All Israel, All the Time

The Syrian Sydney Morning Herald has for the third day in a row, run a letter to the editor, critical of Israel.

For three days in a row there has not been a single letter published about Syria.

Syria has killed more Muslims in the last year, than Israel has in the last 60. As I said yesterday, when thousands of Muslims are being killed, but there's no Jews to blame, nobody cares.

Fearless Middle East commentator Antony Loewenstein covers the big issues: Palestinian breakdancing.

Syrian Morning Herald

The Syrian government continues to murder its own citizens using rockets and even nailbombs. Nailbombs! Let's take a look at the Sydney Morning Herald yesterday and today.

Number of letters about Israel (mostly harshly critical): Four.

Number of letters about Syria: Zero.

It's all about priorities, people.

Bashar al Assad would be relieved. He should consider subscribing.

Update:

Israeli ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor, February 13:
STOP standing on the sidelines watching murder after murder. . . do something

Perhaps an angry letter?

Some other interesting statistics. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has resulted in about 8000 Palestinian deaths. Note, those figures include active combatants (i.e. not just civilians) and quite a few suicide bombers as well, whose deaths are usually also used as political ammo against Isarel. 1500 Israeli lives have also been lost, and a far greater ratio of those were non-combatants, including schoolchildren and babies deliberately murdered.

However, if you ignore the context  and simply say that in 25 years, 2 intifadas and 1 Gaza war there have been 8000 Palestinian deaths,  by way of comparison the violence in Syria has had 8000 casualties so far, in less than one year. No Jews involved of course, so nobody cares.

Book, Bombs.

Prominent literary critic, Antony Loewenstein reviews Paul McGeough's new book, in the SMH.

Reading this fascinating collection of McGeough's dispatches reminds us the past decade has been filled with spurious claims of spreading democracy, torturing in the name of security and backing Zionism in the misguided belief that occupying Israel is a reliable ally. McGeough bravely tackles all these myths.

If they're "myths", why is tackling them "brave"? Myths don't chop journalists' heads off.

Loewenstein continues to fawn over Brave McGeough:

McGeough isn't afraid to document the endorsement of suicide bombing that existed in Palestine many years ago - hearing the stories of young martyrs wanting to die for the cause is both heart-breaking and tragic

People usually don't become 'martyrs' until after they die. What's tragic (besides Loewenstein's writing), is that someone would feel sorry and heartbroken for a person willing to blow themself up in the name of Allah, killing unarmed men, women and small children in restaurants, cafes, buses and discos.

It's no secret that Lowenstein backs terrorists. He once wrote that “the defeat of America and its allies in Iraq is vital”.

Whether McGeough did weep for suicide bombers or not, I can't say having not read his book. I'm not in the habit of buying books by proven liars, which would include Loewenstein and McGeough.

The glowing review also doesn't note that McGeough is Fairfax's senior foreign correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald, which published the review. Standby for Loewenstein to demand more media transparency...

Update: Via comments, Antony's bringing in huge traffic for SMH online's foray into social networking.

Perhaps this might inspire his next bestseller: "My Friends Question".

Mass Destruction

A letter in the Sydney Morning Herald smugly declares:

By this reckoning, Tony's a lightweight

A few nights ago I heard Tony Abbott describe carbon dioxide as an ''invisible, odourless, weightless, tasteless substance''. A letter in the Herald on Saturday confirmed this. According to my chemistry, carbon dioxide is not weightless: 22.4 litres of it has a mass of approximately 44 grams. If Mr Abbott can get such basic chemistry wrong, how can we trust him on climatology - it being an infinitely more complex matter? By the way, no gas on earth is weightless.

Damien McCrudden Toongabbie

If you read The Australian, you'd know:

CO2 in the atmosphere has mass but is as weightless as astronauts in space.

Don Catchpoole, Apple Tree Flat, NSW

There's a whole Wikipedia entry on Mass versus Weight which notes:

In everyday usage, the mass of an object is often referred to as its weight though these are in fact different concepts and quantities

According to my chemistry, Mr McCrudden's chemistry, and the SMH is (ahem) massively wrong.

Smug Morning Herald

A letter published in Saturday's Sydney Morning Herald from Alex Smith of Ballina:

The Sydney Morning Herald is the only balanced newspaper in Australia and is relied on by many people to get the facts without the spin.

You read it first, in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Update: Via comments, JimboK observes that not only is Mr Smith a Labor tragic, he also owes Fairfax a favour after some nice free publicity last year. Not spin, of course.

