Category: Israel

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ABC, the ‘most trusted news source in Australia’, airs Netanyahu’s 30-year-old bogus Iran nuke claims

For about 30 years, Benjamin Netanyahu, the current Prime Minister of Israel, has been making the claim that Iran is on the verge (one month, two weeks, a few weeks, not very far from or variations of that theme) of having a nuclear weapon.

Thus far, there is no sign at all that Teheran has acquired nukes. Given this fact, who would air such a ridiculous claim during a program that claims to be taking a serious look at Iran and the nuclear issue?

Well, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation had no qualms about running a program on Monday (April 6) — made by the American public broadcaster PBS — which put the square-jawed Netanyahu on-screen — among others — questioning if the Islamic nation had gone nuclear. And that too, during an ongoing attack by Israel and the US which is claimed to be aimed at preventing Iran from getting such weapons (which they don’t have). Continue reading “ABC, the ‘most trusted news source in Australia’, airs Netanyahu’s 30-year-old bogus Iran nuke claims”

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Joe Biden’s legacy? The Palestinian genocide

American presidents are big on talking about what they believe to be their legacy, even if there is no substance to the claims they make. With Joe Biden, it is crystal clear what he can claim as his legacy: the genocide that has resulted in close to 70,000 Palestinian lives being snuffed out.

[First published in Pearls & Irritations on January 17, 2025]

The announcement of a ceasefire days before Donald Trump’s inauguration is meant to confer credit for this deal on the Biden team when all they have done is block everything apart from Israel’s murderous campaign that was designed to clear Gaza of all human life.

But the past tells us that no chief executive of the US can pretend to be powerless in an Israeli-Palestinian stoush; there are numerous examples of how the man in the White House has put his foot down and got what he demanded. Continue reading “Joe Biden’s legacy? The Palestinian genocide”

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Israeli envoy takes clueless Australian journos for a nice ride

Journalists based in Canberra are a compromised lot, something that was glaringly evident by their performance — or more accurately the lack of it — during an address to the National Press Club by the new Israeli Ambassador, Dr Hillel Newman, on Tuesday (March 31).

Though many of the questions started out promisingly, they were not prosecuted to any satisfactory conclusion, allowing Dr Newman, a seasoned PR practitioner who has served as consul-general in Los Angeles and ambassador in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, to override the queries with statements that were mostly half-truths.

For example, Matthew Knott, defence and national security reporter at the Sydney Morning Herald, started off the Q&A by asking Dr Newman about the new law passed by the Knesset which can impose the death penalty on Palestinians who are found guilty of terrorism offences that threaten the security of Israel.

Knott is one of two journalists from the SMH who wrote a report on 7 March 2023 claiming that China was set to launch a war to retake Taiwan within the next three years. Both he and his collaborator in this report, Peter Hartcher, the international editor of the SMH, have kept a low profile when the bogus report was raised this month. Continue reading “Israeli envoy takes clueless Australian journos for a nice ride”

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Chris Mitchell claims to be a journalist. I have my doubts

Chris Mitchell, the former editor of The Australian, has accused the world’s media at large of wanting Iran to win the current war with the US and Israel.

Mitchell, who somehow reminds me of a bulldog, was out there this week, castigating journalists for believing any statement made Iranian officials. US President Donald Trump has claimed that Washington is negotiating with Iran, but a majority of the media has tended to believe what Iran has had to say.

Mitchell doesn’t like this. Essentially, a man who loves to claim he is a journalist is asking newspapers to take sides and barrack for one side, rather than report fairly on the ongoing stoush. Continue reading “Chris Mitchell claims to be a journalist. I have my doubts”

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How the New York Times runs interference for Israel

When things go badly for Israel, there are always obliging stenographers in the American media to spin things and put the most positive spin on the screw-ups of the Jewish state.

When these include Mark Mazzetti, an employee of the New York Times, who was so close to the CIA that he would submit his articles to the agency for clearance before publication, this is a bit laughable.

