A Fair Go for Israel !!!

We are Western Australian Friends of Israel

·       Support Israel as the homeland of the Jewish People

·       Defend Israel’s right to live in security, free of threats of terrorism

·       Ensure accurate and fair reporting on the Middle East

 

We Western Australians want to support democratic values and freedoms by supporting Israel, a champion of those values in the Middle East and long-time ally of Australia.

                                                                                                                            

Visit www.foiwa.org.au to stay informed of events in the Middle East, find in-depth analysis, opinion and magazine articles, and be aware of our events and activities.....

 

Don’t be fooled by the relentless propaganda campaign by Israel’s enemies to vilify her, undermine her legitimacy, and ultimately destroy the only homeland of the Jewish people.

 

Israel: a Tiny Nation

·        465 km long = Albany-Northam

·        135 km wide = Perth-York

·        “1967 borders” narrowest point is 15km wide = Perth-Fremantle

·        Population 7.4 million

·        BOOMING innovation economy; GDP ~$150 m +5% pa

·        0.125% (1/800^th ) of the Middle East

·        76% Jews from over 80 countries

·        24% non-Jews (virtually all Arabs), including Muslims, Christians, Druze and  Bedouins.

·        Israel officially recognizes over 15 religions, from Islam and Christian denominations to the Baha’I Faith.

·        Jewish refugees from Muslim countries and their descendents make up about half of Israel’s Jewish population

Arabs in Israel

·        Full and equal political and civil rights

·        Hold senior positions

·        Knesset members since 1949 - Won up to 12 of 120 seats

·        Judges, diplomats

 

Israel: an Innovation Nation

·        Highest venture capital investment IN THE WORLD

o   2 x the U.S.

o   30 x Europe

·        second highest number of companies listed on the NASDAQ 

o   2nd only to USA

o   more than all of Europe, India, and China combined

·        more start-up companies than Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada and the UK

·        Leader in:

o   computers,

o   security,

o   communications,

o   medical device patents,

o   clean-technology and

o   biotechnology

Freedom and Equality

·        racially diverse

·        recognizes over 15 religions, Including Islam and Christianity and Baha’i

·        76% Jews from over 80 countries

·        24% are Arabs, including Muslims, Christians, Druze and Bedouins.

Israeli Arabs in

·        Knesset (Parliament), including in the Cabinet

·        Supreme Court,

·        on university faculties

Nothing in Israel resembles South Africa’s legal system of racial segregation and oppression.

A democracy like the Australia, Israel legally enforces equal rights, liberties, and protections for all.

 

Israel is the only nation in the Middle East that does not practice any form of apartheid:

·        Jordan prohibits Jews from becoming citizens or owning land;

·        Saudi Arabia practices gender apartheid;

·        all Muslim countries engage in sexual-orientation apartheid;

·        Hamas is notorious for its anti-Christian apartheid; and

·        the Palestinian Authority has said that "no Jew" will ever be allowed to live in a Palestinian state.

 

PA leader Mahmoud Abbas:

 ‘If there is a Palestinian country … we will not accept that even one single Jew will live there.’"

…now THAT IS APARTHEID

Australia and Israel are Friends

Fought together in World War 1 on Eastern Front

·        1914 –Turkey/Germany/Austria/Hungary against Britain/France/Russia

·        1915 – Gallipoli – Zion Mule Corps fought with ANZACs

·        Oct 1917 – ANZACs captured Beersheba (famous Light Horse Brigade)

·        Then Jerusalem and Damascus

·        British and French Mandates

World War 2

·        500,000 Jews in Palestine

·        1930s – Mufti of Jerusalem allies with Hitler

·        1940 – France falls – Italy enters war

·        Fascists attack - Libya to Egypt (Rommel Afrika Korps)

·        Held at Tobruk by ANZACs – stopped at El Alamein

Global War on Terror

·        Australia and Israel are allies now too

·        US 9/11; London; Spain; Bali bombings – same war as Israel’s

Ancient Ties to the Land

Israel is the birthplace of the Jewish nation.

There the Children of Israel established a sovereign nation that flourished for 1,500 years: Jewish kings, Jewish temple, and Hebrew language …a Jewish way of life.

After Roman conquest: centuries of foreign domination: Byzantine, Arab, Crusader, Mamluk, Ottoman and British.

There has been a continuous Jewish presence in Israel for 3,700 years

For Jewish people outside Israel, it permeates our

·        daily prayers,

·        our literature,

·        our music and

·        art.

Jews are one of the few ancient peoples who have survived into modern times.

