Sunday, March 9, 2008

Working Out the Mechanics of Our Relationship 2

"Judaism is not Zionism. Judaism, as a confessional preference, should be strictly an individual matter, and, generally speaking, like other individual preferences (such as musical, culinary or sexual preferences), should not be the concern of the law. Zionism, as a political programme, is a matter of public debate...the political Zionist school of thought and practice is committed to the normative statement that it is a good idea to establish and consolidate in the country of Palestine a sovereign state, a Jewish state, that attempts to guarantee in law and in practice a demographic majority of the Jewish tribes in the territories under its control. Such individual bodies as are, for instance, committed to the values of open society, democracy and the separation of religion from the state; who, therefore, disagree with the political aims of this particular political programme, are anti-Zionist in the same sense that those who for many decades opposed the political programme of apartheid in South Africa (which ended in 1994) were, and it is to be hoped remain, anti-apartheid." Uri Davis, Apartheid Israel, 2003, pp 11-12

I reported in a January 18 post, Working Out the Mechanics of Our Relationship, that the Rudd Government had voted in the UN against funding for the 2009 World Conference against Racism (or Durban II). The forthcoming WCAR has been a pet peeve of the Israel lobby ever since the 2001 WCAR correctly* equated Zionism with racism, and the associated WCAR NGO Forum even more correctly* declared Israel a "racist, apartheid state" which should be subject to the imposition of sanctions.

In January, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) reportedly met with "representatives from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT)" and was hoping to meet Foreign Affairs Minister, Stephen Smith, to "ask about ways to prevent anti-Semitism [sic: anti-Zionism]" at the 2009 WCAR and "work out the mechanics of our relationship in the future."

Update: Under the header, Uniting to stop Durban repeat (15/2/08), The Australian Jewish News informs us that a joint ECAJ and Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA) delegation have met Israeli Ambassador, Yuval Rotem, and Smith, "who flagged his intention to visit Israel later this year [But of course!]."

The report continues: "The community leaders presented Smith with a submission outlining their concerns about next year's conference [eg that the UN allegedly promotes anti-Semitism "by condoning the distinction between anti-Semitism and Israel-phobia."], including their ambivalence over recent reports indicating the Rudd government intended to work more closely with the UN...[God forbid that Australia should be "work[ing] more closely with the UN"!]...[Phillip] Chester (ZFA) said that while Smith was not ready to commit one way or another to Australia's participation at Durban II [OMG, he's got the wobbles!], he did ask that the community leaders keep in touch with him. 'The minister is maintaining a wait-and-see approach', Chester said, adding that he feels the Australian Government will eventually support the position of the Jewish community...[The Israeli] ambassador [said] that, while [he] has not made a formal submission to the Australian Government to ask it not to attend Durban II, he has encouraged community leaders to lobby hard."

There you have it: now that the lobby has succeeded in persuading the government to deny funding to the 2009 WCAR, the push is on to have it implement Israel's anti-UN agenda and (like Canada) boycott the conference entirely. Will Smith cave in? Watch this space...

But there's more: "[Robert] Goot (ECAJ) told the AJN they also discussed the pattern of voting in the UN...Labor's pre-election posturing to legally pursue Iranian President Ahmadinejad [See my post, Ahmadinejad: Our Part in His Downfall]; and the unsolved kidnapping of 3 Israeli soldiers over a year ago...We were entirely satisfied with the minister's response on all those topics." Indeed!

It is always interesting to learn just who gets access to the minister's ear (and comes away "entirely satisfied with the minister's responses") and who gets knocked back. In February, 60-year old Rebiya Kadeer, exiled spokeswoman for the brutally oppressed Uighur people of China's Xinjiang region arrived in Australia to communicate her people's plight. Ms Kadeer, however, couldn't get within cooee of the foreign minister's ear and had to be content with DFAT officials. (See Exiled voice wants Games to cast light on repression, Hamish McDonald, SMH 21/2/08) Australia's Israel lobbyists, on the other hand, advocates for another specialist in screwing the wretched of the earth, have no such trouble.

