From:g87
Sent: Sunday, April 13, 2014 12:31 PM
Subject: Stewart Mills #2 April 12, 2014 inc M burd etc
BOB Carr has done a great service to our country and to the Middle East through his diary and his time as foreign minister. Carr has championed a liberal Israeli human-rights view — albeit a minority view in Israel today — and courageously criticised factions who seek to justify the greater Israel settlement and expansionist view such as promoted by various sections of mainstream Israeli politics, and its Australian supporters.
Carr supports the right of pro-Israel lobbyists to push their perspective. However, Carr’s point is that the pro-Israel perspective being most forcefully pushed is unhealthy and contrary to a pro-Israel, pro-Palestine, pro-peace view that ensures the end of settlement expansion, the end of occupation, and a viable resolution that allows for Palestinians and Israelis to live as neighbours.
Stewart Mills, Balmain, NSW
IF it isn’t obvious that Bob Carr is having a go to see who bites, the national sense of humour is in a grave crisis. The trouble with political correctness is people’s reactions are now skewed: should we chuckle or go the default umbrage route.
A note to Malcolm Turnbull: to say nobody should generalise is a generalisation in itself, because of course we can. Whither empirical thought without a good generalisation based on experience and the ability to prove something not completely self-evident to the average bear? Viva Carr’s cerebral humour.
David Hall, Labrador, Qld
BOB Carr says his book is a self-parody, and some commentators lament the public’s lack of humour about Carr’s witty turn of phrase.
I do not need to read a book to be reminded that Julia Gillard was a shocking prime minister who did not listen and whose judgment has been shown to be terrible. The country will pay the price for her ineptitude for many years to come.
And I do not care about where Carr went to school, or what bullying he may have suffered for being bookish. A lot of us were brought up in low socio-economic areas and were bullied for being bookish and lacking sporting prowess. Despite all that, we have made a good life for ourselves and our families, and without the use of a forked tongue and a poison pen to justify our achievements.
Colleen Walker, Mt Louisa, Qld
LABOR must have a new public relations guru who is good at getting media coverage. We have Bob Carr’s “minister without pyjamas” diary, not to mention a Wagner opera without English subtitles on his first-class flight.
Then we get Labor’s top Senate candidate in Western Australia, where the unions that promoted him are now demanding that he resign before he even gets to Canberra, just because he called the rank and file “mad” and questioned the sexual proclivities of his running mate. Forget about bringing on the clowns — they already have.
Steve Kessell, Willetton, WA
OF course there is a pro-Israeli lobby within the Australian Jewish community. It’s powerful, effective and its activities are entirely appropriate within the Australian democratic system. By contrast, the pro-Palestinian lobby is nowhere near as well organised. Bob Carr may whinge about the power of the pro-Israeli lobby but he can’t deny its success.
Brian Sanaghan, West Preston, Vic
BOB Carr describes the Jewish lobby as being an unhealthy influence when it comes to Middle East policy. Notwithstanding that Palestinians have lobbyists who visit Canberra regularly, the so-called influential Israel lobby under Labor hasn’t been as successful as Carr will have us believe. Under Labor, Australia’s support for Israel at the UN diminished.
It is ironic that Carr is fixated on Israel and accuses Melbourne’s Jewish community of using its wealth and influence to promote Israel’s interests. Last April, Gillard was asked why Carr was hostile to Israel. Gillard replied that the Jewish community had a lot of work to do and urged us to lobby Labor MPs to bolster support for her position. We Jews can’t win.
Michael Burd, Toorak, Vic