Israel is a nation now restored …a nation that has the same culture, religion and language as it did 3,500 years ago.

Zionism

·        Yearning for the ancestral homeland

·        at the core of Judaism and Jewish identity for 2,000 years.

·        Modern Zionism – born 1897

·        The dream of restoration, return and independence.

·        The national liberation movement of the Jewish people.

·        Integrates this historic dream with modern political ideals.

Support for Zionism

·        Balfour Declaration, 1917

·        The Weizmann-Feisal Agreement, 1919

·        League of Nations Palestine Mandate, 1920

The Land included present-day Jordan, Israel, the Golan Heights, the West Bank and Gaza.

The Guidelines (Article 6 & 7):

1. “Facilitate Jewish immigration.”

2. “Encourage…close settlement by Jews on the land.”

“Land for Peace”

The Zionist movement always seeks peaceful co-existence and accepted territorial compromise

·        1937 Peel Commission

·        1947 UN Partition

·        1979 – Israel ceded the Sinai for peace with Egypt

·        1997 – Israel withdrew from
          80% of Gaza;
          40% of West Bank

·        2000 – Israel withdrew from security zone in southern Lebanon

·        2005 – Israel completed a 100% withdrawal from Gaza

Arab Leaders

·        persecuted their Jewish population from the 1920s

·        launched a relentless campaign, against the interests of their own people, to obliterate the Jewish national revival

·        …before any “occupation” and even before the establishment of the State of Israel.

They flatly rejected

·        the League of Nations British Mandate to restore the ancient Jewish homeland

·        the 1937 Peel Commission partition proposal

·        the 1947  UN partition plan

·        1949 Israel peace offer to return captured land

From 1948 to 1967, Israel did not control the West Bank and Gaza.

·        Arab nations could have created an independent Palestinian state

·        Instead of peace and reconciliation, they chose rejection and global terrorism.

The Arabs also rejected

·        the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace offer

·        the Oslo process that began in 1993 by violating their commitments

·        2000 offer to create a Palestinian state in West Bank and Gaza.

·        2008 offer to create a Palestinian state in West Bank and Gaza.

Since their rejection of the 1947 UN partition, self-serving oil-rich Arab leaders have kept the refugees of 1948 and their descendants in squalor and dependent on international aid, as cannon fodder, fed on hatred and false hope, and squandered repeated opportunities for statehood and economic progress.

Since 1920 Arab leaders have tried to destroy Israel by war, terrorism and now by vilifying and de-legitimising the Jewish nation.

Wars

1948 - War of Independence - 5 Arab States invaded.

·        They lost. Jordan took “West Bank”; Egypt took Gaza.

1956 – Sinai War

1967 – “Six Day War” - Arab aggression precipitated Israel's takeover of the territories ….

·         On March 8th 1965, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser proclaimed: "We shall not enter Palestine with its soil covered in sand. We shall enter it with its soil saturated in blood."

·         On May 18, 1967 the Cairo-based radio station Voice of the Arabs blared stridently: ".... The sole method we shall apply against Israel is total war, which will result in the extermination of Zionist existence."

·         Two days later, on May 20, 1967, Gen. Hafez al-Assad, Syria's Minister of Defense, and later President, boasted: "....the time has come to enter a battle of annihilation."

·         On May 27, 1967 Nasser declared: "Our basic objective will be the destruction of Israel. The Arab people want to fight."

·       On June 1, 1967, Iraqi President Abdul Rahman Ali: "… Our goal is clear - to wipe Israel off the map."

1973 – “Yom Kippur War” – surprise attack by 3 Arab armies

1982-1985 – First Lebanon War

1991 – Persian Gulf War

2006 – Second Lebanon War or “Hezbollah War”

·        Hezbollah launches unprovoked act of war against Israel

·        3,699 rockets launched into northern Israel in 34 days of war.

·        1,000,000 Israelis forced to live in bomb shelters for 34 days.

·        162 Israelis killed; 4,262 wounded.

·        6,000 homes hit by Hezbollah rockets

2008 – Gaza “Cast Lead” War – precipitated by 8-year terrorist bombardment

Terrorism

1920s: Terrorism

·        Haj Amin al-Husseini organized suicide groups, to terrorize Jews in 1920-21, 1924, 1929. 275 Jews, 100s dissident Arabs killed by Mufti’s forces.

1930s: Alliance with Nazism

·        Arabs allied with Hitler

·        Riots in 1936-9 financed by the Nazis. 2,400 Jews, 600 British, 3,700 Arabs killed.

