‘Insanity that has momentum': Debate rages over whether Australia should recognise Palestine
'By now, you've probably heard there's momentum toward recognising a Palestinian state," Mr Macpherson said.
'Not peace. Not stability. Not even a coherent plan. Just momentum.
'Hamas only behaves the way they do; raping and murdering and taking hostages that they can rape and murder because they're upset.
'And the only thing more dangerous than insanity is insanity that has momentum.'
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Sydney Morning Herald
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The Age
13 minutes ago
- The Age
NSW Supreme Court authorises pro-Palestine march on Harbour Bridge
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Sky News AU
5 hours ago
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The week the West was lost: Anthony Albanese joins the countries 'duped' on Israel by terrorists in trucks
This past week has demonstrated how the Western world, which often speaks about defending freedom, liberty and democracy, can be so easily duped by terrorists in pick-up trucks. We saw a statement by 28 countries, including Australia, that was so detached from reality that it blamed Israel for the terrible consequences of the current war in Gaza, rather than Hamas who started the war in the first place, and is refusing all attempts to end it. And of course, it called for an immediate permanent ceasefire without calling on Hamas to disarm or give up power. This is akin to calling for the end of World War II while leaving Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan intact. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese went a step further saying in a statement that Israel was 'killing civilians, including children, seeking access to water and food' and that its actions 'cannot be defended or ignored'. Despite these harsh and demonstrably untrue words, he didn't go as far as French President Emanuel Macron who declared France's intentions to recognise a Palestinian state in September. Britain and Canada have now signalled similar intentions. In doing so these countries are effectively rewarding Hamas for its atrocities of October 7, 2023, while whitewashing almost 100 years of Arab and Palestinian terrorism and intransigence. They appear to have forgotten how Palestinian leaders have constantly rejected statehood from as long ago as the 1937 Peel Commission plan to the more recent 2008 Olmert plan and up until the 2020 Trump Plan, in which the Palestinians refused to even engage. These declarations were predictably praised and lauded by both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. One would think that when a death cult praises you, along with a corrupt entity that financially rewards terrorism, this would cause you to question whether your understandings and actions are morally sound. Well, think again! The West has lost its moral compass and now flounders in the dark, unable to have the courage and conviction of its own stated values, preferring instead to attack the victims of evil, rather than evil itself. No one denies there is suffering in Gaza and the images are horrible, but what so much of the West still refuses to accept is that this is a direct result of the deliberate intentions of a death cult terror group whose leaders openly state that their goal remains the destruction of the Jewish state and the genocide of the Jewish people. Moreover, these same leaders have also been open that they believe the suffering of Gaza civilians are 'necessary sacrifices" and serve their evil cause. Israel has already facilitated over 1.8 million tonnes of aid into Gaza – and has just announced several major measures to improve aid access, including daily local ceasefires, designated aid corridors, aid airdrops, and facilitating aid donations from Egypt and Jordan. But it was telling that it was only after Israel exposed that there were still over 950 truckloads of aid on the Gazan side of border awaiting collection last week that the United Nations agencies, which work closely with Hamas, finally began to move some of that aid. So why didn't these agencies do this before? Meanwhile, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has delivered the equivalent of more than 91 million meals to needy civilians, bypassing Hamas' looting and interference – a fact that no country making these virtue-signalling declarations has even acknowledged. Even when the GHF offered to help deliver the stranded aid trucks, the UN still refused to take up that offer. The GHF may not be perfect, but it is delivering aid directly to people in need. The fact that the UN won't even engage with the GHF demonstrates that it has abandoned any pretence of supposedly prioritising helping ordinary Palestinian civilians over other goals. The obsession the world has in blaming Israel for the current crisis is not only misplaced – it's dangerous. Anti-Semitic incidents have been cropping up all around the world, including Australia. In Spain, 50 Jewish school kids were kicked off a flight for singing Hebrew songs. Jewish cruise passengers were also prevented from disembarking by anti-Israel protestors at a Greek port. Jews were also collectively slandered by a leading British broadcaster, James O'Brien, on the LBC channel in London. And here in Australia, 10- and 11-year-old students from the Jewish day school Mt Scopus College, were verbally assaulted during an excursion at the Melbourne Museum, by students from another school who harassed them with chants of 'free Palestine' and called them 'dirty Jews". Rather than confronting Hamas' terrorism, the West is choosing the easy path of blaming Israel instead, taken in by false narratives, distorted reporting and blatant falsehoods. When this war ends, Israel may be battered, but it will survive - it always does. But I fear for the West. In its rush to appease populist outrage, leaders have abandoned their integrity and betrayed the very values they claim to uphold. This moral collapse doesn't just endanger Israel - it threatens the very soul of the West. Justin Amler is a policy analyst at the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC)
