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Guilty Until Proven Innocent

OK – I’ve been a bad blogger over the past month.  Hopefully that will change.  But there has been so much happening in and around the community.  We have a wonderful and active community and it is far better to spend time being part of the action than it is to sit at the sideline and observe.

The big story this week has been the expulsion of an Israeli diplomat from Australia.  This delayed reaction is a response to the so called Dubai “murder” (note the press are quite comfortable using this word to describe the death of a terrorist, but not so the victim of a terrorist, but I digress….) of Hamas terrorist Mabhouh.  I have previously blogged about this matter here.

What disturbs me about this matter is that the Rudd Government have clearly followed advice from DFAT.  Stephen Smith looked most uncomfortable in following the formalities of the diplomatic script he had been provided.  However the ultimate accountability sits with the Government, and not with the public service underneath it. 

This outcome shifts the dynamic of bi-partisan support that has been extended to Israel by all Australian administrations.  Julie Bishop is correct when she called the matter an over-reaction.  Her admission that Australia does no less was designed to show the rank hypocrisy of the Government, despite the “conventions” of political correctness that have supposedly been breached.  I commend her stance.  I am also pleased that one other positive has come out of this saga, and that is the resignation of Malcolm Fraser from the Liberal Party.  Mr Fraser is in my opinion the most morally bankrupt failure of Australian political graduates.  All sorts of rumours are circulating about whose payroll he is on, but it certainly isn’t one that shares an interest in sustaining a free and democratic Australian society.

The sad fact that is that Israel has been charged as “Guilty until proven innocent”.  In other words, there is no evidence that Mossad was responsible for the alleged passport abuse, just conjecture.  Yet on the basis of an assumption a verdict has been issued.  Our Foreign Minister may have an opinion that there was “no doubt” that the Mossad was involved.  However, and more importantly, he has no evidence that the Mossad were involved.  In court a conviction is not upheld without evidence, so why should this situation be any different?

Melbourne based correspondent Morry Sztainbok writes as follows:

It has to be clear to any rational mind that there is nothing bordering on either “conclusive” or “evidence” in these statement, and Australia would have been well-advised to tae the high ground of Berlin and Paris, and let it go, especially given that our own security services constantly avail themselves of forged passports of other nations, par for the course for the espionage circuit.  So why now, after all these months?  A powerful argument making its way around the blogs is that dropping popularity and the inability to sell the super tax, perhaps the realisation of the disaster that it is, has prompted this government to seek out a unicorn … “don’t look here, look over there”.

There is, on the other hand, a very compelling case that Israel wasn’t involved in this assassination.  The only three people arrested were Palestinian, and Mossad would never work with Palestinians, beyond as informants.  For Israel this man was a bit player, a self-confessed murderer of two Israelis, certainly not someone who warranted 30+ agents, when, given that he had no security, a lone gunman could have taken him out on the street.  The biggest teams Mossad used both after Munich and to capture Eichmann involved less than 10.  This suggested throwing of oodles of Mossad agents at security cameras and tamperproof locks is a ludicrous scenario worthy of the Keystone Cops …  or of a hate-filled police chief determined to pin this on Israel.

Clearly ASIO was ticked off that they received no co-operation from the Israelis, but they should have expected none.  Israel’s policy of “no confirmation and no denial” has been a cornerstone since 1948.  Undoubtedly Rudd felt slighted, and I understand that he doesn’t cope well with rejection, which may have prompted him to apply this particular unicorn.

This whole issue is a disgrace, with no evidence, only “advice taken”, the sooner this inept Rudd government is gone, the better.  This coupled with their backtracking in the UN makes it quite clear that they are no friends of Israel, though I’m sure the pretence will go on for as long as they are in power.  Israel is only the latest in a long string of nations this government has successfully offended.  Given that Kevin Rudd’s credentials hinge on diplomacy, this would all be very funny, if Australia didn’t have so very many fences to now try to mend.  Oh for the days of Bob Hawke, a true friend to both Israel and Jews.

There is way more to this story than meets the superficial eye of the press.  I urge you to follow this link, as just one example of critical analysis that should cause the Australian Government to think again:

 https://www.2nd-thoughts.org/id267.html

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