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Netanyahu and the Middle East’s epic battle

Kelly O'Dwyer

by Kelly O'Dwyer

27 May 05:34am

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Filed under: Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Affairs, Israel, Middle East, Parliament

60 comments

Three days ago we saw a reaffirmation of the long-standing strong relationship between Israel and the United States with the visit of the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington DC and his second speech to the Joint Session of Congress.

Australia counts both the Unites States and Israel as close friends and allies.

The Prime Minister’s speech to Congress could not come at a more critical time for the Middle East and for the world.

There has been a historic tectonic shift in the Middle East in places like Tunisia, Syria, Egypt, Yemen and Lebanon, where people have taken to the streets to demand their basic democratic rights.

In his powerful address to the Congress Prime Minister Netanyahu said:

An epic battle is now under way in the Middle East between tyranny and freedom. A great convulsion is shaking the earth, from the Khyber Pass to the Straits of Gibraltar.

This is not a movement that is confined to a single country, but is one that is beginning to shape the entire Middle East, much like the fall of communism shaped Europe forever. Prime Minister Netanyahu said “There are millions of young people out there who are determined to change their future. We all look at them. They muster courage. They risk their lives. They demand dignity. They desire liberty. These extraordinary scenes in Tunis and Cairo evoke those of Berlin and Prague in 1989.”

The so-called Velvet Revolution in the now Czech Republic in 1989 saw the communist government begrudgingly allow a multi-party system, without the need for people to take up arms against the state. Indeed, the reason it is called the Velvet Revolution is because the protestors were non-violent, and the state eventually surrendered to the people’s wishes for democracy after the Warsaw Pact fell apart.

The fall of the Berlin Wall in Germany occurred with an equal sense of inevitability amongst the state apparatus, and when the time came there was no opposition to people moving freely across the border. The East German government recognised that its time had come to an end. More importantly, there was little debate over what people wanted in the place of communism.

We can only hope that the Middle East transitions away from tyrants and militant Islamic governments as peacefully as Europe transitioned away from communism. But there are forces in the Middle East that are determined to ensure a bloody path to change.

Israel is a lone beacon of democracy in the Middle East.  We hope that she will not be a lone beacon for much longer.  But we must be mindful that in this tumult, anything is possible.  And we must be realistic – with this great opportunity come real risks: threats to the security of Israel and her people, and to a long lasting peace in the Middle East.

The unity between Hamas and Fatah is something that we should be deeply concerned about. Hamas is a group that represents the antithesis of democracy and peace. It celebrates the terrorist Osama bin Laden as a holy martyr. It actively opposes Israel’s right to exist and is committed to her destruction.  It has a charter of hate at its centre.  It is committed to killing Jews wherever it finds them.

On the 25th June, it will be five years since the young Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, was taken by Hamas. He remains a hostage to this day. Hamas has refused requests from the Red Cross to visit Shalit because they don’t want anyone to know where he’s being kept. These are not the actions of an organisation that is striving for peace and stability, nor of a group that is deserving of any moral or political legitimacy.

I have had the opportunity to visit Israel twice, as a Rambam Fellow of the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council in 2006, and last year with the Australia Israel Leadership Forum led by Albert Dadon.  On both occasions I was able to see first-hand the threats to security that Israel faces. Moreover, I saw a country very similar to ours in terms of culture and values. Israel has been a valuable friend and ally since its inception and we celebrate her 63rd anniversary.

The best thing about democracy is that it maintains a habit of individual thought. A political party cannot simply push a single agenda and expect it to be met without resistance. It must negotiate and listen to other points of view.

When Prime Minister Netanyahu was heckled by a protestor during his speech to Congress, he brushed it aside by saying: “I take it as a badge of honour, and so should you, that in our free societies you can protest. You can’t have protests in the farcical parliaments in Tehran or in Tripoli. This is real democracy.”

Australia and Israel both share in this great democratic tradition.  It is vital that we support Israel and those who support freedom in the Middle East, whether they be Arab, Jewish or Christian.

Perhaps it can best be summed up by echoing the words of the Prime Minister of Israel when he said:

We stand together to defend democracy.  We stand together to advance peace.  We stand together to fight terrorism.

With the ties between Israel and the United States reaffirmed, let’s hope that through this long-standing relationship peace will be achieved between Israel and its neighbours.

