Letters (March 5, 2010)
A selection of letters published in the AJN print edition of March 5, 2010
Let’s focus on al-Mabhouh not on the passports
OUR Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, talking on TV stations and on the front pages of the newspapers, made a huge fuss about three Australian passports, in which the pictures were probably changed.
The most important fact, though, is that Mahmoud al-Mabhouh will no longer murder innocent Israelis and will not transfer arms for that same purpose to other terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
This is important not just for Israel, but for the whole world, including Australia.
Israel does not have the opportunity to bring every terrorist to court. But if the Mossad is responsible, the terrorists must know that Israel’s arms are long and can reach everywhere in the world.
The country proved that when Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi war criminal, was arrested in Argentina and brought to trial in Jerusalem.
It also showed to the world that none of the murderers from the Munich Olympics would survive.
And, unfortunately, all these endeavours cannot be done with Israeli passports.
Ivan Singer
Castle Cove, NSW
Fundamental flaws in the Dubai assassination
ASSUMING that the Mossad engineered the elimination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, the place it chose was foolish, irrational and, indeed, stupid. Given the known quality of surveillance methods in a five-star hotel and its location — an Arab country — the ambitious scheme completely ignored the catastrophic PR backlash.
For it is sadly naive to expect the world of media and political structures, and that is the entire world as we know it, not to unleash with relish its favourite pastime, i.e. anti-Jewish, anti-Israel editorial passions.
In a fair world of existential chalomim (dreams), Israel’s efforts to address the global issue of terrorism in its own “creative” way would have been acclaimed. The cruel reality of the thin ice of Israel’s acceptance should have alerted the alleged Mossad ingenious planners to a modus operandi of minimum, or preferably no, lateral PR damage.
Otto Waldmann
Bondi Junction, NSW
Newspapers should not be taking Israel to task
ISN’T it just what The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) newspaper has been waiting for — a chance to punish Israel in its broadsheet over the alleged forging of Australian passports by Mossad agents.
On Friday, February 26, it published a whole front page on the matter.
That’s not enough though. It also had an editorial condemning Israeli actions and calling for Israel to be sanctioned and punished by Australian officials.
The SMH seems to relish attacking Israel.
I say to The SMH: nothing is proven, it’s only alleged. Israel hasn’t been tried in a court of law.
Anyway, if Australia is a true friend of Israel, then it would stand by Israel and perhaps not make undiplomatic statements.
How dare Kevin Rudd warn Israel about anything. Israel is a sovereign country and can do what it likes, even fake passports to defend itself.
David Chasrein
Crows Nest, NSW
Israel’s alleged actions betray a firm friend
HAMAS militants, operatives, terrorists — call them what you will — are not indispensable; however, good friends are. There are hundreds ready to take Mahmoud al-Mabhouh’s place, but who will take Australia’s place?
With all the twists and turns involved, such as escaping to Iran, it’s not a straightforward case, but the response by Israel’s Foreign Ministry gives the perception of non-cooperation and arrogance towards a good friend.
There are many arguments about the assassination of one terrorist. There was no collateral damage, unlike the efforts of the US and its allies in pursuing Osama bin Laden, where thousands have been killed, and all for nothing; or the value of some passports compared to Israeli lives, and so on.
I don’t know whether Israel was justified in the alleged theft of Australian passports, but I do know that Israel can’t afford to lose the strong alliance it has with Australia; whereas militants, operatives or terrorists flourish like weeds.
Henry Herzog
St Kilda East, Vic
Perhaps the Jewish State has been framed
WHO done it? Good question.
It seems that the world is convinced that Israel’s famous Mossad is the culprit.
Passports have been stolen in the Middle East, including from Israel, by opportunists or other unsavoury characters from border countries to use for whatever purpose.
It is not a defence statement or utter denial, but I have a suspicion that the arrest of two Palestinians shortly afterwards may paint a very different picture of the assassination, if a thorough investigation is to take place at a later date.
The power struggle between Hamas, the Palestine Liberation Organisation and Fatah is well known.
The method of the assassination and the falsification of passports, as it is represented by the countries where these false passports are made, could also be a clever plot by the fighting factions to assassinate one of their own to bring a false claim and blame against Israel.
It has happened in the history of many countries, such as Germany when the Reichstag building was burnt down by the Nazi Party to blame the Communists and to put the Bulgarian Communist leader on trial.
