Last night on TV news: a large, female Rabbi and Member of the British House of Lords (not much downtrodden, persecuted Judeaism there) trumpeted that she was applying for German citizenship because she was very upset by Brexit, and the Germans were doing such a good job being guilty about the Nazis. Her grandparents were murdered by the Nazis, and her mother, who escaped to Britain and spent her life there, hated Germany til the day she died. Never mind that, though, Germany does a nice line in guilt, and Europe must be kept together.

Talk about a bad case of the 'Loewnsteins'. What is it with many modern Jews, including the those in Australia, defending Section 18c, along with their Muslim and Left tormentors? Do they miss being persecuted?

A non-Jew myself, I have always sympathized with Jews and particularly Israeli Jews (and non-Jewish Israelis also at risk from Palestinian terrorists). Perhaps I should be directing my sympathy elsewhere?

Hey ttbn,
I saw this article too.

The thought that came to my mind was a question of national loyalty.
If her heart really belonged to Europe, why was she a representative of the people as a member of the House of Lords?

She may have been a foreign operative if her heart was not with England and the English people.

In Australia one measure I'd like to see is a banning all people with dual-citizenship from holding office as a representative of the people.

I'm not against people who identify with other nationalities from holding office, but they must be born here.

Dear ttbn,

"Criticising Israel is not anti-Semitic and
saying so is vile. But singling out Israel for
opprobrium and international sanction - out of
all proportion to any other party in the
Middle East - is anti-Semitic, and not saying so
is dishonest."
(Thomas Friedman, 2002).

ttbn: So you are surprised that the Rabbi is prepared to forgive (if not forget) past German behaviour. Yet in this forum and elsewhere there are repeated demands that Aborigines stop whinging about the evils of the past, get over it, be good Australians. Perhaps she is just being pragmatic and seeing the advantages of German citizenship with free access and travel through Europe. We expect Aborigines to be pragmatic, and see the advantages of Australian citizenship, without holding onto past grudges, however justifiable.

Armchair Critic:
1. Surely you meant if her heart was not with Britain and the British people? The British Parliament doesn't just represent or govern for England and the English, but also for Scotland and the Scots, Northern Ireland and the Irish and Wales and the Welsh.
2. So you'd ban all people with dual-citizenship from holding office - what if they were born here and hold dual citizenship in another country, by right of descent or by marriage

Dear ttbn,

The following link explains why the lady chose
to do what she did:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/15/rabbi-german-passport-nazi-brexit-europe

Hi Cossomby,
Yes that's what I meant.
But you know in a way the whole federation thing's pretty dumb.
Individual nations should have the right to make and live by their own laws, not laws imposed by foreigners, otherwise they aren't really sovereign nations at all are they?

Might as well just reform the Soviet Union.

Yes I would ban all dual-citizenship holders from holding office.
As for the other mixtures you mentioned, no.
You don't earn the right to represent Australian people simply by having sex with one and then marrying them. No.
The only exemption I can see would be if both parents were Australian-born citizens and have a child born in a foreign country whilst visiting as tourists.

This is not about racism.
This is about making sure those who represent us have ONLY this rock named Australia and it's interests in their hearts.

You seem to support dual-citizenship leaders.
If they are only half-aussie, then in my mind they are also half foreign operative.

So No.
If you think that's prejudice then fine, it is, and it's supposed to be.
I'm prejudiced against the idea of foreigners telling us how we should or should not live in our own country, people that don't really have this nations interests at heart. Simple.

Armchair Critic: "You seem to support dual-citizenship leaders." You can't conclude that from my post. I tend to respond to posts that seem to be contradictory or inaccurate, regardless of what I think. In fact I am always amused when people here make incorrect assumptions even when I state my views quite explicitly (eg. I am not against guns, but I've been accused more than once of being a leftie/greenie gun-hater)

Some info re dual citizenship leaders. Australia has had seven prime ministers who were born elsewhere: Chris Watson (Chile), George Reid (Scotland), Andrew Fisher (Scotland), Joseph Cook (England), Billie Hughes (Wales, but born London), Julia Gillard (Wales) and Tony Abbott (England, but mother Australian). Only Gillard and Abbott were naturalised as Australians. Watson kept quite about his origins, he was actually born Johann Christian Tanck, to an Irish mother and German–Chilean father.

