Stefan
I'm not sure whether to see hyper sarcasm in your post or not :)
The thing I noted out of all that handshaking and smiling of Sharon and Abbass, was that they didnt actually agree to anything except to stop fighting. Then.. out in the wings I heard Islamic Jihad muttering about "But when they get to serious issues like Jerusalem....." etc.. so.. we all know where this 'peace' is going to lead. With Jihad and Orthodox at absolute and eternally separate poles, our best hope is the 2nd coming :)

Josh: I am a pretty sceptical guy. The material I cite on rising Anti-Semitism is almost exclusively from non-Jewish and non-conservative sources.

All ethnic groups and minorities have some self-interest in what they argue. This is just as true for Arab or Palestinian communities, Greek/Turkish, Serbian/Croatian - whatever you want to name. The Jews are no better or worse on this.

You call Jews a powerful and influential group. Most Jews see themselves as historically oppressed victims. The current reality is somewhere in between as we note in our new book, Jews and Australian Politics. I would have thought anyone on the Left would understand only 60 years after the Holocaust that talking about "Jewish power" in less than careful terms and context is only playing into the hands of the far Right.

Philip

What a bleak vision, Boaz, you can only see eternal bloodshed between people, and you cannot see the possibility of peace. Sure, it is unlikely to be forever, but that is our human endeavour, to keep on trying to make a better world. Its all in the journey Boaz. And for the sake of our children, most of us are not prepared to down tools and wait for the second coming...

I wonder if our Josh is the same guy who is advertised in Green Left Weekly as organizing protests against the forthcoming visit of the Israeli President Moshe Katzav.

As an aside, for those who think our Monash Conference was part of some sort of right-wing Zionist conspiracy, think again. One wag has provided strong "evidence" that it was allegedly a plot by "left-wing academics". See below

From: michael burd mburd@bigpond.net.au
Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2005 10:35:26 +1100
Subject: Was the Anti Semitism Conference Hijacked by the Left?
To: Undisclosed-Recipient


When some people {including International speakers } questioned why
were there were so many speakers at the Anti Semitism conference that were so " anti Zionist "and so unsympathetic to the struggle of the Jews in Israeli it was argued that we must hear all sides and the left and anti Zionists have a right to their views.{regardless if the "anti Semitism conference "was the correct venue for these type of Views to be heard ]

I expect that these same people will have "no objection" to opposing views
and would "encourage "others like my self to also have the same privilege.
{Perhaps a group should be formed called "Jews against Anti Zionist Jews" to offset 'Jews against the occupation" Jews for peace" and AJDS and all the
other "obscure" Jewish groups who align them selves to some of the most
virulent anti Israel organizations in Australia.

In reponse to some people that didn’t attend the conference and
asked what I thought about it..As a supporter of the anti-Semitism conference being held at Monash University Sunday 6 and Monday 7 th I was bitterly disappointed in the" make up" of speakers for this important international conference. I was certainly not expecting so many left wing anti Israel speakers {I was certainly not the only one with that concern including some of the International speakers!}

How ever when I discovered the speakers were selected by "left wing
Jewish Academics ''I could under stand why there were so many left
wing anti Zionist both Jew and none Jews invited. Speakers included self confessed Jewish Anti Zionist Jack Glanz {S 11 fame}, Ian Cohen MP of the" Greens" who described Israel as a "Bully" and stole water from the Palestinians and told us stories about his Palestinian fellow MP,s one of them who claims the IDF killed his sister, stories about how he was in Israel 25 years ago and his mail was opened and all sorts of scary stories about those ugly Israelis. Obviously Mr Cohen had a bad meal in a Tel Aviv cafe 25 years ago and decided to join an anti Israel party and get even![ I Note his foreign affairs spokes man according to today's Australian is
demanding the Government come clean on the Israeli spy affair the
Greens wish to make mileage out of more anti Israel press] That's all
the greens have to worry about!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then there was Vivienne Porzsolt {Jews against Occupation} you know
she's the one right now canvassing funds for full pages adds in
the Age and SMH to coincide with the visiting Israeli president next
week to tell Australians how Israel is inhumane ,and the wall doesn't
save lives and the usual anti Israel pro Palestinian stuff just like
that the other anti Israel obscure group affiliated with JCCV normally
come out with OH Vivienne told her audience that Jews were paranoid and Anti Semitism was exaggerated..I.m Surprised the Age didn’t pick up on that they would have loved it....When I approached her to ask her if she
reached her target of $24000 needed to place the two adds in the Age
and SMH she was busy talking to Sol Salbe {editor of Australian Jewish
Democratic society, affiliated with JCCV}{.I guess to them I am
considered the enemy!}

