Welsh Assembly Sparks Outrage in Boycott Call
June 16, 2008
Welsh Assembly Presiding Officer Dafydd Elis-Thomas is to be commended for urging colleagues to boycott a visit by Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor. In a leaked email he is quoted as saying “I am unwilling to accept the invitation to meet the ambassador because of my objection to the failure of the state of Israel to meet its international obligations to the Palestinian people of the Holy Lands. I would invite other colleagues to do the same.” This call has generated a lot of press: I count at least 9 newspaper articles including the Daily Mail, BBC, Jerusalem Post, Jewish Chronicle, AFP, Wales Online, etc. All of them negative I might add.
The BBC counters Mr Elis-Thomas’s email with 6 spokesmen and you’ll notice they quoted no-one who was in favour of the boycott. One of the 6 was Rodney Berman, the leader of Cardiff council, who believes Wales’ Jewish community would be shocked at the “strident tone.” He then adds “If AMs have concerns, as I do myself, about policies followed by the Israeli government then surely it’s better to use this event to talk about those concerns rather than to put up barriers which can only promote further misunderstanding.”
Frankly I was very impressed with the email and am delighted to hear that Dafydd is “standing by what he had written.” What Rodney Berman is missing is that there has been talk for the last 40 years of occupation and it has solved nothing. Israel has refused to obey International Law, as judged most recently in 2004 by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and ignores countless UN resolutions. Israel knows well that it’s failing these commitments and we now need less talk and more political pressure to force positive action. I congradulate Dafydd Elis-Thomas for his stand - it would seem there are still some decent people willing to put their necks out for a just cause. Also Berman presumes that all Jews would be shocked, many I know would be delighted by this stand. The only people that will be shocked are pro-Israel supporters (Jewish or not) whose bias prevents them from acknowledging the horrendous Israeli human rights and legal record.
What’s more curious is why a Muslim member of the assembly invited Prosor in the first place? Mohammed Asghar claims that he knows a lot from the Palestinian side but not a lot from the other side. I would advise him that the Ambassador / Hasbara goon Prosor is not the best source for an objective opinion.
Of further interest is how fast Mr Elis-Thomas’s wikipedia page was edited. Is this a part of the information “war” launched by pro-Israel lobbying group CAMERA? The added content is certainly bias: including choice quotes such as, his objections target “a country that has withdrawn from 89 percent of the land it conquered in 1967, and he fails to deal with the complexity of a Gaza Strip controlled by ruthless radicals who mete out death penalties to gays.” This is ignoring Israeli’s legal obligations as judged by the ICJ and is rather crude propaganda.
June 16, 2008 at 5:17 pm
CAMERA a Jewish real ale group?
So we’ve got to drink rotten fly-blown Zionist beer,now!
Oy Vay!
I advise all Welsh people to stick to Brains the local brew.The SA Gold is especially good.
Let’s drink to Dafyd Elis -Thomas!
June 17, 2008 at 12:37 am
That page on Wiki is editable. So you could change it.
June 17, 2008 at 2:36 pm
this is really good news………who knows, perhaps we’ll see others suddenly finding the courage to speak publicly……well done Mr.Elis-Thomas.
June 17, 2008 at 7:18 pm
#
Well done, Dafydd El, for your stand. Ron Prosor has stated that “there is no platform he will not utilize for PR work” to promote Israel; he is talking about platforms like the Welsh Assembly. But he has a major PR problem- the appalling human rights record of his government’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territories.
There will no doubt be Assembly Members eager to meet the Ambassador. As with previous visits by officials of his government, they may well be offered an all expenses paid trip to Israel to give one side of the picture, which does not include a visit to the checkpoints, Apartheid Wall, or illegal settlements. We all know there is no such thing as a free lunch.
I know there will be some who hope to have the opportunity to question the Israeli Ambassador on the humanitarian catastrophe which is taking place in the Palestinian territories whose borders Israel controls.
But I must tell all those fair minded people that on the basis of his previous statements, Mr Prosor is not interested in debate. Briefed by Mrs Jean Evans, he is likely to ignore everything you say, ridicule your arguments and attack your principled stand.
June 21, 2008 at 8:04 am
Imagine living in a country surrounded by nations that have denied its very right to exist. Nations that declared war at the time of the county’s birth. Nations that have carried out continual acts of aggression, suicide bombers and daily rocket attacks and you want “fair minded people” to consider human rights.
Come on - open your eyes - Israel is the only democratic country in the Middle East. Hamas and Fatah are terrorist gangsters who are corrupt to the core. Has anyone yet discovered how Arafat managed to leave his wife $20,0000,000?
June 21, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Dear Alan
Just read your piece on plucky little Israel.
How right you are re-Israel’s right to exist and the insidious aggression of her Arab neighbours with their suicide attacks.
Yes Israel is the only democratic country in the region and……
….yes there are fairies at the bottom of our garden too!
I thought you were describing Wales when you mentioned the surrounding nations denying your right to exist!
Anyway you’re clearly pretty adept at spinning a good yarn at here at The Sun we’re always looking for new Zionist propagandists.
So send your c.v. pronto,
Love and kisses
Rupert
June 21, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Hi Rupert
Before I submit my CV you’ll need to pass a general knowledge test
1. Name a democratic country in the Middle east (other than Israel)
2. In which year did Hamas, Fatah, Hezbollah accept Israel’s right to exist?
3. Which Middle eastern country recently threatened to wipe Israel off the map?
4. When did England make rocket attacks on Wales?
Answers on a postcard
By the way I’m not a Zionist - just someone who seeks the truth - ON BOTH SIDES.