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60 comments

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    • Paulb says:

      06:15am | 27/05/11

      Funny, Mr Dadon took Julia Gillard on at least one of his “poor little Israel” trips.  Ditto for Paul Howes.  Nice to know our politicians’ objectivity can be bought with a holiday paid for by a foreign Government.  I think Howard has a forest there named after him, built on land that used to contain a Palestinian village…before the terrorists (sorry, eternal victims) came and moved them out.

      Reply

    • Kevin says:

      07:33am | 27/05/11

      A peace deal would necessarily involve fixing permanently the border between Israel and Palestine.  Which is why Netanyahu and his ilk are not interested in peace as it would halt the incremental expansion of the Israeli state that has continued unabated for the last 40 years or more.

      Reply

    • TheRealDave says:

      08:26am | 27/05/11

      Utter Bollocks Kev. Do you even know WHY Israel will not return to 1967 borders?? It would take all of 35 seconds to Google it. But nah….far better to spend your time spouting rubbish without bothering to do any reading yourself.

      Incremental expansion? I can’t recall any expansion in decades…they’ve been slowly giving land back over the years….don’t you remember the jubilant scenes only a few years ago where Israel forcibly removed settlers from the West Bank area to hand back to the greatful Palestinians who then went and torched beautiful farms, crops and all, that the Israeli’s raised from what was once deserts, with cheers of ‘Drive them to the Sea’ ??

      Or did you mean ‘Incremental Expansion’ by Settlers building in Israeli occupied lands that were meant to be buffer areas that they were gradually giving back in peace efforts only for some hardline Pauline Hanson-esque dickheads start putting houses on in an effort to not be moved off and claimed in perpetuity for Israel? Well, that I can agree with. Bulldoze the lot of those ‘houses’ and move them out. Keep them as proper buffer zones.

    • TChong says:

      08:04am | 27/05/11

      “Israel is the lone beacon of democracy”- Israeli propaganda 101.
      You were a guest , twice of zionist organisation? , and they showed you a completely objective picture of the ME?
      Did they show you the 10s of thousands of palestiniann arrested by Israel?
      The imprisoned shop keepers who refused IDF orders to open shops during protests about the occupation?
      Protesters who are regularly beaten and imprisoned, ( lucky not to be shot) when demonstrating about the IDF occupation- now thats democracy.
      Did you line up at check points?
      Did you go to where a block of units once stood, flattened by a 500kg bomb, killing dozens , including children?
      Did you try to seek medical help, only to be turned away because it amuses some teenaged Israeli punk, in an army uniform?
      Did you go to any Palestinian house, taken over, partially destoyed, held hostageby the IDF, while they impose rule in the terrirories?
      Speak to any kids that the IDF have used as human shields, strapped to army vehicles, to prevent protesters throwing stones?
      Spoke to the spouses of palestinian ambulance drivers, murdered by israeli snipers?
      Were you beaten up ,or shot at, or had your crops or houses , shops destroyed by frothing at the mouth , undeniably hate filled crazy settlers.?
      Hamas and Fatah should be feared, but not the extremist Isreali coalition parties that equally preach intolerance and hate?
      Why are those imprisoned in a ghetto, like Warsaw, or the Occupied territories, expected to respect their gaolers ?
      If the palestinians fighting the occupation by Israel are terrorists, then so were the jews in warsaw . The nazis, their occupiers thought so.
      What is the difference?
      Or
      Did you sit in, while the Likud party , with its extremist coalition , in the Knesset,  conducts its enquiry into the allegiance of any political party, in Israel, that dares to speak up for the Palestinians. Now thats democracy!
      An appalling apologist piece., but money well spent by the the Israeli lobbyists.

      Reply

    • Sony B Goode says:

      09:11am | 27/05/11

      Israel’s response to the islamic death cult is actually very restrained. Serbia was not so restrained when confronted with relentless crime and terrorist activity.

      You have to congratulate Isreal for being able to restrain itself in the face of constant provocation and terrorist activity. A weaker nation would have just routed the lot of the death peddling muslims.

