Am I my Afghan and Pakistani sister's keeper?

PaulL

I'm not on the left at all. I couldn't imagine voting Labor. It's appalling that the Liberals have been captured by the Jewish lobby.

Your point about Russia is irrelevant. We don't treat Russia as, and Russia doesn't claim to be, a liberal secular democracy like Israel does. Russians do not constitute a well funded, well-connected lobby group which is very successful in defending Russian over Australian interests. And no, I actually have not heard of another country with so few friends abusing the relationships with those it does have like Israel does. Most countries work hard at bilateral relations and don't take the attitude that they can do what they want because a powerful local lobby group will 'fix'it.

One similarity is that both Russia and Jews suffered terribly under the Nazis. Of course, the Russians suffered much worse with perhaps 20,000,000 dead. Most people wouldn't kmow it though because there aren't multimillion dollar memorials in every major city about the Russian dead.

Dane,

Actually, its your point thats irrelevant. Few Australians will support a campaign directed solely at Israel that defends its singular focus on the grounds that Israel should do better because its a liberal democracy. Australians won't accept the outrageous double standard which says its OK to attack israel for certain types of behaviour, whilst remaining silent about similar (and often far worse) behaviour by the Palestinans and indeed anti-western regimes internatonally.

Regardless of your own personal voting habits, the BDS campaign in the west is a leftist movement. It is born out the long-time support by socialist organisations for revolutionary movements in the middle east and elsewhere. The only other historically anti-Israel group in this country is the far right nationalists. Guess which group makes up the bulk of the green movement these days? SWAMPIES. Thats who.

The BDS movement is founded upon the belief that Israel has no right to exist at all. Regardless of the supporters its attracts along the way, the goal is to destroy Israel. It seeks to achieve this by the forced amalgamation of Israel and the Palestinian territories into a single democratic state. In this single democratic state, Muslims will be the majority, and, like every other Muslim country in the world, Islam will be the state religion, and Jews will be persecuted and driven out. Anyone who has any doubts about this needs their head read.

Even if I accepted the claims that Israel discriminates against it Arab citizens, and I don't, a succesful BDS will only reverse that situation, not stamp out discrimination. It would be simply changing top dog.

Whilst I don’t agree with some of Israel’s actions, the BDS is certainly not the solution. Those who support the BDS have chosen ‘goodies’ and ‘baddies’ based upon political ideology and it bears litte resemblance to the ground truth. A two state solution is the only solution which will work for both parties. It can only be achieved by negotiation and compromise on behalf of both parties. Focusing on one side only will undoubtedly be counterproductive.

PaulL

"Actually, its your point thats irrelevant"

It was you who raised Russia not me. In any case, I am well aware Jews and Israelis find the suffering of non-Jews (goyim?) irrelevant. That was my point. To Jews and Israelis nothing else matters except Israel. Palestininas, Australians, Russians (even 20,000,000 of them), Americans...all irrelevant.

Israelis have developed an extreme siege mentality. It has led to a sort of national pschosis. I don't believe in a two state solution anymore. Israel doesn't want it anyway. Eventually they will be forced to accept majority Palestinian rule just like the white South Africans did. Many Jews will immigrate to the US but the remainder will form a minority ruling class. Look at the changes going on in the ME already. Tyrants are falling. When their neighbours become legitimate change in Israel will be inevitible. Only then, when they have made peace with their neighbours and become a regional economic powerhouse, will they become a normal country.

Dane,

You seem to be implying that I'm jewish or israeli, which is typical of the loony-lefts approach to this issue. Only jews or Israelis could possibly support Israel. Well. I'm neither, nor are the VAST majority of Australians who reject the extremism of a BDS.

You say Israel has develloped a siege mentality. Even if you had argued this point sucessfully (and all you've done is claim its a fact), you haven't demonstrated that a siege menatlity is a problem which requires an attack on Israel. In any case, how exactly do you imagine that a BDS will alleviate that?

You blather on about other peoples suffering, without stopping to acknowledge that the Jews were the victims of an orchestrated campaign to wipe them from the face of the earth. Russia suffered badly during WW2. But no-one rounded them up and executed industrial quantities of them with the express intention of wiping them out.

The attempts to compare Israel with South Africa are FRAUDULENT. The UN was responsible for the creation of Israel only 64 years ago. There is simply no legal basis for forcibly merging Israel with Palestine.

However it should be instructive to all Australians to know that those who support the BDS are truly attempting to destroy Israel. Your claim, for justification of this act, is that Israel is a liberal democracy. Could we please dwell on that for a second. You suggest that because Israel claims to be a liberal democracy, and doesn't meet the required standard, it should be merged with the territories to become a majority muslim country. This would be a country dominated by people who wallpaper their streets with the images of those who have died killing jews. And you fully accept that the end result would be that vast numbers of jews would be forced to flee the country. And you want to use the shield that the BDS is a humanitarian intervention.

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE JOKING.

ethnic cleansing by any other name is still ethnic cleansing.

• letter to Dave Smith‏

Mr. Smith, my initial reaction to you, when you chose to attack my genuine attempt to open up a reasoned dialogue about the right of Australians to see the faces of all other Australians in public was negative in the extreme. There you were- a so called man of the cloth. A better description, I believed would have been –a man of the other side of the blanket.
Israel has made positive contributions in abundance, and in many fields of endeavour. Their citizens deserve our utmost respect and support. They are our friends-our mates.
Let’s get things clear. As an Australian I will always support my mates. As an Australian I would not expect less from you. I do not see the reasoning in this instance for supporting a country at War with our friends. By boycotting, you support a tribal area that does not follow any democratic system, an area that uses its own population as human shields. It is a society on the other side of the world that stands against everything that Australians value. They have been at war for more than 70 years with their own people who are themselves divided on tribal and religious platforms.
You have a very socialist view on life. That’s your right in Australia but your contribution fosters disharmony. Socialists can progress, only when there is division and distrust in the community.
You may have dedicated your life to helping young people that have problems in life, giving a better option to these young people than their possibly committing horrid crimes in the future without you being there to protect them from themselves and their negative environments. Good on you. Nevertheless do all of us a favour and just keep doing your great work keeping these young people out of jail.
The GBDS is out of touch and out of date. You’re showing your shaky wisdom if you think that this Boycott has any chance of working. The world has changed and also how the world is to solve international issues has too. part 1