Brave act of "resistance" praised – attack on a 9-year-old Israeli girl

From AIJAC, 9 October 2013, by Sharyn Mittelman:

A nine-year-old Israeli girl, Noam Glick, was reportedly stabbed in the chest on Saturday night while playing outside her home in Psagot, a West Bank settlement southeast of Ramallah, in what Israeli authorities suspect was an attack by a Palestinian who had broken into the settlement from a nearby village. (Initial reports that the girl was shot proved to be incorrect.) The girl is reportedly in a stable condition at a Jerusalem hospital. Israel's Defence Forces said the incident was ''being investigated as a possible terrorist attack''.

This latest attack follows two other attacks about three weeks ago - the kidnapping and killing of soldier Tomer Hazan by a Palestinian in Qalqilyah and the shooting of 20-year-old IDF soldier Gavriel Kobi in Hebron.

Disturbingly, Fatah's official Facebook page appears to have praised the stabbing - though under the false impression that it was a shooting supposedly committed by the same individual that shot Kobi. Palestinian Media Watch reported,

"Writing on behalf of Fatah, the page administrator praised ‘the sniper of Palestine' who began his work in Hebron (the shooting of the soldier), passed through El-Bireh (the shooting of the girl), and - according to the Fatah Facebook page administrator - will continue in more places in the future'".

A translation of the posting on the Fatah Facebook page reportedly stated:

"The sniper of Palestine was here. He saluted Hebron, and rested in El-Bireh. He left the signature of [real] men in different parts of the homeland. He saluted and left, and moved on to a different place, with a new signature, as he tells the stories of those who love the homeland."

In a meeting with Israeli Knesset members, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas later issued a somewhat ambiguous condemnation of the incident - mentioning it along with Palestinians that have been killed, saying: "Two days ago a girl was shot or stabbed. That is not the topic of discussion for today. Four Palestinians were killed in Kalandiya, too... We should all condemn murder and bloodshed of innocents."

Meanwhile Hamas' website Al-Qassam also reported on the attack by a "resistance fighter" without ever mentioning that the "settler" shot was a nine-year-old girl. It stated:

"A Jewish female settlers was seriously wounded on Saturday in a possible sniper attack in Psagot settlement to the northeast of Ramallah city, the Israeli police claimed. The Israeli police are still investigating all options, including the possibility that the Psagot settlement was infiltrated by a Palestinian resistance fighter, according to different media reports. The Israeli settler was shot outside her dwelling and taken to an Israeli hospital in occupied Jerusalem. Israelis claim she is in critical condition, although media pictures of her show otherwise..."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the stabbing in Psagot as "a heinous attack" which he blamed on Palestinian incitement. Netanyahu said at the start of Sunday's cabinet briefing:

"I must say that the Palestinian Authority cannot shirk its responsibility for these kinds of incidents as long as incitement there continues... The murderers must understand that this won't help them."

Despite a long period of relative calm, Israeli officials and military observers are concerned that tensions in the West Bank could escalate into an intifada. Former IDF Central Command chief Gadi Shamni told Army Radio:

"The events of the past month may lead to an escalation in the West Bank... It's very difficult to determine if this is the start of an intifada... However, we have here the evidence of three separate events. We need to look at them. They may not be related to each other, but I have no doubt that once events such as these occur, this can encourage all sorts of people who might not have acted, to act."

 

HonetsReporting / NSWJBD Mission to Israel: 18-26 November 2013

Honest Reporting Mission to Israel 2013

DON'T MISS Prof Efraim Inbar: Tues 15 October @ 7:30pm

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AICC (WA) Visit to Israel 28 November to 4 December 2013

Following the success of our four recent Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce [AICC(WA)] Missions to Israel, being the inaugural trip in 2008 with 19 WA delegates (led by Professor Lyn Beazley AO FTSE CIE Chief Scientist of Western Australia) and subsequent visits in 2009, 2010 with 15 delegates and last November’s Mission, the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce...

AICC(WA) will be conducting anotherseven day visit from 28th November to 4 December 2013

 

The Mission will be led by

Kevin Skipworth CVO, Agent General for the WA Government (European Office). 

 

The focus of the trip will be on relationship building, business development and knowledge exchange in a multitude of industry sectors in areas of your interest and specific to your work. Typically included are areas of:

• Life Sciences,
• AgriBusiness,
• Water Management,
• Medical,
• Clean Tech,
• Security,
• High Tech,
• Digital Applications,
• Renewables,
• Defence,
• Education,
• Sustainability,
• Venture Capital,
• BioTech,
• Commercialisation
• .....and more.

The focus is always for delegates to achieve real tangible business outcomes.
The visit to Israel will cater for a wide range of interests and contain a group program plus individually customized itineraries developed for delegates.
The visit will be specifically designed for executives from business, government and academia and will combine exposure to key Israeli industry figures together with topical high level business meetings designed to expose delegates to innovative business ideas and opportunities.
We will be examining Israeli government policy success in promoting R&D activities in a range of related fields.

For all enquiries, please contact:
John Cluer, Chief Executive AICC(WA)
phone 0419 938 480 or email perth@aicc.org.au

Approximate investment is AUD$9,000 once accommodation, airfares and any personal expenses are included.

(Programming rates** are:

• AUD$5,500 inclusive GST for AICC Members and
• AUD$6,250 inclusive GST for Non Members).

