Again today in our local news media, a report on where things are with the so-called Royal Commission into anti-Semitism. The stated purpose of this charade is maintaining social coherence. Well, at least here in Australia we haven’t got to the point where, as is the situation in the United Kingdom, Palestinian Action Group is a declared terrorist organisation. Meaning that giving whatever support to that organisation can result in fourteen years behind bars. All you have to do is say, “I support Palestinian Action.”
What’s missing in the article is any mention of what is driving this alleged rise in anti-Semitism. Alleged because I know from having participated in numerous demonstrations in support of Palestine that the reason we get down in the street is the collapse of International Law, and not a dislike of Jews. I know, because I have walked with them, that many Jewish people are as outraged as we are about the genocide being committed by the state of Israel. There’s a simple solution, and it’s not a bullshit Royal Commission, but rather that Israel cease murdering Palestinian children, and stop stealing Arab land. Our Australian government needs to take a courageous stand, as have the governments of South Africa, Ireland, Spain and others, and call a spade a spade; it is genocide and must be stopped, and those responsible arrested, given a fair trial, and punished if found guilty.
This Royal Commission recommends that the history of the holocaust be taught in schools – and I agree. But the complete history must be taught. Children and young people should know how and why the Nazis came to power in Germany and they need to know who were the victims of the Nazi genocide: the Jews, the Gypsies, the homosexuals, the Slavs, the Soviet prisoners of war, the artists, writers, the intellectuals, the list is long. As for Israel, they need to learn about how it came into existence, that being the full story which must include the 1916 Sykes – Picot Agreement that cheated the Arabs out of the sovereignty they were promised in exchange for their heroic defeat of the Ottomans in World War One. Lawrence’s book, “The Seven Pillars of Wisdom” could be required reading as could be president Jimmy Carter’s “Palestine, Peace not Apartheid.”
May God protect Palestine and especially its little ones.