Israeli Ambassador to Australia, Yuval Rotem: gives friendly chats about war and 'Israel's security' over breakfast

The Israeli Ambassador to Australia, Yuval Rotem, asked the media to switch off the cameras before getting down to detail about Israel’s next aggressive aspirations.

That’s training. No Israeli diplomat should risk scaring the horses, when he’s really just giving a friendly pep-talk to local “members of the Jewish community”.

A journalist who remained for the talk reported afterwards on some of the content.

Seven News reporter Sarah Cummings reported that after telling a camera operator to turn off his camera, Mr Rotem told those gathered he expected Iran to stockpile enough uranium over the next 14 months to “be at the point of no return”.”

(He said) the country’s recent military offensives were a preintroduction to the challenge Israel expects from a nuclear-equipped Iran within a year,” Cummings said.

During the meeting, held in a relaxed breakfast setting, Mr Rotem spoke about the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 1300 Palestinians.

Here’s the ABC News Report, which includes Ambassador Rotem’s comments up to that moment. Note the ABC’s subtle (typical) pro-Israel bias in the way this story is presented:

In fairness to all concerned, there’s no transcript of the proceedings and no more footage available. So I don’t know exactly what happened after the cameras were obligingly switched off.

Even so, I find it disturbing that there’s no indication any members of Sydney’s Jewish community in attendance dissented from the Ambassador’s stance. Nothing to indicate he faced hard questions over Gaza. No report that anyone raised an eyebrow as he hinted at yet another illegal Israeli assault, this time on a country of some 60 million people, by a nuclear power that itself has had no international inspection of its massive WMD program since before JFK’s assassination.

The Israeli Ambassador’s sinister words have echoed around the web and rightly so. Yet I have what I regard as a legitimate concern, not only about this Emissary of War in our midst, but the folk he chats with over breakfast.

Perceptive Australians already knew the Israeli Government is a war mongering extremist regime and a grave danger to world peace. However, we’ve been given to understand that members of Australia’s Jewish community are in no way to be equated with Israeli policies.

In our national discourse, it’s acceptable to be critical of Israel and its actions. But to be critical of Australia’s Jewish community is not acceptable. There have been attempts to equate it with ‘hate speech’, whatever that means.

Jewish Australians are held to be 100% Australian. Just as we’d never tolerate a single sneering remark about Christian Australians (I jest) or any public comment reflecting negatively on Muslim Australians (I jest again), there’s a widely-invoked restriction on tarring an entire sector of the Australian community (Jewish Australians) with the same brush.

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But surely there’s a problem with this? Clearly, some Jewish Australians distance themselves from Israel’s worst atrocities – and a few work very hard for Palestinian justice. Nevertheless, there’s evidence mainstream Jewish opinion in Australia is essentially uncritical of Israeli brutality. Surely this is the primary support-base, within Australia, of the apartheid Jewish State?

Shielding the Australian Jewish community – as a whole and in aggregate – from criticism, consequently screens off Israel’s primary source of succour within this country from any real accountability to the Australian community as a whole. Powerful pro-Israel organizations in this country are rarely discussed and almost never criticized in this country’s mass media. I don’t believe that’s normal, healthy or generally acceptable.

I’m an Australian, born in Britain. Here in Australia, I am dimly aware of various pro-British organisations and networks. I know very little about them, because I’ve never been a member or taken an interest. But if I ever learnt of a systematic, aggressive attempt by numerous British Australians to bias Australian foreign policy in favour of Britain, I’d be outraged. If I found out their goal was to foster Australian support for British wars, I’d be utterly furious.

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True, I’d be cross with the British Government for encouraging such a network. But my greatest anger would probably be reserved for the British Australians who chose to put infatuation with their old homeland before the interests of this country – and whose partisan behaviour risked putting me at odds with Australians from other backgrounds.

If I spoke out against the members of a ‘Britain Lobby’, and was accused of being a ‘self-hating Briton’, the accusation would be seen easily for what it is: an absurdity. If an Australian of a different background spoke out against them, I doubt anyone would take seriously claims that person was maliciously ‘anti-Britishistic’. Obviously it’s not anti-British to seek to quarantine British interests from Australian foreign policy – especially if supporting ‘British interests’ entails support for British war-making.

So why a double standard? Why does the Australian Jewish community get a free pass? Isn’t it time the growing movement within Australia against Israel’s revolting behaviour takes a look at Israel’s primary Australian support-base?

Lest anyone imagines the Australian Jewish community-Israel axis is just normal partisan lobbying, I invite them to consider the strength and activity of the ‘Australia Lobby’ within Israel. Does it exist at all? Does Mark Regev attend meetings devoted to promoting Australian interests?

Clearly, most Australians are expected to regard this asymmetry as normal, acceptable and beyond question. I beg to differ. In my opinion, Australia’s Israel Lobby supports a cause that’s increasingly immoral, employs unacceptable tactics and is long overdue for scrutiny.

We should talk about it more often.

FOOTNOTE

Some readers may have information about pro-British networks in Australia – or other networks associated in a highly partisan way with foreign powers – information suggesting they are up to no good too. If so, please share.

No sectors of our society should be free from scrutiny.

If Moroccan Australians plot to lock Australia into support for punitive strikes against Morocco’s neighbours, we should hear about it. If Argentinian Australians try to get us embroiled in ‘anti-Brazil’ fervour, we should hear about that too. If the Eygptian Ambassador ever discusses an aggressive attack on Eygpt’s neighbours over breakfast in Sydney with members of the Egyptian Australian community, let’s hear about that also.

Fortunately, we never do.

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More on this story at Beyond the Fringe