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Mike Carlton, Top Australian Columnist, Forced From Job For Criticizing Apartheid Israeli Gaza Massacre

By Dr Gideon Polya 

08 August, 2014
Countercurrents.org

The whole world has been horrified by Apartheid Israel 's latest Gaza Massacre that has killed 1,900 Occupied Palestinians and wounded 10,000. Even the unrepentant war criminal Israeli PM Benjamin  Netanyahu looks chastened by the reality that 7 billion human beings now regard him with  his predecessor PM Ehud Olmert as the “Butchers of Gaza” over successive  Gaza Massacres,  just as former Israeli PM Ariel Sharon is forever known  as the “Butcher of Beirut” over the Sabra and Shatila Massacre. However the Zionist Lobbies have muted the Western response and in Australia , neo-Nazi Apartheid Israel 's best friend after the US , the vociferous and venomous Israel Lobby has driven one of Australia 's top journalists, Mike Carlton, from his job with the Sydney Melbourne Herald after he forcefully criticized this latest Israeli Gaza Massacre [1, 2].  

Genocidal, neo-Nazi Apartheid Israel has temporarily suspended its latest  Gaza Massacre in the Gaza Concentration  Camp, This atrocity has so far has been associated with 1,900 Palestinians killed, 10,000 wounded, and 450,000 displaced  with 1.8 million Gazans ( 0.9 million of them children)  variously traumatized by Apartheid Israel (or more exactly, Nazi Israel if one accepts that Nazi is as Nazi does)  - and all this horror in response to the murder of 3 Israeli settler teenagers killed by persons unknown (possibly Israeli  state terrorists) ,  and zero (0) Israelis killed by Gaza rockets in the year before the latest Israeli invasion. Indeed 28 Israelis have been killed by Gaza rockets since the start of the Intifada  in 2000   or 2 per year  as compared to a total of about 130 Israelis murdered  by fellow Israelis each year [3].

Peace is the only way but silence kills and silence is complicity. For anti-racist Jews and indeed all anti-racist humanitarians the core moral messages from the Jewish Holocaust (5-6 million dead, 1 in 6 dying from deprivation) and from the more general WW2 European Holocaust (30 million Slav, Jewish and Gypsy dead) are “zero tolerance for racism”, “never again to anyone”, “bear witness” and “zero tolerance for lying”. However these sacred injunctions are grossly violated by the anti-Arab anti-Semitic racist Zionists running Apartheid Israel and their Western backers variously involved in the ongoing Palestinian Genocide, Iraqi Genocide, Somali Genocide,  and Afghan Genocide (post-invasion violent and non-violent excess deaths 0.3 million (1967-2011), 4.6 million (1990-2011), 2.2 million (1992-2011) and 5.6 million, respectively; post-invasion under-5 infant deaths 0.2 million, 2.0 million, 1.3 million and 2.9 million, respectively; refugees totalling 7 million, 5-6 million, 2 million  and 3-4 million, respectively, plus millions of NW Pakistan Pashtun refugees).

All decent, anti-racist, humanitarians must vigorously oppose and sideline those supporting genocidally racist Zionism, Apartheid Israel and racist Western wars and occupations who are currently complicit in  0.7 million non-violent excess deaths annually in the American Empire; continuing, racist perversion of human rights, humanitarian  values and rational discourse in the Western democracies; ignoring of worsening climate genocide (that may kill 10 billion non-Europeans this century through unaddressed man-made climate change); and egregious anti-Jewish anti-Semitism through defaming  anti-racist Jews critical of horrendous Apartheid Israeli crimes and  falsely identifying decent, anti-racist Jews with these appalling crimes.

Decent people cannot walk by on the other side. However Mike Carlton, one of Australia 's top newspaper columnists, has been punished by his employer and driven to resigning his job with the Sydney Morning Herald after he responded angrily to a torrent of Zionist abuse after his forthright   criticism of Apartheid Israel 's  latest Gaza Massacre in the Gaza Concentration Camp.

