Friends of Israel

From: The Australian, February 01, 2012, by: Matthew Franklin, Chief political correspondent

GREENS MPs and activists have complained that the party's NSW branch is run by a small "cadre" of Leninist-style ideologues whose activities are making it appear to be populated by "lunatics".

And the NSW branch is attempting to censure, gag or even expel MPs critical of its policies, including last year's controversial move to back a ban on Israel and blockades of Israeli-owned chocolate retailer Max Brenner.

The revelations come in an extensive article in Friday's edition of The Monthly, which explores deep divisions among the Greens, including those between leader Bob Brown and NSW senator Lee Rhiannon.

The article, written by journalist Sally Neighbour, says Senator Brown is derided as a "megalomaniac" by some NSW branch members and is prohibited from writing to his party's members without permission from states.

Publication of the expose comes just days after The Australian revealed declassified ASIO files showing a secret meeting was set up between now Senator Rhiannon and the man identified as the KGB station chief in Australia ahead of a lengthy 1970 overseas trip seen as a milestone in her ideological development. Senator Rhiannon dismissed the report as Cold War delusions, but did not deny the claim.

The Greens have been under increasing public scrutiny since they won the balance of power in the 2010 federal election.

Neighbour's article contends the increased profile has coincided with an internal battle between the party's NSW-based left-wing and its more pragmatic wing, led by the Tasmanian Senator Brown.

Much of the NSW tension surrounds the the NSW Greens' support for the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel, through Sydney's Marrickville Council, and its support for attacks on the Brenner chain.

Neighbour details a "toxic" meeting of the NSW State Delegates Council in Darlington in Sydney in December, where delegates discussed sanctions against NSW MPs Cate Faehrmann, Jan Barham and Jeremy Buckingham for publicly rejecting the anti-Israeli action strategy.

Among the proposals was that the MPs should be forced to quit parliament if they could not support the NSW Greens policies on Israel. "Tempers erupt as the motion is moved, its backers arguing the renegade MPs should be punished for splitting the party, opponents condemning it as an outrageous bid to deny the MPs a conscience vote," she writes.

One member described the motion as leaving her speechless. "That there are people in the NSW Greens that think this sort of pettiness is OK really does suggest that we are far from doing politics differently," the delegate said.

Neighbour quotes an unnamed source in the party as describing those in control in NSW as anti-democratic. "They operate like Leninists, democratic centralists . . . a small cadre of tightly bound, ideologically attuned people controlling the committee and decision-making structure of the party."

Another is reported as having said: "They are stuck in an old rut which is all about running the show, controlling the structure, maintaining a code of silence.

"This old guard, this control clique, has done a lot of damage to the Greens branch in NSW."

Neighbour says the dominant clique is jokingly described as "the eastern bloc" because its members live in Sydney's eastern suburbs "and they're all communists".

Despite the attempts to gag them, Ms Faehrmann, Ms Barham and Mr Buckingham all spoke to Neighbour. Ms Faehrmann warned that voters become suspicious if they believe MPs are being treated as puppets of a party machine.

Mr Buckingham said the party needed to achieve outcomes rather than being "a force that drags politics to the Left". "We've got to mature and stop hectoring people," he told The Monthly.

Fellow MP Ian Cohen went further, accusing party leaders of providing ammunition for an attack by Transport Minister Anthony Albanese, whose wife Carmel Tebbutt held the state seat of Marrickville that became the centre of the BDS storm.

"It made us look like lunatics, dealing with an international issue on a local and state government level," Mr Cohen said of the Marrickville Council push on Israel. "It made a very paranoid and powerful enemy of the Jewish community and they reacted very strongly."

Marrickville Greens councillor Max Phillips, who led the push to overturn the Israel ban, told of his attempt to convince colleagues the ban was "tearing the party apart and damaging its electoral prospects" in last year's NSW election. But he says: "There was a bunker mentality and just an unsophisticated attitude to the media and politics -- you can't back down, stand your ground, don't give in to the Murdoch press -- rather than a realistic assessment of how it was being received . . . There's been no discussion of whether it hurt us politically."

The article says the Greens' NSW hierarchy had angered some members by failing to conduct exit polling after the NSW election to assess the effect of the Israel ban.

