In May 2014, Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio host Peter Goers wrote a shockingly ignorant and inflammatory piece in the Adelaide Sunday Mail that made it absolutely clear how much he despises Israel.
Unfortunately, Goers is back with another piece of ranting hatred in the Adelaide Sunday Mail (PDF version here) as he visits Israel to see Australian war graves and World War One battle sites around Beersheva that Australian forces participated in.
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He begins:
Israel is guns and Moses. Israel is one long persecution of Palestinians. Israeli Jewish historian Ilan Pappe writes: “South Africa invented apartheid. Israel perfected it.” Also: “Jewish atheists don’t believe in God but they believe God promised them Israel.”
I’m over God. Other people go on a holiday to sit on a beach. I go to Jerusalem where three people were shot by trigger-happy Israeli soldiers in the street while I was there, including one unarmed child who raised his arms and said “Allahu Akbar”– God is great. Israel’s God is greater. His people are armed.
Ilan Pappe is a notorious anti-Zionist historian who openly acknowledges that he is not objective, cares little about factual accuracy and readily admits that ideology drives his historical writings and statements. Goers would have you believe that in this apartheid state, Israeli soldiers gun down innocent Palestinians for no reason other than malice.
We don’t know exactly which incidents Goers claims to be referring to. What we do know is that there has been a wave of Palestinian terror attacks that have required Israeli security forces to act in order to protect Israeli lives including as recently as today where a Palestinian terrorist opened fire from a vehicle killing two Israelis and wounding several others. It isn’t only Israelis who are armed as Goers would have you believe. Some incidents have also involved Palestinian minors who have carried out attacks with the expressed intent to “martyr” themselves.
Goers references to God and his people with a particularly dismissive and condescending attitude and it becomes perfectly clear that Goers has picked a side:
I salute the forbearance of the Palestinians and commit myself afresh to their noble cause. Inshallah.
Given his obvious hatred towards Israel, it’s not surprising that Goers can’t find anything positive to say about his visit. In fact he has only negatives, particularly concerning his visit to Beersheva:
It’s a hot, dusty hellhole. Modern Be’er Sheva – with its 350,000 souls – is the ugliest place I’ve ever seen. I managed to hire the world’s worst tour guide/driver. At the cost of $750, he was boorish and inept.
There are undoubtedly far worse places to be than Beersheva and Goers description is clearly exaggerated and over the top. Perhaps Goers should have consulted Trip Advisor before he went there. As for his tour guide, who was unable to locate a number of sites, we can only wonder who Goers found as licensed Israeli tour guides have to complete an intensive two-year course before they are qualified for the job.
In his quest to find things to disparage, Goers complains about the state of the public toilets and garbage around the site of the Park of the Australian Soldier and even the access:
The enclosed park has only one open gate – all others are locked. Why? Security. That’s the answer to everything in Israel which has been under emergency law since 1967. Every other park in Be’er Sheva is completely open.
Is Goers seriously trying to trivialize Israel’s very legitimate security concerns with the locked gates of a park?
He concludes:
The Zionists insist that the charge on Beersheba in that desert campaign of World War I precipitated the return of Israel to the Jews and the resultant illegal persecution of the Palestinians.
The Israelis pay Australia a lot of lip service, yet much needs to be done to exhume battlefields from rubbish dumps for the centenary of Beersheba next year.
The Israelis couldn’t care less about Beersheba and, if you think that’s sad, try being a Palestinian and being a prisoner in your own land.
In fact, Israel cares a great deal about its thriving relationship with Australia as well as Beersheva where annual events take place to commemorate Australian military forces who captured the town from the Ottoman Empire during World War One. Next year sees the 100th anniversary and promises to be an extra-special occasion.
As for Israeli-Australian relations, it’s worth reading Australian Ambassador Dave Sharma’s recent article on the “Ozraeli” month of celebratory events and the close friendship between the two countries.
What a shame that Peter Goers is so consumed with hate towards Israel to notice.
You can send your considered comments to Adelaide Now through its Letters to the Editor form. Don’t worry if you are not a resident of Australia.
Photo By Bilby (Own work) [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
