Danby Red over Greens
Yesterday in the Senate, Greens leader Christine Milne moved an entirely one-sided motion on the missile attacks on Southern Israel. I am attaching a copy of that motion. My comments in response, released to the media and reported in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph are below:….writes Michael Danby
Michael Danby
Christine Milne has shown her hand with yesterday’s motion (see attached). Christine Milne’s resolution really marks a new departure for mainstream Greens. The Green political party’s resolution entirely fails to mention the 3 million Israelis living under constant (Iranian) rocket fire.
The Greens allegation of Israel’s ‘disproportionate response’ fails to understand the concept of ‘proportionality’ under international law and also ignores the double war crime committed by Hamas of indiscriminately targeting Israeli civilians with rockets and mortars, whilst at the same time firing them from their own heavily populated areas in order to shelter behind their own civilians.
The following comments are also reported in The Australian online today;
The Greens failure to even mention the millions of Israelis living under constant rocket fire, forced into air raid shelters, exposes them as an extreme left political party. It is ugly that these Australian far left extremists are effectively in bed with the women-hating, gay-hanging Palestinian Islamic Fundamentalists of Hamas. Christine Milne’s resolution’s bias and the political succour gives strength to the Palestinian arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas. This resolution shows what a political dead-end the Greens have come to.
The Greens resolution was defeated and the Foreign Minister gave notice of a motion which was passed today in the Senate.
I have pointed to and praised Foreign Minister Bob Carr’s insistence in his resolution that businesses in Australia not be boycotted because of the religious persuasion or nationality of the owners. It is useful for the mainstream political parties to negotiate with each other as both are supporters of Israel and the two-state solution. Foreign Minister Carr presented the resolution yesterday and it was passed today with bi-partisan support.
In contrast to the Greens leaders irresponsible resolution that only criticised Israel’s action see below for the transcript of the Prime Minister’s Press Conference at the East Asia Summit in Cambodia.
As I pointed out to the Israel Solidarity Rally at the Toorak Shule on Tuesday night “Australia joins the United States and Canada again in speaking up for what is right…I am very proud of the fact that the Prime Minister repeats the words she said when she was acting Prime Minister during Operation Cast Lead some years ago when we faced similar circumstances.
Senator Milne’s Motion…
Keep up your good work Michael
Burdy
Congratulations Sen Milne for exposing your visceral hate of Israel and giving us a tiny insight into the parallel universe that you and other so-called environmentalists inhabit. That universe does not permit facts or morality to affect the ideological trajectories, the elliptical thinking, the hyerbolic rants or the downward spiral of the party.
Interesting comment from Mr Danby. No mention of the fact that gaza has been under siege for years with even solidarity activists being killed for visiting. Nor of the fact that Israel continues to expand the barrier, settlements and exclusive roads in the West Bank. There is a decade old Arab League resolution offering full recognition and Hamas offer of an indefenite truce. In fact netanyahu began the bombing after a ceasefire agreement was being negotiated.
None of these need concer danby with his unconditional support for Israel’s polices, but that is not honest journalism.
The blockade really started in 2005, but the rockets started in 2001.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_rocket_attacks_on_Israel
I don’t know, but maybe if the rockets stopped for some number of months then the blockade would be eased.
Ben, you are a royal pan in the butt.
Do us all a favour, if you cannot post accurate information, DON’T post please.
Utter codswallop, proudly written in haughty denial of facts.
The facts are that the Gaza blockade started after Hamas chucked the PA – read Fatah – (and many of its members) off a tall building. It could have been lifted if Hamas recognised Israel’s right to exist, renounced violence and respected previous agreements between the PA and Israel.
It is a falsification to hide that Egypt also participated in the blockade and sealed its border at Rafah (but turned a blind eye to smuggling of weapons). At no time did Israel turn off the electricity or the water and it always accepted Gazans into Israeli hospitals.
It is an outright lie that Israel is expanding settlements. What is occurring is that building inside settlement is continuing; were it to stop, it would be the aging and death of those villages. Those villages comprise a mere 1.7% of Judea and Samaria. Gaza is Judenrein and has been since 2005.