    • TChong says:

      09:46am | 27/05/11

      SBG - the difference is -The cruel, brutality of the IDF is sanctioned by the govt of Israel.
      The actions of varios Palestinian groups are NOT endorsed by the Palestinian Authority.
      Did the jews of Warsaw just roll over and accept the inhuman ,murderous conditions,  or did they rightly fight?
      Israel is THE one country on this earth that should know how barbaric the open aired prison of the terroitories- large scale Warsaw ghettoes, are.
      Yet, the IDF, and Israel see nothing wrong with the occupation, and pretend they cant comprehend why the Palestinians object.

    • TheRealDave says:

      09:54am | 27/05/11

      What a load of drivel. Its great that in the west we have plenty of people more than willing to peddle terrorist inspired propaganda. Kudos Chongy. I think you hit every propaganda point.

    • Kevin says:

      10:12am | 27/05/11

      One only needs to examine the demographics of the electorate of Higgins, to understand the motivation behind the above piece.

    • Ted says:

      10:39am | 27/05/11

      Well said SBG. Unfortunately you ask for balanced thought that racists like TChong are incapable of.

    • Sony B Goode says:

      10:44am | 27/05/11

      Tchong “The actions of varios Palestinian groups are NOT endorsed by the Palestinian Authority”

      And you know this because?

      Palestinians voted for Hamas, what else can be said.

      Muslims incite reaction through endless provocation and terrorist acts to create pretexts for further aggression. It’s a strategy that has been used for a couple of thousand years with great effect.  Israel is very restrained; they should expand occupation to larger buffer zones and evict all muslims.

      There has never been a state of Palestine and probably won’t be while the Arabs there are muslim.

      When Arabs reject islam then there will be chance for peace.

      Research muslim expansion and aggression on the net.  Read the un-abrogated Koran and draw your own conclusion on what islam is about.

    • TChong says:

      11:21am | 27/05/11

      Ted, you claim I’m racist because I see no difference between the palestinians and the jews in warsaw?
      I support any group irrationally persecuted , hence my mention of the justified warsaw uprising.
      But please Ted, explain why palestinians are less deserving of the right to live in peace, then jewsish people are.
      BTW Ted, what do you reckon of SBG at 10:44?
      “when arabs reject islam”, “evict all muslims”
      Any ignorant racism in that post, or thats all good, by your thinking?
      BTW pedants - I, like all of us, realise religion does not equal race, but since Israel has no problems identifying their religion as a race, then it is the most appropriate term.

    • Sony B Goode says:

      12:06pm | 27/05/11

      Tchong you need to do some more research.

      To claim palestinians are victims is really pushing reality beyond lala land.


      Calling an evil death cult an evil death cult is not any form of ism beyond realism.


      Tell us Tchong who said this? “We love death. The US loves life. That is the difference between us two.”

      Hint it wasnt Netanyahu.

    • james says:

      01:41pm | 27/05/11

      SBG

      While I don’t subscribe to the view that Palestinian’s are the greatest victims in history, your opinions are ignorant and repugnant. It is because of people who share similar views to you that places like Israel/Palestine are in such a mess. Your views accord more with groups like Hamas and Al-Qaeda than people in western society. I think you will find that ethnic and religious cleansing has gone out of favour among civilised peoples and if you did your own research into the spread of religions around the world I think that you might find that the march of Christianity in South America was not all sunshine and lolly pops.  Your own racist fantasies may play well in your own mind, but they have no place in serious discussions about conflict resolution and peace building.

    • Sony B Goode says:

      02:51pm | 27/05/11

      James :

      If you read what I write rather then what you want to hear, you will find I support no such thing as ethnic cleansing.  However I would have no problem whatsoever with Muslims being given a taste of their own medicine through Israeli immigration into occupied lands. Why is Europe announcing the failure of multiculturalism? Because muslims make such wonderful immigrants?

      The more buffer zones Israel creates the better off it will be. As far as I care Israel can expand into any hostile country calling for its destruction.

      It makes no difference what our views on Hamas are, everything we do is a pretext for muslim aggression. It’s a universal muslim pattern, do some research try google.com get educated, stop wasting your time with ignorant rants.

      It’s your type who cries police brutality when some murderer has to be taken down by force.

      Simpering whining moral relativists and other deluded types who think every criminal terrorist is a victim of repression despite their evil ways are a modern tragedy. 

