It’s not so much that the trio is particularly polished or adroit, but rather that they’re rarely if ever confronted by a determined, probing media (In the same way that some politicians don’t so much win power..Victoria a great example…through their own efforts but rather through the stupidity of their opponents…such as exampled by Kennett and Bracks).

Regev’s performance on the ABC’s 7.30 report earlier this week was a case in point….not once, not twice, not three times but at least four time Regev had Hezbollah fighting in Gaza,,,stumbling over
himself in each instance.

But, crushingly slow though it may be, truth does out.

The UN’s Human Rights Council DID adopt a motion denouncing Israel’s “grave” human rights breaches in Gaza; the International Red Cross…usually very diplomatic….has openly expressed its outrage, pointing the the killing of medics, the shelling of medical facilities and the destruction of ambulances; and today The Lancet went into print denouncing Israel’s ‘atrocities’ in Gaza. Clearly, Israel has been assisted in its war on Gaza by outgoing President Bush’s decision to provide it with a 3 week long open cheque to do whatever it wanted in the final days of his administration.

Pity the UN Secretary General escaped criticism for going along with US and Israel by refusing to talk with or meet Hamas reps. Israel adores recognition.

The denunciations of Israel I have referred to should help clear the path for incoming President Obama to return the US’s Mid East policy making from Tel Aviv to Washington.

A thought Greg, I read and admired your earlier article on war crimes. It would be great if the Canberra Times could throw open its pages to such a debate…on how Israel might fare were it to be taken before the International Criminal Court (regardless of a US veto in the real world) to face such charges.

It could even lead to a hyperthetical on the 7.30 Report…if only it had the energy!!

Surely you forgot to read the first paragraph. For humanities sake, you did didn’t you.

These three Australians are spokespeople for a country that has KILLED THOUSANDS of people in the past few years. Mostly Civilian, mostly women and children under 16.
They are spokespeople for a country which has just been accused of GENOCIDE by the UNITED NATIONS.

As for the clarion brigade, some quick facts. Hamas is the elected govt of the Palestinian people. Because the Israel/ US militarily backed Fatah ,even with the “friendly” militant Dahlan ,got their butt kicked does not allow the Israeli govt to impose the inhuman conditions of the blockade. As far as the West Bank is concerned, the illegal settlements continue under the “compliant” US/Israel backed Fatah. Thats why the Palestinians voted, under free and fair elections, Hamas. The true “nationalist Palestinians” in the west bank are under the Fatah thumb. Egypt , as anyone who knows history, is controlled by the US and some of the large protests against this murderous campaign have ocurred there, but were repressed by the military. As far as Hamas being a “terrorist” organisation, what do you expect from the US and its allies??. US foreign policy is written in Tel aviv. Its the Fatah arms caches that Hamas is using in its defence….the very same weapons the US gave Fatah to crush Hamas.

What certain people want is a quiet complicit Palestinian population who will do what their masters, Israel, require. But unfortunately the Palestininas dont understand this and they want EQUAL RIGHTS AND THEIR LAND BACK….and for those who claim they want a 2 state solution….how can the people have that when the IDF control their borders, air and sea space.

Sum it up…..BLOODY DISTGUSTING.

Hamas are listed as a terrorist organisation by the EU, the US, and Australia. Their charter is self evidently radical Islamist, not Palestinian Nationalist. If there were a 2 state solution to the conflict - which i fervently hope for - they would reject it. Their stated objective is not to secure a Palestinian state, but to destroy Israel and the secular governments of the nearby Arab states. This is the core of its ideology and practice, not some propaganda point.

It is an offshoot of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood - which is banned in Egypt. Which is why Egypt does not want them to handle the border with their country, and why Egypt also maintained a blockade against Gaza.

They will continue to bring misery to the Palestinians and oppress them with their medieval notions.

The current conflict is an appalling tragedy, brought about by Hamas adventurism.

A solution will be found between Israelis and genuine Palestinian nationalists sitting down and working out a two state solution with Jerusalem as the capital of both states. The day it will happen is drawing closer. With a solid push from Obama, it can happen. The contrast between the situation in the West Bank and that in Gaza could not be clearer. Israel knows it has to do a deal, and will be willing to make great compromises for it to happen. They do not have a choice, and know it. But the deal cannot, and will not, be made with Hamas.

All of the Australian citizens now living in Israel that you refer to support a two state solution and desire a peaceful resolution of the conflict. No Hamas spokesperson can fit this description. They are on their way out, the only way it could happen.

A COMBINATION OF NO CASE TO MAKE, WITH NO BRAINS TO USE…FRIGGING DIMWIT

YOU’RE A SUPPORTER OF A TERRORIST ORGANISATION: IE THE ISRAELI DEFENCE FORCES.

90% of AUSTRALIA AGREES WITH ME…..

ENJOY YOUR SHABBAT IN YOUR COMFY DOVER HEIGHTS KENNELL….

ISRAEL does not want, and has never wanted peace…it has systemically set out to destroy Palestinian society over time…….well it won’t……..it’s 41 years since the illegal occupation of Palestinian lands…and Israel is in complete disarray politically & socially & has joined the likes of Zimbabwe as an international pariah State.