The indefinite truce is rubbish. Hamas offered a hudna, a mohammedan tactic of discontinuing a fight until the mohammedans feel strong enough to resume the battle and it leaves the resumption at the discretion of the mohammedans. The maximum time that a hudna may last is ten years.
The Arab League offer is a non-starter, as it includes a return to the 1948 ceasefire lines without negotiations and the return of displace Arabs and their descendents, a “right” enjoyed by no other refugee group on earth.
There were no negotiations going on and even if there were any back-door approaches, attacking soldiers at the same time demonstrates that bad faith typical of mohammedans.
Ben, you don’t know what you are talking about, but I am pleased to know that you are proud of your parroting of the Fakestinian line.
Sorry, but the side of right lies with the Palestinians. They are not blameless, or perfect, but it is clear where the power lies. And where the power is abused.
Noam Chomaski is essentially correct: I cannot argue better than he, or Christopher Hitchens. Not above reproach, but correct in the essentials.
Like South African apartheid, Israel will be judged, and you will not like the verdict.
Where is thsi socalled apartheid Pete?
You obviously don’t know the meaning of the word
You obviously don’t know the meaning of the “like”
Pete, your hollow phrases are mere rags to cover a hollow argument.
Power lies with Israel which does not divert its funds the way mohammedans divert international donations to private pockets.
For you to prattle about Israel abusing its power when Fakestinians are inciting hatred against Jews – no, not Israelis, Jews – in schools and mosques and attacking Jews at every turn forcing Israel to build a security barrier and by-pass roads, reveals that you live in a parallel universe, where facts, rationality and decency don’t exist. The same gang of Arabs cheerfully murder each other, beg Israel to treat their sick, including Haniya’s brother-in-law and expect Jews to employ them. They pollute ground water and scream that Jews do not allocate enough water, when in fact they get more than their share and steal a whole lot more. And Israeli Arabs have every right that Jews do even if they don’t do national service or pay their fair share of taxes. There is no apartheid in Israel, but it certainly exists in Lebanon. I’ve had it up to the back teeth with people like you spewing Arab lies.
You give yourself away when you quote Naom “Chumpsky” Chomsky. He is an extremist spinner of conspiracy theories who treats his confabulations as though they were real.
Condemning S Africa was appropriate; apartheid was wrong and bad. Condemning Israel for sins it does not commit is not only wrong and bad, but it is antisemitic because it falsely attributes blame where none exists, it is used to destroy a state, something that didn’t occur with S Africa and through the use of issue magnification and through invention like a blood libel, it sets an unattainable standard for Israel while it sets no standard for its enemies. And people like you support that evil antisemitic project. Shame on you!
Ok, Let’s try to take that in order, and add something more…
Where does Israel “divert” the funds it receives from the USA and other sources? Why do I care about private pockets? Military hardware that kills people are more my concern.
Your next paragraph is about is about personal actions, whereas I would condemn state actions against Palestinians. That is a crucial difference. Israeli Arabs, as I understand it, don’t wish to legitimise the state and therefore do not become citizens or vote. That is a significant issue. And I never claimed there was apartheid in Israel, it was an analogy.
Your next point about Naom “Chumpsky” Chomsky is pure ad homien. What exactly, do with disagree with?
Next, Israel’s continued practice of building settlements in occupied territories is wrong, as is its wars in Lebanon and bombing in the West Bank. Wrong.
Israel does commit sins, for which it should rightly be condemned. The recent rhetoric against Iran is just one more case in point.
Finally, and this is a sensitive topic, and I am not meaning hereto imply that Israel has no right to exist, just that it should be more accommodating to regional concerns. Israel’s title deeds are null and void. David Ben-Gurion stated that the Exodus was the title deeds to Israel, and now all archaeologists, including Israeli ones, concede there is no evidence for it. It never happened.
Not wanting to encourage more ad homien attacks, but see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMo5R5pLPBE, particularly from 6:30 on.
Pete, your feeble attempt to respond to the points I made, expose your propagandising on behalf of the Arabs.
