A far better article than the teacher-bashing rubbish that Jonathan Ariel has previously written (http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=5745, http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=5669). It just goes to show that there is hope for us all.

I had never heard of the Max Brenner chocolate shops until the BDS mob came along, so I emailed a friend and we both went and had a coffee at one. The best thing people can do in response to the BDSers is to find their local Max Brenner store and patronise it.

What a bunch of nut jobs.

In what world do they think, even if their motivations for the protest were coherent, and whether one agrees with them or not, that boycotting a cafe in Parramatta somehow helps Palestinians in Gaza.

Looooony tunes.

Having said that I think it's not really about race as the author concedes they are a bunch of incoherent anti capitalists and only a small minority of Muslims and the odd skin head, so put your Jew sympathy card back in your pocket. Jeez I wish there was an expiry date on those cards.

http://www.studentsforpalestine.org/?p=320

http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=199315

http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/2847334.html

There are some good articles on the Max Brenner protests and the groups involved. This isn’t one of them.

The problem Israel faces is that it has, for decades, enjoyed the luxury of western support, and has abused this by operating covertly, by engaging in war and annexing territories, by building and resettling same territories, by having access to nuclear weapons yet refusing to sign the NPT, by denying many of its Arab/Palestinian citizens equal rights and by interfering repeatedly in international political spheres (eg, US election).

Sadly, this support - by people who are, quite frankly, fed up with their own country’s ongoing interference, increasing red tape and over-abused political correctness - is waning. Most notably, despite Bibi’s attempts, the US is entering another 4-year term under Obama, who is no friend of Netanyahu.

People are sick of hearing Israel cry foul while it repeatedly refuses to take responsibility for its actions, its Zionism and its reported oppression of Palestinians. People are sick of Israel and its people demanding apologies for what they continually cite as anti-Semitic movements, while they themselves make no such apologies for their actions. They are sick of Israel thumbing its nose at the UN when it suits them, yet using the UN for its own political gambits (Netanyahu’s exploding bomb). Frankly, they are just fed up with having to kowtow to every demand by Zionists without receiving any concession in return.

If Israel wants (nay, demands) the respect of the world, then it needs to operate as part of that world, not as a separate and self-perceived superior entity. Then, and only then, will everyone (including any protesters) be suitably content that Israel is indeed working for peace and for a solution to its own-made crisis in the ME.

Israel can no longer obfuscate its own record of human rights abuse by pointing the finger at surrounding Arab nations and their various conflicts and saying, “But look what they do to each other!” That argument will no longer wash and any protest (no matter how ill-conceived) by legitimate groups is lawful.

Hey, I thought 'The Singer' was the main source of deceptive Israeli propaganda on OLO!

I don't know that I can handle two sources. I mean, I'm only human after all.

Besides, I thought I lived in Australia, well, at least the American version of it!

Congratulations Jonathan on your bold and incisive article that finally gets to the heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict. It is so easy to blame the other side when your team loses the plot and your game suffers. And onlookers are quick to join in the blame game without understanding what is really happening.

In many ways the Arab nations are their own worst enemy and their leaders have done little to improve the lot of their people, being more focused on attacking the tiny independent State of Israel.

This latest Sydney protest against Max Brenner is just one more example of the negative power of groupthink. It is said, 'There is nothing new under the sun', and whenever crowds with nothing better to do meet in protest, they rarely understand what they are really protesting against. Go back to the 1930s and examine the groupthink of Hitler's followers. Or go back even further and hear the crowds who shouted 'Crucify Him' without understanding what they were really doing... Truly little has changed.

>>The problem Israel faces is that it has, for decades, enjoyed the luxury of western support, and has abused this by operating covertly, by engaging in war and annexing territories, by building and resettling same territories, by having access to nuclear weapons yet refusing to sign the NPT, by denying many of its Arab/Palestinian citizens equal rights and by interfering repeatedly in international political spheres (eg, US election).<<

But all will be well if you go and stand outside some cafe with a bunch of hippies and wave a placard. That will definitely help solve the Israeli-Palestine conflict.

Cheers,

Tony