In Oz, BDS Bigots Not Playing by the Rules

Adelaide BDSers campaiging against Israeli-made irrigation systems in Oz

The Facebook page BDS Australia comes with a statement that declares, inter alia: 

"This is a page for open discussion, and comments should not be assumed to reflect the views of BDS Australia.
Comments are moderated and will be removed if they:

1. are off topic, i.e. derail discussion about the post or are unrelated to BDS and a just peace for Palestinians
2. are defamatory or inflammatory towards individuals or groups
3. are racist, sexist, homophobic or use other offensive stereotypes
4. contain threats or personal attacks, or explicit language and/or images
5. are spam, repetitive or disruptive, or attempt to close down reasonable debate
6. spread lies, misrepresentations, false analogies or stereotypes
7. are commercial in any way
Moderation is at the discretion of admins."

A cursory look at the site, however, suggests that "open discussion" attempted by pro-Israel commenters does not stay up, and it shows that comments which are covered by some of those points, particularly comments that are anti-Jewish, are allowed to remain.

Why, there are even "lies, misrepresentations, false analogies" in the shape of the "Jesus was a Palestinian" chestnut.  Just look at the contents of this egregious example, provided to the BDS site by this fella, an American!

A comment following a post regarding Bethlehem has drawn what is surely "an inflammatory" remark by this bloke from Hobart, Tasmania, who I see is a Facebook friend of British 9/11 Truther and Reading PSC founder Tony Gratrex:

 Other inflammatory comments spotted include:

Poison regarding Jews:

This, incidentally, is a recent post by Nugent in his/her Facebook page: note the scum (more of Kelly's antisemitism here as well as here, on the timeline of one of his four Facebook friends)  it's attracted:

On the BDS Australia page:

A sample of comments (note, incidentally, the odious one regarding Australia's tragic bushfires):

Rowland joins in:

Some more quick-sample smears and falsehoods on the BDS Australia page:

 

I could go on.  But I think I've made my point. Yes, it's clear that there's no "open discussion" or systematic moderation on that grubby site!

A "Theobald Jew" Goes Spinning in Malaysia

Sickening and shameful! 

How much lower can a Jewish proponent of BDS descend?

Sydney academic and "Theobald Jew" Dr Peter Slezak (can you wonder that a hapless namesake in the same city constantly dissociates himself from him?) has been to that well-known oasis of tolerance and diversity, of people's and of women's rights (not), Malaysia, to tell them a thing or two about his fellow-Jews.

Like Antony Loewenstein (originator of this charming fake poster some years ago) Slezak is a co-founder of "Independent Australian Jewish Voices (IACV)", which on its emergence in 2007 was described by Dr Colin Rubinstein, executive director of AIJAC,  as "dangerous and unrepresentative" with some of its members  "clearly committed to the delegitimization of Israel".

But don't take only Dr Rubenstein's word for it.  Associate Professor Mark Baker,  a left-leaning Jewish academic who's among the principal Aussie supporters of J-Street has condemned the IACV's "shallow and inflammatory rhetoric, its one-sided vilification of Israel, and its gratuitous reference to Holocaust memory," noting that it's "all about casting Israel as a pariah. Not a word about the peace process, presumably because the only peace its framers envisage does not include a future for Israel as the 'democratic, national home of the Jewish people' (JStreet phraseology)".

According to a Malaysian newspaper:

'The Jews are partially to blame for the anti-Semitism directed at them by the international community as Jewish communities are not doing enough to hold Israel responsible for Gaza atrocities, said Jewish academic Dr Peter Slezak.

"We have to be more subtle about blaming Jews as a whole for the Israeli government’s actions. But the difficulty is that Jewish communities around the world are uncritical supporters of Israel," said Slezak.

"And to that extent, they do share some of the blame,” the Australia-based scholar added after delivering a talk titled ‘Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict - Proposal from a Secular Jewish Academic’ at Universiti Malaya on Monday.

The professor of philosophy at the University of New South Wales is among a handful of Jewish scholars strongly advocating for an end to the occupation of Palestine by Israel.

He agreed that not all Jews are supportive of Israel, but urged more of them to actively speak out against the atrocities in Gaza. “Unfortunately, Israel is acting in the name of all Jews. Therefore, they have the responsibility to say that it’s not in my name. And that I, as a Jew, do not accept that Israel is committing its crime and stealing Palestinian land for us," he said.

