As observed previously we are in a PR war environment in the big media here. Ten days ago a batch of Holocaust guilt trip stories got a run as the Israeli Defence Force escalated extreme violence against the elected government of Gaza and their 1.5 million in population. The purpose of the history lesson no doubt was to excuse any actions by Israel today via the world's 4th largest army against puny rockets. Rockets that Hamas suspended for 4 months on a promise the food blockade would be lifted by Israel.

Similarly as the reality of the $billions in destruction, and the war crimes involved in some at least of the 5,000 plus injured and killed in Gaza, is now apparent, the next PR tactic of the Friends of Israel emerges: Claims of toxic local anti semitism. It's all about silencing the message from the Arabs affected.

Taken at it's worst regardless of whatever local hate speech gets around, the reality remains that the immediate victims without any doubt are the Gazans at the hands of a ruthless IDF in the name of collective punishment for their Hamas Government. The Friends of Israel (foi), either organised lobby, or The Australian editorial today, or Michael Ronaldson MP opinion piece same newspaper, are either in denial of, or complicit in, the ruthless starvation blockade for 4 months inevitably leading to rocket fire and renewed conflict with Hamas. UN supplies were blocked. Israel launched a fatal airstrike on Nov 4th (the day the USA voted overwhelmingly to elect Barack Obama).

The foi are in denial of, or complicit in, the arming of the 500,000 strong racist illegal squatter movement inevitably found within the ranks of the IDF in Gaza given the fact of complusory military service. The foi are in denial of, or complicit in, the 30% of Israelis who support a pardon for assassin Yigal Amir murderer of Labour PM Yitzak Rabin, and by extrapolation support expulsion of Arabs from Palestine to form a 'Greater Israel'. Such people should never be armed in Gaza or anywhere.

Above is a credible report of war crimes by elements of Israel's IDF in today's Sydney Morning Herald via the London Telegraph which would never be reported let alone acknowledged in an editorial in The Australian, or so it seems. Fact is Israel's nasty little war in Gaza was a variation on George W Bush's WMD folly in Iraq with similar murderous consequences.

The cause of the war was the deliberate intention to topple an enemy government including by malicious provocations with starvation blockade and brutal bombing raids. Israel reserves the right to continue that blockade and renew the slaughter.

The drum beat of world opinion against Israeli aggression and slaughter is loud. The forestalling of a Palestinian state by the ultra right of Israeli politics is quite obvious. The pandering to the ultra right voters come Feb 2009 election is obvious. The significance of the following piece is not so much the opinions but that it has run in the home newspaper of the government town/capital city of Australia. The author Bob Ellis has been associated informally with the Australian Labor Party in power here his long professional life:

Israeli attacks on Gaza are war crimes - Opinion - Editorial ... The Canberra Times 15 Jan 2009

Posted by editor at 11:49 AM EADT

Updated: Wednesday, 21 January 2009 1:40 PM EADT

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Something happened earlier today. Our 12 hour reflux pill ran out. But it also meant it was about 3.30am Sydney time and a certain Dude was moving on up.

Sure enough the new US President Elect Dude was on all the free to air channels.

Funny too that Robert Penfold of Network 9 said as the W Bush office ended at 12 noon the new pres would be in power 'with no break for one minute or one second'. Well true in the wrong way. Pre 12 noon Washington time the Vice Pres Joe Biden took his oath, but Barak H Obama was blessed with a 5 minute over run by the Aretha Franklin and 4 piece classical interlude composed by John Williams including delightfully named Yo Yo Ma playing. And after the acceptance rhetoric came ... a poet. And she was good too.

This meant Biden was for a moment in history the 44th President until he was duly shoved aside by the real schedule. That was his chance for a coup.

This president may or may not succeed but there is going to be love in his administration at least as reflected by the power of the arts, harnessing the value of culture. Truly music can articulate where words don't really cut it so the 5 minute over run didn't really bother. This possibly echoed Obama a few days ago 'there will be false starts, there will be mistakes'. He even paused during the oath like 'on your wedding day'.

His wife has just become a widow of sorts. His daughters fatherless.

We noticed some other things in the common feed - for barely a second a relieved GW Bush in the official audience giving up his crushing burden. On 22% approval rating, less than impeached Nixon. Obama's flickering interest in the invocation to 'lead with humility', an echo of his biographer interview on 7.30 last night.

And there it is - time for another zantac. If we had to say there were omens in the ceremony it would be yes there will be slip ups and strong recovery and success, that Biden will play a bigger role than anyone expects, and Hilary Clinton a smaller one having achieved an office beyond her competence, like GW Bush and John Howard here.

