A Supreme
Court judge has concluded that Dr Fredrick Toben was using a defamation action
in court to espouse his views questioning the Holocaust. His case against “The
Australian” was dismissed and was described as an abuse of process.
Fredrick Toben, Holocaust denier
Fredrick
Toben, who gained notoriety when his promotion of claims regarding Jews and the
Nazi genocide were judged to be in breach of Australian law, and subsequently
served jail time for contempt of court, has failed in yet another legal matter.
In this latest case, Toben, represented by Barrister Clive
Evatt, brought defamation proceedings against The Australian newspaper
editor Clive Mathieson, Senior Reporter Christian Kerr and former Greens leader
Christine Milne, after Milne’s description of Toben as a person who fabricated
history and spread antisemitism was published by the paper.
Justice Lucy McCallum of the Supreme Court of NSW ruled that
Toben had been attempting to “manipulate the process of the Court to
create a forum” in arguing the very propositions which he had claimed it was
defamatory to accuse him of holding, those being Holocaust denial and broader
antisemitic propositions.
In 2012, Toben failed in a similar case brought against Jeremy
Jones AM, the Director of International and Community Affairs of the
Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council.
In a comprehensive judgment, Justice McCallum outlined the
series of legal matters relating to the promotion of racial hatred involving
Fredrick Toben, which had commenced when Jones, in his capacity as an elected
officer of The Executive Council of Australian Jewry, had lodged a complaint to
the Human Rights Commission on 31 May 1996.
Decisions in the Human Rights Commission and the Federal Court,
in a series of judgements between 2000 and 2009, consistently went against
Toben and in favour of Jones, culminating in Toben suing Jones in 2012
for allegedly for implying that Toben was an antisemite, had falsely said
the influence of the Talmud was pervasive and falsely claimed that received
knowledge of the Shoah was “a mass fraud perpetrated on humanity”.
The judgment by Justice McCallum detailed the grounds on which
allegations had been made against Toben, their validity and Toben’s behaviour
in various court proceedings.
Justice McCallum was satisfied that Toben was cynically
attempting to represent himself as a philosophical enquirer when he was a
person with firm views, and that he did not have “the least interest in
vindicating his reputation”, but, simply was seeking a platform to promote
views which the Federal Court had already found to be in breach of the Racial
Discrimination Act...
The Technion in Haifa has signed Memoranda of Understanding with Macquarie University in Sydney and the University of Western Australia ...
Professor Wayne Kaplan, Peter Hersh and Professor Robyn Owens at the UWA signing
“The Technion, Israel’s foremost high-tech, scientific and engineering university, is continuing to build collaboration with other leading universities throughout the world,” said Technion Australia president Dr Ruth Ratner.
“With its track record in innovation and particularly through its alumni, entrepreneurship, the Technion is a hotly sought after partner by the world’s leading universities. It receives two requests each day and as a relatively small university (13,000 students and 600 faculty) it has had to become selective in choosing partners.”
“In this context, for the Technion to sign agreements with two Australian universities within 6 months is a testimonial to the quality of research at these universities and a reflection of the high esteem that each holds for the other,” she said.
Asso. Prof Judirh Dawes, Dr Ruth Ratner, Prof. Sakkie Pretorius and Ken Lander at the Macquarie signing
Both agreements facilitate student exchange and academic exchange as well as research collaboration.
The UWA agreement was signed by UWA Deputy Vice Chancellor Research, Professor Robyn Owens, and Technion Executive Vice President Research, Professor Wayne Kaplan, during the annual Technion Board of Governors’ Meeting. Australian Technion Governor, Peter Hersh, hosted a UWA delegation at the Governors meeting.
The Macquarie University agreement was exchanged at a small ceremony in Sydney by Technion Australia president and Australian Technion Governor, Dr Ratner, and Macquarie Deputy Vice Chancellor Research, Professor Sakkie Pretorius.
Technion Australia is working with UWA and the Technion Automated Systems Program to develop a major research collaboration in the area of automated system for marine gas engineering. The project was selected after discussions with a number of potential partners, industry groups and the Western Australia Government.