Slezak added that Jewish communities need to stand up and speak up, and said that they don't do it enough....

“The cause of this conflict is not Islam and it’s not the Palestinians, these are political problems we have to understand. Our job is to help clarify the real source of the problem and not to be manipulated by the propaganda,” he added.

Dr Slezak is on a week-long visit to Malaysia at the behest of several pro-Palestinian groups such as Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) Malaysia, Viva Palestina Malaysia, My Humanitarian Care, and the Universiti Malaya Palestine Research Group.'

Moreover:

 'Slezak reminded of the golden rule in Judaism, “Don’t do to somebody else what you would find hateful to you.”“It’s the universal principle that we should all follow.”'

Indeed. Tell that to the suicide bombers and knife intifadists, Dr Slezak.  As well as to the Malaysian authororites who permit the judicial whipping of women.

See also here

Meanwhile, coming up soon:

Dear all,

This July, the conference ‘BDS – Driving Global Justice for Palestine’ is being held at the University of Sydney, organised by the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies, Sydney Staff for BDS, the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, and many other pro-Palestine organisations. We are looking for donations to bring speakers from overseas to the conference, which promises to be an important event in the year’s pro-Palestine calendar....

Here is more detail about the conference from their website:

The Department of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Sydney, Sydney University Staff for BDS, and a range of pro-Palestinian organisations including the Australia Palestine Advocacy network (APAN) are calling on supporters of Palestine justice, both activists and researchers, to participate in a two-day conference, ‘BDS – Driving Global Justice for Palestine’, which will be held at the University of Sydney on 28-29 July, 2017.

The recent UN Security Council resolution declaring Israeli settlements in ‘flagrant violation’ of international law and calling for a halt to all settlement activity, followed by Israel’s retrospective legalisation of thousands of settlements on stolen Palestinian land, acutely raises the question of what steps can be taken to promote justice, along with genuine peace, in the region.

In line with the call from Palestinian civil society for boycott, divestment and sanctions, this conference, held to mark the centenary of the Balfour declaration and the 50th anniversary of Israel’s 1967 occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, will analyse the current politics of BDS in Australia and abroad, reflect on previous BDS activity, and contribute to greater public understanding of the BDS campaign.

All the best,

Independent Australian Jewish Voices
Peter Slezak
Antony Loewenstein
Eran Asoulin

"BDS Works": Aussie BDSers Claim A Victory & Skew An Online Poll

More on this below

Paul Elliott is an official of the Health Services Union in Australia.

He's a bigshot in its national leadership

And in the leadership of its No 4 branch in the state of Victoria, of which he's secretary.

As reported by Anthony Galloway in the the Herald Sun on 25 August,

'The embattled Health Services Union has invited its members to embrace the anti-Israel boycott movement, prompting a furious response from Jewish leaders....

A motion passed by the union’s Victorian No. 4 Branch offers its support for the Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign.

Anti-Defamation Commission chairman Dvir Abramovich called on all union members to reject the “divisive” and “misguided” motion.

“It is alarming that the HSU, instead of advocating in matters of concern for their members, has decided to promote a fervently vicious and one-sided resolution that ­unfairly lays all of the blame at the feet of Israel,” Dr Abramovich said.

The branch’s secretary, Paul Elliott, defended the ­motion, saying he hoped it would help solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. [Emphasis added]

“The union movement has a long and proud history of supporting international affairs and being involved in international affairs, including being instrumental in the international campaign against apartheid,” Mr Elliott said....'

As a commenter on the Herald Sun article noted: 

'I think the HSU needs to make sure those supporting this boycott are given a list of things they need to boycott - starting with the life saving devices and medicines developed and produced in Israel. so when some life saving medicine is needed, they can then say 'sorry, not using that, we are boycotting all Israeli technology and inventions'

And as pro-Israel stalwart Michael Danby, Labor federal member for Melbourne Ports, observes of this sordid little affair: 

'Nearly half a million people have been killed in Syria in the last four years.300,000 civilians are trapped in Aleppo – surrounded by Iranians and Hezbollah and being carpet bombed by the Russian and Syrian governments – yet hypocritical far-Left unionists like Paul Elliot remain completely silent on the slaughter in Syria.