It also notes that the party has no single membership form, with rolls controlled by the states despite Senator Brown's push to create a centralised administration.

While the Greens leader had been given limited access to party databases, the arrangement was "so restrictive" he could not even send a letter to all Greens members with permission from the states. "They're into that fortress mentality," Neighbour quotes a party member as saying.

From The Guardian, Thursday 2 February 2012, by Amir  Ofek:

Article history

Your special report looks at allegations that Israel's military justice system mistreats Palestinian children who have been arrested for throwing stones.

"Many are exhausted from sleep deprivation. Day after day they are fettered to the chair, then returned to solitary confinement. In the end, many sign confessions that they later say were coerced," you state. But you omit the horrific nature of the atrocities that minors, some as young as 12, can be arrested for.

Hakim Awad, 17, is a minor. Last March he and his 18-year-old cousin, Amjad, brutally murdered the Fogel familywhile they slept. No mercy was shown to three-month-old Hadas, her two brothers (aged four and 11) and their parents. The scene of the crime, including the severed head of a toddler, left even the most experienced of police officers devastated. The duo proudly confessed to their killings, and they have shown no subsequent remorse.

Between 2000-04, 292 minors took part in terrorist activities. Shocking images of Palestinian infants dressed in explosive vests are only the tip of the hate industry that Palestinian children are exposed to. Ismail Tsabaj, 12, Azi Mostafa, 13, and Yousuf Basam, 14, were sent by Hamas on a mission chillingly similar to the one involving the Fogels, aiming to penetrate a Jewish homeat night and slaughter a family in their beds. In this case, the IDF fortunately stopped them in time.

Of the detainees, you report dismissively that "most are accused of throwing stones at soldiers or settlers", showing a bewildering disregard for this crime. Judah Shoham never reached the age of many of these minors, as he was killed by Palestinians throwing stones, aged just five months. Similarly, Jonathan Palmer never reached his second birthday; he was killed with his father when stones were hurled at their car last October.

Gerard Horton, of Defence for Children International, tells your reporter: "We're not saying offences aren't committed – we're saying children have legal rights." Israel is in completeagreement. In the face of ever younger minors committing ever greater numbers of crimes, its efforts to maintain and even increase legal protections are impressive. When a minor involved in terrorist activity is arrested, the law is clear: no torture or humiliation is permitted, nor is solitary confinement in order to induce a confession – which challenges the veracity of the accounts in your article.

Furthermore, a special juvenile court has been established to guarantee professional care for minors in detention. The above and other measures have succeeded in making legal proceedings easier for minors, and have almost halved their duration.

In the few days since the article was published, two minors (aged 16 and 17) shot at passing Israeli cars in the street. This was not the first crime these two had been involved in, having previously used firebombs as a weapon against Israelis.

It would be our wish that no minor would ever find themselves in Israeli custody. Unfortunately, we have to deal with the reality, not our dreams.

From the New Jersey Jewish News, 1 Feb 2012, by Sarit Catz:

... BDS is a movement that specifically targets Israel and aims to undermine the legitimacy of the Jewish state through false accusations and dishonest scholarship masquerading as human rights advocacy.
...the entire BDS movement claim to be interested in promoting “the growing global campaign to boycott, divest from, and sanction the State of Israel until it complies with its obligations under international and human rights law.” That’s what it says on the PennBDS website.
However, if they are concerned with violations of international and human rights law, it is notable that they focus none of their attention on known human rights violators and oppressive governments such as those that exist in North Korea, China, Sudan, Iran, or any others.
If PennBDS is specifically focused on the oppression of Arabs, then it is curious that they are not decrying the governments of Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen, or others.
And if PennBDS is particularly disturbed only by the oppression of Palestinian Arabs, then one wonders why they are not protesting the governments of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Syria, or others in which the Palestinians have suffered extreme discrimination, violence, and forced expulsions.
In Gaza, under the authority of Hamas, political freedom, religious freedom, and freedom of association are severely curtailed, women’s rights are limited, human rights activists are targeted, and homosexuality is a criminal offense.
Upon any serious consideration, it becomes clear that BDS actually has no problem with oppression, no problem with oppression of Arabs, and no problem with the oppression of Palestinian Arabs. BDS actually has a problem only with Israel and it can only be deduced that their problem is truly with Jews....

