Upcoming Events
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Mon, 27 Feb 2012 - 4:00 PM
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Sun, 22 Apr 2012 - 8:00 AM
Past Events
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Mon, 23 Jan 2012 - 8:00 PM
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Tue, 08 Nov 2011 - 7:30 PM
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Sun, 23 Oct 2011 - 7:00 PM
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Sun, 02 Oct 2011 - 2:30 PM
Interview with a Perth Community Newspaper
A community newspaper asked me a few questions. here are my responses:
1. What kinds of activities do you foresee the Friends of Israel undertaking?
The organisation will provide access to information, analysis and speakers about Israel and Middle East Affairs, and opportunities to express support for the peaceful resolution of conflict.
2. What do you think is the relevance of Israel for WA? Why do we need this organisation, in your opinion?
The organisation has been formed by people coming together, expressing a desire and a need to publicly support Israel in the face of a relentless campaign to vilify and delegitimize that nation. Israel is in fact our front line of defence of freedom and democracy.
Former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar, when he launched the European Friends of Israel a few weeks ago, said that Israel's right to exist should not be open to question as the Jewish state was established by the United Nations. "Israel is our first line of defense in a turbulent region that is constantly at risk of descending into chaos," Aznar wrote in London Times. "To abandon Israel to its fate, at this moment of all moments, would merely serve to illustrate how far we have sunk and how inexorable our decline now appears…. if Israel goes down, we all go down."
This reflects a similar groundswell of grass-roots support for Israel around the world, such as
The European Friends of Israel has the following goals:
a) To combat the deligitimization of the State of Israel at home, abroad and inside the institutions of the international community.
b) To publicly show our solidarity with Israel’s democratic institutions – the legitimate expression of the Jewish people’s millennial aspiration to live in peace and freedom in its national homeland.
c) To support Israel’s inalienable right to secure borders unmolested by terrorists or tyrannical regimes so that its citizens can continue living with the same guarantees that our own societies enjoy.
d) To consistently and firmly oppose the prospect of a nuclear armed Iran.
e) To work to ensure that Israel is fully accepted as a normal Western country, an essential and indivisible part of the Western world to which we belong.
f) To reaffirm the value of the religious, moral, and cultural Judeo-Christian heritage as the main source of the liberal and democratic Western societies.
The same applies in WA as it does throughout the free world.
3. How will the Friends of Israel differ from existing groups like the Jewish Community Council or Hagshama WA?
The Jewish Community Council, Hagshama and the 30-odd other constituent organisations of the JCC are all Jewish organisations. The Friends of Israel WA Inc is for Western Australians across the whole community. The inaugural committee and the several hundred people who have already registered their interest include a former Labor Minister and former Liberal member of the State Government, unionists, business people, clerical staff, atheists, Christians and Jews …mostly not Jewish. Over 30 State and Federal Parliamentarians will attend the launch, as well as dignitaries and leaders from many community groups.
We want to remind West Aussies regardless of their politics, religion or stance on most subjects, that the link between Australia, Israel and the Jewish people is fundamentally very strong and deep. We share the same set of values: respect for human life, freedom and democracy and care for the needy. In the current global struggle between those who love life and those who glorify death, Israel and Australia are on the same side.
4. Are you worried that the politicised nature of the conflict in Gaza could mean that the Friends of Israel will be a group that might polarise people here? Eg, is it a concern that some people might see the Friends of Israel as being opposed to groups like the Friends of Palestine?
Our aim is to unify, not polarise; and to seek peace, not conflict. We believe that you can be a friend of Palestine AND a friend of Israel at the same time. If you truly seek peaceful end to conflict, everyone wins.
Most West Australians won’t be part of a deceptive propaganda campaign, like ridiculous comparisons of Israel to the Nazi regime, the “flotilla” circus, or seeking media/photo opportunities to vilify, delegitimize and ultimately destroy Israel. Those agitators in Australia who take that approach are just supporting the terrorists. How does that help the Palestinian refugees who have been kept as cannon fodder by their own leaders in Gaza, West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and throughout the Arab world, fed on hatred and glorified “martyrdom”?
The Friends of Israel is here to enable the silent majority to publicly say: enough of that bullshit.
5. Is there a board of directors or a similar leadership structure in the Friends of Israel ...?
The Friends of Israel WA Inc is an incorporated body in accordance with the laws of this state, and has a Committee of Management.