Displaying their entrenched hypocrisy, Elliot’s far-Left unionists show there are no limits to their attacks on the only liberal democracy in the Middle East, by adopting a ‘boycott, divestment and sanctions’ (BDS) policy against Israel.

The medical scientists, pharmacists and phycologists who pay their union subscriptions to the ultra-left HSU No 4 branch will need to ask whether the union’s discriminatory BDS policy instructions mean they will have to rip out the Israeli-made computer chips from their computers and cease prescribing medications which were developed or produced in Israel.

[T]hey (the union) should be more concerned with the fact that the general public think they are a union of crooks, rather than taking up the insignia position of the Nazis and boycotting Israeli and Jewish businesses.”

Mr Danby said that the motivations of the people who run the international BDS campaigns are very clear; what they are on about is the elimination of Israel, not some critiquing of its internal politics.'  [Emphasis added]

Meanwhile, the Australian Jewish News's just closed online poll this week concerning trade union activity in the light of the disgraceful HSU motion has been skewed by BDSers.

Sheer ignorance, sheer malice

More BDS shame in Australia, as told by a jubilant BDSer in Adelaide, where BDS activity has been particularly consistent and fanatical:

In the wake of Foreign Minister Julie Bishop's invitation to Bibi to visit Australia next year, more nastiness from a fervent Israel-demoniser:

What, I wonder.is the reaction of these lefty females for Palestine to the misogyny within Palestine now being outwardly preached ("women are witches"), as the Israeli journalist Khaled Abu Toameh reveals here?

Oz Boy Goes To Tunisia

A delegate's passport

On 3 August the London Daily Telegraph's defence correspondent, Con Coughlin, reported inter alia:

'The Israeli government has reacted angrily to plans by the Gulf state of Qatar to support a group backed by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn which wants to impose a global trade and cultural boycott on the Jewish state.

 Qatar has emerged as the main financial backer of a conference to review the aims of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign which opens in Tunis on Thursday....

Relations between Israel and Qatar, which has been accused of funding Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil), have become strained in recent years over the Gulf state’s close ties with Hamas, the Islamist Palestinian group that is committed to Israel’s destruction.

At today’s meeting in Tunis, which is being hosted by the Qatari-funded Arab Centre for Research and Policy Studies, delegates will be asked to review BDS’s attempts to organise a global boycott against Israel, as well as exploring ways to make the anti-Israeli boycott even more effective.'

Sad  to say, one of those delegates is a Sydney academic of Jewish extraction, Dr Peter Slezak, a stalwart of the BDS movement in Australia, and not to be confused with a Sydney medical practitioner of the same name.

It appears that Dr Slezak has been enjoying the conference, if this page is any indication. 

Further reports about the conference here and here

 Meanwhile, former Baptist minister Rev. Tim Costello, CEO of World Vision, has claimed that there appears to be no substance to allegations that World Vision's man in Gaza, Mohammad El Halabi, has been siphoning off millions in aid money to Hamas.

NGO Monitor analysis here

Says the Tim Costello:

"On June 15th, 2016, Mohammad El Halabi, the manager of operations for World Vision in Gaza, was arrested on his way home from routine meetings. On the 4th August 2016 date, after 50 days in Israeli state detention, Mohammad was charged with providing support to Hamas. World Vision was shocked to learn of these charges against Mohammad.

World Vision programs in Gaza have been subject to regular internal and independent audits, independent evaluations, and a broad range of internal controls aimed at ensuring that assets reach their intended beneficiaries and are used in compliance with applicable laws and donor requirements. Based on the information available to us at this time, we have no reason to believe that the allegations are true. We will carefully review any evidence presented to us and will take appropriate actions based on that evidence.

World Vision subscribes to the humanitarian principles of impartiality and neutrality and therefore rejects any involvement in any political, military or terrorist activities and maintains its independence as a humanitarian aid agency committed to serving the poor, especially children. World Vision has detailed procedures and control mechanisms in place to ensure that the funds entrusted to us are spent in accordance with applicable legal requirements and in ways that do not fuel conflict but rather contribute to peace.

World Vision is a Christian relief, development and advocacy organisation dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice. World Vision serves all people regardless of religion, race, ethnicity or gender. World Vision has been working in Israel/Palestine for over 40 years, striving to give hope to over 500,000 of the most vulnerable children, through education, health, child protection and resilience programs”  (Hat tip: J-Wire)

See also here and  here  Hat tip: Ian

A Save the Children representative is now also being investigated.

