Online, Pro-Israel Stars Come Out Down Under

Image from here, where it's intended as an antisemitic comment on Australia's support for Israel

As many readers of my blog will already be aware, there's a new Jewish online magazine Down Under, and already it's making waves.

Proudly pro-Israel (as is to be expected, since the stupendous Shirlee Finn, no stranger to my regular readers, is the driving force behind its establishment), it says of itself:

 'This is somewhere you can air your views and ask hard questions in the Jewish Community without being silenced and cut down. There is a huge need for this. We need to make our voices heard. As it stands now there is nowhere to do it without being silenced, cut down or bullied by others.

If at times we hit a few raw nerves by speaking up and speaking the truth, so be it. You know what? There’s an old tried and tested saying “The truth hurts”.

Hopefully we can give balance to the inaccuracies by those who print and/or speak about Israel and Jews in the media or elsewhere, with complete disregard for the truth. We can address difficult issues facing our community that need a forum for genuine debate.

In general we hope to set the record straight, to facilitate open and genuine dialogue on issues that are important to Australian Jews, both within Australia and Israel.

We hope you enjoy our online magazine full of interesting topics and look forward to your participation as a reader, writer, and commenter.'

In the short time that it's been up and running, "News and Views from Jews Down Under" has posted a variety of fine items and accumulated a healthy readership.

One of the articles that I, personally, like a great deal is this thought-provoking one with many comments,  concerning the recent atrocious antisemitic remarks by pro-Arab, pro-Palestinian Tim Fischer, ex-leader of the National Party (I quote from the Australian Jewish News as follows):

'Former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer has attacked “the Jewish lobby” for unfairly attacking Pope Pius XII.

Pius XII has been widely accused of not interceding to try to stop the Nazi slaughter of European Jewry, but Fischer said in his new book, Holy See, Unholy Me: 1000 days in Rome, that the attacks are misguided.

“The American Jewish lobby is run by hardliners who get their daily feed from Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and will cut no slack in terms of Israel’s policies in the West Bank,” Fischer, who was the deputy prime minister from 1996-99 and Australia’s ambassador to Holy See from 2008-12, says in the book.

He claims that the attacks on Pius XII, who is being ­considered for canonisation, continue today.

“The moment any suggestion is made to consider Pius XII for beatification and sainthood, they hit out at close to full power and use all media avenues to stamp it out.”

Of the Pope’s wartime record, Fischer writes that he “instructed Catholics to help Jews, hiding hundreds in convents, monasteries and the Vatican”.'

Fischer well-deserved his excoriation (see, for instance, here) but did Pope Pius?

The prominent left-leaning Australian-born London lawyer Geoffrey Robinson has no doubt that Pius did:

But Rabbi David Dalin, author of The Myth of Hitler's Pope: How Pope Pius XII Rescued Jews from the Nazis, plainly does not.

As the uploader of the following hour-long video observes:

'[Dalin] writes that Pope Pius XII was not complicit with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party, as some historians contend. Rabbi Dalin examines the actions of Pope Pius XII and also traces the actions of the Catholic Church during the late 1930s and through World War II. The author writes that Pope Pius XII was not an anti-Semite and that the Catholic Church did more than any other religion to save the lives of European Jews during the Holocaust. At the same time the grand mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin al-Husseini, became Hitler's staunch ally and a promoter of the Holocaust, with a legacy that feeds radical Islam today. After his presentation, Rabbi Dalin answered questions from members of the audience.'

I guess that until the all the relevant Vatican documents are made available for scrutiny "the experts" will continue to disagree.

Non-Jews Fly The Flag For Israel In South Australia

We see much of Aussie BDSers on videos of their Israel-demonising vigils targeting Max Brenner and Seacret, so it's refreshing to learn of antipodean initiatives on Israel's behalf.  The following guest post by reader Shirlee tells of such a welcome development in Adelaide, and points out that the non-Jews involved deserve support from the Australian Jewish community.

South Australians Supporting Israel

 Shirlee Finn

Here’s a truly inspirational story of a small, newly formed, non-denominational group supporting Israel, started by three people, Ben White, Virginia Snape and Tania Fenwick, who have known one another for a number of years in Adelaide. Virginia has an information blog informing readers about the real situation in Israel. Ben is very involved in informing people about the historical and political truth about the region.