Posted by editor at 4:20 AM EADT

Updated: Wednesday, 21 January 2009 10:10 AM EADT

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Who would recall in the rest of Australia that Bill D'Arcy was a former ALP MP in the huge provincial state of Queensland? Or that he he was convicted and gaoled for underage sex back in 2000?

It's a grim story about abuse of power and fall from grace. Now it's being dragged up into the light again in some kind of smear on the rival Liberal National Party here:

LNP to host talk to aid pedophile Bill D'Arcy | The Australian 20 Jan 2009

PM - D'arcy trial could prove tricky for Beattie 21 Jan 2000

This is confusing in itself because the orthodox view might be that it's the ALP who should want this to be buried yet the LNP are associating themselves? Or someone wants us to think so.

Our observation of politics over the years suggests when criminal sexual abuse is proven against senior people in either major party there is a delicate dance by the rivals to both exploit the adverse publicity but also to be careful not to be seen fanning the vigilante flames. This is because big human organisations being what they are they all have shameful skeletons. To a certain extent it's a Mexican standoff. Unless perhaps the politics have become so extreme the rivals have already reached for the nuclear option and fire at will.

This could be what we are now seeing from up north. It's bound to bring the whole of party politics into disrepute. Whether this is a valid and realistic assessment is probably arguable.

We hear on ABC PM show tonight what for all the world looks like even more fire from the ALP on the conservative party by reference to an 82 year old former speech writer for former National Party (now LNP) Premier Bjelke Peterson. Here is the local press:

Queensland libraries forced to ditch unclassified books | The Courier Mail ...19 Jan 2009

Library shelves packed with incest porn in Queensland | The Australian 20 Jan 2009

Seems the old goat likes to write about taboo subjects claiming this is all about free speech and Freudian fantasy, and it's not everyday you hear a serious political interview about censorship in these terms on the daily flagship radio current affairs show. In fact just about never.

Our conclusion: A rough and mean state election in Queensland must be coming up soon.

Posted by editor at 6:28 PM EADT

Updated: Tuesday, 20 January 2009 6:56 PM EADT

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Given the ceasefire postures in all the news last Sunday we only returned to this opinion piece today by the president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (from the Sydney SunHerald sister paper to the SMH, in response to Julia Irwin MP the week before).

Just defence despite death toll - Opinion - smh.com.au 18 Jan 2009

Also we note that arguable or even valid claims of anti semitism are being rolled out by the Friends of Israel today in the press as another diversion from the horrific body count and $billions in damage to public infrastructure in Gaza - contained in a sidelplay in The Australian (article and lower section of the opinion page).

We detected this attempted shift in focus before by the F of I promotion of the Holocaust WW2 backgrounder pieces 10 days ago as if to guilt trip any critics of Israel with its reputed 4th biggest army in the world smashing Gaza.

Our quick notes on the selectivity of the Goot piece are instructive of the special pleading and sophistry by the dominant power in this tragedy. Here's a list of omissions by Goot:

1. Omits 4 months food blockade by Israel on the UN supplies to Gazans which can't be confused with Hamas weapon smuggling, with this starvation tactic a prelude and cause of the latest conflict. The SMH front pager yesterday 19 January quoting UN senior representative in Jerusalem (an Australian) Maxwell Gaylard, spikes this excuse for the blockade on Hamas as in reality a collective punishment on Gazans for their election of Hamas. Otherwise why blockade the UN relief supplies also? As the UN has stated 50% of people in Gaza are children and 45% of these are suffering anaemia. The blockade is clearly a constant low level form of torture and violence on the Gazans;

2. Omits the air strike by Israel killing 6 Hamas on November 4th 2008, day of the USA federal election as probably the first breach of the ceasefire, as reported by UK The Guardian;

3. Omits the political reality that 30% of Israeli society today, as reported by Haaretz, support a pardon for Yigal Amir the Israeli Jewish assassin convicted of the cold blooded murder of peace maker Labour Prime Minister of Israel Yitzak Rabin in late 1995. Amir has been sentenced to life in gaol. However Amir has been permitted to marry and visits by his wife and now young son born in 2005. Yigal Amir is a hero of the 500,000 strong illegal squatter movement in Israel who systematically steal Palestinian land and want to expel the Arabs from Gaza in the cause of a theocratic Greater Israel. These voters will be part of majority coalition politics in the Feb 2009 Israeli election.