“Our aim is to develop a project that will benefit both Australia and Israel. UWA has a world leading position in marine gas engineering and the Technion has a similar reputation in automated systems. The continuing challenges of gas fields in the North West Shelf off Western Australia and new discoveries of gas off the coast of Israel make this a national priority in both countries,” Dr Ratner said.
Macquarie University has leading researchers in fields as varied as biblical archaeology, quantum physics, environmental sciences and biomedical engineering. Similarly to the Technion it is breaking new ground in multi-disciplinary research.
“There are already a number of individual collaborations underway and there is much enthusiasm at Macquarie to partner with Technion researchers in a major project,” Dr Ratner added.
The Technion also has agreements with University of NSW, Sydney University, University of Technology Sydney, Newcastle University, Melbourne University, Monash University and Swinburne University.
Senator REYNOLDS(Western
Australia) (20:05): Last week, I had the great privilege of joining the
Australian Strategic Policy Institute in Tel Aviv as a participant in the
inaugural Beer Sheva Dialogue between ASPI and the Begin-Sadat Center for
Strategic Studies. It was my first visit to the Middle East, and it was an
extraordinary, eye-opening time to be there, during the current period of
regional upheaval and transition. You can only learn so much from books and
maps, as this visit absolutely demonstrated to me.
The Australian delegation included ASPI
staff, ably led by Anthony Bergin; the Australian Ambassador, Dave Sharma; my
parliamentary colleagues Gai Brodtmann, the member for Canberra, and the Hon.
Mark Dreyfus MP, the shadow Attorney-General. The delegation also included Mr
Allan Gyngell, Major General Gus McLachlan and Major General Jim Molan,
retired. The Israeli delegation was led by Professor Efraim Inbar, the
irrepressible director of the Begin-Sadat institute. It included esteemed
academics such as Dr Max Singer, founder of the Hudson Institute, and a wide
range of senior military and civilian representatives of the Israeli government
and the Israel Defense Forces. Most fittingly, this dialogue was named in
honour of the famous charge of the Australian 4th Light Horse Brigade. The
Australian embassy organised two wonderfully memorable commemoration ceremonies
in Beersheba at the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery and at the Park of the
Australian Soldier.
This most famous of battles is not widely
known today amongst many Australians, but it was a decisive turning point in
the First World War, so I would like to take a few moments to share the story
with you. Ninety eight years ago, in October 1917, the outcome of the First
World War was in no way preordained. At that time, the failure of the
Dardanelles campaign, a military catastrophe in Mesopotamia and the setbacks on
the Western Front had all combined to greatly damage the Allies' morale. The
Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian empire and Germany were all holding fast.
Two allied attempts to break the Turkish defensive line running from Gaza, on
the coast, to Beersheba, 43 kilometres inland, had failed and the town of
Beersheba itself remained in the hands of the Ottoman Empire. A last desperate
push was required if Beersheba and its critically important seven wells were to
be captured. It was essential to the success of the Commander of the Egyptian
Expeditionary Force, General Allenby's, campaign plan.
And so it was that, at 4.30 in the
afternoon on 31 October, the 4th and 12th light-horse regiments of the 4th
Brigade drew up behind a ridge some four miles south-east of Beersheba, and
moved off. Following close behind were supporting forces from the 11th Light
Horse Regiment and from the 5th and 7th mounted brigades. Facing sustained
enemy fire but moving fast, the mounted infantry quickly fell upon enemy lines.
They jumped the trenches, dismounted and then entered the trenches on foot,
clearing them with both rifle and bayonet. Though outnumbered, the momentum and
the sheer audacity of this surprise attack carried them through the Turkish
defences. The light-horsemen took less than an hour to overrun these trenches
and, finally, successfully enter Beersheba. The city was captured by nightfall
and the Gaza-Beersheba defensive line was finally broken. It was the success
and the desperation of the charge, late in the day and by mounted infantry, not
mounted cavalry, that has earned it an enduring place in Australian history and
also in the history of the First World War. Their success was due not only to
their courage but also to their ability to take the initiative, take risks and
be disruptive—characteristics that have continued to serve our nation well in
successive generations of service men and women and are today seen in our
innovators and our entrepreneurs.