June 22, 2008 at 10:47 am
Dear Alan
Your penchant for parroting the Israeli/Zionist propaganda line ad infinitum obviates the need for the submission of your c.v. I have already contacted AIPAC and several other lobby groups bringing their attention to the advent of a new rising star.
The prospect of a new Welsh outpost for their disinformation and myth-circulation exercise excites them beyond measure!
The appointment I,personally,have in mind for you is one that requires scant knowledge of the region in question.But you will have responsibility for pedaling the following shibboleths(nice Hebrew word n’est pas?):
1.Israel is the only flawless democracy in the region.Neither Turkey or Lebanon compare!Israel’s elections are clean and fair and do not regularly expose it as a corrupt banana republic wherein fist-fights,cash pay-offs,ballot fraud and candidates with fascist/Nazi/military sympathies and others with connections to organized crime(esp.Likud)who vie with eachother to make the most blood-curdling threats against all her neighbours feature prominently.
2.Abbas,for the Fatah organisation,has accepted Israel’s right to exist and is a favoured client.Israel of course has the right to assassinate,bombard,expropriate and torture Palestinians and imprison their elected Hamas representatives until they do likewise.That’s what democracy’s all about!
3.The Iranian leader Ahmadinejad’s once-made rather florid remark that the regime occupying Jerusalem should vanish from the page of time needs to be deliberately mistranslated in all my corporate outlets to read like a threat of national obliteration made by Iran against Israel.
4.It is taboo to make any reference to the history of threats and attacks Israel has repeatedly perpetrated against its neighbours since 1948.
The paucity of knowledge you have so far demonstrated and your willingness to submit to my editorial line mean your appointment will take place with immediate effect.
Love and kisses
Rupert
P.S.Conrad is impressed and reads your posts everyday in his prison cell!
June 22, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Hi Rupert
My, you do get excited - still I suppose using an assumed name helps you to hide. Hiding from the truth anyway.
OK - 1948 UN declares Israel to be a nation. Israel is attacked immediately by it’s three neighbour states. (By the way we hear little of the need to redraw the borders of Jordan, given that it was set up at the same time as Israel. Oh no, whoops, that’s for the arabs and we’re not allowed to mention that)
Most of the 1950’s there are threats and aggression from these Arab states. In 1967 Israel pre-empts an immediate invasion by Egypt and defeats them. In 1973 Egypt again invades on Israel’s Day of Atonement - the holiest day in their calendar. Egypt loses - again.
So exactly what are “threats and attacks Israel has repeatedly perpetrated against its neighbours since 1948.”
And spare me the hype just give me the facts. By the way Fatah (PLO) has never withdrawn from it’s constitution it’s written opposition to Israel’s existence. And of course you can’t name the date that hamas and Hezbollah agreed that Israel has a right to exist. Cos they haven’t! And do you know why Rupert? It’s simple, even for you. The existence of the state of Israel and having Jerusalem as it’s capital goes right against the teachings of Islamic fundamentalism which insist that Israel has no future.
So are you an Islamic fundamentalist? I think we should be told. You certainly like to pin labels on people.
June 22, 2008 at 1:48 pm
I almost forgot.
5.Anyone who doesn’t endorse the same CSE History textbook version of Israel’s past as we do must be an Islamic fundamentalist!
It’s a long way from CSE History to the real world and Alan you obviously passed the first but are utterly out of your depth in the second.
You’ve got the job.
On my paper I only want guys with brains the size of a walnut and on this basis alone you qualify with distinction!
Yours without any sense of embarrassment on your behalf,
Rupert
June 22, 2008 at 3:39 pm
I asked you a straight forward question
what are the “threats and attacks Israel has repeatedly perpetrated against its neighbours since 1948.”
It’s your statement - support it with facts.
Did the UN vote Israel into being?
Was it attacked by all three of its Arab neighbours?
Did Egypt invade Israel in 1967 and 1973?
Did the PLO carry out terrorist attacks at the Munich Olympics?
Does the existence of Israel refute the teachings of islamic fundamentalism?
These are either truths or they’re not.
You’re good at school boy insults but you don’t do very well at adult facts. Just give me a straight answer.
June 22, 2008 at 4:53 pm
It is not unknown for Israeli agents to mis-navigate.
Are you lost and out of your depth like the IDF became in 1982-2000 and 2006?
Clearly you were in the CSE History group;Were you in the CSE Geography group too?
You’re making an arse of yourself now and the job offer is rescinded,I’m afraid.
With sympathy,
Rupert
June 22, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Rupert
You’re a light weight. Do some growing up and come back when you can have a grown up discussion
Shalom
Alan
June 24, 2008 at 1:53 pm
With regards to the comments made by alan.
he needs to remembers with the democratic argument as a panacea for all political problems, that Hitler was democratically elected!, so has a fascist in the London Assembly and a fascist has also been elected as the Mayor of Rome!
Further does it surpise you that the countries bordering the zionist state displayed animosity to the unilateral declaration of a state by the zionists, would you not do the same had the zionists colonised Wales and declared it as their exclusive jewish homeland, ethnicaly cleansed its inhabitants and herded the remaining inhabitants into refugee camps to live a sqalid existence from which they were not allowed to come and go??
Note the vote taken to partition Palestine was a proposal only by the General Assembly and was not not legaly binding unless ratified by the Security Council, that was not, because they (the zionists) knew it could not pass that hurdle.
Furthermore a number of poor countries were blackmailed into voting for partition at the General Assembly against their judgement, otherwise it would never had been passed.
see following for a more in depth analysis:
http://alanhartdiary.blogspot.com/2008/05/christian-fundamentalism-and-zionism.html