Israel will NEVER be allowed to forget this latest outrage against our Palestinian brothers & sisters.

BOYCOTT any product which has the Israeli manufactured prefix 729 at the start of its bar code…and tell the seller why in no uncertain terms.

C’mon Hilary……start talking to Iran…….

That’s what the Israeli propaganda merchants would have you and I believe, Jenny. There is a simple answer, let the foreign media in to see for itself. But Israel refuses….flouting the ruling of its own Supreme Court in that regard. It’s just so terrified of the truth being revealed as it is, atrocity by atrocity…day by day.

If the Israelis want an end to home made rocket attacks and suicide bombers..the answer is again so simple. Let the US…which happily supplies F16 strike bombers…missiles….phosphoros bombs, missiles and combat choppers to the bloodsthirsty Israelis simply do the same for the Palestinians. Or do you have a problem with that? Why is all Israeli thinking so lop-sided?

Essentially, the Israelis like to do their killing from planes or ships so that they can get safely home to tea..and so they don’t have to face actual combat.It’s the definition of a coward. It’s been a blitzkrieg…something the Israelis copied…embraced…from the Nazis.

What a silly thing to say Greg. Apparently there are two types of media spokepeople: “average flacks” and “true believers” - and only you can spot the difference. Perhaps the difference is that one represents a government and the other a terrorist organisation? Perhaps the Taliban “flack” in Gitmo isn’t a true believer after all, maybe he’s a just a PR garduate from UTS?

I’m sorry if you can’t tell the difference between a government spokesperson (even if you don’t like the government) and those of a terrorist organisation.

Whatever my ‘look’ may or may not be, it certainly finishes well ahead of the dimwitted, Zionist bigot ‘look’ you consistently display on Crikey.

In effect, your displays only highlight the legitimacy of HAMAS’ position. So in effect, you’re a HAMAS supporter.

Of course you’re going to be the last to appreciate this outcome, a fact that I know will not surprise the vast majority of Crikey regulars in the least.

Keep up the good work dimwit….

Rutland in particular stated in The Oz article last week that he ‘was sure the IDF was “a moral organisation”’. But such a bald statement needs to be unpacked. An IDF that shoots at ambulances? Kills aid truck drivers? UN schools? Rutland doesn’t “know”.

Fact 1: Haaretz reports 30% of Israeli society support Yigal Amir and want him pardoned for shooting PM Rabin famous for seeking a land for peace deal with the Palestinians. Fact 2: Israel has compulsory national service. Fact 3: The military are generally more right wing than the general population. Fact 4: Amir recently admitted in the US press he shot Rabin following the influential advice of Sharon, an IDF hero, criticising Rabin’s peace plan. Fact 5: A large fraction of Israeli supporters for criminal assassination of a PM - and by extrapolation killing of any one posing a serious problem for the ‘settler movement’ (problem people like the UN, Gazan civillians by simply existing on ‘Greater Israel’) - are serving in Gaza right now. With their trigger on the finger. Conclusion: Only a fool or a liar thinks some in the IDF would not act out Amir’s murderous prejudice in Gaza too.

70% of decent Israelis and diaspora Friends of Israel are charged with being in denial of seriously compromised IDF - with large minority of sympathisers for criminal killers like Yigal Amir. Including evidence of censorship by the IDF itself suggesting a guilty mind. As lawyers are taught at a certain point a reasonable man knows they are an accessory to alleged war crimes by failing to report a crime: Shooting of ambulance drivers, bombing of UN schools, killing aid truck drivers, directing refugees to a house then bombing it. It’s all an accident or unintentional. But only if Yigal Amir didn’t exist.

You make out that Israel is a terrorist organisation with sophisticated propoganda. Far from it, more a country with hostile neighbours with every right to defend itself.

I just wonder what you would be calling for should Australia come under prolonged attack from a terrorist group within a nearby neighbour - ie Indonesia. I think you’d be writing and demanding that the Australian govt send in the army to counter and neutralise this aggression.

That dark foaming lickspittle when given free rein is really not a good look.

re: eric
Nelson Mandela was a terrorist until last year. He was on a terrorist list of the USA and the UK when he received a Nobel Prize for Peace.
Menahem Begin (born Mieczyslaw Biegun) a former president of Israel, was also a Nobel Prize for Peace recipient although he was also on a terrorist list of the USA and UK..
KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army ) is still on the terrorist list of many countries. I can’t wait till they get canonised by the West.
If this pattern repeats… perhaps Hamas one day…

It is not.

Hamas is described as a terrorist organization by Canada, the European Union, Israel, Japan and the United States and is banned in Jordan. Australia and the United Kingdom list only the military wing of Hamas, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, as a terrorist organization. The United States and the European Union have both implemented restrictive measures against Hamas on an international level.

I doubt Israel would spokespeople akin to the Hamas spokesman acting on her behalf:

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=zzKWQd7Qh_g&e

Also, Brenny & co…what is this?….an ex Moriah College convention…give us break you bigoted
mummy’s boys & girls…. did that dill at AIJAC put you up to this?

John James: showing your absolute lack of any context or knowledge on this issue, Obama HAS said he’ll deal with Iran…….you stupid man….

Finally, thanx to Brian Haill for showing up these wind-up Aussie Zionist bigots….