At the Beer Sheva Dialogue, Major General
Molan reflected on a question he and many of us in this place are often asked:
why does Australia get itself involved so often in other people's wars? The
simple fact is that we get involved as it is in our national interest to do so.
Our national interests extend well beyond our sea borders. Australian military
involvement in the Middle East continues today and it is likely to continue for
the foreseeable future. Today, 1,700 ADF personnel are deployed in the Middle
East on seven separate operations.
On my visit to Beersheba, I met Defence
personnel at the Beersheba ceremonies serving in two longstanding regional
operations. Firstly, I met personnel from Operation Paladin, which supports the
United Nations Truce Supervision Organization, UNTSO, which itself was
established in 1948 to supervise the truce agreed at the conclusion of the
first Arab-Israeli war. Since 1956, members of the Australian contingent have supported
UNTSO, with 25 personnel currently on deployment in Operation Paladin.
Secondly, I met personnel from Operation Mazurka, which supports the
Multinational Force and Observers, a non-UN organisation established in 1981 to
oversee longstanding regional peace agreements. We currently have 12 military
personnel deployed in the Sinai, an increasingly unstable region with the rise
of the ISIS affiliated Al Wilayat Sinai, now speculated to be responsible for
the downing of the Russian MetroJet flight.
The Beer Sheva Dialogue was highly
successful and both delegations discovered there is much to learn from one
another. Discussions ranged across counterinsurgency, urban intelligence
gathering, coalition war fighting, countering improvised explosive devices, the
use of reservists, military procurement processes, and military and civilian
resilience. Also in Israel at the commemorative ceremony, somewhat fittingly,
was Minister Roy leading an innovation delegation. For me, one of the most
significant insights from the trip was Israel's success in high-tech
innovations, patents and start-ups. Today, Israel generates more start-ups and
venture capital investment than Japan, China, the US, Canada or the UK. It was
very clear to me that key to this success was the symbiotic link between Israel
as a start-up nation and the Israeli Defence Forces ecosystem. As a result of
this visit, I am delighted to advise that the Chief Scientist of Israel, Avi
Hasson, a world expert on fostering an innovation ecosystem, has accepted an
invitation to address the parliamentary friendship groups that I co-chair with
Gai Brodtmann and Senator Dio Wang, the defence and innovation parliamentary
friendship groups, later this month.
I would like to conclude by thanking both
ASPI and the Begin-Sadat institute on the resounding success of this inaugural
dialogue. But, as we all know in this place, successful events such as these
never just happen. They are a result of extensive hard work by many people. So
I give my particular thanks to ASPI. Peter Jennings, your team did an
outstanding job. I give particular thanks to Mr Anthony Bergen, your deputy,
and also to Mr David Lang, who successfully herded cats all around Israel and
contributed to it being such a success. I also give my particular thanks to
AIJAC—Mr Colin Rubenstein and Mr Ahron Shapiro worked very hard to make it the
success that it was. I give a special acknowledgement and thankyou to Mr Zeke
Solomon for your companionship and your support.
A very special thank you and acknowledgement
go to our ambassador, Mr Dave Sharma, and to his team in Tel Aviv. They all
provided very dedicated and very professional support, which, again, greatly
contributed to the success of this visit.
Lastly, my particular thanks go to the
Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, and in particular to Professor Inbar,
the director of the institute, and to his large team. We hope that you realised
as much benefit from this as the Australian delegation did, and we certainly
look forward to future delegations and dialogues.
Finally, and, I think, most wonderfully, as
a result of this delegation, on this eve of Remembrance Day, it was very clear
that the legacy and spirit of our light-horsemen, who so distinguished
themselves at Beersheba, live on. Lest we forget.
In December last year, in
Sydney, a man called Man Haron Monis walked into the Lindt café in Sydney armed
with a shotgun and took 18 people hostage. The ensuing siege saw two innocent
people die, including café manager Tori Johnson who was shot and killed by the
gunman.
