a constant barrage of missiles and Terrorist attacks on the Israeli population to this day. The West bank was secured by Israel 1967 after four Arab nations attacked Israel in an attempt to wipe it out.

Palestininan "ambassador" Izzat Abdulhadi addresses APAN

Nearly 2 million Muslims are free to work and reside in Israel without threat,no Jew is permitted to reside in the surrounding Arab countries. Children in Palestinian are raised and taught to hate the Jews by their leaders so what hope is there of a peaceful coexistence?

Palestinian leader Yassar Arafat in 2000 rejected the two state solution put on the table by Israel which included handing over the Gaza strip and most of the West Bank, simply because they refuse to  recognise Israel as a nation.I am glad that after the Holocaust the Jews swore"Never again" and that because of the hatred shown towards them by the surrounding Arab nations and even yourself. The Jews have far more claim to that land than any other nation,secular history and archaeological finds and the bible  show the deep roots the Jews have with this land. The Israeli's currently share their land with nearly two million Muslims who work and study freely in that nation,it is far more than what the surrounding Arab nations offer to a Jew.

APAN uses a Jewish refugee's poster from the Mandate period

Maybe if the Palestinians had accepted the generous two state solution offered to them in 2000 which included the Gaza strip and the majority of the West Bank it may have produced peace. The offer was turned down flatly by Yassar Arafat the Palestinian leader who refused to acknowledge the right of Israel to exist as a nation and began a series of terrorist attacks on the Israeli population This is still the belief of the surrounding Arab nations openly professed by their leaders who would like to see Israel removed from the map. With this open aggression shown to Israel and it's citizens they have no other choice than to defend themselves."

Commenter Les:

For report (and VIDEO of Turnbull dancing) click here

'The Jews were permitted in Article 80 of the UN Charter recognising the League of Nations "Mandate For Palestine", to live ANYWHERE in Palestine - including Judea and Samaria (Note the Jewish Names) which the Arabs are now claiming for a future Arab State. When Jordan invaded Israel on the declaration of Israel's independence, they moved in Arab settlers, and the UN did nothing.

If this was a war between Arab and Arab over Palestine, no-one would care. Half a million people can die in Syria but this gets only one resolution in the UN General Assembly, but if Israel expands towns and cities in Area C, which even Abbas recognises would go to Israel in exchange for other land in Israel, the UN gets upset, claims "illegality" without any real legal reason, and passes twenty motions against Israel. No wonder even Ban ki Moon, the outgoing Secretary General of the UN said the UN is biased against Israel.'

Commenter Russell

"What's a former Australian Anglican Bishop doing as President of a Palestinian Avocacy Network anyway? Does he support the terrorist activities of Hesbollah and Hamas?"

Commenter Katherine

"Actually he does - in 1993 Bishop Browning, as he was then known, denounced Israel for deporting 415 Palestinian Hamas militants back to Lebanon. They were plotting to murder israeli citizens and were involved in bus bombings. He's be[en] a virulent Israel hater for a very long time"

Commenter Russell again:

Interesting isn't it how the anti Israel constituency simply ignore the terrorists atrocities of Hezbollah and Hamas whose sole aim is the entire destruction of Israel. If these torrorist organisation laid down their weapons there would be peace. If Israel laid down their weapons they'd cease to exist."

Commenter Jonathan:

"Yeah Israel can have peace with a Palestinian government that pays lucrative pensions to the family of anyone who murders a Jew and refuses to recognise that Israel has any right to exist at all. We should totally side with murderers and Muslim extremists"

Commenter Colours:

"I stand with Israel against a genocidal medieval theocracy. It always makes me uncomfortable how often you can scratch the surface of a Protestant minister and find a Jew hater hiding underneath."

Hear, hear, sir or madam!

Any bets the ex-bishop of Canberra and Goulburn will be co-opted onto Stephen Sizer's "Peacemaker Mediators" outfit before long?