      Start googleing on taqiyya and tell us what other lovely muslim strategies you find. We are waiting!

    • Gordicans says:

      04:19pm | 27/05/11

      @ SonnyB “Israel’s response to the islamic death cult is actually very restrained.”  Restrained?  Operation Cast Iron was restrained?  1400 plus innocent and unarmed civilians killed and you describe it as restrained?  Your position is biased and racist.

      Israel aggression has nothing to do with a response or security.  It is nothing but an old fashioned land grab.

    • ronny says:

      08:20am | 27/05/11

      Poor Israel, despised by the left and the right. Lucky the Israelis have the strength to stand on their own against a sea of barbarians, both physical and intellectual.

      Reply

    • Adam Diver says:

      04:48pm | 27/05/11

      I am a little surpised by the anti-israel sentiment here. I would of assumed most people would aspire to an open, successful democracy over the rest of the middle east. I guess its the tall poppy syndrome manifesting itself within the hypocritical and blantantly racist left punchers here.

    • TheRealDave says:

      05:15pm | 27/05/11

      We don’t pull ‘Racist’ out of the air here just because someone disagrees with us ... lets leave that to the media and self interest groups trying to whip up publicity or cower middle class white Australia with guilt so they don’t respond.

    • Sony B Goode says:

      08:26am | 27/05/11

      There has never been a state of palestine, nor should there ever be such nonsense. Caving into muslim aggression and expansionism is wrong.

      Appeasement does not work with this viral death cult.

      Reply

    • Gordicans says:

      02:46pm | 27/05/11

      “viral death cult”?  Sony you are deluded.  It is Israel who is doing most of the killing.  Care to guess how many innocent Palestinian civilians Israel killed when they invaded and shot up Gaza for a month?  No doubt you will come up with some more deluded and racist theories as to why Israel’s butchery is justified.

    • Shane From Melbourne says:

      08:45am | 27/05/11

      Israel is an expensive hobby for the United States.

      Reply

    • AdamC says:

      08:58am | 27/05/11

      Some kind of unit agreement between Hamas and Fatah is necessary for the formation of any kind of contiguous Palestinian state, given Hamas’ control of Gaza and Fatah’s leadership of the West Bank. To that extent, it is a good thing.

      The release of Gilad Shalit should be required before any consideration by Israel of territorial concessions. While Shalit is being held hostage, there can be no credible suggestion that the Palestinians are ready to accept peace with Israel. The same goes for any rocket attacks.

      Reply

    • TheRealDave says:

      10:02am | 27/05/11

      Israel repatriates crimials and terrorist scum. Hamas, Hezbollah etc hand back bones - somtimes…there is bugger all chance of Shalit ever going home.

    • AdamC says:

      01:09pm | 27/05/11

      I know that, Dave. The point I am making is that Palestinians cannot reasonably demand statehood while they continue to refuse to conform to even the most elementary standards of humanity and civilised decency.

    • Gordicans says:

      02:48pm | 27/05/11

      Adam, why is it that you say Gilad Shalit should be released but you make no equivalent demands on the Israeli’s?  And you mention rocket attacks without mentioning Israel’s constant artillary bombardment on Gaza.  Doesn’t your argument sound a little biased and one sided?

    • AdamC says:

      03:41pm | 27/05/11

      Not at all, Gordicans. On the one hand, there is no Palestinian equivalent of Gilad Shalit being held by Israel. If there were, I would be equally critical of Israel in that instance.

      On the rocket attacks, I think one must distinguish between aggressive terrorist acts targeting civilians and defensive strikes intended to prevent such acts. Such a distinction is not a matter of being pro-Israel or pro-Palestinian, it is a matter of being a civilised human being.

      It is important to remember that Israel is being asked (and universally expected) to cede substantial amounts of territory to a Palestinian state in exchange for guarantees of peace.  It is therefore not unreasonable to expect the Palestinians to demonstrate that they are capable of refraining from assaults on Israel. As it stands, how could any sensible person believe that a Palestinian state would be peaceful towards Israel?

    • TheRealDave says:

      03:52pm | 27/05/11

      @Gordy, if there were no rocket attacks - on damned near a daily basis, there would be no need for Israeli country battery fire would there?

      Genius.