Global Warming - Worse than Hitler

An absurd letter in today's Melbourne Age:

When sacrifice is the right thing

HOW many of us are so selfish that the first questions we ask when confronted with change, are along the lines of: why should I have to pay a carbon tax? Why do I have to look for another job? Who's going to look after me? Why isn't my compensation higher? Who says $150,000 a year makes me so rich that I should have to pay this tax? Why should I change my lifestyle?

Obviously, these people are unwilling to make any kind of sacrifice. Did our forefathers question why they should fight Nazism and fascism? No, they put aside petty arguments and self-serving questions and went off to fight the enemy. Not because they wanted to, but because it was the right thing to do. Today, we are fighting a different and infinitely more dangerous enemy - global warming. This enemy will kill millions of people through famine, flood, drought and other disasters, unless we start fighting it now.

Tony Abbott is like Neville Chamberlain, who refused to believe that there was an enemy who must be defeated until it was too late. Abbott is just as blind when he says we shouldn't have a tax on carbon. Abbott will go down in history as being just as foolish and misguided as Chamberlain.

Chris and Jacki Burgess, Port Melbourne

Meanwhile, in the Sydney Morning Herald, a letter argues:

If a demonstration outside a chocolate shop, and a crucifix appearing in an anti-Abbott advertisement, are the worst examples of anti-Semitism and sectarianism that the ever-vigilant Gerard Henderson can garner, we should rejoice in Australia's tolerance (''Jews know acceptance still has its exceptions'', July 12).

Jack Sumner Eastwood

So there you have it. Global warming is a bigger threat than the Nazis, yet a bunch of antisemites forming a violent mob outside a Jewish business is no big deal.

Always the Jews...

A few days ago, the Sydney Morning Herald happily printed a claim that not only are the Jews are responsible for antisemitism, they are doing more to advance Jew-hatred than the Nazis did.

This fellow feels the same way. Watch just for a few seconds and you'll appreciate how messed up these people's views are, and wonder how such stupidity can become mainstream accepted wisdom.



Anyway, all the man had to do was look a Jewish man in the eye. It's not like had to do anything really terrible, like shake a Jew's hand.

It's all the Jews' Fault.

A disturbing letter appears in today's SMH:

Think again

The wise and timely essay by Samantha Selinger-Morris (''Old hatreds in a new medium'', July 2-3) raises an issue that should make Jewish community leaders in Australia rethink their attitudes to the growth of anti-Semitism.

Tragically this upsurge of racism is attributable directly to the perceived suffering the Israeli government has imposed on the Palestinian people. The current Israeli government is more responsible for the spread of anti-Semitism worldwide than any ratbag racist groups waving symbols of Germany in the 1930s.

To Jewish leaders in Australia, Israel can do no wrong. They have closed minds to the damage being done to the image of Jews internationally by the intransigent attitude of Netanyahu and his extremist supporters.

Intellectuals, including many more thoughtful and perceptive Jews, realise this dilemma. They should be listened to rather than dismissed as anti-Semitic.

Vincent Matthews Forestville

Get that? The Government of Israel is doing more to encourage Jew-hatred than the Nazis.

Yes, the SMH actually printed that.

The upsurge in global antisemitism must not be blamed on Israel, any more than girls wearing short skirts should be called uncovered meat and blamed for rape. I note the Islamic connection between the two arguments. Jew hatred, from Hilaly to Hamas has never been rational and it is disappointing that there are still those seeking to excuse it.

Israel's actions are simply a response to Arab antisemitism, quite clearly promoted in the Hamas charter and the Koran, both of which explicitly call for death to the Jews.

"The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews.".

Why wouldn't Israel fight against that, and how dare you accuse them of bringing it on themselves.

What certainly doesn't help, is obsessive demonisation of Israel in a media quick to believe every word the Palestinians say, despite their history of dishonesty and blood libel e.g. the "Massacre at Jenin" which never actually happened.

Earlier this week, the SMH happily reported that Israel was responsible for "Terrorist attacks" on flotilla boats, despite no evidence whatsoever - none. Only unchallenged claims by highly biased anti-Israel activists, taken at face value by the Fairfax correspondent.

Lies about the Jews certainly do lead to antisemitism and the media have a special responsibility, which they aren't meeting. Especially Fairfax, publishers of the Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age.

Every day hundreds are being killed in Syria and you'll barely read about it. Should a single 'activist' even get their hair messed up aboard the 'flotilla' however, it will be wall to wall coverage. Why the contrast? Because the tiny Jewish state is subject to a completely different set of standards, and if that isn't antisemitism, well...

