Editorial, April 22, 2011
Plagued by BDS
A TRAGIC minority whose right to self-determination faces an onslaught from the political establishment. Surrounded by a hostile population who reject their fundamental beliefs, their ideology condemned by the ruling elite and forced to abandon their dreams, how long can it be before they take their struggle to the United Nations?
Yes, it can only be a matter of time until Fiona Byrne, Lee Rhiannon and the other members of the Greens boycott brigade demand the partition of Marrickville and the creation of an independent state where they can practise their anti-Israel policies without any interference from the rest of Australia.
Because the rest of Australia has pretty much rejected them, for many and varied reasons. Some simply because the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) resolution is anti-Israel, some because they don’t believe a local council should be getting involved in foreign affairs, some because it’s a vote loser, some because it may be illegal, some because they don’t understand why they should be forced to cough up $4 million to pay for it, and some, thanks to the council’s own report, because they’ve seen just how instrumental the Jewish State is in contributing to the scientific, agricultural, medical and technological advances that enable us to lead the very lives that we live.
Others, of course, fume at the prejudice or ignorance that gave rise to a one-sided resolution that attacks Israel while failing to condemn the terror and the terrorists who continue to rain rockets down on Sderot and Ashkelon, who are still holding Gilad Shalit hostage, who last week fired a fatal missile at a school bus, who two weeks ago exploded a bomb at a Jerusalem bus stop killing a British student, and who just last month massacred five members of the Fogel family in Itamar.
Little wonder that the public rejected the policy at the polls last month, that Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott have both slated it, that Barry O’Farrell said he would sack the council over it, that union leaders have spoken out against it and that even the Greens’ own leader Bob Brown has sought to distance himself and his party from those who espouse BDS.
Quite how Marrickville Council would seek to implement its resolution was ironically due to be debated on seder night. For just as we celebrated our freedom from ancient Egyptian taskmasters, Byrne et al. were due to consider how they could impose new hardships on the modern Children of Israel.
With just hours to go, though, it appeared that Byrne had seen sense … or rather had just baulked at the financial fiasco she was creating. To expect her to see how misguided the policy was in the first place was, and is, perhaps too much to hope for. For the moment, however, dayenu.
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