The hostage-taking terrorist
was killed by police as they stormed the café. Does anyone think they were
wrong to do so?
Last month, Farhad Khalil
Mohammad Jabar, a radicalised 15-year-old jihadist, shot and killed Curtis
Cheng, an unarmed police civilian finance worker, outside the New South
Wales Police Force headquarters in Parramatta.
In the ensuing exchange of gunfire, the terrorist was subsequently shot and
killed by special constables who were protecting the police station.
Does anyone think they were wrong to do so?
His two confederates, who
armed and trained him, were also arrested. Does anyone think it wrong of the
police to do so?
Just one week ago, in La
Trobe St in Melbourne, a man armed with a meat cleaver and calling himself a
“messiah of Islam” held up a café for 2 hours before he was arrested and
charged.
Does anyone think it was
wrong of the police to do so?
These questions answer
themselves. Every Australian would support our police forces, our emergency
responders, in their goal of protecting the public from violent criminals out
to do us harm.
And yet, on the streets of
Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa, a coordinated campaign of violence against
Israelis – a campaign of stabbing innocent people as they wait for a bus or go
to school – is met with the suggestion that Israel is to blame. That the
victims of murder and attempted murder, targeted for no reason other than they
are Jewish, are at fault for the crimes committed against them!
This has been described as
Israel “continuing to wage a daily war against the Palestinians”. It has been
called a war crime. Israel has been criticised for “disproportionate casualty
numbers” and had it said that this ‘reflects the power imbalance between the
parties”. In short, Israel has been blamed for violence against its own
citizens and condemned for protecting them from terrorism.
This is wrong.
And we are here today say it
is wrong.
We are here today to say that
people deserve the right to live in peace. But we are also here to reject the
double standards and the false morality that says while we would not accept
violence on our streets here in Australia, somehow the Jews must accept it in
Israel.
Because they are Jews.
My friends, this is not
merely wrong, but dangerously close to anti-Semitism.
It springs from a worldview
that says Israel is to blame for the latest violence – when it is the
Palestinian leadership calling for its young men and women to go into the
streets and stab innocent civilians.
It is of a piece with those,
like the UN Secretary general, who call on Israel to show “maximum restraint” –
while the Palestinian leadership calls “holy’ every drop of blood that is
spilled in Jerusalem.
It shares the same false
premise as those who say that Israel is the roadblock on the path to peace –
when the truth is that every time the Israeli people have offered a settlement
to the Palestinians they have been told, “no”.
My friend and colleague
Michael Danby said a week ago that, "It's very wrong to compare people
with knives in their hands to people with knives in their chests". He has
never been more right.
We will have none of these
false comparisons. We will have none of these excuses.
We stand with Israel not
because we want to simply pick a side, pick a team, and barrack uncritically.
We stand with Israel because incitement to violence and the pursuit of genocide
can never be justified. We stand with Israel because we stand against
terrorism. We stand with Israel because we stand for the truth of history, for
the principles of justice and peace and for the right of Israelis – Jewish,
Arab, Druze or Christian – to live in peace and safety.
Friends, you know better than
I that the tide of anti-Semitism is rising, even here in our multicultural and
tolerant Australia. That the tide of anti-Israel sentiment, fed by lies,
distortion and ignorance, rises as well.
Well,
I want to say today that whether in the Parliament, in the Labor Party or in
the community you have a friend in me.
There are many good men and
women in the Parliament willing to stand up and speak for Israel – Senator
Smith here today is one, as is my Labor colleague Senator Glenn Sterle. There
are many good men and women in all parties fighting for the truth about Israel
and standing up for the Jewish community.
We will continue to oppose
terrorism - at home or abroad, in Australia or in Israel. We will continue to
speak out against the cranks and fanatics who would blame the ills of the whole
world on Israel. We will continue to do everything we can to combat
anti-Semitism.
I call on the Palestinian
leadership to renounce violence, to condemn terror attacks, to accept the right
of Israel to exist as the national home of the Jewish people and to show a genuine commitment to peace.