*See my earlier post, Working Out the Mechanics of Our Relationship for a discussion of these matters.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You fools you guys paid $20,000 for an add you can hardly read AND with signatures only a magnifying glass can pick up and the Jews get this editorial for FREE..
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An enduring beacon of democracy in a troubled region
Editorial
The Australian
12 march 2008

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23359245-16741,00.html

TO recognise the 60th anniversary of the creation of the state of Israel, which falls on May 14, Kevin Rudd will today make a statement to federal parliament offering Australia's continued goodwill and support. Together with the recent marriage of Michael Danby in the first Jewish wedding ceremony in Parliament House, it is a further demonstration of the bipartisan support that exists for Israel. The Australian shares the Government's goodwill towards Israel and supports all efforts for a two-state solution that includes self-determination for Palestine and brings lasting peace to a much-troubled region.

Predictably, today's statement to parliament - the timing of which has been agreed between the Government and the Israeli embassy for the convenience of parliament - has spawned a chorus of dissent from the usual left-wing, anti-Israel suspects. In an advertisement in this newspaper, a group claiming to be informed and concerned Australians has distanced itself from what it says is "a celebration of the triumph of racism and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians since the al-Nakba (Catastrophe) of 1948". The group says Australia and Australians should not give the Israeli people and its leaders the impression that Australia supports them in their dispossession of the Palestinian people.

The sponsors of the advertisement, which include individuals and organisations such as the Australian Friends of Palestine, the militant left-wing Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union and the Socialist Alliance, are entitled to their view. The group expresses what is now fashionable thought in academe, increasingly attracted to victimhood, despite its history of support for Israel. Unfortunately, it offers nothing to further the cause of peace or properly recognise the tragic circumstances that underpinned the creation of the state of Israel in the first place.

Despite frantic efforts by US President George W.Bush to seek a legacy in successfully brokering a settlement between Israel and its neighbours - something that defeated his predecessors, including Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter - recent events have served only to underscore the intractability of the problem. Nowhere has the grotesque nature of the Israel-Palestine conflict been more evident than in the joyful celebrations among Gazan civilians following news that a deranged gunman had killed eight Jewish students - most of them 15 and 16-year-olds - in the library of the Mercay Harav Yeshiva last week. The attack has potentially opened a new front in the conflict, raising the possibility of new restrictions on the movement of Arab residents of East Jerusalem. The attack has also underscored divisions among those claiming to be the Palestinian leadership. The Palestinian Authority, under President Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the attack but Hamas, the Palestinian leadership in the Gaza Strip, praised it. What does it say about Hamas culture that it would promote public celebration at the slaughter of children? One thing is certain: such barbaric displays by Israelis do not accompany news of the murder of Palestinians. The Australian believes Israel has been a force for good in the Middle East while its Arab opponents have, unfortunately, slipped backwards. Political efforts to blame Israel for the misfortune of ordinary Palestinians lack credibility. The fact is, the rise of Islamic fundamentalism has been to the great disadvantage of ordinary Palestinians who find themselves caught in escalating violence led by zealots who have no interest in any settlement that recognises Israel's right to exist. These leaders are prepared to use the suffering of their own people in a propaganda war against Israel in the Western media. The success of this propaganda war can be seen in the support offered in advertisements, such as the one published today.

We reject the view that the Israeli conflict lies at the root of all the problems in the Middle East and is the trigger for the rise of al-Qa'ida and, by extension, terrorist acts such as the 9/11 bombings. In truth, al-Qa'ida had little to say about Israel or Palestine throughout the 1990s. Ironically, the rise of Tehran's regional influence and the appearance of Shia militias have led to an improvement in the relationship between Israel and the Sunni states of the Gulf that are themselves threatened by radical Islam. It is disappointing that no one on the Palestinian side has been able to pick up the opportunities for lasting peace. The fatal obstacle is the fact that neither Hamas nor the Iranian leadership in Tehran that sponsors Hezbollah is interested in anything that recognises Israel's existence. The Palestinian leadership has been unable to pick up the ball passed by Israeli leaders of vision, since 1992 under Yitzhak Rabin and in 2000 under Ehud Barak.

As Greg Sheridan wrote in response to the recent shooting murders, there are four interlocking, plausible reasons why Hamas prefers to perpetuate the suffering of its own people rather than ignore Israel and concentrate on running an independent Palestinian state. It wants to damage Israel internationally, radicalise other Palestinians, ensure Israel's policy of disengagement from the Palestinians fails and serve Hamas's Iranian and Syrian sponsors. We have great sympathy for the Palestinian people who are being used as pawns by those whose power depends upon maintaining a festering sore in relations with Israel. But like the governments in Australia, the US and Britain, we see through attempts to blame the victim, in this case Israel, for the dilemma. Against remarkable odds, Israel has prospered greatly over the past 60 years because of its commitment to democracy and the rule of law, which easily qualifies it for the enduring goodwill and support of friends such as Australia

Anonymous said...

