Eretz Israel is our unforgettable historic homeland...The Jews who will it shall achieve their State...And whatever we attempt there for our own benefit will redound mightily and beneficially to the good of all mankind.(Theodor Herzl, DerJudenstaat, 1896)
We offer peace and amity to all the neighbouring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all. The State of Israel is ready to contribute its full share to the peaceful progress and development of the Middle East.(From Proclamation of the State of Israel, 5 Iyar 5708; 14 May 1948) With a liberal democratic political system operating under the rule of law, a flourishing market economy producing technological innovation to the benefit of the wider world, and a population as educated and cultured as anywhere in Europe or North America, Israel is a normal Western country with a right to be treated as such in the community of nations.... For the global jihad, Israel may be the first objective. But it will not be the last.(Friends of Israel Initiative)
Showing posts with label Greens (Sydney). Show all posts
Showing posts with label Greens (Sydney). Show all posts
It seems (Hat tip: reader Shirlee, who sent me this link) that, officially, the Greens in New South Wales have abandoned their commitment to the BDS campaign against Israel that cost Marrickville Mayor Fiona Byrne her seat in the state election earlier this year. In May a working group was set up by the party to review the policy, and yesterday's vote on the issue, at a State Council meeting closed to the media, saw the party decide on its recommendations.
At the meeting every Greens group in the state apparently voted to abandon BDS as an official plank in their policy. But, like the fanatical Israel-bashers that so many of them unfortunately are (the honourable exceptions include Greens MLC Jeremy Buckingham, who is on record as deploring the frequent pickerting of Jewish-owned Max Brenner), they voted to recognise support for BDS as a legitimate stance, and denied that it is antisemitic.
The ratbag leftwing party also reportedly reiterqted that the Australian government should cease military links with Israel.
Senator Lee Rhiannon, the legislator with a far-left pedigree who has been a driving force behind the Greens' odious BDS campaign, has been reported as saying after yesterday's vote:
"The resolution recognises the legitimacy of the BDS as a political tactic and also recognises that there is a diversity of views in the community and the Greens. While there have been a variety of views among Greens members on BDS there was strong and united commitment to continue our work for Palestinian human rights. The review rejected and condemned false accusations of anti-Semitism."
The party's demonisation of Israel (even to blaming Israel for the plight of the "refugees) and adoption of BDS can be clearly seen in this pep talk to the faithful in May by former state legislator and flotilla/flytilla alumna Sylvia Hale, who like the rest of the Greens seems wilfully blind to Israel's admirable record on environmental matters, as well as, so far as I can judge, contrastingly silent regarding most of the genuine atrocities occurring elsewhere in the world (including heinous encroachments on the rights of women):
Popcorn ready? Kleenex tissues out? Right, now you're all set to watch former Greens New South Wales politician Sylvia Hale with an account of her thwarted flytilla/flotilla frolic. She's speaking to fellow far lefty Israel-bashers associated with Green Left Weekly in Sydney.
And here's fellow-traveller Vivienne Porzsolt doing her stuff:
Poor Sylvia Hale. The ex-Marrickville councillor and former New South Wales state parliamentarian was thwarted in her expectation of sailing to Gaza aboard the Canadian ship Tahrir by the Greek authorities, like fellow Sydneysider flotilla participants Vivienne Porzsolt and Michael Coleman, as well as Perth-based Alex Whisson, convenor of Friends of Palestine WA.
But Sylvia, with Vivienne, flew into Tel Aviv today (Tuesday) tp participate in the so-called "Welcome to Palestine" scheme. Alas, it seems that when the Israeli authorities were told of the pair's intent, the Aussies were detained at the airport for four hours and face deportation to Athens on the first available flight. So instead of meeting Palestinian activist Mazin Qumsiyeh in Marrickville's sister city of Bethlehem - Qumsiyeh's a former genetics professor in the USA who has suggested that Jesus was the first Palestinian martyr and who has, among other things, written a book called Sharing The Land of Canaan - Sylvia has been spending her 69th birthday cooling her heels at the pleasure of Israeli security.
Still, I'm sure the Israel-demonising Greens movement back in Oz will be making the most of this setback, spinning it as yet another example of Zionist perfidy.
In fact one of them, a twenty-something blogger ("I write mostly about politics and social justice topics. My current focus is primarily on writing about Israel-Palestine, and the expansion of the coal seam gas industry in Australia") already has.
As for the Greens and Israel, one of my favourite verdicts was made in a Greenie NSW newspaper, TheByron ShireEcho, by Geoff Pahoff, who wrote inter alia to its editor:
'You complain about your "experience with the pro-Israel lobby". Given that you have never published anything that could be remotely described as "pro-Israel", it can only be that you never publish opinions that differ from yours or the "experience" you claim is very limited indeed. None at all. What is your problem? .... Who do you mean by this "lobby" anyway? Israel is solidly supported by every major political party in our country. As you would expect from a liberal democracy for the only liberal democracy in the Middle East and the only state there that provides and guarantees full political and civil rights for Arabs. Only some of your party's candidates and some of "One Nation"'s attack Israel so obsessively.Why? If by the "pro-Israel lobby", you mean Australian Jews, then say so. We need to know. About you. Not them.
It is impossible to defend Israel, and the democratic secular Zionist principles that underpin it, without being accused of racism. Sooner or later it always happens. Always. It is also true that much of the incessant attacks on Israel, especially from the political extremes, and from militant Islamism, is driven by antisemitism. This cannot be honestly denied. It is everywhere.
....The situation in Gaza can be summed up in a sentence. Israel has the stark choice of either attempting a military blockade or simply allowing Hamas to become as lethally armed as Hezbollah. Gaza is an Iranian colony ruled by a subsidiary of the Muslim Brotherhood. Their grievance with Israel has nothing at all to do with "occupation". Gaza is not "occupied". Their grievance has everything to do with the fact that Israel is free, liberal and democratic and, above all, with the fact that Israel is the Jewish state. They say so again and again.
Nor do I accept that for you this is about the "Palestinians". The old hard left that now control your party in this state does not give a rat's arse about the Palestinians. They never have and they have been around for a long time. If they gave a damn at all they would be hollering from the rooftops for the liberation of these tragic people from the death grip of Hamas. For them, this is not about the Palestinians at all. Even less is it about the millions of people from Tunisia to Syria and beyond right now risking their lives in a desperate brave struggle for some of those freedoms that Israeli Arabs enjoy as of right and have for decades. For the old hard left, this is about something else entirely.'