From: The Australian 2 February 2012, by: JOHN FERGUSON:

A CAMPAIGN to frustrate the domestic spy agency's attempts to root out homegrown Islamic terrorism is being waged at a mosque linked to a jailed former spiritual leader.
The Islamic Society of Victoria's Preston Mosque is challenging a push by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation to monitor and investigate worshippers who gather in Melbourne's northeast.

The society has used prominent Victorian barrister Robert Stary to educate the Islamic community on the way ASIO operates.

Mr Stary told The Australian yesterday he spoke at the mosque in December when, he conceded, he had offered scathing analysis of the so-called war against terror.

On ASIO, he said: "They've been engaged in intelligence gathering and I've just told them (Preston Mosque) to be wary. They're (ASIO) aggressive in the community -- have been aggressive in the community -- certainly for the last six-12 months."

A report on Mr Stary's address features on the society's website, which accuses ASIO of sowing "distrust and fear". The mosque was linked to self-styled Islamic spiritual leader Abdul Nacer Benbrika, 51, who along with six other men was sentenced to jail in 2009 for terrorism offences. Targets included the Melbourne Cricket Ground and Crown casino.

In his address to the mosque, Mr Stary was critical of what he claimed was Australia's pro-Israel stance, adding yesterday that Julia Gillard was showing bias towards Israel. He has hit out at what he described as the influence of the so-called Jewish lobby and added he had been reported accurately by the Islamic society.

Australia-Israel & Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein said the reported comments were inflammatory.

"If accurately reported, (Mr) Stary's comments about the 'powerful Jewish lobby groups who have the economic upper-hand' in this country, and the implication that this leads ASIO 'to suppress pro-Palestinian groups' are ugly and worrying," he said.

"These false conspiratorial claims not only play strongly into traditional anti-Jewish stereotypes, they clearly risk damage to inter-communal harmony in multicultural Australia."

The Preston community was told what to do if approached by ASIO and to be aware that the intelligence organisation was using covert operatives to inflitrate the community.

Visiting some websites would trigger interest from the authorities and worshippers were warned that freedom of speech was limited, particularly if it involved discussions about illegal activities.

"Conspiracy is an offence, you don't need to possess weapons or anything of the like, talk is sufficient," the website states. At the mosque yesterday, Islamic Council of Victoria president Ramzi Elsayed said there was anecdotal evidence of ASIO being active in the community. "There would appear to be some substance to what they're saying," he said.

An ASIO spokesman referred The Australian to comments by its director-general of security, David Irvine, last month:

"ASIO is not against Islam; it is against terrorism."

From: Dj Schneeweiss, Director, Civil Society Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem, Wednesday, December 07, 2011:

I'm pleased to share a new blog with you, http://bdsglobaldigest.wordpress.com/, through which we hope to provide context and perspective to the often shrill discussion and representation of BDS in the media and elsewhere.

By identifying key BDS activities as well as the (usually) successful actions taken to defeat them, we hope to convey a dual message of both vigilance and empowerment; to help our side take BDS seriously, but  at the same time temper the tendency to see and present BDS as some kind of political  steamroller with unstoppable momentum.

Ultimately, we hope that the blog will help us impact on the battle of perceptions which lies at the core of this fight.  Too often, our supporters find themselves at the wrong end of media coverage of BDS – either bombarded by a sense of BDS momentum, or, worse, unwittingly becoming megaphones for the BDS movement itself. Over time, we hope to be able to temper these negative trends.

This is not an attempt to belittle in any way the importance of BDS or of the broader and deeper ideological assault to which Israel and its supporters are subject to today. Quite the opposite; the blog is designed to help the crucial effort to combat these phenomena, an effort which requires many more resources than are presently deployed.

In practical terms, the idea is to amplify and leverage the work being put in on monitoring and fighting BDS in different arenas  in order to enhance the global and local effort to combat BDS, particularly in smaller communities. The blog will generally focus on linking to posts, articles and items produced in the pro-Israel sphere, thus amplifying the work already being done by others and drawing traffic to their/your sites.