1960s – global terrorism

·        aircraft hijackings

·        Munich Olympics massacre

1967-1970 – “War of Attrition”

1978-1993: 216 Israelis killed

1993-2000 (AFTER Oslo Agreement): 282 Israelis killed

2000 - 2005 Intifada: 1,084 killed, 7,454 injured/crippled

·        targets civilians in restaurants, dance clubs, buses, religious events, shopping malls, and cars

·        147 suicide bombings, stabbings, drive-by shootings

·        82% of dead and wounded were civilians

Gaza Terrorism (2000-2008)

·        8-year-long barrage of 12,000 rockets

·        3,000 in 2008 alone

·        'Operation Cast Lead' to stop the bombardment and destroy terrorist infrastructure

Incitement and Vilification

·        Anti-Israel incitement in Palestinian media, schools and mosques.

·        Doctored photos - False news reports – Global campaign of vilification

·        attempts to isolate and demonize Israel

 “3D Test” to distinguish valid criticism from antisemitism

Any of the following make it antisemitism

·        Delegitimization – The Jewish State has no right to exist.

·        Double Standards – Israel is condemned harshly for measures or social problems that are accepted when judging other nations.

·        Demonization – Distortions and lies used to depict Israel as the world’s most evil country.

Australian Federal Senate Rejects BDS Campaign

From a speech by Senator RYAN (Victoria), 6 July 2011:

 ... this so-called BDS campaign.... lies and double standards...  alleges racial discrimination against the Palestinian people without providing anything other than assertions and slurs. Israel more than any nation surrounding it goes to extraordinary lengths to accommodate its Arab Muslim and Christian minorities, amongst others.

...Nowhere else have refugee camps been used for such political purposes by the neighbours but opponents of a nation ...nowhere else do we legally define refugees on such an intergenerational basis. The refugee issue is the tool with which some hope to destroy Israel through simply swamping it with people....The campaign is to remove the state of Israel as a Jewish state.

...... it actually provides excuses for Hamas. ...Hamas is an organisation that retains to this day in its charter the most vile references to the Jewish people, the most vile anti-Semitic references and that pledges itself to pushing the Jews into the sea. It pledges itself to the destruction of the Jewish state. ... in Australians for Palestine we have a group of people that provides excuses for people who target children on school buses and in their schoolyards with rockets and with bombs.

What is the BDS in reality? The truth is that it represents the third wave of the attempt to eliminate Israel...The first wave was war. In the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and 1970s Israel's neighbours attempted to eliminate the Jewish state by means of traditional warfare. In 1970 the second wave commenced ...that of asymmetrical warfare, terrorism—targeting civilians throughout Israel and in other parts of the world and using tactics that are utterly repugnant to civilised society. But those campaigns were both failures...This campaign is now aimed at undermining support for Israel in the West...

Senator IAN MACDONALD (Queensland), 12 September 2011:

I … want to reinforce Senator Abetz and Boswell's view that boycotts of Jewish businesses are repugnant to any democratically minded Australian.

…We must never allow Australia to be placed in a situation where businesses are attacked, where people's livelihoods are attacked, where their freedom to do what everyone else in Australia can do is impeded upon simply because the owners of those businesses happen to be of Jewish extraction. We must never let that happen in Australia. Anything that we …can do to stop that is something that should be encouraged and supported....

NSW Legislative Council Condemns Anti-Israel BDS Campaign

this House:

(a) notes with concern the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Campaign against
legitimate businesses operating in Australia which provide jobs to hundreds of Australians,

(b) calls on all members to condemn the targeting of Max Brenner Chocolate Cafes by anti-Israel
protestors,

(c) notes that some of the rhetoric used by proponents of the BDS campaign has descended into
anti-Semitism, and

(d) condemns anti-Semitism in all its forms.

The Hon. DAVID CLARKE (NSW Parliamentary Secretary), 15 September 2011:

The boycott, divestment and sanctions [BDS] campaign directed world-wide against the state of Israel is a campaign that is misleading and deceitful. It is a campaign that is devious and destructive. It is a campaign that engenders hate mongering and promotes division. This whole world-wide boycott, divestment and sanctions operation should be repudiated and rejected by all people of decency and goodwill…

Positive Choices

 

·    Peace not War

·    Talks not Terrorism

·    Life not Death

·    Reconciliation not Vilification

·    Love not Hate

·    Negotiations not Declarations

·    Democracy not Dictatorships

·    Freedom not Repression

A Fair Go for Israel !!!