This is just a thought, as we should never accept blame because of circumstantial evidence. Isn’t that what the law always states.
So do not immediately condemn Israel for something that may not have been done by Israel.
Tom Sinclair
Bondi Junction, NSW
Look at Dubai first
AS Dubai’s police chief Dahi Khalfan Tamim conducts this trial by media, implicating Mossad without substantive evidence, let’s consider the presumption of Dubai as an exemplar of law, decency and integrity.
Clearly Dubai’s attitude towards Israel might well prejudice its investigation into the al-Mabhouh case. People with Israeli passports are prohibited from entering Dubai.
Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer was denied entry to Dubai in 2009, and the Women’s Tennis Association had to threaten Dubai’s tournament for Peer to be accepted this year.
Only applicants from Arab countries and 33 priority countries (including Australia, the UK and USA) are allowed visas to Dubai without a local sponsor and biometric scans.
Dubai’s pretence at liberalism hides a different truth. Victims of rape can find themselves thrown into jail, as can lovers on the beach, or ¬≠homosexuals.
Dubai has allowed itself to become the staging ground for illegal arms deals.
While Mahmoud al-Mabhouh likely entered Dubai under a false passport, chief Tamim had no trouble establishing his true identity and finds this deception not worthy of mention.
Paul Rosental
South Melbourne, Vic
Shared experience of Jews and Aborigines
THE editorial “Sharing our experiences” comparing the experiences of the Jewish community and the Aboriginal community makes some excellent and thought-provoking points (AJN 19/02). Historically, of course, there have been close ties between the Aboriginal and Jewish communities in Australia, with many Jewish Australians figuring prominently in Aboriginal campaigns for citizenship rights and land rights.
A inspirational example of this relationship is highlighted in the story of William Cooper, whose Aboriginal Advancement League, appalled at the horrendous Nazi attack on the German-Jewish community on Kristallnacht on November 9-10, 1938, protested to the German consulate in Melbourne against the Nazis’ treatment of the German-Jewish community. This is the only such recorded protest at that time.
Noel Pearson has highlighted some differences between Jewish culture and Aboriginal culture, but we should be aware that these two proud and ancient peoples also share a great deal and have enjoyed a long, often close and mutually supportive relationship.
Arguably, the intense relationship that Aborigines have with this land can help us to better understand the relationship that Jews have with the Land of Israel. Imagine that after the arrival of the First Fleet and European settlement in Australia, the Aborigines — the indigenous people of Australia — after the failure of their struggle to maintain their lands and freedoms, were rounded up and expelled from Australia.
Given the love that Aborigines have for this land and the centrality of the land in their religion, culture and sense of identity, it is surely not hard to imagine that the expelled Aborigines would maintain their love of their native land, would maintain their religious beliefs, their languages and cultures, and would pray for the day that they could return to the land that they loved.
Imagine that in the fullness of time, these diaspora Aborigines somehow succeeded in returning to their native land — the land that they had continued to hold close to their hearts, their hopes and longings — and, through a near miraculous effort, managed to re-establish an independent Aboriginal homeland on part of the land that was once theirs. Would such a return, such a rebirth, be a colonial enterprise? Would it be an oppression of the European settler community?
The oft-repeated and currently fashionable claim that Zionism and the rebirth of Israel is some sort of racist colonial project is as wrongheaded as an allegation that the struggle for Aboriginal land rights is a colonial project.
Dr Bill Anderson
Surrey Hills, Vic
Far more to Israel than Burdo suggests
CONTRARY to the dismal description of the Jewish State in Ron Burdo’s letter (AJN 12/02), Israelis have much to be proud of and all recent surveys show that the overwhelming majority of Israelis — young and old — are very happy to reside in Israel, and are very proud of their country.
A world leader of the high-tech industry and a source of countless inventions and innovative developments in science, medicine, agriculture and other fields, Israel has made significant contributions to the world, despite existential threats from its neighbours and the heavy security burden it bears. The tens of thousands of western immigrants who have made aliyah did so not for the sake of larger pay packets, but rather as an expression of their desire to live in the Jewish homeland. No words can describe our pride in the new cities being built, the development of a flourishing economy, our unique military successes and the esprit de corps that characterises so much of Israeli life.
We won’t miss Ron Burdo when we joyfully celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut. I only hope that his children, inspired by the true love for Israel of the Australian-Jewish ¬≠community, will see the light and return home.