NB: This Mission is open to all and partners are welcome.

** This is the Programming fee which covers group and customized programming, administration, mission management fee, all transportation in Israel, airport meeting service, airport transfers, entrance fees to site visits, 3 meals per day for 6 days, plus evening meal on day 1 Thurs 28 Nov, plus a copy of the best selling book “Start-Up Nation-the story of Israel’s economic miracle”. Does not cover international airfares to and from Israel, travel insurance and accommodation.

Islam and Islamism: making the distinction.

From a letter to the editor of the AFR, 28 Sept 2013, by Michael Danby MP:

Dear Editor,

Your report ‘Labor MP takes aim at NSW party on Islam’ does not reflect my views on the Labor Party’s interest in maintaining good relations with the Islamic community.

Your reporter correctly quotes me as saying ‘I am sure the NSW Labor Party does not decide who its senators are on the basis of such instructions from Sheik Hilaly’s successors’ but the report extrapolates from that that I question NSW Labor’s connections with the Islamic community. I do not.

Indeed, I encourage engagement as part of Australia’s pluralist ethos, adherence which is worthy and consistent in and of itself.

Engagement with the Islamic community means making a strong distinction between an important monotheistic religion – Islam – and Islamism. Islamism can and must be understood at the same time as a political ideology which is misused as a cover for extremism. It is a difference I have always made in every speech, in every statement, and every utterance. Confusing Islam and Islamism is like confusing Germans with Nazis, or Russians with Soviet Communists.
I agree with the thrust of your report but words are bullets in this life and death struggle with Islamism, a new totalitarianism. We cannot avert our eyes from this new evil and false ideology which has recently struck down another innocent Australian, Ross Langdon, his brilliant wife, their unborn child, and some 60 or 70 other innocents in a shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya.

Some of your readers may think my distinctions pedantic. Yet I think one can strongly repudiate the unwarranted interference in the internal workings of the Labor Opposition, and at the same time, practice and espouse respect for an important religious group, especially as a member of a party that venerates equal and fair treatment.

Yours sincerely,
Michael Danby MP

Labor should support Israel

From The Australian Financial Review Editorial 27.9.2013:

The Australian Labor Party has a long history of support for Israel.

 

An attempt by the head of the Islamic faith in Australia to determine Labor’s choice for a Senate vacancy raises the troubling notion that Australia’s foreign policy has been set by an ethnic and religious vote in a handful of seats in Sydney’s western suburbs.

On Thursday, The Australian Financial Review’s Phillip Coorey revealed that the Grand Mufti of Australia, Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohammad had threatened to withdraw support for federal Labor in Sydney’s west if union leader Paul Howes was parachuted into a vacancy expected to be left by the departure of Senator Bob Carr. The Mufti accused Mr Howes of a “blind bias” for Israel.

Religious groups have every right to put their views on matters affecting their interests. But political parties need to make it clear they won’t change policy to please politically well-placed minority interests – particular when the views being challenged are in step with contemporary Australia.

Mr Howes, the national secretary of the Australian Workers Union, holds views on Israel shared by most across the political spectrum. He supports the continued existence of the only genuine democracy in the Middle East and a two state solution where both Israel and a Palestine state can peacefully co-exist. This newspaper shares those views.

This attempt by the nation’s senior Islamic cleric to influence politics is not an isolated event. Labor attempts to court the Muslim vote have caused friction in the party between those who believed in the traditional bipartisan approach to Israel, China and the US and those pushing for a stronger pro-Palestine position. When former NSW Premier Carr entered the Senate and became foreign minister in March last year he was forthright that Australia should act independently of the US in the fraught politics of the Middle East, in contrast to the preferences of then prime minister Julia Gillard.

In November, Senator Carr, who is expected to resign when the Labor leader is announced next month, led a successful cabinet move to roll Ms Gillard, who wanted to support Israel and the US in the United Nations on the status of Palestine.

Instead of voting to reject a resolution to give Palestine observer status in the UN, Australia abstained. Palestine easily gained its observer status. No doubt the Mufti noted that ­current ALP leadership candidate Bill Shorten voted with Ms Gillard on the issue. In contrast, Mr Shorten’s rival, the Left’s Anthony Albanese backed abstention.

Jewish immigrants and their descendants have made an enormous contribution to Australian society, as more recent Muslim arrivals are bound also to do.

 

But the Australian Labor Party has a long history of support for Israel. It should not barter this away for ethnic votes in a handful of electorates.

The Australian Financial Review

Vinnie Molina, candidate for City of Vincent

Further to our earlier posting, here are a few facts about Vinnie Molina, candidate for City of Vincent council, that will provide some insights on his political views and his views on Isreal.

- member and activist of the Communist Party of Australia (CPA - YES IT STILL EXISTS - it generally works in association with the Socialist Alternative and Socialist Alliance. Their views and attitudes are similar.)

- former (and or current) National President of the CPA

- current organiser with the CFMEU (construction division)

- sought political asylum in Australia from Guatemala due to Communist Party actions against the military regime 

- has organised speakers at CFMEU Offices in the past to discuss 'war crimes' against Palestinians by The State of Israel.

 - some union leaders who know him personally have real concerns about his views not only on the BDS but his militant and extreme activism for Palestine as some sort of "class struggle" against Israel.