And now, a representaive of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has been arrested by the Israeli authorities who have accused him of links to Hamas.  See here

Their Israel Questions: In Australia, party time & pickles

 In Australia, there's to be a General Election on 2 July.

And as we see, the Israel-haters from the "Australia Palestine Advocacy Network"are on the campaign trail:

And first off the mark are:

AIJAC, meanwhile, has posed thirteen questions a-piece to current prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and his main rival, ALP leader Bill Shorten, regarding their respective policies  regarding Israel.

As will be seen by clicking this link, both parties are broadly similar on most issues. There is nothing that can be considered over-the-top hostile or alarming from either of them. Nevertheless, there seems to be little doubt that the ALP is worse from a Jewish communal perspective, especially if we read between the lines.

For unlike the Coalition the ALP is increasingly dependent on the Muslim vote, especially in western Sydney and in north Melbourne. It also is dependent on the Greens, who are openly hostile to Israel. The ALP also has various left-wing anti-Israel activists. 

Reading the answers to the questions, there are several areas of concern:

- Counter-terrorism": The ALP emphasises "early intervention and community engagement" and quotes that "we can't arrest our way to success". These are cop-outs, and suggest that terrorists won't be monitored and stopped as effectively under an ALP government as under the Coalition.

- Schools: There is little between the two parties, but the ALP purely needs-based policy should be looked at closely for its possible impact on Jewish day school funding.

- The ABC (Australia's equivalent of the BBC): The Coalition hasn't been great, not with Turnbull as Communications Minister, but it seems clear that an ALP government would adopt a hands-off policy towards the ABC, even if (as it is) it is blatantly controlled by the Left and is hostile to Israel.

- 18C: This legislation can be used, and has been used, by leftists to silence conservative columnist Andrew Bolt and others, and should be repealed or modified. It is an open invitation, under an ALP government, to silence anti-Muslim blogs. It should have been repealed by Tony Abbott, who chickened out, but at least it is not being used as a left-wing weapon.

- UN Votes: An ALP government would obviously be more critical of Israel at the UN than a Coalition government.

So, leaving aside other policy issues, it seems clear that the ALP is at least marginally worse across the board.

Meanwhile, from the BDSers in Adelaide, who are a persistent bunch indeed, a singularly amateurish piece of work kicks of a new campaign of theirs:

You'd never know the Arabs, through their own bloody-minded rejectionism and aggression, brought defeat and "occupation"on themselves, would you?

"This Vote Sends a Very Hurtful Message to Australian Jews"

Dutney's article is pro-BDS, folks!

The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) was formed in 1977 as the result of a merger between the Congregationalists, Methodists and Presbyterians here.  Its statement regarding Jews and Judaism notwithstanding, relations with the Jewish community have frequently been fraught owing to its often hostile attitude towards Israel, and like many Protestant churches nowadays it appears to have been hijacked by political leftists espousing many a trendy political cause.  (This descent into leftist political activism has seen it lose more members than any other church in Australia, by the way.)

During a debate on the Middle East its national assembly, reports The Australian newspaper, the UCA has "opened the way for members to embrace" the BDS movement, its president,  the anti-Israeli boycott, divestment and sanctions movement"

The Uniting Church in Australia has "opened the way for members to embrace the anti-Israeli boycott, divestment and sanctions movement", its president, Stuart McMillan saying that the church had "encouraged members to be ­informed and to consider personally boycotting" goods produced "within the occupied territories".

He added:

“At this particular time of great concern for peace in the Holy Land, indeed in the Middle East, we must all make every ­effort to build upon the good ­relations we have in Australia between people of faith, ­acknowledging we will see some things differently and act ­accordingly, but always with peace for the people of the region in mind.”

His explanation has cut little ice with with University of Melbourne academic Dr Dvir Abramovich, chairman of the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission, who has called on the UCA to rescind the "unfair"  resolution:

“At a time when Christians are beheaded, forcibly converted, expelled and persecuted in the Middle East and around the world, the Uniting Church in Australia has chosen to single out the only democracy in the ­region which provides a safe haven and freedom of worship for Christians.

This vote sends a very hurtful message to Australian Jews and foments an atmosphere of hostility."

 In other news, however ...

