Comments on: The press must be allowed into Gaza

By: JamesK

JamesK — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

James O'Neill needs his eyes, his ears and the empty space between examined.

To suggest that the ABC and SBS broadcast a "constant barrage of pro-Israeli propaganda" is delusional in the extreme.

I suspect a significant majority of reasonable people would suggest that both broadcasters have a pro Palestinian bias. No reasonable individual would accuse them of propaganda.

By: Tom McLoughlin

Tom McLoughlin — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

I trust transparency. I don't trust politicians and their spokespeople in an election season. Banning the foreign media is almost certainly about covering up the shameful discrepancy in living conditions and fear and loathing suffered in Gaza compared with the modern lifestyle free of poverty on the Israeli side of the border.

Poverty that is directly related to Israel's cruel starvation blockade, and collective punishment for allowing Hamas to be elected. By what legal or moral right or real governance principle do Israel prevent unlimited food and humanitarian supplies in the truce or at anytime? It's ugly arrogance to me.

AM this morning alluded to far less humanitarian supplies allowed than during the 6 month truce, which was in turn far less than a year ago before the Hamas Govt. In other words Israel has been on a 12 month long strangle of the Gazans and their chosen govt.

This is quite distinct from the tunnels issue which are legitimate grievance for Israel. Fact is Israel have used access to food and medicine as a low level form of torture against 1.5 million Gazans without any real accountability.

Matt Brown on the ABC tv prime time news last night also alluded to the major discrepancy of living standards in Gaza and Israel. A cat playing with a still living mouse, letting it run, pouncing, run again, pouncing, is the metaphor that stays with me. It's not much surprise to me the mouse has gone crazy.

By: dj

dj — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

glory be! thank you tom could not have put it better.

By: Brian Haill

Brian Haill — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

Christopher might consider writing an open letter to The Australian newspaper responding to an article published in it on Tuesday, January 6,written by the Israeli ambassador to Australia, Yuval Rotem, titled “About peace, not destruction of Hamas”The article attacks the Sydney Morning Herald columnist, Paul McGeogh…and Christopher could challenge Rotem to put his money where his mouth is in regard to getting the facts right…in this case by allowing foreign media into Gaza.

Christopher might also make mention in his open letter to the speech the ambassador made upon his appointment in Canberra in August 2007 in which he declared that while “too many” of its friends had turned their backs on Israel, Australia was ‘different’, standing by it in a time of pain, suffering and disappointment.. (It’s recorded on the Israeli embassy’s website).

Given that Rotrem would have us all believe that Israel has some sort of special relationship with Australia, now might be a good opportunity to publicly test it, given the Israeli concern for its international image.

By: Edward James

Edward James — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

A pool of eight reporters ? Are residents sending out informtion on the WWW about the grief involved in being a minority under attack from a relative super power?
Crikey has the resourcs to get the NEWS but it is clearly not keen!

By: James O'Neill

James O'Neill — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

“Informed judgment”? When has the Australian media ever made an informed judgment about what is really going on in Palestine? Rather, newspaper readers, listeners to ABC, watchers of ABC and SBS TV are subjected to a constant barrage of pro-Israeli propaganda. The Australian newspaper is only the most conspicuous offender, it is far from being alone.
The Australian media seem to live in an ahistorical bubble, free from knowledge about the perfidy that created the Israeli state in 1948; free from knowledge about the forced expulsions and massacres that followed; free from knowledge about endless violations of UN resolutions; free from knowledge of breaches of international law; etc etc.
The fact of the matter is that Israel is an international outlaw whose existence remains only because of the support of the world’s number one terrorist state, the USA. That Australia should be numbered among its few “friends” is a source of continuing shame.
The Australian media might as well be renamed the Voice of Tel Aviv and therefore be free to drop the sickening hypocrisy of pretending to fulfil its obligations to keep its readers, listeners and watchers sufficiently informed to make the “informed judgments” your correspondent says he craves.

By: JJ Goold

JJ Goold — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

Bernard Keane has evidently forgotten that JFK gave us the Vietnam War, a political and military fiasco that far exceeds anything that George W has managed to create - a new depression notwithstanding.