The blog is divided in to five clear sections (the home page is updated chronologically, but the tabs allow you to read thematically):
• BDS activity – a basic summary of major BDS attempts that we are aware of or that we think warrant being highlighted
• Responding to BDS – reports and articles covering counter-BDS efforts
• The Bigger Picture – as it sounds, an attempt to add perspective to the BDS discussion, and to remind us all that for all the BDS bluster, Israel and Israelis continue to interact with the global community in myriad rich and impactful ways
• In Their Own Words – a section for compiling and referencing anti-BDS statements by public figures
• You May Also Be Interested In – a section which allows us to draw people's attention to non-BDS-related but nevertheless relevant content

If anyone has any ideas for improvements in the blog (we're still working on some design elements, so it will hopefully be upgraded soon anyway) or info or links you'd like us to post  there, please let us know by email. The more feedback we get, the more useful the resource will become for everyone.  Moreover, if you like it or find it useful, please post comments, share, link, etc.

Update: Thursday, 2 February 2012 1:32 AM:

The blog set up recently to cover developments related to BDS continues to collect and publish information, articles and updates on this issue from across the globe.

As I wrote in December, the purpose of the blog is to enhance our collective ability to understand and combat BDS, both through highlighting useful resources and keeping a sober watch on BDS activity.

In the eight or so weeks that the blog has been live, it has already accumulated a large volume of information and references, which is turning it into a useful resource for anyone engaged on the BDS issue.

Today we've uploaded an introduction to BDS in downloadable PDF format. Borrowing from some of the best writing on this issue from the last couple of years, the document explains the origins, objectives, strategies, tactics and impact of BDS in a comprehensive, but succinct and accessible format, usable for anyone exposed to BDS  - be they students on campus, pro-Israel activists, community professionals, or office holders in institutions or communities targeted by BDS .

Comments and feedback, shares, likes, links, etc, - all welcome. You can also get an email update every time we post something new, by clicking on the follow button at the bottom right hand side of the blog.

http://bdsglobaldigest.wordpress.com/ 

An internal investigation by SBS into that the four-part series The Promise, broadcast in late 2011, has dismissed complaints that it "promotes, endorses and reinforces demeaning stereotypes about Jews as a group..."

The Executive Director of the ECA, Peter Wertheim, described the SBS response as “predictable but disappointing”.

“SBS has simply failed to address many of our principal contentions,” Wertheim said.  “They have failed to engage in detail with the numerous examples of negative stereotyping of Jews which we provided to them”.

The SBS Complaints Committee found that “the ordinary reasonable viewer fully appreciated that The Promise was a fictional drama and nothing more than that”.  It also noted that “accuracy per se is not a Code requirement in respect of a drama such as The Promise.” 

Wertheim also took issue with SBS’s suggestion that the audience would have fully appreciated that The Promise was nothing but a fictional drama.  “I have a collection of media and online comments from viewers who obviously believed the series to be a documentary, or else a factual and accurate account of historic and current events.”

Wertheim dismissed accusations that the ECAJ’s complaint was intended to “censor” the series.  “Our entire complaint was in the public domain as soon as we sent it”, Wertheim said.  “We did not complain about the subject-matter of the series.  It is the use of racist stereotyping to deal with that subject-matter that we objected to.  All of the principal characters who are Jewish are portrayed in a deeply negative way - betrayers (the Judas stereotype), murderers of innocents (blood libel), thieves (Fagin) and ruthless and amoral (Shylock).  If a series about the Israel-Palestinian conflict portrayed all of its Arab characters as murderous terrorists, betrayers, thieves or their supporters, perhaps the racism would have been more evident to SBS.”

Asked about the ECAJ’s controversial reference to the Nazi propaganda film Jud Süss, Wertheim responded, “This was solely to illustrate that even a film that has been nominated for a prestigious award and receives acclaim can be racist to the core. We do not suggest that the nature and extent of the anti-Jewish stereotyping is the same in each film.”

“Not every criticism of Israel is antisemitic”, Wertheim added. “It is equally false to suggest that no criticism of Israel is antisemitic.  There is clearly some overlap. One test is whether the criticism makes use of anti-Jewish stereotypes. The Promise certainly did so.”

Plans for the Friends of Israel WA “Visiting Our Mates” trip to Israel this April are developing really well ….!!