It gets even more so when among the four authors of the latest cover-up for Israel is Ronen Bergman, another NYT employee, a Jew, who is extremely close to the Mossad. Some of the stuff in the latest cover-up is risible in the extreme.

The NYT effort — which also has two other authors, Julian E. Barnes and Edward Wong — was republished by the Australian newspaper, The Age. Essentially, it is a cover-up for the failure of the Israeli plan to ignite an internet uprising in Iran by launching the war that is now in train. Continue reading “How the New York Times runs interference for Israel”

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That day in October when the world really changed

As OPEC+ showed its muscle today, cutting its output and spitting in the face of the US which was seeking lower oil prices, one was reminded of how this organisation first flexed its muscles – 49 years ago, in the wake of what is known as the Yom Kippur War or the Ramadan War.

It was on Saturday, October 6, 1973, that the combined forces of Egypt, Syria and Jordan launched an attack on Israel at two minutes to two in the afternoon.

It was Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar and there had been some warnings of an imminent Arab attack. But these were not taken seriously. Continue reading “That day in October when the world really changed”

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The world has become the domain of liars

There’s a common element to much, if not most, of the news that flits across the TV screens: lies.

People attempt to add a touch of sophistry to lying, by trying to create classes of lies, but in the end it all adds up to the same thing: saying one thing when knowing that the opposite was correct.

One well-known example: the current president of the United States, Joe Biden, came to office promising a US$15 minimum wage for the country. He also promised to provide medical services for all and forgive at least a part of the billions in student debt.

Continue reading “The world has become the domain of liars”

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All the news (apart from the Middle East issue) that’s fit to print

The Saturday Paper — as its name implies — is a weekend newspaper published from Melbourne, Australia. Given this, it rarely has any real news, but some of the features are well-written.

There is a column called Gadfly (again the name would indicate what it is about) which is extremely well-written and is one of the articles that I read every week. It was written for some years by one Richard Ackland, a lawyer with very good writing skills, and is now penned by one Sami Shah, an Indian, who is, again a good writer. Gadfly is funny and, like most of the opinion content in the paper, is left-oriented.

The same cannot be said of some of the other writers. Karen Middleton and Rick Morton fall into the category of poor writers, though the latter sometimes does provide a story that has not been run anywhere else. Middleton can only be described as a hack.

Continue reading “All the news (apart from the Middle East issue) that’s fit to print”

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Vale, Robert Fisk

The veteran Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk died recently at the age of 74, and his death means one of the Western world’s journalists who best understood the region has left the scene.

Fisk lived in Beirut for most of the 30-plus years he covered the region and reported the troubles in Northern Ireland before venturing out of the country.

He reported on the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the continuing woes in that country. Fisk interviewed the al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden thrice and also covered the US invasion of Iraq.

Robert Fisk.

Some questioned his approach to journalism; he did not believe in getting opinions from both sides, so-called balanced journalism. Rather, it was his belief that the job of a reporter was to provide an outlet for the underdog.

His famous example was that of the liberation of a concentration camp. And he asked whether one should be expected to get a quote from a SS guard for balance, a query which nobody has attempted to answer.

Continue reading “Vale, Robert Fisk”

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Twenty-five years after Oslo, there is nothing to show for it

Thursday, September 13, marked 25 years since Israel took the (then) radical step of recognising the Palestine Liberation Organisation in a Norway-brokered deal that many thought would ultimately lead to a two-state solution in the Middle East and bring an end to one of the most bitter feuds between nations.

Alas, it was not to be. Twenty-five years on, what remains of land that could have been a Palestinian homeland is bantustans, and things seem to be going from bad to worse. With the US recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, it is now inconceivable that Tel Aviv will ever countenance giving up part of the city to be the capital of a future Palestinian state.

It brings back memories for me, as it was the biggest news event that I have managed in nearly 40 years as a journalist in three countries. In 1993, I was deputy chief sub-editor at the Khaleej Times in Dubai, and that September I was producing the daily editions as the chief sub-editor, my good mate T.K. Achuthan, was on leave.
Continue reading “Twenty-five years after Oslo, there is nothing to show for it”