And this ''you fools' do you think The OZ wouldn't have published this if not for your stupid crappy advertisement.....Thank you!
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Israel's far-flung friend
Philip Chester | March 12, 2008

AS Australia's federal parliament passes a historic resolution congratulating Israel on its 60th anniversary of independence, Israel continues to battle for its right to live in peace and security as witnessed by the daily escalating missile barrage from Gaza and the recent unspeakably barbaric slaughter of rabbinical students.

While many media outlets unfairly distort the world's picture of Israel, this complex, stimulating and thriving society continues to flourish.

Israel is quite simply a modern marvel.

In the anti-colonialist era following World War II, European masters began the process of returning lands to their original inhabitants.

What distinguished the Jews from other such people was that they had been expelled and forced to live in exile while the land they had lived in for 1500 years endured occupation for two millenniums. Their lives dependent on the whims of their rulers for countless years, they had shed tears in little European or North African villages when concluding the Passover service with the phrase "Next year in Jerusalem". But no longer: they were finally able to return and so did many Holocaust survivors and other persecuted immigrants.

Yes, the Jewish people's return to their ancestral homeland was an unprecedented event. But even this miracle pales into insignificance when compared with the accomplishments of this tiny, embattled country in six short decades.

While other post-war countries remained mired in corruption, authoritarianism, violent fundamentalism and poverty, Israel accumulated a range of achievements in the political, economic, cultural and social spheres that are truly mind-boggling.

Israel is a true liberal democracy, with numerous political parties representing the wide range of Jewish and Arab interests, together with a fiercely independent and activist judiciary that often intervenes to protect the rights of Israel's Arab minorities and disadvantaged citizens.

Israel is the only country in the world that entered this century with a net gain in its number of trees, an even more remarkable feat achieved in an area that is mainly desert.

Israel produces more scientific papers per capita than any other nation by a large margin, one of the highest per capita rates of patents filed and more start-up companies than any other country except the US.

Israel has the highest average living standards in the Middle East and the third highest rate of entrepreneurship in the world.

Israel has more museums per capita than any other country.

And all of this without knowing a day free of war or terror and being the largest immigrant-absorbing nation on earth.

What Israel is not is perfect, and in that it is hardly alone. Yet this is the basis of the criticism levelled against it. But not, interestingly enough, from Australians. Australia and Israel share a great friendship. Political, economic and cultural interchange is common and Australia, since its significant role in supporting the establishment of the state of Israel in 1947, has proved itself a staunch ally in international forums. As the parliament's bipartisan resolution demonstrates, our main political parties are united in their support of Israel.

Certainly, Australia and Israel may appear very different to the casual observer. Australia is still a predominantly Christian country, albeit with a significant mix of other faiths and cultures, while Israel is of course Jewish, although it is also home to many religious and ethnic groups.

We are on opposite sides of the world and our languages, even alphabets, are totally dissimilar. Australia is the world's largest island, with a land mass similar to that of the continental US. In contrast, Israel is a tiny state significantly smaller than Tasmania.

Yet, on closer examination, our two nations have much in common, indeed so much so that it is no wonder we enjoy such close bonds. Australia and Israel are both vibrant democracies that respect the rule of law and freedom of the press, despite being situated in regions where democracy is not necessarily the accepted order. We both inhabit ancient lands with a variety of climates and vegetation, lands where water, life's essence, is scarce. Both countries have demonstrated universally acclaimed success in agriculture and hi-tech industry. Australia and Israel have been remarkably enriched by the arrival of people from diverse cultural origins. And, perhaps most tellingly, Israelis and Australians reject extremism and pretension and believe in the fundamental freedom of the individual.

Israelis may continue to face a missile barrage from Gaza and further violent terrorist attacks aimed at defenceless civilians, a tragic continuation of the violence facing Israel since independence and which highlights the Palestinians' and broader Arab world's inability to accept the right of the Jewish people to their own homeland as part of a two-state solution. Yet Israel knows it has every moral and legal right to defend its people - Jews, Christians and Muslims - against attack and will continue to act resolutely, as would any other country faced with these violent threats.

In its struggle to find a peaceful and just solution, Israel is strengthened by the enduring and principled friendship of Australia's parliament and people.

Long may it continue.

Philip Chester is the president of the Zionist Federation of Austr