Andrew L. Urban
In the wake of the Prime Minister rejecting the Opposition Leader’s proposal that condemned the October 7, 2023, terror attacks on Israel, expressing support for Israel and mourning the victims, the truth is put with stark simplicity by Paul Kelly of The Australian: “Labor has failed to grasp that this is a civilisational crisis. The ultimate issue is Israel’s right to exist. This is what Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran reject.” And it is the very raison d’etre for Hamas and Hezbollah’s existence, which Labor also fails to grasp. Either fails to grasp or, judging by their reprehensible words and actions, condones.
We have to accept the latter interpretation because Labor cannot ignore the bloody evidence, the hate-filled chants, the thousands of rockets raining down unprovoked on Israel and the dead and how their desecrated bodies entertained Hamas and their supporters in Gaza on October 7.
And that is why the constant references to ‘pro-Palestinian’ protests are obscuring the harsh reality: those ‘protests’ are in fact pro Hamas & Hezbollah marches, marches of support for Islamic terrorism, as funded by the mad Mullahs in Tehran, to whom Israel is little Satan, the US big Satan. These are the murderous thugs hailed by university students (and their Vice Chancellors), not to mention the Greens whose (never secure) moral compass blew up along with the pagers and walkie-talkies of Hezbollah.
The media could help dispel this whitewash by labelling them for what they are. Let’s call a terrorist spade a terrorist spade… Thousands of Australians – or Australian residents and temporary visitors (eg Khaled Beydoun) – take part in rejoicing at the death of the Jewish victims of the terrorists.
According to The Australian, “Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke is considering cancelling the visa of US-based academic Khaled Beydoun in the aftermath of the protests, after the Arizona State University law professor declared at Monday’s Hizb ut-Tahrir-associated rally in Sydney’s southwest that the October 7, 2023 terrorist attacks were “a good day” for Palestinian people.”
Beydoun is not alone in reinforcing the notion that all Palestinians are terrorists or terrorist sympathisers. Maybe they are? And Foreign Minister Penny Wong wants to help them set up a sovereign state. Proves Kelly’s point … and/or mine.
We have seen Israel largely abandoned by what used to be a united front in Australia and the US. President (just) Joe Biden, who has made terrible blunders in decisions that aid and abet the Islamic Republic of Iran (eg lift sanctions, buckets of cash), tells Israel not to damage its nuclear or oil facilities. He did not tell Israel how long to wait. When will it be acceptable to do so? Should Israel demonstrate tolerance and wait until Iran’s first nuclear warhead slams into Tel Aviv?
Such timidity serves only the violent Muslim terrorist objectives to destroy Israel – on the way to attacking the US? Shouldn’t Israel finally decapitate the snake known as the Islamic Republic of Iran? It now has the powerful incentive of self protection, as Iran’s Mullahs spew rockets into Israel and urge its proxies to slaughter the Jewish population.
Many in the West seem to have a poor understanding of tolerance, leading to being tolerant to a fault. The late Austrian-British philosopher Karl Popper believed societies should balance the principles of freedom and tolerance against the impetrative to protect those values. For example, a peaceful protest is a form of tolerance but if protestors destroy property or intimidate others (or worse) they should be stopped, protecting the greater good of the community.
The extension of that principle is found in the conflict imposed on Israel by the Islamic Republic of Iran; when does too much tolerance lead to greater harm?
If Israel can employ the accuracy in military terms that it has demonstrated against Hezbollah-issued pagers, it should target the leaders and infrastructure that oppresses the Iranian population and threatens not just Israel but world peace.
As frontiersman and politician Davy Crockett of the old West said, “I leave this rule for others when I’m dead: be always sure you’re right, then go ahead.”