Earlier today we were asked by a staffer of a big media organisation what was our interest in the media coverage on this topic really. It's a fair question. The answers are:

1. Democratic recognition of the voices of thousands of Australians opposed to Israel's attack in Gaza to be fairly represented as per the rally in Sydney last Sunday;

2. Avoidance of a nuclear arms race that envelops the whole world originating from that region;

3. Professioanal exposure of false media practice including spin and censorship exercised by the dominant power in that region and it's local loyalists;

4. Expose of the sinister illegal squatter movement in Israel;

5. Truth, justice and peace for all parties concerned in the conflict particularly the weakest.

In short all the usual community media objectives that have informed our work for over 15 years in the non government sector on environment and peace issues, inlcuding as an elected representative of the Bondi Ward in Sydney 1995-1999. That's our name there on bronze plaque at Waverley Library 3rd on the list:

Posted by editor at 1:35 PM EADT

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Mood:  quizzical

Back in the day (Feb 2003) the ALP were in the vanguard of an anti war rally and message against the Howard Coalition Government taking Australia into the Iraq war.

Today the federal Rudd Govt are silent on the atrocities in Gaza. Rather Rudd is pictured meeting with outgoing US ambassador to George W Bush in The Australian newspaper today at his Sydney residence in Kirribilli. Very cosy.

The ALP were totally absent from a big energetic rally of many thousands in the heart of Sydney last Sunday 18 January. And they hate being excluded from big serious issues of whatever flavour in the biggest city in the country in 'their' state.

They will know Sydney's multicultural society is seriously disgusted with Israel's warmongering in Gaza. They will know many in Sydney will be seriously disgusted with the ALP and PM Rudd failing to condemn the one sided slaughter of children and civilians generally, apparent targeting of many of the 53 UN facilities suffering direct hits, murder of UN staff, aid workers and ambulance drivers.

Presumably the wheels of local council approval here have been turning for a while but it does look like the ALP are throwing a bone to the constituency in this neatly packaged story below. Notice the Frank Lowy Westfield mention in the story as a major supporter of Israel. It's all in the subtext. Another seems to be don't worry, go shopping.

Who knows maybe the ALP, and even the Sydney Daily Telegraph in NSW feel guilty about their PM Rudd's failure to speak up for the starved and oppressed Palestinians after the front page story in the Sydney Morning Herald yesterday. That story revealed a categorical UN report of Israel deliberately blockading and starving the 1.5 million residents of Gaza for months forcing an inevitable conflict with their elected Hamas government. 

Will an alternative to Westfield shopping centres satisfy the local Sydney protesters last Sunday contemptuous of Israel and the Rudd Govt? One doubts it.

Posted by editor at 11:24 AM EADT

Updated: Tuesday, 20 January 2009 12:27 PM EADT

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Paul Sheehan might think that his regular Monday column can hide behind the recent intensity of the Israeli slaughter in Gaza and unilateral ceasefire to avoid 'raining bombs on children' spoiling Barak Obama's parade.

Trouble is the independent media and fair minded people tend to remember failure to declare a junket/research trip paid for by one of the protagonists in a long running geo political dispute as with Palestine/Israel.

Crikey.com.au's Margaret Simons ran the lead story last week about Sheehan's financial conflict and we phoned a question through to their editorial desk late last week aksing "Will Sheehan will be sacked?" No answer nor did we expect one when we asked it. 

Is there an answer in today's column on Obama which does indeed return to the vomit of Israel's Palestine policy? Yes but it is an unsatisfactory answer:

One must traverse the final third of his column, and even then the second last paragraph for the declaration he shamefully makes, with the balancing commentary that should have run on the topic last week. A man of certain standards not only makes a correction, but admits the error. A newspaper of a certain standard takes transparent discipline. So neither Sheehan or SMH employer are in the clear. Just as the Israeli Defence Force at a much more profound level must be investigated for war crimes against UN facilities, and the dignity of humanity in Gaza.

Here are the relevant paragraphs Sheehan shamefully airbrushed in his line of opinion last week:

It is of some concern that he [Obama] has said he will make the Middle East his priority, in particular the Arab-Jewish schism. The Israeli-Palestinian divide has done little to enhance the reputation of Congress or American presidents for the past 60 years.

Here I have found another significant detail about the new president. Last year, in Chicago, Obama spent two hours being briefed by Khaled Abu Toameh. "He listened, he wrote a lot of notes," Toameh told me.

This is telling. For years Toameh has repeatedly antagonised and embarrassed the Israeli Government, and the Fatah and Hamas parties in the Palestinian territories, by exposing lies and brutal acts on all sides.