I know you join me in this,
and I know you will continue to support our efforts to see truth prevail.
I stand with you.
Senator Joe Bullock Senator Joe Bullock was
elected to the Senate in 2014, after nearly forty years representing shop
assistants as an official of the retail employees association, the SDA. He has
served on the ALP’s National Executive, as well as spending 19 years on WA Labor’s
Administrative Committee and as the State Vice-President of Labor here in WA.
Since
taking his seat Senator Bullock has been a strong and vocal supporter of Israel
and of the Jewish community. In the wake of the Har Nof terror attacks in
Jerusalem last year, his speech to the Senate standing in solidarity with the
victims went viral around the world - particularly in Israel. He is known in
the Labor Party and beyond for his principled approach to politics and his
willingness to stand up for what is right, even if it might sometimes be
unpopular or “politically incorrect”. As a
committed Christian, he believes passionately in freedom of religion and the
rights of all people to practise their faith free from fear or persecution.
He’s back from Canberra this weekend and we value his support, not just today
but over many years – Senator Joe Bullock.
Thank you for the chance to be here today at
this important gathering, to show our support for Israel and say it is not good
enough for the world to ignore what has been a despicable campaign of
incitement, of violence and of murder against the citizens of that democratic
state. Australia is a stanch supporter of the state
of Israel. We have been a strong supporter of Israel since its creation, and
that support has flowed from governments of both political hues.
This is not a partisan issue, and I’m very
pleased to have been joined here today by my WA Labor Senate colleague, Senator
Joe Bullock.
Because however Australians choose to vote
come election time, there are certain values that unite us.
And chief among those is our enduring belief
that the citizens of a democratic nation have the right to live peacefully and
be secure within their own borders.
What has been occurring recently, with the
campaign of incitement to violence and the murder of Israeli citizens at the
hands of terrorists offends every value that decent Australians hold dear.
No Australian of conscience could possibly
hold sympathy with or defend the outrageous behaviour of some Palestinian
clerics, who actively encourage their followers to murder Jews at random on the
streets of Afula, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
No Australian of conscience could possibly
support the words of Palestinian President Abbas – a self-proclaimed ‘moderate’
– who has told his people that “every drop of blood spilled in Jerusalem is
pure”, and said that murderers will be “rewarded by God”.
No Australian of conscience should be happy
with a situation where new generations of Palestinians are having their minds
poisoned through vile, anti-Semitic propaganda campaigns that only serve to
make the already difficult goal of peace even more unlikely.
And to those Australians who think that what
is happening in Israel is a long way away and doesn’t affect them, I simply
point out that the values for which Israel stands – personal freedom and
democracy above all else – are also the values for which Australia stands, and
which Australians have fought and died to protect for generations.
I am proud to be here today with all of you,
to stand with Israel and to say we reject the campaigns of hatred and of
violence against Israeli citizens by the enemies of freedom and democracy. Senator Dean Smith
Since becoming a Senator for Western
Australia in May 2012, Dean Smith has been a strong voice for WA, and an active
champion of WA regional interests, especially in the areas of
telecommunications, road infrastructure and aged care.
He also took the initiative of
reaching out to the WA Jewish Community, meeting our leaders and expressing his
admiration and support for the community and for Israel.
In October 2015, he was elected to
the position of Government Deputy Whip in the Senate.
He is very active in Parliamentary
Committees on Public Works, Human Rights, Finance and Public Administration,
the National Broadband Network, Northern Australia, and Public Accounts and
Audit.
Senator Smith is a fervent believer
in limited government, promoting personal responsibility and liberty, and
strengthening Australian Federalism. Beginning in January 2015, he has been a
regular columnist in Australia’s leading business and financial newspaper, The
Australian Financial Review.
Prior to entering the Senate he had
almost 25 years’ experience working across both State and Federal Governments.
He worked as Principal Policy Adviser to former WA Premier Richard Court, an
Adviser to former Prime Minister John Howard and various Federal Government
Ministers.
Senator Smith also has 10 years commercial
experience as a senior executive with Insurance Australia Group (IAG), and
SingTel Optus.