      All Hamas and Hezbollah need to do is stop throwing rockets into Israel every day. Do that, and the Israeli’s lose total credibility. Hell, even I wouldn’t be backing them and I love the little Jewish bastards for their stand in the face of great evil.

      But, Hamas and Hezbolla will never stop, their political masters in Iran and Syria won’t let them…and THAT is what is killing the ‘Palestinians’ you and your ilk profess to care about.

    • Sony B Goode says:

      03:55pm | 27/05/11

      Gordicans are you from lakemba mosque?

    • TheRealDave says:

      04:07pm | 27/05/11

      country?? that was meant to be Counter…as in Counter Battery fire…..stupid spell check crap shit…..

    • Harquebus says:

      10:14am | 27/05/11

      Another idiot who uses that Flash 541t.

      Reply

    • Justin says:

      11:15am | 27/05/11

      How else do you propose a youtube video should be embedded? Moron.

    • Harquebus says:

      01:01pm | 29/05/11

      H.264

    • JazT says:

      10:28am | 27/05/11

      A fascinating piece, very well written and accurately depicts the issues western society faces in regards to dealing with the troubles in the middle east and the importance of our support for Israel, because it is true, as a democratic nation, we must support those who fight for democracy and freedom.

      Reply

    • cityboy says:

      11:25am | 27/05/11

      I was utterly appaled at the over-excited response of the US Congress to Netanyahu’s speech!  A standing ovation every few seconds?? Purlease!!!
      And from both sides too!  Those images would play awfully well in Israel on the evening TV news, but consider for a moment how it would be viewed in the Arab world. Easily inflamed at the best of times, the average Arab viewer could be forgiven for thinking that the US is even deeper in bed with the Israelis than before. I can see it setting back the peace process a few years; an outcome probably engineered by Netanyahu, with the dumb US Congress playing right into his hands.
      There will never, ever, be any form of peace with this man leading the Israeli Government.

      Reply

    • simon says:

      11:47am | 27/05/11

      Yes Israel need to return to their 1967 borders, anything else is utterly unacceptable. As i’ve gone through life i have slowly become more aware of all the factors and background leading up to the mess we are in today. Israel’s contempt and arrogance shows no bounds and their world wide support is in freefall as people become more aware of their obfuscation and bully tactics. The problem is there are many jews in Europe and the US that are in influential positions that are hampering true transparency on this issue. All military support for Israel needs to stop immediately, they have nuclear weapons but won’t allow others in the region to have them, their hypocrisy is both breathtaking and appalling!!

      Reply

    • TheRealDave says:

      04:00pm | 27/05/11

      Simon, why did Israel occupy the Golan Heights, West Bank etc after 1967?

      Come on, you and others are calling for a return to the pre-1967 borders so surely you have a great background on the issue. Why doesn’t Israel want to hand the areas back?

      And if you even hint about anything to do with settlers or settlements you are proving your ignorance of the subject for everyone.

    • Bikinis On Top says:

      11:57am | 27/05/11

      jean Paul sartre once said
      “Move Israel and Israelites to the United States Of America and Florida where they will be safe from persecution unlike in the Middle east”
      The Australian Federal Government once considered making the top of western Australia the new Israel where Jews , Isralites and Israel could live happily in peace and away from the poisonous hating neighbourhood of the Middle East.

      Reply

    • Knemon says:

      01:19pm | 27/05/11

      Interesting comment - perhaps we could offer the Palestinians Tasmania!

      Until Israel remove their racist blinkers and accept compromise then this whole sorry saga is never ending. Peace will never be achieved while Israel refuse to negotiate.

    • TheRealDave says:

      04:06pm | 27/05/11

      Until the Iranians and Syrians stop funding, backing and running this long term war against the State of Israel there will never be peace in the Middle East.

      Knemon, did you mean compromise like all the lands they have already pulled back from and returned over the past decade…only to have the ‘victorious Palestinians’ burn everything to the ground and chant ‘onto the sea’?? That kind of Israeli compromise??

    • mike j says:

      12:43pm | 27/05/11

      You’re deluded.

      US/Israeli relations are worse than ever. So Obama was looking lovingly into Netanyahu’s eyes during that White House press conference, not giving him a wordless, unblinking death stare?

      Israel is too arrogant to realise that it’s setting itself up for a fall.

