Pro-Hamas poet crashes Bob Carr’s Palestine party
Bob Carr’s latest speaking gig has raised quite a few eyebrows. J-Wire website, Monday:
Former NSW premier and federal Australian foreign minister Bob Carr has been billed as a dignitary on an advertisement promoting an event in Sydney commemorating the 70th anniversary of Al-Nakbah (Occupation of Palestine) and the “Palestinians’ Right of Return to their Land”.
Carr was set to headline the Palestinian event with poet Ahmad Al- Kandari. The poet at a student rally in Kuwait, March 29, 2010:
We are the soldiers of Hamas, and jihad is our path … we will never recognise Israel.
Uh oh. The former foreign minister on Twitter, Monday:
Proud to be commemorating the 70th anniversary of the displacement of more than 700,000 Palestinians when I speak in Western Sydney on May 12.
Proud to be commemorating the 70th anniversary of the displacement of more than 700,000 Palestinians when I speak in Western Sydney on May 12. pic.twitter.com/b77uO2yjyK
— Bob Carr (@bobjcarr) April 16, 2018
It appears some of the Kuwaiti poet’s verses eventually got back to Carr. Al-Kandari speaking at the Kuwaiti Student Union rally, continued:
This is a message to the Zionists … Say to Zion: We have brought slaughter upon you, and we shall watch you dying. You will encounter our army of Al-Qassam, for whom death serves as a cloak.
He was one unhappy pro-Palestinian pollie. Carr on Twitter, hours later:
I have told the organisers of this event that I will not share the platform with any speaker who does not endorse a peaceful negotiated path to the settlement of the Israel-Palestine dispute.
Don’t worry, folks. Carr is still going to wax lyrical about wicked Israel. They just dumped Al-Kandari … Carr’s later tweet on Monday night:
I have proudly accepted an invitation to address an alternative function marking the 70th anniversary of Palestinian dispossession and the case for a Palestinian state as envisaged in Oslo Accords that were endorsed by the world community.
I have proudly accepted an invitation to address an alternative function marking the 70th anniversary of Palestinian dispossession and the case for a Palestinian state as envisaged in Oslo Accords that were endorsed by the world community. (2/2)
— Bob Carr (@bobjcarr) April 16, 2018
Either way, why is a former foreign minister appearing at this event? Executive Council of Australian Jewry chief Peter Wertheim’s statement, Monday night:
What he continues to miss is that his reference to the “70th anniversary of Palestinian dispossession” implies that Israel’s establishment in 1948 itself created the Palestinian refugees, and that Israel is therefore an illegitimate state. This is not consistent with the Oslo Accords …
From Israel wars to climate wars, here’s ABC Late News on bushfires in Sydney’s south, Monday:
Firefighters spent the day waterbombing and backburning to try to contain the fire … Now, with climate change extending the fire season, there are calls for a rethink.
How many times did firefighters mention climate change at Malcolm Turnbull’s press conference at the Heathcote fire response centre, Monday:
Zero.
Aunty clearly wasn’t listening to the Prime Minister either. Turnbull speaking at Heathcote, Monday:
… our climate has always delivered extremes, whether it is floods or fires or droughts, we are, as the poet wrote, the land of droughts and flooding rains, and fires as well.
Finally, The Moscow Times asks the big questions about Russia’s newest welfare program, yesterday:
Can Russia Afford Its Save-a-Billionaire Relief Program?