In response to erroneous allegations of anti-semitism and ‘even more insidious’ criticisms that it was none of Council’s business, Father Dave (Rev. David B. Smith) said:
That “it’s none of my business attitude”, I think, is really what allowed the Holocaust to happen,”I’m sorry about what happening to jews in Poland but its none of my business”, “I’m sorry about what’s happening to blacks in South Africa but what’s it got to do with me”, “I’m sorry about what’s happening to Palestinians in Bethlehem but it’s none of the business of Council”, and if we all take that attitude the whole world burns. As Martin Luther King said, injustice anywhere is a threat against justice everywhere and we cannot sit idly by while our sisters and brothers in Bethlehem suffer, not as a country, not as individuals either and again I congratulate our Council for their consistent, courageous stand.
Father Dave was Marrickville Citizen of the Year for 1997 and 2009.
Related Links
The Order of the Fighting Fathers
Fighting Father Dave
A Marrickville councillor has slammed mayor Fiona Byrne for using the Council web site to explain why Israel should be boycotted.
The Q Society and Marrickville Council
Australian Greens candidate faces abuse and lies over backing Israel sanction
What some young Jews do in their spare time; defend occupying Israel
Council defeats attempt to overturn Israel boycott
Navit Shchligel, member of the State Zionist Council of Western Australia and Friends of Israel Western Australia, has a repellently racist hasbara article published by ABC Unleashed. She is a signatory of the shifty Q Society petition.
Fiona Byrne cops a load from the Liberals, where Hartcher repeats the lie that $40,000 was spent on the BDS resolution:
Opposition local government spokesman Chris Hartcher told The Australian yesterday that, if the Coalition won government, he would use his discretionary powers to “call councils to account” over the issue.
and from Labor:
Labor has attacked Ms Byrne, saying she lied and contradicted herself over whether the Greens would push for a state-wide boycott.
“I have no plan or intention to bring the BDS to State Parliament,” Ms Byrne said.
But when asked on radio last month if she would introduce her BDS bill into Parliament, Fiona Byrne said:
“I would suggest that the New South Wales Greens would be looking to bring that forward.”
Her original statement is not surprising.
Boycotting Israel is official Greens policy.
A statement in December declared: “The Greens have decided to support the BDS campaign.”
“It’s up to the party to take that on,” Ms Byrne said today.
“My position is that I have no intention to bring the BDS to State Parliament.”
Greens’ Israel boycott confusion
NSW Greens spokesman Mark Riboldi said Ms Byrne had not made a formal “vow” to introduce GBDS in state parliament. “Also, ‘I would suggest that the NSW Greens would be looking to’ is not the same as ‘I will’,” Mr Riboldi said.
More Oz scuttlebutt: Shameful way with words on display
More Labor scuttlebutt : Lying accusation levelled at key Greens candidate
Marrickville backs ban
Greens deny anti-Israel policy
What a joke! ALP & Libs in disgraceful unison with Fred Nile in support of Israeli apartheid
Fear and Loathing in Marrickville – BDS in Australia
Palestine / Israel Links
Palestinian Bedouins in al-Araqib: “We won’t leave”
Palestine Education is an exciting new initiative from the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
Israel To Demolish Six Homes In East Jerusalem For Wall Construction
Libya Links
Clinton Promises to Bomb Libya, Calls Qaddafi ‘Creature’
The Surprisingly Broad Scope of UN Security Council 1973: Not Just a No-Fly Zone, at Least So Long as Gaddafi Is On Offense
Libya: I’ll attack passenger jets, warns Gaddafi, as air strikes loom
Obama on presidential war-making powers – ‘OBAMA: The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation.’
@SultanAlQassemi: Al Arabiya: British PM: Britain may move against Libya before the Parliamentary vote on Monday #
RT @AJELive: Koussa announces an end to military operations in #Libya at news conference in #Tripoli http://aje.me/gEqoII
@AJELive: #Libyan government to offer humanitarian aid and respect human rights, Koussa says in #Tripoli: http://aje.me/gEqoII
@avinunu Genius move by Gaddafi. Feels he can’t win but freezes status quo where he in Tripoli. Now rebels will “violate” UNSC res if they advance. #
The U.N.’s High Stakes Gamble in Libya
The Libya intervention is also complicated by the trends in the rest of the region. There is currently a bloody crackdown going on in U.S.-backed Bahrain, with the support of Saudi Arabia and the GCC. The Yemeni regime of Ali Abdullah Saleh is currently carrying out some of its bloodiest repression yet. Will the Responsibility to Protect extend to Bahrain and Yemen? This is not a tangential point. One of the strongest reasons to intervene in Libya is the argument that the course of events there will influence the decisions of other despots about the use of force. If they realize that the international community will not allow the brutalization of their own people, and a robust new norm created, then intervention in Libya will pay off far beyond its borders. But will ignoring Bahrain and Yemen strangle that new norm in its crib?
The Libyan Revolution is Dead: Notes for an Autopsy – Maxmillian Forte tears it up
A great mass of humanitarian social media addicts and self-styled cyberactivists in their hundreds of thousands signed petitions to beg the United Nations to authorize the bombing of Libya. Bearers of good intentions, no doubt, but perhaps less skilled as historians. Many will not even Google their way to the nearest Wikipedia entry that might cause them to ask some basic questions. On the other hand, history does not always repeat itself, and I am not one to make solid predictions, so perhaps this is not a useful basis for discussing the role of “humanitarian concern” in this debacle.
Instead, I have questions.
For example, exactly what kind of global human rights agenda is it that requires substantial military spending, private defense contractors, and a robust air force?
“We can’t stand by and do nothing”–and why not, when it is precisely what you are doing every day when it comes to the slaughter of civilians in Afghanistan (courtesy of our own troops), when it comes to the “secret” war in Yemen, the “secret” war in Somalia, or for that matter, the killing of civilian protesters today in Yemen and Bahrain? How about how we stood by and did nothing, as our allied torture state, Uzbekistan, boiled alive opponents and the detainees sent to them by the CIA? Boiled alive–whisper it, because not even Gaddafi has imagined perpetrating such horrors. Whisper it, so you can forget it again: “Andijan massacre;” “Uzbekistan: Repression Linked to 2005 Massacre Rife;” “500 bodies laid out in Uzbek town;” “‘High death toll’ in Uzbekistan;” “’700 dead’ in Uzbek violence.”
Bahrain Links
Bahrain: Hospitals and health centres targeted in attacks
Other Links