      Jew writes selectively ignorant piece on the Middle East and comes down on the side of Israel. Earth-shattering.

      Reply

    • AdamC says:

      01:00pm | 27/05/11

      Is Kelly O’Dwyer even Jewish? Her Wikipedia profile states that she is Christian and she attended Presbyterian Ladies College in Melbourne. That, and her name is O’Dwyer.

      Anyway, anti-semite accuses someone who isn’t an unconditional cheerleader for Palestinians of being Jewish. Earth-shattering.

    • mike j says:

      01:40pm | 27/05/11

      Looks like my comment was as well researched as hers.

      White supremacist flings about accusations of anti-Semitism using the modern Jewish definition (“anyone who disagrees with me”). Earth-shattering.

    • AdamC says:

      01:56pm | 27/05/11

      Were you not so enamoured with your own ignorance, Mike, you would probably know that white supremacists share your negative disposition towards the chosen people. Which I guess makes me something else. (Maybe even one of them Jooos.)

      It seem the only thing earth-shattering about your comments, Mike, is your shameless prejudice and willingness to mke a an idiot of yourself.

    • mike j says:

      02:53pm | 27/05/11

      Fuck you’re boring, AdamC.

      Why don’t you address the rest of my point instead of just bawwwing about Jewish persecution.

    • AdamC says:

      03:28pm | 27/05/11

      What point, Mike?

      From what I read of your comment, you accused O’Dwyer of being deluded and Jewish. I think you are wrong on both counts. (You have admitted you are wronf on the latter.)

      About the only accurate thing you had to say is that Obama and Bibi Netanyahu don’t get along quite as well as he and, for example, our own Jui-Liar do. Is that the cannily observant analysis you are carping about me ignoring? If it is, I don’t disagree with you on that. (Just on everything else.)

    • mike j says:

      04:41pm | 27/05/11

      This article paints the picture that “the ties between Israel and the United States [have been] reaffirmed”, when nothing could be further from the truth. Obviously, comprehension isn’t a prerequisite of pedantry, but you’d look less of an ass if you tried to cover (or at least acknowledged that you understood) the main thrust of my post.

    • AdamC says:

      05:21pm | 27/05/11

      Mike, if you wanted anyone to notice the ‘main thrust’ of your comment, you probably shouldn’t have put that other crap in it. Anti-semitism and glaring factual errors tend to attract attention. Just a tip for next time.

    • mike j says:

      06:28pm | 27/05/11

      Bawwwwwwww! It’s still boring.

      Adam, your unreferenced accusations of anti-Semitism are as prejudiced as the very bigotry you decry. To characterise your behaviour as a common Jewish shaming tactic employed to distract from issues of substance isn’t ‘anti-Semitism’, but observation.

      It was the Jews who wanted a religious state. To accuse everyone who is disgusted with Israeli foreign policy of ‘anti-Semitism’ is the rankest fallacy, and typifies your capacity for debate.

    • Gordicans says:

      01:00pm | 27/05/11

      The author writes on Hamas ” It actively opposes Israel’s right to exist and is committed to her destruction.”

      Hasn’t the author go this one around the wrong way?  Is it not Israel who actively oppose the right of Palestein to exist and isn’t Israel committed to Palestein’s destruction?  After all, it isn’t Palestein occupying Israel, it is Israel occupying and building on Palestinian land.  Actions speak louder than words.

      “On the 25th June, it will be five years since the young Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, was taken by Hamas.”  What?  Israel is able to hold thousands of Palestinian hostages and Hamas is not allowed to?  Does the author contend there is one rule for Israel and another for Hamas?

      “Australia and Israel both share in this great democratic tradition.  It is vital that we support Israel and those who support freedom in the Middle East, whether they be Arab, Jewish or Christian.”  As long as it is not Palestinian freedom.

      Only the US and Australia think it’s OK for Israel to be a renegade state.  The rest of the world sees it for what it is.  Isn’t it about time that Australia acted like an independent country rather than the 51st state of the US.

      Reply

    • Zaf says:

      02:32pm | 27/05/11

      [Israel is a lone beacon of democracy in the Middle East.  We hope that she will not be a lone beacon for much longer.]

