Courtesy, Ron Tandberg
Get a load of this editorial headline and subheader in the 29-30 July Weekly Australian:
IT IS TIME FOR IRAN TO END THE KILLING
In Lebanon and Israel, Ahmadinejad has blood on his hands
Just to the right of this interesting projection on the deaths of 20 times more Lebanese than Israelis since Israel invaded Lebanon, are the following two letters dealing with the twin hypocrisies of: 1) Australians Asaf Namer and David Hicks, the former regarded as a hero, the latter as a terrorist, and: 2) the outrage at Lebanese-Australians refugees holding dual citizenship, while not a squeak about Asaf Namer holding dual Israeli-Australian citizenship. Read 'em and weep:
What confusing times these are. Many of the Australians who have escaped from Lebanon, when they return here, will be vilified by other Australians as "Lebos".
Asaf Namer, the 26-year-old Australian from Bondi who has just been killed in the Israeli army attack on southern Lebanon, was a sergeant in that army ("Mother begged fallen Aussie not to fight", 28/7). I wonder what we would have called him if his unit had attacked and killed any of the 12 Australian soldiers who were helping other Australians to escape from Lebanon? That would have made him an Australian killing other Australians.
What would we have called him if he'd been part of the force that killed four unarmed UN observers in southern Lebanon who were trying to do no more than observe what the Israeli forces were doing? Would we have called him a murderer, a terrorist? Would this mean that, under the same logic that has seen David Hicks locked away for years at the hands of our great friends, this Israeli-Australian soldier would have been locked up indefinitely as well? Of course not.
The Israeli forces can illegally invade another country, relying on mass punishment and indiscriminate bombardments; attack ambulances and fleeing refugees and/or blow them up if they stay where they are; and target UN observers, who were obviously dangerous people if they'd been able to report what they had observed.
Why can the Israelis do this while the world stands by and our political leaders refuse to condemn their actions? Because the lives of Arab people don't matter. The life of an Israeli-Australian matters, even though he was a volunteer soldier choosing to participate in an immoral invasion of another country in which nearly 500 innocent people have been killed for the crime of being Arab, and for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Will this Israeli-Australian soldier's name be added to the military honour rolls in Canberra for his heroic actions? Or will his former Sydney school be scrutinised by ASIO, under the anti-terror legislation, for signs of supporting religiously based war?
Stay tuned for the next chapter in the unravelling of our world, brought to you by nutcase zealots, some of whom aren't even our elected representatives.
-- James Alexander
As an Australian who also holds a passport from another country, all I can say is what a difference a day makes.
A few days ago, Australian papers throbbed with letters from writers indignant about Lebanese-Australians with dual citizenship. When there is the sad fatality of a young man who not only held both Australian and Israeli citizenship, but whose loyalties also led him to join the armed forces of Israel, there is not an indignant word.
I surmise that should a Lebanese-Australian, who, mistaking the military efforts of Israel to defend itself as an act of open war against Lebanon, make an attempt to defend that country, he will be called a terrorist. It does seem that the term terrorist is rapidly gaining a narrow ethnic application.
-- Martin Dix
Thanks to Israel's termination of Lebanon as a sovereign state the Arab world now hates the west far more than they did eighteen days ago. But this hatred will be intensified to catastrophic proportions once every Arab in the street realises just how much most Westerners hate them.
No one in the West seems to be aware that the present conflict dates back to Israel's occupation of Palestine. Furthermore:
Western priorities dominate perceptions of the region. Newspapers around the world fulminate against Iran's rudimentary nuclear power program. But how many editorialists direct a portion of their anti-nuclear wrath at nearby Israel, which, as Pilger points out, possesses between 200 and 500 thermonuclear weapons (more bombs than Britain; perhaps even more than China), not to mention well-documented chemical and biological warfare programs?
And what is the Arab in the street to think of Icy Rice's declaration that "It's time for a new Middle East"? They know exactly what she means. A Middle East shaped by the hand of a self-deluded America gone insane.
As the first letter writer said, "Stay tuned for the next chapter in the unravelling of our world."
-- Chet LaMerde
"Since when have civilians had a say in what their military/terrorist organizations do?"
-You - post Israel is terminally shamed..
This quote most certainly applies.
"Arab lives don't matter to Western rulers and their media-trained subjects"
-You, this post.
This is a half truth. You leave out the many of us who don't buy the hype.
"But this hatred will be intensified to catastrophic proportions once every Arab in the street realises just how much most Westerners hate them."
-You, this post.
The above quote is what war protesters call "War Mongering". I am a Westerner and I certainly do not hate Arabs, and most Westerners certainly don't either. I am working everyday to stop this war... but with people spreading hate, it is difficult.
In either case, I wish you well. You have every right to be mad. When you kill someone, their family and friends become allied against you. The U.S. has certainly helped to kill people over seas. This created terrorists. Then the terrorists killed our people... and this created terrorists on this side. People who had never heard of conflicts in the middle east suddenly were ready for war. This is the way of things.
The real challenge now, is how to convince Terrorists on both sides that all they are doing is breeding more terrorists? I, for one, go about pointing out when people are being categorical (all Arabs feel this way/ all westerners feel this way) as this is the main tactic used by those who would spread war. Why go kill someone that, were we not at war, I would enjoy conversation and coffee with?
Know what terrorists and governments and corporations hate most in the world? Open dialog and informed citizens.
Peace.
Posted by War protestor on March 3, 2007
I can only agree with what you say. Informed citizens are the real enemy of those "governments and corporations".
The "half truth" is, of course, just that, as the other half - you and me and Chet -- don't buy the hype.
Olney Garkle, on behalf of Chet LaMerde
Posted by Olney Garkle on March 3, 2007