Planet Irf: Friday, January 16, 2009

Friday, January 16, 2009

HATEWATCH: More great moments from Tim Blair's blog ...

A certain scholarly person calling him/her/itself wronwright of VRWC left this breathtakingly brilliant remark at Tim Blair's blog on Friday 16 Jan 09 at 06:19am ...

If the Palestinians had an ounce of common sense and vision, they’d work hard on gaining the trust of all non-Muslims (e.g., Jews, Christians, Hindus, atheists) ... But no, the Palestinians suffer from the same affliction that affects most other Muslims. They have their collective heads up their asses.

He's right. Islamic fanatics like Hanan Ashrawi and Victor Batarseh are responsible for the Palestinians' plight. How can you expect a people who are 100% Muslim to get anywhere?

It really is great to see such brilliant minds congregating at Mr Blair's blog.

UPDATE I: The Daily Tele's resident cyber-Nazis seem to be enjoying the limelight if this post on Dim Tim's blog is anything to go by. And as always, Dim Tim can't seem to get his mind off my figure.

UPDATE II: Tim Blair has a friend on YouTube! Check out the sophisticated nuanced analysis from this prominent commentator:

This chap provides ...

Some missives from commentary of Tim Blair

Commentary. From Dim Tim. Pfft ...

UPDATE III: Amazing. Did you know that North Korea has now become an Islamist state ruled by peculiarly North Asian form of sharia? According to AnnJ of Sydney at 10:32am:

I’m guessing that Irfan also supports the stifling of dissent and would prefer to live in an Australia that is more like, say, North Korea under sharia law. But then again, he might only be very young.

Well, I haven't reached 40 yet. I may be young. But AnnJ, like most of the quacks that hang out at Dim Tim's blog, are just plain stupid. What will these poor innocents come up with next? You gotta wonder about Griffin of Melbourne who follows up AnnJ's Korean sharia theory up with these comments at 1:39 on Sunday 18 Jan 09:

The people who hang out here are very smart and funny, the information they provide is relevant and easily verifiable. I learn more and more each time I visit this blog, and watching the discussions here ...

I wonder where Griffin will find verification of North Korea's sudden transformation!

Words © 2009 Irfan Yusuf

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CRIKEY: From peacenik to IDF promoter ...?

How did an undergraduate peacenik morph into a spokesman for the Israeli army?

The Guy Spigelman I remember was a long-haired hippie-type affiliated with the Labor Students Club (controlled by the Socialist Left faction) and was elected to the Macquarie University Students’ Council on a ticket entitled "Students Against Racism", his number two being a female student of Jordanian background.

Though active in the Macquarie Uni branch of the Australasian Union of Jewish Students (AUJS), Spigelman was despised by Jewish members of the Liberal Club who saw him as too wishy-washy and too pro-Arab. Spigelman actively sought dialogue with students of Palestinian background.

In 1992, well before the Oslo accords and at a time when Palestinians were still regarded as a nation of terrorists, at a debate organised by AUJS on the topic of whether Israel should withdraw from the West Bank (or as some rightwing AUJS apparatchiks called it, “Judea and Samaria”) and Gaza, Spigelman supported Israeli withdrawal. Admittedly the reasons he used were more to do with Israeli security (he argued that a survey of retired Israeli generals showed most believe that holding onto the territories didn’t palpably increase Israel’s security) than with any right of Palestinians to a homeland. But he did hack into one Jewish student who made some racist remarks suggesting Arabs were inherently irrational and violent.

A 2006 post on Spigelman’s Australian Jewish News blog speculates on the factors that might affect support for Israel in Australia:

Another scenario - and this has been identified by polling undertaken in Europe - is that the world is becoming increasingly concerned with Islamic Fundamentalism and terrorism - and while there is no great love for Israel, there is less love for the Arabs.

This should not provide us with much comfort. We should not rely on the problems the other side has in order to better our position.

The other side? Maybe Spigelman wasn’t as inclusive and ecumenical in his thinking as I may have thought. Still, Spigelman does have some good advice on how supporters of Israel can help their cause:

...I believe the best advocacy is one that is vigilant in engaging all sectors of the society – from the left to the right – combined with encouragement (and not stifling) of informed debate – including criticism when it is warranted.

It’s advice ignored by Israel’s own ambassador in The Age today.

The author is a former Macquarie University Liberal student. First published in Crikey on Friday 16 January 2008.

Words © 2009 Irfan Yusuf

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