In Australia, BDSers Flex Their Feeble Muscles

Read the pathetic story in one of their leftist rags of choice here:

 

 

Off The Menu: An Aussie brings BDS to Eguisheim

His Facebook page tells us that a certain Australian cafe owner in Eguisheim, Alsace, eastern France, studied at the University of Sydney, the institution that, thanks to certain of its academic staff, has become something of a byword for BDS.

Off the menu at his cafe are these products:

Here are the proprietor's latest posts on Facebook:

As you can see from the above, there's nothing, absolutely nothing, to link this doughty adherent of the BDS movement to antisemitism.

Linking BDS to antisemitism is all a Zionist slur, innit.

(Hat tip: Jean Vercors)

Bringing BDS To Book

From left: Danby, Dyrenfurth, Mendes, Feeney

It's a pleasure to be able to report a just-published book by two left-leaning pro-Israel Aussie academics that, as a counter to the poison spewed by so many leftwingers these days, powerfully presents the case against BDS.

Written by Philip Mendes and Nick Dyrenfurth, Boycotting Israel is Wrong was launched to much acclaim from moderate  voices on the political left in Australia.

The photograph shows its authors at Thursday's launch in Melbourne, flanked by two federal MPs from the Australian Labor Party (ALP) benches in Canberra: Michael Danby (who's Jewish, and has been a pro-Israel stalwart throughout his career) and David Feeney, an influential figure in certain Labor circles who's at present Shadow Justice Minister.

A typical reaction from the Israel-hating  Green-Left, in this case Melbourne socialist councillor Sue Bolton.

Her post refers to the  Melbourne launch.  (There was also a successful Sydney launch the previous day.)

I won't say more about the book here because I've made it, its launch by David Feeney, and its thrust (it includes a "progressive"prescription for peace that won't please every supporter of Israel) the focus of my column this week on the Elder of Ziyon site

Already, the book has caused much gnashing of teeth from left-wing Israel-demonising  pro-BDS elements in Australia, as I indicate in that column.  Please have a look at my column.

Exactly.  This point was made at the launch.

In Sydney, Anti-Israel Academic Riemer Rants About Islamophobia

Here's how a little pack of British anti-Israel diehards spent Easter Saturday, outside Arsenal's Highbury ground prior to the match with Liverpool, demanding that Israel be expelled from FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association):

On 4 April in Australia, though, fanatics were out in force.   Rallies in Australian capital cities against the perceived islamification of Australia (below, the view from Adelaide's John Bolton) were countered by "anti-racist" campaigners, most of whom appear to be far-leftists.

Photo credit: T.Illtis

Has the young Sydney woman in the photo not heard how the Taliban treats women and girls, or does she just not give a damn?  Ah, but then the ever-perverse left, even the "feminists" of the species, have a strange habit of tolerating in the West's enemies what they would not for one second tolerate in men of their own backgrounds, and of shutting their eyes and ears to accounts of Islamic misogyny by women who have been victims of it.

That many if not most of these Aussie counter-demonstrators are anti-Israel can surely be taken for granted.

After all, the Socialist Alliance and its ilk is known for its demonisation of Israel and its support for anti-Israel initiatives.

The woman convening this counter-demonstration in Sydney against the "racist" rally simultaneously taking place in Martin Place enthusiastically mentioned his pro-BDS stance in her warm welcome to Dr Nick Riemer, one of Associate Professor Jake Lynch's chief academic supporters at Sydney University, who can be seen on this video from around 4.34 raging against "Islamophobia" and "xenophobia" and of course the Abbott government:

At the end of the rally the woman in charge (who like pro-Palestine feminist Melbourne councillor Sue Bolton in this footage of the corresponding Melbourne counter-demo neatly avoids the issue of Islamic misogyny by some typical leftist verbal gymnastics) warns participants to be vigilant for louts, especially drunken louts, from the other side.

Truth to tell, some of the types on both sides look as though they should be avoided in narrow alleys, and not only during the hours of darkness.  

At the Adelaide "racist" rally,  one of the"islamophobes" (not Jewish) carries an Israeli flag.

photo credit: adelaidenow.com.au

A Blistering Rebuke To The Blistered(?) BDSer

Remember my post about the Wollongong University BDSer, Argentinean-born Israeli Marcelo Svirsky, and his squalid little BDS stunt, walking from Sydney to Canberra to present a petition to the House of Representatives?

