11 May 2011

Australians for Palestine: Letter to AFR


There is a letter to the editor in today’s edition of The Australian Financial Review from Moammar Mashni  of the Melbourne based Australians for Palestine advocacy group, in response to a letter by Yosi Tal (“Protection not on list for support”, Letters, 6 May).

Unfortunately in the course of editing the letter for publication on a rather space-limited letters page, a couple of very significant points were omitted, but Moammar has provided me with a copy of his letter as submitted, which appears below:

The tenets of the BDS (Boycotts, Divestment, Sanctions) are simple:

1.       Recognise the inalienable rights of the Palestinian refugees;
2.       End the illegal military occupation;
3.       End the systematic discrimination of Palestinian citizens within Israel.

Mr Tal (letters, 06/05) deliberately misrepresents the facts and would have us believe that Israel bears no responsibility whatsoever.

Israel’s own intelligence services, Shin Bet, stated that it was better intelligence gathering and cooperation with the PA security forces that stopped suicide bombers, not the apartheid wall.

When Israel strengthened the Islamists that went on to form Hamas in the 1980’s in an attempt to topple then Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, I do not recall Tal and his ilk making scurrilous remarks about Gaza.

The Right of Return is enshrined in international law. Those who deny this fundamental human right, deny the very freedoms that embolden civilised society.

Moammar Mashni
Australians for Palestine
Hawthorn Vic.

2 comments:

AQaH said...

the original letter by Tal was 151 words and the response from Mashni was only 80.
that's about the level of balance we can expect in the mainstream media.
pathetic really

Brigid said...

Thx fir that. Wld have missed it since I don't subscribe to AFR. I support the concept of BDS against apartheid Israel as I did four decades ago against apartheid South Africa.