Tommy Lamm
Efrat, Israel
School reporting is not full picture
YOUR paper has uncritically accepted the spin provided by both the Jewish schools and the My School website. Publishing a league table that purports to compare the results of the Jewish schools’ performance is misleading and damaging on many accounts (AJN 05/02).
Firstly, you have only published the average results of each school in literacy and numeracy — the scores on each of these areas comprises five separate areas that are already averaged across a school year level. To further average these averages is methodologically unsound. International research shows that there are wider differences of achievement between classes in the same school as between schools themselves.
Secondly, your table only tells part of the story that is available. By leaving out the Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage (ICSEA) measure, your readers are unable to decide if the schools have anything in common, except for the fact that their enrolment is Jewish. Yet when we look at the ICSEA measure, we see how statistically unsound it is — the data is not derived from available school enrolment details, but by “matching” student addresses to the relevant socioeconomic status (SES) characteristics of the ABS Census Collection District (CCD is a geographical area smaller than a postcode or suburb, which contains on average about 220 households) in which each student at a school lives.
Thirdly, while the ICSEA formula contains important factors contributing to social-economic (dis)advantage (income, education, (un)employment, employment etc.), it surprisingly does not include significant education factors, such as the level of learning difficulties or disabilities, and whether the school was academically selective, the other languages spoken in children’s homes, the¬† level of English spoken by the student, and migration status. Educators know that these factors are critical in measuring short and medium-term student academic outcomes in both literacy and numeracy.
Finally, there is no detail provided about the level of funding and resource support of each school. Education research acknowledges that resources like computers, interactive whiteboards, science labs and the like make a huge difference to educational outcomes. Not to mention class sizes and staff teacher ratios, swimming pools and hockey fields.
Until the financial resources available to each school is publicly made available and until the ICSEA measure is derived from the actual parents’ income statements and demographics, the data on the My School website is not only irrelevant, but more significantly misleading.
Dr David Zyngier
Senior lecturer in curriculum & pedagogy
Faculty of Education, Monash University
‘Bollywood borsht belt’ defended
LIGHTEN up, Dr Samra, please (AJN 26/02). The term “borsht belt” colloquially refers to the hotels and resorts in the Catskill Mountains area of upper New York State, which were popular as summer vacation spots for many New York City Jews from the 1920s up until the 1960s. Many famous Jewish comedians honed their comedic skills on the borsht belt, including Woody Allen, George Burns, Mel Brooks, Jerry Lewis and Jackie Mason, not to overlook the ladies of comedy such as Phyllis Diller and Joan Rivers.
No doubt the patrons of those establishments consumed gallons of borsht on their holidays. The use of the term in relation to “Bollywood” may be stretching things metaphorically (there’s no Jewish humour in Bollywood movies, from my perspective), but I am certain that no slight was intended, culturally or otherwise. As for borsht itself, give me a chicken laksa any day. Laksa, by the way, is lethal when it comes to stains on the shirt or the tablecloth; indelible — I imagine that borsht is the same in that regard.
George Bognar
Rose Bay, NSW
The importance of testing for Tay-Sachs
YOUR article, titled “Testing for Tay-Sachs Disease” (AJN 19/02), is a much-needed opportunity for raising awareness and addressing the importance of Tay-Sachs disease carrier testing in the Jewish community.
While there is now a well-established screening program in six Jewish day schools in Victoria, we are concerned that many young people attending other schools miss out.
Genetic Health Services Victoria offers carrier testing for Tay-Sachs disease and six related conditions. Last year, the Victorian school program identified that one in eight students tested are carriers of one of the conditions screened for.
We encourage other young adults to take advantage of opportunities to be tested on designated screening days at the University of Melbourne and Monash University, and on a special screening day on Wednesday, July 21, 10.30am-12pm at Beth Weizmann Community Centre. All students are tested free of charge on presentation of a student ID card, thanks to the generous support of The Pratt Foundation, the Bachrach Charitable Trust and other Jewish philanthropies.
Community screening will also be offered in 2010 on Sunday, May 23, 10am-11.30am; Sunday, October 24, 10am-11.30am, at Beth Weizmann Community Centre. Additional information regarding the community screening days may be found at www.taysachs.net.
Professor Agnes Bankier
Senior clinical consultant geneticist
Vicki Petrou
Associate genetic counsellor
Genetic Health Services Victoria
If you would like to submit a letter, email letters@jewishnews.net.au