Oh, and in case it wasn't completely obvious, Vincent Matthews has written plenty of letters to the editor about a certain topic. Can you guess what it is? I can only imagine how many he wrote which weren't published (must be dozens of times more based on my modest success rate). Clearly he takes human rights very seriously. Yet I didn't manage to find all those letters he's written about other countries, far, far worse than Israel. Matthews has an unhealthy obsession with the Jewish state and the SMH are happy to be its enablers.

Fairfax Declares Bankruptcy

Fairfax, publishers of the Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age has long been suspected of bankruptcy but earlier today indicated it formally.

Moral bankruptcy, that is.

See what I did there? If a person only reads the headline and/or the first paragraph of an article, they might get completely the wrong idea. Responsible journalism would aim to avoid this at all cost.

Now have a look at this article published in today's SMH:

Gaza ships hit by Israeli attack

Mark Weiss, London, London

July 2, 2011

ISRAELI saboteurs have carried out underwater ''terrorist'' attacks on two ships preparing to challenge the blockade around Gaza, activists claim.

There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever to support that headline. It is a lie. It is then followed by hearsay, passed off as fact.

It seems a Big Lie, followed by a series of other wholly unsubstantiated and unverified claims are more than good enough for the Syrian Moaning Herald Sydney Morning Herald. I mean, hey, it's only Israel and it's not like any source would ever lie about Israel. Right?

Needless to say the press will be obsessing over the Flotilla of Fools and their every move will be dissected. Meanwhile, hundreds will die in Syria and other Arab states daily, and their deaths at the hands of government won't even rate a mention.

For the record, I'd be tickled if Israel sent those boats and every terrorist aboard, to join Osama bin Laden. However knowing how completely braindead these 'activists' are, it's just as likely they screwed something up themselves, but like so many failed Arab states, will blame the Jeeew for it.

Rooted

According to today's Sydney Morning Herald 'Media' column:

The Diary: Black comedy

The bitter comic Austen Tayshus made a bit of a goose of himself on the ABC's Q&A recently, by talking over everybody unfortunate enough to have shared the rostrum with him. He even monstered the Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon, challenging her to go public about her Jewish roots, but the link is on her father's side of the family and Rhiannon does not identify as Jewish.

Do you get the impression Diary doesn't like Austen Tayshus?

I watched that episode of Q&A and don't remember any such comment, monstering, murmured or otherwise.

A quick check of the transcript also shows no such discussion whatsoever. As far as I can tell, the Sydney Morning Herald have simply made this up.

I emailed them earlier today but have not received a response. Now who's the goose? Honk!

I'm not a big fan of 'Austen Tayshus' and he did tend to be overbearing on the show, as is his schtick. However when he laid into Lee Rhiannon it was well deserved and his comments on her gross hypocrisy were spot-on. Specifically, demanding to know why she was shilling for a boycott of Israel, and a 'flotilla' of 'activists' to go there, yet say and do nothing about Syria and other countries far more deserving of opprobrium, yet completely ignored.

As expected, the best Rhiannon could come up with was a snivelling claim that it's not antisemitic to criticise Israel.

We know. The most obsessive narrow-minded critics of Israel continually remind us. However, as Thomas Freedman said:

Criticizing Israel is not anti-Semitic, and saying so is vile. But singling out Israel for opprobrium and international sanction — out of all proportion to any other party in the Middle East — is anti-Semitic, and not saying so is dishonest.

It seems there's quite a bit of dishonesty going around.

Update:

Finally received this via email.

Subject: RE: Query about today's Diary
Date: Sun, 3 Jul 2011 11:35:45 +1000
From: Diary SMH

happened in the green room before the panel entered the studio

Of course.

Immoral Equivalence

This letter appears in today's SMH:

If SEAL Team 6 isn't busy we have a couple of ''terrorists'' we need them to deal with, Paul Keating, the Barangaroo vandal, and Clover ''Cycle Track'' Moore. They are doing more damage to Sydney than Bin Laden could ever have done.

I don't think the long-suffering citizens will object to photos being released either.

Michael Stanbridge Bonnet Bay

My thoughts on Clover Moore, her dishonesty and incompetence should be apparent from this earlier post. Similarly, I'd be happy if we never heard another word from Paul Keating (or Malcolm Fraser, but that's a different story).

But to compare them to Osama bin Laden, or for that matter any other terrorist is just disgraceful. The Fairfax press have form, frequently failing to identify terrorists as that, preferring more flowery euphemisms such as 'militant' or 'fighter', to describe people who deliberately murder unarmed civilian non-combatants. Particularly where the victims are Jewish. No doubt the Fairfax mindset believes the myth that 'one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter' and seem to forget which side they should be on.

By printing that letter, the SMH have demonstrated an inability to discern good from evil.