See below for the intitial program

Tel Aviv Beachfront (photo by Ronsho)

We’ve selected a preferred tour operator: Jetset Travel Rose Bay, which specialises in tours to Israel from Australia. With their wealth of experience they’ve been very professional at accommodating our special interests and requests, and to work with our preferred guides and friends in Israel to put together a tour specifically-tailored for FOIWA members.

We have also found their quotes extremely competitive. We have increased the length of the tour to 13 days, including 11 full days of touring and two free days at leisure in Tel Aviv to end the trip. We now expect the trip to cost about $5,700, and almost certainly less than $6,000 including air fares, accommodation, most meals, touring and event costs, as noted below. We’re confident that you’ll be getting a really great deal by travelling with FOIWA.

Contact me now to avoid missing out - join us in a visit to our mates in Israel.

Please see below for a more detailed look at the current plan. Together with our good friends in the Israel-Australia Chamber of Commerce, we will be adding special lectures and activities into the program, so you’ll be meeting high-level academic and political personalities and seeing far more than the regular tourist sees. (The program will be updated as we develop it, but now is the time to give me any requests or suggestions.)

ITINERARY

Sunday 22 April 2012                       Arrival

Arrive to Ben Gurion airport on flight TBA. Transfer to your hotel in Jerusalem

Overnight: Jerusalem

Monday 23 April 2012                       Jerusalem - Old City

Start with a spectacular view of Jerusalem from Mount of Olives. Then we will visit the Western Wall and we will be able to see Bar Mitzvah celebrations at the Kotel. We will walk through the City of David, where over 3,000 years ago King David established the capital of the first autonomous Jewish state.  Then we will enter the Old City and will walk through the Jewish Quarter via the renovated Hurba Synagogue. Explore the colorful bazaars and walk the Via Dolorosa (Stations of the Cross) as far as the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

In the evening we will see the Light and Sound show at the Tower of David.

Overnight: Jerusalem

Tuesday 24 April 2012                      Jerusalem - ANZAC day

We will start the ANZAC day commemoration at the Commonwealth War cemetery on Mount Scopus. We will have a briefing on ANZAC history and connection to Israel. Continue to the Herzl Museum where we will learn about Herzl and the history of the Zionist Movement. Travel to Bethlehem this morning - Visit the Church of the Nativity and see the grotto where Jesus was born and then onto the Shepherds Fields to see how life was like more than 2,000 years ago.

Overnight: Jerusalem

Wednesday 25 April 2012                Jerusalem - New City

We will start our day with a moving visit to Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial. We will continue to Gush Etzion including a Multi Media presentation of the history of the Jewish settlement in the area and the local winery.  We will drive back to Jerusalem and pass by the Israeli Parliament, the Knneset, and visit the newly renovated Israel Museum, or we will end our day with a visit to the Menachem  Begin Museum, an experiential encounter with one of Israel’s outstanding Prime Ministers, Menahem Begin, the sixth Israeli  prime minister. The museum takes the visitor on a voyage through time including reenactments, original items, documentaries, interactive touch screens, dramatic lighting and surrounding soundtrack. Through the story of Begin's résumé the museum offers its visitor an historic encounter with the most thrilling and dramatic points in Israel's history.

Evening tour of the Western Wall Tunnels.

Overnight: Jerusalem

Thursday 26 April 2012                    Masada and Dead Sea

Drive down through the Judean desert on your way to the lowest point on earth - the Dead Sea, located some 400 meters below sea level. Visit Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered.  Enjoy a walk in the beautiful oasis of Ein Gedi. Enjoy a “swim” in the salty, mineral rich water.  Ascend the rock of Masada and walk through the ruins of palaces built by Herod the Great and see evidence of the heroic struggle. Drive to Beer Sheba

Overnight: Beer Sheba

Friday 27 April 2012                          Beer Sheba

We will start the day with a visit to Sderot to see the effects of the Rocket  terrorism on the town.

We continue on to an Australian JNF water project. Continue on to visit various sites in Beer Sheba commemorating the achievements of the Australian soldiers in World War 1, follow the ANZAC trail and the main battlefield sites in the area and do a full  review of the Charge of the Light Horse ,and see the magnificent new Park of the Australian Soldier.