Your question about where Israel diverts funds is a malicious obfuscation. It is malicious because it falsely takes as fact that fund diversion occurs in Israel. The bulk of funds the US gives to Israel has to be spent in the US mainly to but arms. It is obfuscation because you try to avoid responding to the truth about the kleptocracies that rule the Palestinian Arabs by trying to create a false equivalence. It does not work.
Personal actions??? You are responding to your singular reading of what I wrote.
You condemn state action against Fakestinians. Oh didums! You clearly think that Jews should not use the power of legal authorities to put down homicide bombers, highway murderers or other charming people who just for innocent fun murder people like the Fogels or 8 months pregnant Mrs Hatuel and her 4 daughters. Or the charming Hamas and Popular Resistance Committes who argued who was more heroic: the one who blew up a tank or the one who accummulated more body parts, even displaying an IDF soldier’s head in a bucket. Oh you are such an pacifist and a true humanist!
Israeli Arabs are entitiled to vote. Those who identify with the Jewish state should get the hell out of there. They do enjoy such a lovely life and freedoms in Lebanon, Jordan, Gaza and Syria.
Apartheid as an analogy. Tell it to the marines as the US saying goes. Don’t twist and squirm. Be a man and apologies for your baseless smear against Israel.
I disagree with everything Chumpsy says. And I say Chumpsy because what I really think of him would not be acceptable on JWire. Let me just point out that Chumpsky called on the US government during the Yom Kippur War to stop its arms shipments to Israel.
Your decry Israel’s settlement building on “occupied territories”. That demostrates your basic bias and ignorance. There never was a Palestine, hence Judea and Samaria are not occupied lands. The occupier was Jordan and it was kicked out in 1967. Israel faught a defensive war – remember the closure of the Straits of Tiran and the Egyptian reoccupation of demiliterised Sinai – and has a right to lands it conquered. If the Arabs don’t like it they can go elsewhere in the umma. Or they can start acting like civilised people and accept the statehood they refused in 2000 and 2008.
The wars in Lebanon were again defensive. When militias fire rockets or invade your territory and kidnap soldiers it is the responsibility of the state to stop further attacks. Yes the responsibility of even the Jewish state. And you are dreaming about the bombing of the West Bank; it hasn’t happened since Israel gave the Arabs a hiding in 1967.
Oh Israel should be condemned for telling Iran that beyond a certain point it will be attacked. But in your parallel universe, Iran should not be condemned for violating its NPT undertakings, for supplying Hizballah or for its sweet words like Israel is a cancer that must be cut. What an open minded and even-handed person you truly are!
When you write the way you do you demonise and deligitimise Israel and you use double standards; the 3 Ds of Sharansky’s definition of antisemitism. Your point about ben-Gurion is fatuous. Firstly, it was a rhetorical flourish and secondly, much of what is said in the Bible is being confirmed by archeologists. If nothing else, who do you think built the temple the Romans destroyed? Why does it mention in the Koran that Jerusalem is the holy place of the Jews? Why did the Waqr publish a booklet in 1923, stating the Jerusalem is the holy city of the Jews? The current mohammedan political narrative denies the Jewish connection to Israel. History, archeology, language, culture and recently genetics proves that that narrative is a pack of lies.
Onya Michael. When is the ALP going to recognise you as the jewel in their midst and appoint you to the cabinet? It is long overdue!
I am of the view that Julia Gillard is the worst PM this country has ever had. But like Michael Danby, I congratulate the PM on her stand in the Gaza conflict. Credit where credit is due, she showed up her own Foreign Minister whose utterings were, to say the least, incoherent and ambiguous. As a Jew I think I am entitled to opine on Milne, Rhiannon and the Greens. And my opinion is that they are the most racist party in this country outside the fringe stalinists and fascists which pollute the political landscape from time to time. All disguised in a cloak of fake environmental concern. Evil is evil is evil.
John Howard is clearly the worst PM we have ever had, if your views are not filtered though a partisan and filtered lens. I congratulate the foreign minister on achieving the more moral stance on this vote.
The Israeli government promotes Palestinian religious interests out of fear of secular supremacy and then condemns the outcome? Irrational!
What is “incoherent and ambiguous” about Bob’s statements? Although the ambiguous part might be explained by political reality, and his not being able to truly speak his mind.