Saturday, December 5, 2015

Parliamentary Dupes of Israel

Does anyone out there really think that Tasmanian Liberal senator Eric Abetz gives a tinker's cuss about the reporting of the ABC's Middle East correspondent Sophie McNeill?

Does anyone really think he knows or cares about the plight of that terribly, terribly misunderstood place, Israel?

Does anyone seriously think that he has a passion for honest reporting? That a mere one or two inappropriate (in his view) words are enough to keep him awake at night?

No, No & No I hear you chorus. 

So why, then, did he have the ABC's managing director Mark Scott bailed up over this in Senate estimates?:

"In contention was McNeill's report of the death of a young Palestinian girl... described [by McNeill] as a 'friendly gifted student' who had 'allegedly' tried to stab members of the Israeli defence force so they shot her dead. Why, the senator wanted to know, is the ABC describing the attacker as 'friendly, gifted' etc. as though they are givens, while her attempt to stab the military personnel was only described as an 'allegation.'" (Eric Abetz's close-to extinction howl at the media: it doesn't get much more predictable than this, Richard Ackland, theguardian.com, 3/12/15)

Ackland goes on:

"Why do we say 'alleged' attacker when the Israeli defence forces say that is what she is? Why don't we take that at face value? The senator, who seems unfamiliar with basic reporting requirements, should know that the word 'alleged' is used in relation to a criminal offence, if the offence is one that has not been proven. Nor should a reporter be expected to take anything 'at face value,' especially not from a military or government source." (ibid)

Elementary, of course. But Ackland's only attempt to account for Abetz's tender concern for the image of the world's most caring (and sexy) army is this:

"Middle East correspondents say they have a particularly torrid time coping with complaints from the Israeli lobby back home. Scott told the Senate committee that he thought Abetz was receiving 'daily or weekly' commentary on McNeill's reports from 'some observers.'" (ibid)

Some observers?! How coy is that?!

As always, questions arise...

Why did Mark Scott use such a euphemism?

And why didn't Ackland expand on the identity of said 'observers'?

Why is everyone dancing around the fact that some among our handsomely remunerated parliamentary seat-warmers, for reasons best known to themselves, seem to have nothing better to do with their time than act as transmission belts for the Israel lobby?

Now I know that all sorts of stupid people do all sorts of crazy things, but really, why would anyone do that?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would imagine that Eric Abetz would know all about occupation since his uncle, Ambassador Abetz, Hitlers ambassador to Vichy France, played the occupation game in WW11.

General "Blumentritt's Account" of "the atmosphere it conveys" [in 1944] given in Sir Basil Liddle Hart's "The Other Side of the Hill" is worth a laugh.

Except of course for the occupied French:
"I went there, [the hotel] at about 2 a.m., and found what was almost a party in progress--including Abetz, the Ambassador in Paris. Oberg [Obergruppenfuhrer Oberg, the Chief of the Security Police] took me aside into another room, and told me he had no idea what was behind the situation, [the bomb plot] but that we must agree as to what ought to be done next".

Eric Abetz is a prime candidate for Australia's next ambassador to the
Bandit State. A true "party animal".

Anonymous said...

They are all (unsurprisingly) in the same tent.

THE Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Penny Wong, insists that the ALP has been a longstanding friend of Israel and will continue to be.

Speaking at the Executive Council of Australian Jewry’s annual general meeting in Sydney recently, she addressed concerns that the Labor Party’s one-time staunch support for the Jewish State on the international stage seemed to be wavering, and notably that there were factions within the party calling for recognition of Palestinian statehood outside of a negotiated settlement.

“To all those who question Labor’s support for Israel, I would say don’t just take heed of my words, look at our actions over the past seven decades,” Wong said.

Vacy said...

Herr Otto ( oops) Eric Abetz appears to have it in his genes to blast minorities, in this case, a journalist with integrity on the matter of Palestine. It's a power trip, and a safe one to boot backed by the Turnbull reich.