Jewgle bloggers respect the true worth of investigative journalism. For those unfamiliar with the term, this a skill that used to be upheld and advanced by the media, but has sadly been trashed to oblivion – a trend started by 60 minutes, and today proudly continued by the press.
What has this got to do with the election, Austrailan foreign policy, and being Jewish in Perth? Well, in this particular area, a lot of the hard work has been done for us. The exceptional politically astute crew at AIJAC have produced a document outlining both Labour and Liberal policy on key issuues that impact the Jewish community, with a focus on issues of international relations. Link to the document here.
One comment in this document from Kevin Rudd was “Political efforts must also aim to establish a legitimate and unified PA security service, which is not beholden to one faction or another.” Given the headlines from Israel today, where Palestinians are obviously intent on killing each other, proving they have no sanctity or respect for life, no matter whose is at stake, I would rate this comment as politically naive.
Not to be outdone, Prime Minister Howard is quoted as saying “Australia has called on Iran to comply with its UN and obligations, to reinstate a full and verifiable suspension of all enrichment and reprocessing activities, and to cooperate fully with the IAEA to restore international confidence in its nuclear program.” More diplomatic speech that is far beyond the realm of wishful thinking.
There is a real world out there with real problems. Australia cannot shelter itself from this, and platitudes that pose utopian solutions to situations that will take decades of rebuilding (once the source of the problem has been disestablished) do nothing other than display the true vulnerability of Australia as a minority Western nation.