After the horrendous events of December 14th, it didn’t take long before self-serving lies of people like Netanyahu surfaced.
There were two gunmen who used rifles and possibly shotguns to kill 15 people at a Hanukkah celebration in a park at Bondi beach. One of the gunmen was grabbed and disarmed by a civilian who had been hiding behind a car. The civilian was Ahmed Al-Ahmed, a fruit shop owner. Netanyahu stated “I saw a video of a Jew who pounces on one of the murderers, takes his weapon and saves who knows how many lives”. I don’t know what religious belief Ahmed Al-Ahmed, or if indeed he has one at all, but I’d suspect that he isn’t Jewish. He has in fact been reported to be a ‘Syrian Muslim’1.
Netanyahu was later forced to correct this lie. However, he also blamed Anthony Albanese for the Bondi shooting attack, accusing the Australian leader of pouring “fuel on the antisemitism fire” by recognising a Palestinian state. In this, Netanyahu said Albanese had “betrayed” Israel. One thing Netanyahu did say which is, surprisingly for him, true, is that “antisemitism is a cancer” and that it “spreads when leaders stay silent”. Nobody could accuse Albanese of being silent about antisemitism, commissioning as he did, Jillian Segal to report on it. She compiled a report which attempted to conflate protests against the genocide in Gaza with antisemitism2. The depth of Segal’s depravity in supporting Israel can be gauged by her labelling of Adam Bandt’s criticism of Israeli violence in Gaza as antisemitic, and her call for the complete banning of pro-Palestinian protests2. This conflation has now reached a ridiculous phase, where Jews protesting against the Gaza genocide have been labelled as antisemitic3.
I suggest that it is not Albanese who has betrayed Israel and the Jewish diaspora, but it is people like the murderous Netanyahu and his cabal of psychopaths currently forming the government of Israel. These monsters have perpetrated one of the worst crimes of recent years, and they are aided and abetted by Zionists like Segal who seem quite happy to accept the murder of many tens of thousands of Palestinian men, women and children, by bombing, starving and shooting but will not accept criticism of the monsters who have perpetrated this crime. If that is not betraying Israel, nothing is.
Sources
Oh, such an excellent assesssment. I am shocked and sickened by what happened in Bondi yesterday. But i couldnt have put your assessment of the responses better myself. All power to you.
Jenny,
Thanks. It is upsetting that hatred motivates so many people.
Agree completely with you and Jon. Yesterday was horrifying and disgusting but Netanyahu has shown with his tactless and stupid comments once again what a dreadful small minded person he is. Usually a leader will send his concerns and condolences to the people of a nation who are all feeling the trauma of this event but instead he turns it into an opportunity for a spiteful small minded dig. Even Donald Trump managed to appear like a statesman with his comments on this atrocity.
Apologies. Jenny, not Jon. Eyesight failure.
Jenny echoes my thoughts exactly Mark.
I’d add that although Netanyahu may be the prime cause of rising anti-semitism and malevolent hatred in certain parts of the world, he shares that culpability with Smotrich, Ben-Gvir and Trump (https://archive.is/p583r ), who has regularly embraced /enabled white supremacists – describing them as “good people” iirc – and given Netanyahu his total support.
https://www.visionofhumanity.org/gaza-conflict-leads-to-rise-in-antisemitism-and-islamophobia/
I’d also add that Netanyahu’s lack of self-awareness and newfound moral outrage is astonishing given his record of facilitating genocide and his complete disregard for the murder of (and denial of life-giving aid to) civilians, aid workers and journalists by the IDF in Palestine.
I heard an interview with a Canberran Jewish leader the morning after the appalling slaughter of innocents at Bondi. Ross Solly played him Netanyahu’s egoistsic rant and asked what he thought. Sadly he said he agreed totally. I’ll give that fellow the benefit of the doubt because the hurt and anger would be still extremely raw, but sadly there are too many Jews in this country who support Netanyahu’s unconscionable actions in Palestine.
That Netanyahu’s outraged that 15 innocent people were murdered in a far off country but has no interest in the many tens of thousands of non-combatants right next door says all you need to know about him. Netanyahu implied that his actions (the slaughter and withholding of food and medical aid to Palestinians) were “tough”, and suggested history won’t treat Albanese’s “weakness” well. He’s wrong on both counts, unless he’s lined up a new breed of equally immoral historians and plans on “burning” the numeorus accounts of his own “tough” actions already written.
Jon,
Yep. I have seen numerous reports and videos of some of Netanyahu’s followers who refer to themselves as the chose people. All very redolent of 1930s Germany.
Agreed. This was not surprising. Either the attack or the behaviour afterward.
David Leser hit the mark yet again.
I told a friend the world was trembling, then Bondi erupted
https://archive.is/ZWDUH
Jon,
Yep. It is an excellent piece.
Now a Federal Royal Commission is happening. It needs people coming before and presenting the long term evidence of a deep bigotry in our society. It is not blatantly obvious, but apparent if one is prepared to be informed and hones. It is painful, but without confronting and acknowledging, things will slide, and more incidents happen.
There is that smouldering bigotry in almost all segments of the community, in large measure instigated by real feelings of being put upon. For many minorities, there are real reasons, but for some groups who are well off, it is a response to the potential loss of their privileges, which are seen as rights. Whichever way, they come with responsibilities, fail to fulfill such responsibilities, and it erodes the rights and privileges.
AT LAST, some common sense and clarity :
As a Jew who knows antisemitism, I need answers, not the stifling of free speech
https://archive.is/5z8I3
Dr Max Kaiser is executive officer of the Jewish Council of Australia and a researcher of antisemitism and Australian Jewish history.
Compare this to the hysterical blather from Ley, Frydenberg, Howard and other divisive conservative hypocrites/opportunists.
Jon,
Yep. The attempt by zionists to conflate criticism of Israel with antisemitism is disgraceful. Rick Morton said as much in his latest effort ‘The great silencing’, which started off about the collapse of the Adelaide Writers’ Week because of the disinviting of Randah Abdel-Fattah, and the subsequent withdrawal of most of the writers. Another thing I read, on Substack wondered why Jillian Segal was so up-in-arms about demonstrations against the genocide in Gaza, but seems to have little problem with neonazis demonstrating on the steps of a state Parliament House. I suspect it is because they are antisemitic and it suits her purpose to demonstrate that antisemitism is on the rise. However, I suspect if the neonazis started agitating against the Gaza genocide, she would come down on them like a ton of hypocrisy.