AC,

I am not sure that there is much "national loyalty" these days. Nor am I sure that most people know right from wrong any more. I have no tolerance for dual citizenship under any circumstances, and I cannot help being suspicious of people who want to hold dual citizenship. I am not concerned so much about foreign-born people standing for election as I am by the totally inapproriate method of selecting candidates. Simply putting up some unknown favoured by lobby groups and people with special interests other than those of an entire electorate has knobs on it.

Dear old Bob Menzies , British to his bootstraps said Poms were at war and therefore .....
It seems several Aust-born MPs are serving their egos and expense entitlements first then the country. Governor Macquarie was a Scot and did better than many local reps.

Cossomby,

I am not surprised by forgiveness; forgiveness is a wonderful thing. It does not, however, generally include applying for citizenship of the country where your grandparents were murdered just for being Jewish and your mother driven out. Besides what is the point in 'forgiving' modern Germans who are guilty of nothing?

I would say that, yes, she could be being pragmatic. However if she is looking for "advantages" not available in her country of birth, then she should relinquish the huge advantages, including her seat in the House of Lords, on gaining German citizenship. There is too much casual picking and choosing these days to make anyone believe that the pickers and choosers are sincere.

Foxy,

Everbody has a reason or excuse for what they do; some of them are convincing others are not. I am not judging this lady;I am, frankly, confused by some people these days.

Probably Brexit brings out the nashos in UK ( as Trump is doing).So maybe it's affecting this British woman : " Her father was born in the UK to German Jewish immigrants who arrived before the First World War. Her mother was a refugee from Nazi Germany, arriving at age 22 in 1937 " and she was born 1950 in UK .

Q. guess where the father of Federation was born ?

I listed only the Prime Ministers, because it wasn't till after 1901 that you were technically an Australia. Also, before then most people/politicians were immigrants.

In NSW between 1856 and 1901, only three premiers were Australian born and one of those was a bit of a foreigner anyway, born in Tasmania. Parkes, the Father of Federation was one of the non-Australian born (England). (There were 13 premierships in that time, but there were some repeats.)

There were 30 premierships between 1901 and now (a couple of repeats). The turning point seems to be about 1920-5, after which Australian-born predominate. Of the last 20 Premiers, only four were not born in Australia: two Kiwis; Greiner, Hungary, and Keneally, USA.

Nothing wrong with dual nationality, I'm a dual national, and a permanent resident of a third country. My kids are dual nationals, one born in England and the other in OZ, their kids are too. It's very convenient, and allows them to live and work in Europe, for now anyway, no-one knows what Brexit will bring.

The subject of this article seems to be making a point, she hasn't actually done anything yet, and possibly won't. If she thinks the Labour party is anti-Semitic, wait til she meets the German neo-nasties.

Dear ttbn,

That's why I gave you the link which explains
the lady's decision.

Now you should no longer be confused.

Anglo Saxons are strange:
"Anti-Catholic prejudice was still very much in the mainstream of American life when JF Kennedy decided to seek the presidency in 1960. Only one Catholic, Governor Alfred E. Smith of New York, had ever been the presidential nominee of one of the major parties."

"Outgoing PM seizes early opportunity to convert free of dilemmas of public role.. ...due to political considerations Tony Blair's conversion to Catholicism has been a long time coming.
Mr Blair was slipping into Westminster cathedral and occasionally taking communion, until the late Cardinal Basil Hume told him to stop because it was causing comment as he was not a Catholic - ..there has never been a Catholic prime minister.

But the motives of Catholic politicians have traditionally been regarded with suspicion by non-Catholics, both here and in the US, . ."

Sorry, Foxy, but you don't seem to understand what I'm saying. Best we leave there, I think.

Stories like this only get prominence because it reinforces the notion that post-Brexit Britain is definitionally racist. So for the Guardianista brigade, this story is merely a QED moment.

But you won't be hearing 'our' ABC talking about the fact that, in Germany, burning down synagogues is a mere slap on the wrist offence of that, in France, a growing number of Jews (5000+) last year are fleeing real anti-semitism for the relative safety of Israel. Those type of things don't fit the narrative and therefore become non-news.