Overnight: Beer Sheba

Saturday 28 April 2012                     Megiddo and Nazareth

We will drive north to the ancient city of Meggido at the crossroads of an important ancient highway identified as the site of Armageddon.  See the ancient city that was inhabited continuously for more than five millennia. Continue to Nazareth for a visit to the Church of Annunciation and Mary’s Well. We will drive via Cana to Safed where we will have a tour of– the City of Jewish Mysticism. And then continue to our hotel in the North.

Overnight: Galilee

Sunday 29 April 2012                       Golan

Start the day with a visit to Tel Dan - a National Park combining a lush nature reserve with a biblical archaeological experience. This was the capital of the ancient northern kingdom,  ancient city gates, and other archaeological finds. Continue on for a walk through Caesarea-Phillippi at Banias Falls.  Ascend the Golan Heights and from Mt. Bental, peer deep into Syria and the ghost town of Kuneitra Visit Katzerin and the Golan Winery and Multi Media presentation :”Keshem Hagolan” winery..

Overnight: Sea of Galilee

Monday 30 April 2012                       Sea of Galilee

Experience an early morning sail across the Sea of Galilee. The ride will end at Ginossar, where we shall visit the ancient boat from the time of Jesus that was found nearby. Visit Tabgha, where the miracle of the Multiplication took place .  Continue onto Capernaum, the center of Jesus’ Ministries - Ascend to the top of the Mt. of Beatitudes, where you can re-live the Sermon on the Mount. Visit the baptism site at Yardenit. Drive to Zippori, an outstanding archaeological site and visit the old city with the amazing water system.

Drive to Haifa

Overnight: Haifa

Tuesday 1 May 2012                         Mount Carmel and Caesarea

We will start our day with a walking tour in the German Colony and see the beautiful Bauhaus  buildings. View the Baha’i gardens. Drive to the top of Mount Carmel and view from the top the Baha’i center and its gardens. We will continue to the Druze village of Dalit EL Carmel for a  walk around the village. Onto Atlit to visit the British Detention Camp.We will drive to Caesarea to visit the Roman Theatre and the Crusader Fortress and then continue to Tel Aviv.

Overnight:Tel Aviv

Wednesday 2 May 2012                    Tel Aviv

We will drive to Independence Hall where in 1948 David Ben Gurion declared Israel as an independent nation.  We will visit the Rabin Museum at the Yitzhak Rabin Center.  It is the first and only museum in Israel to explore the development of the State of Israel as a young democracy.  The museum is built in a downward spiral and presents two parallel stories, one of the history of the State of Israel and the other of the society and the biography of Yitzhak Rabin. Continue to visit the historical city of Old Jaffa and Neve Tzedek, the first neighborhoods in the modern city of Tel Aviv

Overnight: Tel Aviv

Thursday 3 May 2012                       Education and Hi – Tech in Israel

Israel is well known worldwide for its Hi Tech industry. Today we will arrange some visits to a few hi tech success stories .We will visit the Inter Disciplinary Center in Herzliya.

Overnight: Tel Aviv

Friday 4 May 2012                             At Leisure

Free timefor private sightseeing and cultural events. Friday night dinner at the hotel.

Overnight: Tel Aviv

Saturday 5 May 2012                        Departure

Free day.In the evening transfer to Ben Gurion airport for your departure flight TBA.

Contact me now to avoid missing out.

Watch the events page for updates.

From the Zionist Council of Victoria, 17 Jan 2012, by Emily Gian:

The Melbourne Age today carries a front page article by Leesha McKenny entitled ‘Jewish outcry on SBS series’ about a complaint to the SBS Ombudsman lodged by The Executive Council of Australian Jewry about the screening of the BBC drama series The Promise which aired at the end of last year. The essence of the complaint is that the series is anti-Semitic and in direct violation of the SBS code covering prejudice, racism and discrimination.

A similar article also appears in the Sydney Morning Herald.

See this previous posting for full details of the complaint.

I can only recommend that you read the text in full in order to appreciated why criticism of the report in the above Age article by the Palestine lobby (represented by The General Delegation of Palestine to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific, which represents the Palestinian Authority) as ''an attempt to silence legitimate historical investigation, recollection and representation'' is so problematical.

