FRESH AIR

UPDATES

Media Week – “Neutral” stance comes up Trumps/Biffo by Richo

Mar 10, 2016 | Allon Lee

Media Week - "Neutral" stance comes up Trumps/Biffo by Richo
news_item/spin640___________________________________________________________.jpg

“Neutral” stance comes up Trumps

American Palestinian commentator Ray Hanania told ABC News Radio (March 3) that American Muslims should back Republican presidential aspirant Donald Trump and ignore his call to ban Muslims from entering the country because “on the issue of negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians…he said he would be neutral.”

According to Hanania, Trump’s neutrality call was “not a strategic statement if you’re trying to win votes in the United States. The Arabs don’t vote in this country as much as the pro-Israel community… He said he’d be neutral. That’s unprecedented in a presidential race in this country because in all the past presidential elections the debate has been which candidate is going to be more pro-Israel. That’s always been the argument, the battle, who’s more pro-Israel and that person would usually win…If I were Muslim I would say okay, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt on the immigration/terrorism issue because that neutral statement is so significant. He’s worth giving a chance.”

While Americans overwhelmingly want Washington to actively back Israel’s security in principle, there is little evidence to show the issue decides elections. Furthermore, Hanania seemed ignorant that the inconsistent Trump has also said he is “totally pro-Israel” and that Netanyahu is a “a good friend” and Trump even shot a commercial in support of Netanyahu’s 2013 election campaign.

Biffo by Richo

In his regular Australian column (March 4), former Labor powerbroker Graham Richardson advised NSW Labor MP Shaoquett Moselmane to drop his lawsuit against the Australian‘s Sharri Markson for an opinion piece that Moselmane claims smeared him as an antisemite.

Richardson made it pretty clear that his sympathies lie with the Palestinians, essentially reducing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to a dispute between an Israeli cabinet that “contains a majority opposed to a two-state solution” (it doesn’t) and Hamas whose “constitution…demands the destruction of…Israel”, but he agreed that Moselmane had used harsh language “to describe what could be called ‘the Jewish lobby'” in a speech to the NSW Parliament in 2013.

As Richardson recounted, Moselmane used parliamentary privilege to say, “I accept the right of people to express their views, even when they are wrong, naive, ill-informed, indoctrinated and blinded by the power of a lobby group that is cancerous and malicious and seeks to deny, misinform and scaremonger.”

In response, Markson had accused Moselmane of “broadcasting this anti-Semitic sentiment within the walls of the NSW Parliament.”

Richardson wrote, “words like ‘cancerous’ and ­‘malicious’ are not used gently or moderately. In my view, if you use that kind of language, then you should not be too surprised that someone may respond in the way Markson did.”

Although Richardson defended Markson as “tenacious and fearless” and a “good advertisement for modern journalism” he said he “didn’t agree with much of her column” but MPs should be guided by the principle “You gives it, you takes it and you don’t…grumble.”

– Allon Lee

Tags:

RELATED ARTICLES


Mahmoud Abbas gives his Nakba Day speech at the UN (Image: UN Photo/Screenshot)

The UN Must Not Repeat Its ‘Nakba Day’ Farce

May 31, 2023 | Featured, Fresh AIR, In the media
Protestor in Indonesia calling to ban Israel's team from the FIFA U-20 World Cup that Indonesia was meant to host (screenshot)

Sporting Boycotts require strong action by roof bodies

May 31, 2023 | Featured, Fresh AIR
Palestinian Islamic Jihad (image: Shutterstock/Anas-Mohammed)

Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the shell game in Gaza

May 12, 2023 | Featured, Fresh AIR
Anti-Houthi demonstrations in Taiz, Yemen, 2014

Yemen’s Future: Partition, Hezbollisation or Talibanisation?

May 5, 2023 | Featured, Fresh AIR
Cyber

No increased Iranian cyberthreat to Israel

May 3, 2023 | Featured, Fresh AIR
China Iran

China won’t and can’t help Israel with Iran

Apr 28, 2023 | Featured, Fresh AIR
Screenshot from a tiktok video showing Palestinian Islamic Jihad rockets being launched at Israel from amidst civilians in a heavily populated area of Gaza

“Shield and Arrow”: Yet another Gaza conflict

May 12, 2023 | Update
Israelis celebrating Independence Day (Yom  Ha'atzmaut) in Tel Aviv (Photo: Shutterstock, Orlov Sergei)

Reflections on Israel’s 75th Birthday

May 3, 2023 | Update
Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu announces a pause in his Government's judicial reform plans in a televised address on Monday, March 27  (Image: Youtube screenshot)

Israel’s controversial judicial reforms put on hold

Mar 29, 2023 | Update
Image: Shutterstock

The implications of the Iran-Saudi deal

Mar 17, 2023 | Update
A joint air force drill during the Israel-US "Juniper Oak" military exercises in January, which were widely interpreted as sending a signal to Iran (Image: Pentagon)

New diplomatic strategies with Iran for 2023

Mar 10, 2023 | Update
Screenshot from a video showing radical Israeli rioters torching Palestinian homes in the West Bank town of Huwara (Image: Twitter)

West Bank unrest escalates following violent riots by Jewish protesters in Huwara

Mar 1, 2023 | Update

SIGN UP FOR AIJAC EMAILS

RECENT POSTS

Mahmoud Abbas gives his Nakba Day speech at the UN (Image: UN Photo/Screenshot)

The UN Must Not Repeat Its ‘Nakba Day’ Farce

Protestor in Indonesia calling to ban Israel's team from the FIFA U-20 World Cup that Indonesia was meant to host (screenshot)

Sporting Boycotts require strong action by roof bodies

Senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commanders attend a meeting with Iran’s Supreme Leader in Tehran, Iran (Image via Iran’s Supreme Leader’s website)

Essay: A New Multifront Strategy?

Erdogan vs. Kilicdaroglu: The former looks all but guaranteed to win a second round on May 29 (Image: Tolga Ildun/ Shutterstock)

What does Turkey’s election mean for Israel?

Netanyahu (right), with Defence Minister Gallant (top left), IDF Chief of Staff Halevi (bottom left) and other security officials (Image: GPO/ Flickr)

Israeli politics after “Shield and Arrow”

Mahmoud Abbas gives his Nakba Day speech at the UN (Image: UN Photo/Screenshot)

The UN Must Not Repeat Its ‘Nakba Day’ Farce

Protestor in Indonesia calling to ban Israel's team from the FIFA U-20 World Cup that Indonesia was meant to host (screenshot)

Sporting Boycotts require strong action by roof bodies

Senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commanders attend a meeting with Iran’s Supreme Leader in Tehran, Iran (Image via Iran’s Supreme Leader’s website)

Essay: A New Multifront Strategy?

Erdogan vs. Kilicdaroglu: The former looks all but guaranteed to win a second round on May 29 (Image: Tolga Ildun/ Shutterstock)

What does Turkey’s election mean for Israel?

Netanyahu (right), with Defence Minister Gallant (top left), IDF Chief of Staff Halevi (bottom left) and other security officials (Image: GPO/ Flickr)

Israeli politics after “Shield and Arrow”

SORT BY TOPICS