      Why?  Because democratically elected Arab governments will reflect the will of the people and make peace with Israel and resettle the Palestinians elsewhere?  Was the author on drugs when she wrote this? 

      Democracy in the Arab states is Israel’s biggest nightmare.  It can buy a cold ‘peace’ from dictators like Mubarak - paying with US AID dollars, but that’s another issue - it’s not so easy to do that with representative governments.

      Reply

    • stephen says:

      09:40pm | 27/05/11

      It’s only the process of that peace, the manner in which it is achieved, that makes Israel nervous.
      It is especially in the US’s interests, (Israel’s main ally) that the Arab Nations are capitalist, secure, (the Saudis have over one trillion dollars of investment in the US) and not anti-trade.
      So they are trying democracy ?  Good, so long as their monarchical triumphs are not usurped too quickly.

    • Gidgee says:

      03:00pm | 27/05/11

      The 1948 created state of Israel is now effectively doomed unless it wakes up to the fact that the USA, which has slavishly supported it for so long is financially destitute and can no long prop up the increasingly ruthless Jewish state.
      The only reason Libya, Tunisia, Egypt and the like have rebelled against their long-term masters is because the deposed arrogant leaders of those Arab/Muslim lands have sucked up, for financial gain and “considerations”  from America, to the Jews.
      To say that Israel is a democracy as stated by the author of this shockingly canted offering reveals, yet again when it comes to Jewry, a classic joke given that one has to be of the Jewish faith to get a foot in the door in the cannily renamed territory of Israel not to mention the glaring fact that the native Arab people have been either shot dead or shunted, by force of Israeli arms, into concentration camp style enclaves such as Gaza.
      You know, just like the Nazis of Germany once did to Jews.
      Mankind is being sold a pup over the Jews, distracted and cheated by a religious mob who hold great sway in the USA but who must now come to terms with those souls they of Judaism have so disgustingly mistreated.
      Of course the compere of this site won’t allow this offering but it does me good to point out such a truth.
      There’ll come a time, not too far into the future thanks, mainly, to the wondrous internet, that the gofers and the sycophants of the powerful Murdoch press will be forced to face the reality of what Jewry actually is.
      It is a murderous fanatical group of land thieves, jailers and brutal killers but few here in Australia, or the USA, have the courage to utter the god-awful truth.

      Reply

    • TheRealDave says:

      04:02pm | 27/05/11

      And out come the out and out Anti-Semites. I am surprised the Punch would allow this out and out rubbish to be posted publicly.

    • John says:

      09:23pm | 27/05/11

      You should watch this interesting democracy called Defamation.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKQdJCOjLlE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

      Talks about a lot of about Anti-Semtism and how the anti-Semite name callers function in the ADL. You should look into Norman Finkelstein who is in the movie, and watch what he says when he walks down the stairs at the end of the Documentary. It’s Interesting words coming out of a Semite.

    • stephen says:

      07:11pm | 27/05/11

      Arab nations don’t like Israel, not because Palestine should, supposedly, be there, but because the Jewish State is precisely democratic, and a Democracy is inimical to Islam proper.
      So it’s not a tussle between two states, but between us, (the Western Democracies) and the Arab ideal of a network of bogus monarchies scattered across the sands.
      If Israel gets shoved to the Jordan River, we lose : you, I, and everbody who values all sorts of freedoms that we know will kill us if they are witheld.
      I maintain that the Palestinian ‘question’ is only a cover and an excuse for keeping a third of the world non-white and non-Islam.
      The Arabs hate Jews - and us - being there, and we should resist them all the time.

      Reply

    • stephen says:

      09:25pm | 27/05/11

      and Islam i meant.

    • John the Zombie says:

      08:53pm | 27/05/11

      Interesting that many ppl of the comments on this site calling Israel evil and accusing them of all kinds of crime under the sun seem to forget that when Israel was created they did not march there with guns and tanks but settled there with the help of the world to start a new life after the horrors of WW2 and the continuing, yes continuing hatred of Jews in parts of Europe. One the day they became a state on barren land that had been forgotten by the Palestinians the Arab nation surrounding them called for all Jews to be killed and chased to the sea and drowned. This went on for days. I ask all those here what would of their reaction been if Israel didn’t strike back but was wiped out. In that they stood back and did not defend themselves and were massacred. Would any of you say that is not right, would any of you call for world to take action? I guess not.