...  The awarding of the Sydney Peace Prize to [Hanan] Ashrawi [in 2003] sparked much debate and protest and those opposing the award were labelled by some as seeking to stifle debate about the conflict. As a result of the controversy about stifling debate, the media ignored some very substantial material uncovered about Ashrawi including direct quotes which ... made the awarding of a “peace prize” to such a person totally inimical. The focus instead was on the actions of those who opposed Ashrawi rather than on the real issue of the recipient’s worthiness for the award and hence, Israel’s detractors managed to divert attention away from that issue.

This disingenuous tactic is now inherent in almost every propaganda campaign applied by the Palestine lobby and its supporters and it is nowhere more evident than in the reaction to the ECAJ report. Witness the tweeting of the usual anti Zionist crowd on the Twitter link to today’s Age on line article.

To my mind however, those who are attacking Peter Wertheim’s report in this way are the ones who are stifling debate and diverting attention away from the nature of the anti Semitism that abounds in the series. That is what the real issue is about and the ECAJ report raises some crucial points on the subject that must be seriously addressed by the SBS Ombudsman rather than the dismissive approach that was taken by UK's Office of Communications when the series was aired there last year.

... directly from [the ECAJ submission] as to the reasons why the series violates SBS Code 1.3 by promoting, endorsing and reinforcing demeaning stereotypes about Jews as a group:-

“All of the principal Jewish characters (and thus by implication Jews generally) are portrayed negatively and, ultimately, without any redeeming virtues. They are cast as variously cruel, violent, hateful, ruthless, unfeeling, amoral, treacherous, racist and/or hypocritical. The ancient libel that holds all Jews throughout history to be collectively guilty of killing Jesus has been segued into the equally ludicrous proposition that all Jews are collectively guilty of the wanton shedding of innocent blood, a staple of contemporary Palestinian propaganda. The series also panders to stereotypes about Jews being immoderately wealthy and having acquired their wealth unfairly. The cumulative effect of these consistently negative portrayals of all of the principal Jewish characters and of the series’ numerous misrepresentations of the relevant historical background in a way that consistently casts Jews in a negative light is to demean Jews as a group.

“We assume SBS would never contemplate screening a series in which all the principal characters who are identifiably Muslim are either ruthless, murderous terrorists or morally coarse people who condone terrorism or sympathise or co-operate with terrorists. Yet this is precisely the way all of the principal characters who are identifiably Jewish are portrayed in The Promise.

“To be clear, the series does not simply convey demeaning imputations about Jews in the way, for example, that dramatizations about the events of World War II have often portrayed German and Japanese characters in an unflattering light. In the latter cases, the negative stereotypes have been used as a way of highlighting the character of major figures in the story. There is never a suggestion that the Germans and Japanese as a people are forever marked by collective guilt and beyond redemption.

“The Promise is far more insidious. The relevant historical events (and their misrepresentation) and the principal Jewish characters are vehicles for attributing negative traits to Jews generally across time and space. The Promise utilizes and reinforces racist tropes about Jews that, but for a brief post-WWII respite, have been embedded in western civilization since pre-Christian times and are not in any way comparable to negative portrayals of other groups.”

...The most compelling argument apart from the need to represent history in a truthful way is that if the plot was reversed and stereotyped all Arabs or Muslims as violent murderers, then there would rightfully be an outcry - not just from the “other side” but I believe the Jewish community would join in those concerns. I strongly doubt however,  that such a version would ever see the light of day because The Promise is truly a nasty piece of work.

To understand this, I want to add one other dimension about the debate between Israel and the Arabs and the tactics of the Palestine lobby that seeks to whitewash the ECAJ complaint.

The Promise presents a narrative which is so one sided and biased in its distortion of history that it can only achieve one result for both sides in the conflict and that is to harden the hearts of both people against each other.

When the bulk of those on one side or the other are sold on such twisted tales of historical events, it can leave no doors open to promote peace between them.

The entire premise behind The Promise is damaging to the cause of peace in the region. Just as the awarding of a so called “peace prize” to a person whose record in terms of promoting peace was highly questionable all those years ago, The Promise harms that cause and makes the work of those who seek peace all the more difficult. In that respect this disgraceful series is not only anti-Jewish and anti-Israel but also anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian.

Official, institutionalized discrimination against Palestinians is widespread in the Middle East. Where does this Apartheid take place, and what are the reasons behind it?