I’m afraid I don’t see the relevance of a massacre that was committed by Maronite Christians when Gilad Shalit wasn’t even born. But you do, rexw, because you say that Gilad Shalit is “of the same stock”. Well, I don’t subscribe to your racist views, and I won’t be responding to any more comments by racists and anti-Semites. I think most sensible people are quite capable of seeing through your propaganda for themselves.

Our very active (today) Mishka writer from Tasmania, ‘politically unaligned’, has been duped once again or is just another party to the great deception regarding this “Palestinian journalist”, Khaled Abu Toameh who is truly an Israeli journalist recently in Australia on a speaking tour addressing Unions, NSW Officers and interested affiliates.

He was being presented as an "independent" Palestinian journalist and a Moslem, while he is, in fact, an Israeli emissary. His task is to give a poor picture of Palestinians and a glowing picture of Israel. He is on the Israeli payroll and writes for the right-wing Israeli newspaper 'The Jerusalem Post'. Check it out, Graham..

Israel and the Israeli lobby around the world organise visits and speaking tours for him to spread Israeli propaganda just as Gillard sends politicians to Israel for “Leadership Conferences. Check it out, Graham.

Par for the course. We have seen it all before. An Israeli propagandist who seems able to blindside the likes of Mishka. Strange how she quoted him. Does make one wonder?

While it is true he wrote for the Palestinian newspaper Al Fajr in its early years, now known as mainly designed to use at a later date to gain credibility and appear as a sincere critic. Al Fajr is not and never was 'an official PLO newspaper as he still claims.

In an address he gave to the Middle East Forum in Philadelphia, an extremist Zionist organization founded in 1990 by Daniel Pipes, he criticized the Palestinian media and journalists for being progressives and defending their people’s rights
He accuses the Western media as being misled by the Palestinians saying: “People in the rest of the world therefore do not get an accurate picture of what happens in the region. The bulk of the blame, however, rests with the PA, whose tyrannical approach and control of the media creates an atmosphere of intimidation and fear among Palestinian journalists.”

“Control of the media?” Really?

Read him in the Jerusalem Post. He is accredited to them.

Thought you should all know the real story. This may not get printed though

Savvas, you clearly don’t understand the ramifications of Eatock vs Bolt. Online Opinion is responsible for the comments because it publishes them, and the comments were pretty offensive. I personally would have preferred them to remain, because I believe in free speech and the deleted comments demonstrated the character of those criticising my article and Israel. The comments were racist, defamatory, irrational, and totally unfounded. However, whoever moderates this site made the sensible decision to avoid the risk of litigation. There are very few places in Australia where political correctness hasn’t stifled debate, and I would hate to see Online Opinion disappear due to some rather virulent and shallow comments.

P.S. rexw, if you read my post you will see that I (correctly) called Khaled Abu Toameh an “Israeli Arab” so your point is pretty meaningless. Yes, he’s an Israeli like hundreds of thousands of other Arabs. You see, in Israel, you can be Arab and Muslim AND Israeli.

@halduell, I am well aware of the historical debate regarding the Baghdad bombings, but even if they were conducted by Zionists (and I think the evidence suggests otherwise) they occurred in the context of Jews already frantically trying to escape Iraq, and Israel struggling to absorb the massive numbers of refugees. You are ignoring widespread persecution of Jews across the entire Middle East, not to mention the fact that most Arab countries won't even recognise Israel's right to exist, let alone accord Jews basic human rights.

[Deleted on the author's own recommendation.]

Mishka Gòra

The anguish evident in this script may be the price for a life blessed with health, comfort and scarce sensitivity of other people’s needs.