Toameh is a Palestinian Muslim who lives in East Jerusalem. He works as the Palestinian affairs correspondent for The Jerusalem Post, is an authority on Fatah and Hamas, and is widely sought as a consultant by foreign media. For the past two years he has argued that Israel, the US and the European Union have made a conceptual and tactical blunder by not dealing with the reality in the Palestinian territories. They have, he says, engaged in wishful thinking about the utter corruption of Fatah. They have been deluded about the growing strength and pragmatism of Hamas. They have tolerated a dangerous fantasy that Israel can control how Palestinians will vote.

Everything he predicted has come to pass. It is an insight into Barack Obama that he has gone outside the policy-makers, think-tankers, lobbyists and armchair experts to listen to someone who inhabits the dangerous territory between these sworn enemies.

I had a briefing with Toameh in November, though can claim no credit for finding him. It was part of a study tour for Australian journalists to Israel, sponsored by the Jewish Board of Deputies which was omitted from my column last week. At the time, Toameh described Gaza as "a frightening situation". And that was well before Israel's military offensive.

This is the poisoned chalice president-elect Obama has been passed. He has passed it on to his previous nemesis, Hillary Clinton, as secretary of state. Perhaps it was a sublime Machiavellian manoeuvre, like the political sleights of hand found in almost every episode of The Wire.

In

Obama is walking a high wire

PAUL SHEEHAN | This is a worldly administration. Barack Obama is more steeped in genuine cultural diversity than anyone who has occupied the Oval Office.

The hypocrisy of Sheehan accusing Barak Obama of "political sleights of hand" compounds his failure to admit a financial conflict of interest (he says "omitted") in a piece at the height of the Gaza slaughter by the IDF. It compounds the failure, both then, and today's failure to contextualise his error in the correction today. This is a man who plays dirty when he's cornered by the facts of his own financial conflict of interest.

The Herald itself has somewhat mitigated its sin of avoiding sacking their man by leading with the truth about the Israeli preparations for war in Gaza long before any ostensible breach of the ceasefire by Hamas. Indeed Hamas were demonstrably and egregiously provoked which we suggest was always the plan of Big Israeli/W Bush US style politics.

That expose by Jason Koutsoukas is here:

Israel kept out aid for Gaza Sydney Morning Herald p1 19 Jan 2009

ISRAEL deliberately blocked the United Nations from building up vital food supplies in Gaza that feed a million people daily before the launch of its war against Hamas, according to a senior UN official in Jerusalem.

And Sheehan is in my more trouble on the facts/spin via the Koutsoukas story. Sheehan claims today:

"I had a briefing with Toameh in November ....And that was well before Israel's military offensive.

But it wasn't well before the Gaza offensive which really began from the constructive breach of the Gaza ceasefire as far back as 19 June 2008. Koutsoukis writes:

In a scathing critique of Israeli actions leading up to the conflict, the UN's chief humanitarian co-ordinator in Israel, the former Australian diplomat Maxwell Gaylard, accused Israel of failing to honour its commitments to open its border with Gaza during several months of truce from June 19 last year.

"The Israelis would not let us facilitate a regular and sufficient flow of supplies into the Strip," Mr Gaylard said.

So much for honour in politics in Israel. But Sheehan has either been played for a dupe or knew he was being positioned as an arm of Israeli propaganda in their 6 month preparation for war in Gaza. Not 'travelled to Israel in November well before the Gaza offensive' in fact but deep within the preparatory programme of the Olmert/Livni/Barak Government. Indeed arguably concurrent with Israel's reported breach in early November 2008 as per UK The Guardian:

Gaza truce broken as Israeli raid kills six Hamas gunmen | World ...

5 Nov 2008 ... An Israeli air strike then killed five more Hamas fighters. ... It was last updated at 14.32 GMT on Wednesday 5 November 2008. ...
www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/05/israelandthepalestinians

So which it is Paul? Dupe for Israel or propagandist?

Posted by editor at 12:17 PM EADT

Updated: Monday, 19 January 2009 12:58 PM EADT

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As acting PM Olmert fronts his Cabinet decisions over the atrocities in Gaza and makes various claims and assertions including on Australian TV via his spokesperson Mark Regev (eg SBS interview prime time news in Sydney last night) it is sobering to read the right wing Jerusalem Post report below. Especially when combined with the Haaretz 2006-7 reports that 30% of Israeli society support a pardon for the goaled assassin of PM Yitzak Rabin, a criminal by the name of Yigal Amir. In effect endorsing expansion of Greater Israel by expelling Palestinians from their homeland.