      Also I ask you what the difference between what is happening in Israel then what is happening in Kashmir? Ask you do these Islamic terorist groups target India as well. Remember the Mumbai attacks what was the reason for thier attacks. The same as Isreal is attacked these ppl believe that Indai does not have a right to exsist unless it converts to Islam

      Why do you only target Israel? The reason is that in your mind you have adopted a hatred for Israel.

      Reply

    • Spart says:

      10:36pm | 27/05/11

      God there are some ignorant and blatantly racist comments on here. Gidgee - loosen the tin foil, it’s cutting off the circulation.

      I lived in the Middle East for a while, and visited several countries in the levant while we lived there. Got to say, there is only one that I would consider living in out of choice, and let me tell you, it has a democratically elected government.

      Half of the countries in thet GCC deal quietly with Israel. Israel is a convenient whipping boy that takes the real pressure off the rulers of the area, and allows everyone to keep quiet about the real elephant in the room. Sunni and Shia relations. Just ask any Saudi who he would rather run over in his Landcruiser, a fellow Muslim Iranian or a Jewish Israeli.  If you havn’t lived or travelled in the ME, the answer will surprise you.

      Reply

    • stephen says:

      05:02pm | 28/05/11

      Well you’re right about the heat between Iran and the Saudis, and that the involvement of Pakistan with the Sunnis has always complicated the US’s treatment of Afghanistan’s southern borders ; yet, somewhere down the line China’s influence is apparent : waiting, looking, watching.
      Good or bad ? Who knows, but I do know that it is beneficial to planners to mostly keep the big issue in mind.
      Indeed, the overall success in this region will be to those who can juggle the small and larger concerns at will, and with efficacy.

    • DRJ says:

      11:52am | 28/05/11

      I have a message for those who support Israel in this conflict & a message to those supporting Palestine in this conflict, actually it is the same message for both sides;
      If you truly believe the side which you support in this conflict is 100% right, noble and justified in all its actions & cannot see that they have done any wrong in this long saga & are willing to blindly defend all the actions of military/freedomfighters/terrorists, then I advise you take advantage of the recently announced funding increase for Mental health services in this country.

      Now if I managed to acquire much of your land (without paying for it) and displace you and your people, regardless of how that came about, I doubt you would be happy about it!
      So,I find it strange that a country; who’s existence has come about in the last century because a major atrocity against it’s people lead to the UN deciding to vote to give part of that land occuppied by British forces (whe were driven out by Jewish terrorist attacks against them) to the Jews and Arabs; treats the occuppied Palestinians so poorly.

      Now, I’m not saying that rocket attacks are justified, not at all, but I believe that when a people are oppressed, depressed, miserable & not able to choose their own destiny it is much easier to do things you wouldn’t otherwise do. Unfortunately young people are particularly vulnerable to being manipulated by older people in that society that have after years of frustration taken the militant path of terrorism to give themselves a purpose against their enemy.

      We hear about the Palestinian “terrorists”, but what of their army? Wait there is no army .
      So, any Palestinan that fights in agression or defence against Israel is a terrorist?

      All the while, the US supports Israel by giving over $5Billion of Aid per year last I heard & uses its UN veto power to protect it when it has done wrong.
      Australia along with most other Western & European countries blindly defend Israel, usually at most calling for restraint in any flare up of tensions.
      That’s because you can’t be in government in any of these countries if you at all criticise Israel or its actions, you will be hounded out of office by the Jewish lobby, look at the threats by Barry O’Farrell against Marrickville council regarding their boycott, I don’t think that statement was entirely off his own back.

      Western powers blindly allow this to happen & then we wonder why Muslim extremists start a Jihad against us, like September 11, Bali, London bombings, etc.
      Then when the US President states the bloody obvious, that Israel should give back all the land it has stolen beyond the 67 borders, which is more than the original 48 partition anyway, there is Netanyahu arguing his dribble about the uprooting of the settlements. Who cares, move them, it’s on stolen land anyway you fool.

      Go ahead call me anti semitic if you want, I really don’t care, it is a meaningless word. I believe it once meant hatred or irrational fear of jews, something along those lines, now it means to disagree with anything about Israel or to support Palestine over Israel.

      Reply
 
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