One can only imagine the hateful propaganda from an Australian Friends of Palestine trip that resulted in an opinion piece by Australian radio host Peter Goers in the Adelaide Sunday Mail. So much of Goers’ piece is so over the top, it is difficult to know where to begin.
Goers’ opening paragraph gives an idea of what is to come:
Jesus wept. In Palestine, Jesus wept and so did I. I weep for the Palestinians living under the Israeli apartheid.
From hereon, Goers continues weeping so much so that his piece becomes the equivalent of a textual tantrum. While the apartheid charge can be addressed (see here for more on the apartheid state libel), much of what follows is a mixture of unverified claims and absolute falsehoods. Some examples:
I weep for all 720km of this barbaric wall in Israel…
Rather than a “barbaric wall,” some 97% of the barrier is actually a chain-link fence. And just what is so “barbaric” about defending Israelis from Palestinian terrorism and suicide bombs?
I weep for the many Israelis who want to destroy the 1400-year-old Dome of the Rock, the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Christian churches in this land whence prophets come.
Just how many Israelis want to destroy Muslim and Christian holy places? Unlike the Palestinians, most Israelis respect the integrity of the holy sites of other religions and these are protected under Israeli law. But this is just one of a number of bizarre or claims that have no basis in reality.
Palestinians get only 20 per cent of power and water and pay six times more than the Israelis for their intermittent supply.
Another arbitrary statistic that with no evidence to back it up. Palestinian water consumption has actually increased since the signing of the Oslo Accords (see here for more on the water issue) while Palestinian electricity will only now be running at half-strength for an hour each day (hardly an “intermittent supply”) as a result of a $154 million debt owed by the Palestinian Jerusalem District Electric Company and a response to the recent Fatah-Hamas reconciliation.
Jesus was a Palestinian born under another occupation.
A laughable rewriting of history. Jesus was, of course, a Jew living under the Roman occupation.
I weep for the oppressive, bellicose Israelis. The Jews – once so oppressed, now so oppressive.
Not Israelis but “Jews.” According to Goers, the victims of the Nazis are behaving in the same way as their oppressors.
I weep for Palestinians who have to make six calls to get an ambulance. Israelis make one.
Is it really Israel’s fault if the Palestinian Red Crescent is not as efficient as the Magen David Adom?
I weep for the 1004 Palestinian children arrested, tortured, abused and abducted last year.
Accusing Israel of torture and child abuse is quite simply a libel. Israel does not torture or kidnap Palestinian children. The real child abuse is the poisoning of young minds that prompts Palestinian children to participate in violence and terror.
Aside from the above, nowhere does Goers offer anything other than a completely one-sided and skewed commentary devoid of any understanding or willingness to engage with the Israeli side. The result is astonishingly ignorant and offensive.
Read it and weep.
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