In combination one can see a double game underway in Israeli geo politics. On the one hand promote creeping conquest by the 500,000 strong illegal squatter movement and the significant minority votes that brings. On the other hand to the Western countries as a victim country under existential risk acting in self defence. So far this cunning and confusing Israeli Govt PR strategy has been quite successful. Only the internet access to the real democratic debate both within Israel and within the region as well as reports on the ground are exposing the truth. The secrecy, the body count, the pattern of assassination of elected officials.

In our judgement the constant so called accidental and unintentional targeting of UN facilities and anyone else who dares speak up for the Palestinians in the open air prison in Gaza reveals the political reality. It's a murderous gangster type of information control of which the influential diaspora Jewry  are either in denial or complicit in their silence:

Nov 7, 2007 20:14 | Updated Nov 7, 2007 23:17

Olmert voted most corrupt politician

By RUTH EGLASH

Even after sharing his personal health problems with the general public, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is still seen as the country's most corrupt government minister, according to a poll released Wednesday evening at the Sderot Conference for Society, which took place Tuesday and Wednesday in the southern border town.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Photo: GPO

Slideshow: Pictures of the week

However, while coming out at number one last year, too, with 42 percent of those questioned saying that Olmert's public behavior was corrupt to very corrupt, this year more than half (56%) took that position.

Olmert had stiff competition for the number one spot, however, from former finance minister Avraham Hirchson, who allegedly took public funds for personal use. Hirchson came in a very close second with 55% saying he was corrupt.

Tied for third place were Vice Premier Haim Ramon, who was recently convicted of sexual harassment, and Minister of Strategic Affairs Avigdor Lieberman, with 33%. Sharing fourth place for the most corrupt government ministers were Defense Minister Ehud Barak (29%) and current Finance Minister Ronnie Bar-On.

The cabinet's only two women, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Education Minister Yuli Tamir, received a far more honorable standing, being labeled the most honest government ministers. Livni won the title last year, too. This year, 46% of those polled said they believed she was honest to very honest and 40% said the same about Tamir. Other government ministers considered to be honest were Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz (35%), Minister for Internal Security Avi Dichter (27%) and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor Eli Yishai (25%).

Kadima MK Tzahi Hanegbi, who won the title of most corrupt MK last year, is still viewed by many as corrupt. Hanegbi garnered 40% of the vote this year, followed by Likud party chairman MK Binyamin Netanyahu.

Those considered to be honest to very honest were MK Shelly Yacimovich (44%) and Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik (41%).

The annual corruption survey, which was conducted by the Maagar Mochot Interdisciplinary Consulting Research Institute, was based on a sample of 551 Israeli adults.

Posted by editor at 11:39 AM EADT

Updated: Monday, 19 January 2009 11:52 AM EADT

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Some coverage you won't get on Adam Spencer's ABC 702 Breadfast show, or the Deborah Cameron show following on Monday morning 19 Jan 2009 supposedly covering happenings in Sydney. Press in Sydney also looks weak in terms of visuals.

One theme of John Pilger's speech included this quote: "the media have built a wall between the public and the massacres in Gaza"

Sorry to say there were some pictures on posters at the rally that were so graphic that we couldn't bear to photograph them, let alone post them here. The truth is the horror of war is being sanitised by our mass media in a collective conspiracy of silence as to the real actoins of Israel ally of the Australian Govt.

By contrast the millions of Arabic tv viewers are being shown the gruesome truth of Israel's cynical war as it promotes it's blockade and slow strangulation and torture of the Palestinians in Gaza, but also the West Bank, not least by illegal squatter towns, and aparthied land laws.

This story page 1 leading the Sydney Morning Herald :

Israel kept out aid for Gaza - World - smh.com.au p1 19 Jan 2009

As we write we are listening to the regualar local ABC radio 'Party Liners" segment with no mention of the Gaza scandal 10 minutes in with two old major party hacks Stephen ODoherty and John Brown (a severe critic of the Iraq war which is seriously inconsistent).

Picture: A group of girls of similar age to the daughters of Barak Obama, the red flags are the very big Construction Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, with NSW secretary Andrew Ferguson in the crowd. The black yellow red flag in the far distance is the Aboriginal Flag of the Indigenous Australians with representative opening the rally.

Posted by editor at 6:59 AM EADT

Updated: Monday, 19 January 2009 9:39 AM EADT

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