Bravo to a prominent member of that House, Labor MP Michael Danby, always stalwart in support of Israel, for his forceful condemnation of Svirsky's action:

“.... BDS founder Omar Barghouti has made it clear that the aim of the Boycott movement is the elimination of the State of Israel. I doubt Mr Svirsky understands the essence of the Boycott moment expressed by fellow BDS supporters such as As’ad AbuKhalil, Professor of Political Science at California State University: ‘the real aim of BDS is to bring down the state of Israel….That should be stated as an unambiguous goal. There should not be any equivocation on the subject. Justice and freedom for the Palestinians are incompatible with the existence of the state of Israel.”

Marrickville (in Sydney) Israel-haters, 2011

Clearly, Mr Svirsky has little understanding of Australian politics as Mr Barghouti’s BDS campaign has been widely opposed by both major political parties. Even the Greens political party has disavowed the BDS following their ignominious debacle in the Marrickville state seat where a Greens Party candidate failed miserably when she supported the BDS campaign. Senator Lee Rhiannon seems to be the only federal parliamentarian left supporting the dangerous movement.

Mr Svirsky’s actions undermine his family in Israel. I wonder how he justifies BDS founder Omar Barghouti’s claims on 14 December last year, in the US magazine The Nation. Omar Barghouti distilled the essence of the hard-line Boycott movement: ‘Going back to a two-state solution, beside having passed its expiry date, it was never a moral solution to start with.’ In the same article, he said, ‘Good riddance. The two-state solution for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is finally dead. But someone has to issue an official death certificate before the rotting corpse is given a proper burial and we can move onto a unitary state where, by definition, Jews will be a minority.’

This poor deluded Wollongong academic is not walking to a welcome in Canberra, he is walking political oblivion.”'

As a well-known pro-Israel academic, Professor Douglas Kirsner, has commented on J-Wire:

"Michael Danby is right: BDS is immoral, counterproductive and destructive. It is singling out Israel for very special treatment in the Middle East area–Iran is close to getting nuclear capability to wipe Israel off the map; over 200,000 people have been killed in Syria recently with 3 million refugees. And a broad coalition including Arab nations are bombing IS who have issued fatwas to kill anybody they feel like with Allah’s blessing. I imagine Dr Svirsky and his co-walkers are equally supportive of the Greens political party’s policies on these issues though I would be rather surprised to see them walking against Iran, IS, Syria, etc.

I hope Dr Swirsky is not right that the Greens will ultimately single out Israel again for boycott. They would demonise gay friendly, democratic Israel where women are equal while at the same time they rail against real action against movements and countries that oppress women and gays and violate fundamental human rights. And in the case of IS involve themselves in beheadings, female genital mutilation, rapes and massacres.The Greens political party are blinded by their hatred of America and unfortunately Israel too."

Bravo also to Michael Danby for this article today here 

Meanwhile, in South Africa, Woolworths sues BDSers...

BDS & Blisters: Fanatics Afoot

This morning in glorious sunshine outside the Sydney Opera House, a gaggle of As-a-Jews gathered to give an Israeli academic (above, right) at Wollongong University a warm send-off:

But not, of course, to Israel.

No, this ex-pat's Argentinian-born Israel-educated political scientist Dr Marcelo Svirsky, and like the As-a-Jews, and their leftist cohorts, a number of whom were also on hand to wish him well, he's an activist against the little Jewish State.

With pack on back, and no doubt with left foot forward, he's set off on the long walk from Sydney to Canberra, a walk which will apparently last for ten days (other BDS fanatics are expected to join him at various stages of the journey) and for which, it's said, he's been training for months.

Don't forget the corn plasters, mate.

The purpose of the trek is to present the following petition to the federal House of Representatives, in the hope that Australia's will be the first western government officially to endorse BDS.

Presumably because they belong to the other chamber, Senators Lee Rhiannon and Nick Xenophon, who can usually be relied upon to throw a brickbat or three at the Zionist Entity, have declined to introduce the petition, making some BDSers mutter darkly that they have betrayed the cause.

Above: the intrepid BDSer departing Wollongong for Sydney.

Bye bye, mate.

Guess you won't be in shul for the High Holydays, then.

Don't forget the corn plasters.

And be careful not to wallow in any lies swallow any flies.