Along with Tania, they often posted comments to one another about issues and happenings in Israel on their Facebook pages. They noted for weeks before Israel actually took action during Operation Pillar of Cloud, that the rocket attacks were increasing and nothing was being said in the media. When the media became obsessed with Israel again, Ben suggested that they started a group and rallied to get support.

Tania has been to Israel and has in her own words

"witnessed the inclusive and multi-cultural society of Israel. I have spent considerable time in Jordan and Israel, mostly in my archaeological pursuits. I am a field archaeologist who has worked with the University of Adelaide, Israeli Antiquities, Associates for Biblical Research and a private contractor. I have a great interest in the history of Israel and find that the archaeological proofs back up that the Jews have indigenous connections to the land.

I have Jewish Israeli and Arab Israeli friends and along with Ben and Virginia are proud supporters of Israel."

A good friend of Tania’s suggested they make contact with the Jewish community. People were interested and supportive. One especially so. Another attended their rally and is now "in touch" with the group.

Tania’s dream was to hold a rally in support of Israel.

She said 

"I ordered posters to be printed and tried to get numbers for a rally, but it was difficult to get solid numbers. I had a lot of maybes, and it took a while to understand the process as none of us had ever been part of a rally like this. I informed the Adelaide City Council and Parliament house and contacted the Police who were very supportive.

Christopher Pyne has indicated that he will attend a future rally, as he is a great supporter of Israel but was unable to attend on that day.

The rally went ahead on 9 December. 13 people attended. Although it was a small group, all were enthusiastic. I gave a speech."

Tania continues

"The rally took place on the steps of Parliament House which is quite busy. The great thing is that we had members of the public who waved and cheered from their cars and many who told us they supported Israel. We handed out flyers and the whole thing was non-confrontational but underpinned that Israel wants peace, but it is impossible when Hamas and others are full of hate and have declared that they will never make peace."

She told me:

"I think our peaceful rally with a clear message said so much and highlighted that Israel wants peace.

I notice a lot of other pro-Israel rallies have done the same and I hope the peaceful sentiments speak louder than the aggression shown on the other side!

It went well - and I think it is a great building base for the future."

Tania told me that she has had many comments about the BDS protestors in Rundle Mall who have spoken about how nasty they are and how they harass everyone. In saying this, she then decided to confront this pro-Palestinian group, who picket the Mall, outside the Seacret Spa shop every Friday.

Brave girl!

She told me the obvious after attempting to engage them in meaningful dialogue: that

"they are utterly clueless and when questioned they know nothing of the real situation. I think they are bullies. I told them they were racist as they would not picket an Israeli Arab company, but by singling out an Israeli Jewish company they are.

We are not political activists, but find the anti-Israel and antisemitic undertones intolerable and feel that voices are needed at this time to support Israel."

One other thing she thought was odd was when she was questioned about what she was doing in Israel. She said

"I told him about being a field archaeologist and then he asked me if I was Jewish or Israeli. When I told him I was neither, he was lost for words - this bloke was a real goose!"

To quote Ben 

"It was cool to see a dream that Tania had several weeks ago turn into reality! Plenty more to come yet from SASI !"

I have become quite involved with this group and feel they merit some support from the Jewish community in South Australia. I’ll make contact with the community there. I do know someone personally I can contact. I have also had the offer of support from someone here, who will go down to Adelaide in February to offer any assistance he can.

I have followed the pro-Palestinian group there who are very active, for a couple of years now and who run totally unchecked without opposition. Now we have a group of people prepared to stand up and be counted and should be able to count on us for some support.

My question now is there anyone out there that can help in any way please? The South Australian Jewish community is small, and I doubt they have the finances to fund speakers to go there. We have plenty of educational courses here but they have nothing. I am open to suggestion as to what way we can help.

Daphne [daphnedotansonatgmaildotcom] has my permission to pass on my contact details, for those who’d like to help somehow. Thanks

Stop The Hamas Rockets: Australian Jews rally for Israel (videos)

Here's Australian Jewish News footage of a characteristically robust pro-Israel rally that took place in the heart of "the shtetl on the Yarra" yesterday.  Am Israel Chai!!!

As well as in Melbourne, pro-Israel rallies occurred in other Australian cities, and non-Jews were among those attending.

Here's the view from Sydney (uploaded by RickShaff1979):

These graphics should make Israel's predicament clear to everyone:

Hat tip for the Aussie maps: reader Shirlee