Salbe immediately told me to go away I guess they were both
busy discussing strategy of how to embarrass the visiting Israeli president next week Salbe was in charge of letting those in the Islamic community know that the President was coming { salbe sends out email alerts of visiting Israelis and Jews } in his email he also recommends his followers to
make banners with the words.". Katzav the Butcher""

There were speakers from Socialist Alliance{according to their web
site newspaper Green left weekly they are supported by John Pilger}
advocates of the Muslim community and alledged terrorist and self
confessed anti Semite David Hicks as well as supporters of the
Palestinians. There were ALP MPs..and other assorted anti
Zionists...

{yes this was a anti Semitism conference!}..Representatives of the
Print media were there Age, Herald Sun and SMH. Of course when
asked about their one sided coverage of the Middle east they all said
"who me"" bias never!!! No Andrew Bolt wasn’t there surprise
surprise!!

{ you know there is no media bias, there are no terrorists and
according to Vivienne Porzsolt no anti Semitism..I should have played
golf on Sunday as according some of the speakers there are no problems
at all}

Luckily the International Speakers { who I guess may not have
been invited by our academic Friends } were the High light..
Itamar Marcus from Palestinian media watch was fantastic..
Daniel Pipes was his usual self no holding back tells it as
it is { not scared to offend ,like all others] Dina Porat from Israel was great.. Stanley Waterman {Uk ] confirmed what I thought UK anti Semitism is definitely "underrated" and I believe on a par with France{Only they are much cleverer in hiding it} and Locally Jeremy Jones was very good as usual..

On the last day even after what Itamar Marcus Daniel Pipes ,Dina
Porat and others told us of the hatred and dangers going on in the Palestinian and Arab world and the trouble Muslims are making for Jews world wide ,Our Mark Baker suggested we Jews look at our inner selves
look after refugees and the threats to Jews will all go away.
Thank g-D Nina Bassat had the last say and told Mark Baker to get
real! Colin Rubenstein summed it up and suggested the conference had been hijacked by the left!!!

In my humble opinion I fear many non Jews and the Media would
have walked away totally confused!!

Phil.....quite well put.

2 comments.

Firstly, with regard to the conference, the various antagonistic factions, sound more like the Zealots and the Priestly party who were fighting each other in Jerusalem right up to the moment when the Roman Battering Rams hit the gates in AD70.(Reported by Flavius Josephus ) Certainly not good for Jewish Unity.

Secondly. On the issue of Jewish Influence which came up in some of the posts. I find it a little worrying that of the Victorian Federal Court Judges, some 6 or more of the Judges are Jewish, out of something like 12 all up. It sounds just a bit like over-representation, and if an issue of importance Jewish interest came before the court, one wonders if impartiality could or would be guaranteed. Recent evidence in VCAT suggests that Judges are more prone to do what their political masters (or friends) bid, than interpret the Law as it stands.
But then, we all know that Jewish people are above such things .. right ? (in contrast to every other group on the planet)

When reading debates on Middle East problems I've become weary of the highly developed hysteria presented by Israeli apologists.

My patience with these people has worn thin. I was an ardent supporter of Israel but when I saw that they weren’t returning land captured in 1967 I was quite disappointed. It was then that I started to listen to other's viewpoints. I’ve discovered that Jews have a highly organized propaganda machine. They have considerable influence in the media and the motion picture industry to gain public sypmpathy by ensuring that the history of their persecution is well known throughout the world while glossing over the fact that Palestinians are being persecuted too.

When I see a pro Israeli article I look to see if it’s been submitted by a person with a Jewish name and if this is the case I ignore it. David Boaz is an example of Jewish apologist who cannot see anything but good in Israel’s policies and evil in what Palestine does.

His twenty two posts of the forty seven total are an example of the zeal that Jews demonstrate in spreading their bigoted views to justify Israel’s appalling human rights record and other illegal activities. People like him, through their bigotry have caused many non Jewish people to lose their sympathy for Israel. I wish for peace in the middle-east but I no longer have any sympathy for Israelis when they are killed. My sympathy is for the far greater number of dead Palestinians.