This is in part what offended Zionist Australians when Mike Carlton responded to neo-Nazi Apartheid  Israel 's ongoing Gaza Massacre: “Yes, Hamas is also trying to kill Israeli civilians, with a barrage of rockets and guerilla border attacks. It, too, is guilty of terror and grave war crimes. But Israeli citizens and their homes and towns have been effectively shielded by the nation's Iron Dome defence system, and so far only three of its civilians have died in this latest conflict. The Israeli response has been out of all proportion, a monstrous distortion of the much-vaunted right of self defence. It is a breathtaking irony that these atrocities can be committed by a people with a proud liberal tradition of scholarship and culture, who hold the Warsaw Ghetto and the six million dead of the Holocaust at the centre of their race memory. But this is a new and brutal Israel dominated by the hardline, right-wing Likud Party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition… Fascism in Israel ? At this point the Australian Likudniks, as Bob Carr calls them, will be lunging for their keyboards. There will be the customary torrent of abusive emails calling me a Nazi, an anti-Semite, a Holocaust denier, an ignoramus.  As usual they will demand my resignation, my sacking. As it's been before, some of this will be pornographic or threatening violence... That is why the killing and the dying goes on. Ad nauseam, ad infinitum. And the rest of the world, not caring, looks away”  [1].

Gideon Levy (an anti-racist Jewish Israeli  columnist and editorial board member of the progressive  daily newspaper Ha'aretz) on the Gaza Massacre by a Fascist Apartheid Israel (2014):  "All the seeds of the incitement of the past few years, all the nationalistic, racist legislation and the incendiary propaganda, the scare campaigns and the subversion of democracy by the right-wing camp – all these have borne fruit, and that fruit is rank and rotten. The nationalist right has now sunk to a new level, with almost the whole country following in its wake. The word 'fascism', which I try to use as little as possible, finally has its deserved place in the Israeli political discourse" [1].

One is reminded of Nobel Laureate Albert Einstein, Hannah Arendt and numerous other eminent anti-racist  Jewish scholars decrying Nazi-style Irgun Zionists in a letter  to the New York Times in 1948 : “Among the most disturbing political phenomena of our times is the emergence in the newly created state of Israel of the "Freedom Party" (Tnuat Haherut), a political party closely akin in its organization, methods, political philosophy and social appeal to the Nazi and Fascist parties. It was formed out of the membership and following of the former Irgun Zvai Leumi, a terrorist, right-wing, chauvinist organization in Palestine ... The discrepancies between the bold claims now being made by Begin and his party, and their record of past performance in Palestine bear the imprint of no ordinary political party. This is the unmistakable stamp of a Fascist party for whom terrorism (against Jews, Arabs, and British alike), and misrepresentation are means, and a " Leader State " is the goal. In the light of the foregoing considerations, it is imperative that the truth about Mr. Begin and his movement be made known in this country. It is all the more tragic that the top leadership of American Zionism has refused to campaign against Begin's efforts, or even to expose to its own constituents the dangers to Israel from support to Begin. The undersigned therefore take this means of publicly presenting a few salient facts concerning Begin and his party; and of urging all concerned not to support this latest manifestation of fascism” [4].  

Fascist  is a fascist does (corporatist, anti-democratic, militarist, imperialist, human rights abusing i.e. upfront versions of the dominant, partly democracy-constrained, closet fascist Western corporatists ) . Nazi is as Nazi does (Nazism being a genocidal version of Fascism).

Outstanding anti-racist Jewish Canadian writer and humanitarian activist Naomi Klein has stated the fundamental anti-racist Jewish position  against the  ongoing Palestinian Genocide by neo-Nazi Apartheid Israel (2007): “ There is a debate among Jews - I'm a Jew by the way. The debate boils down to the question: "Never again to everyone, or never again to us?... [Some Jews] even think we get one get-away-with-genocide-free card...There is another strain in the Jewish tradition that say[s], 'Never again to anyone.”” [5].

Indeed Moshe Menuhin ( father of famous violinist and universalist Yehudi Menuhin and  author of "The Decadence of Judaism in Our Time", "Jewish Critics of Zionism", and of the family history "The Menuhin Saga") stated of  Israeli oppression of Palestinians: “Jews should be Jews - not Nazis” [6].

For his forthright humane decency Mike Carlton was abused by pro-Zionists who evidently approve of neo-Nazi Apartheid Israel 's mass murder of Palestinian children. Mike Carlton  told the worst of these Zionists  to “---- off. ” In Mike Carlton's own words about his punishment and resignation :  "When for weeks you're called Nazi scum and a lot worse, eventually it gets to you and I told a few people where to go. I would have thought in this country of ours that telling a few people where to get off occasionally was not a crime, but the sad thing is to see a once-great newspaper like the Herald buckle to the bullies. Certainly the understanding I had with the editor-in-chief was that there would be apologies and that I would carry on. Higher up the food chain they wanted me suspended for four to six weeks. That was [Sean] Aylmer , and that's when I resigned last night. I'd like to thank my colleagues at the Herald for the massive support they're giving me right now" [2].

Again one is reminded of the wise, eminent , anti-racist  counsel from the past, specifically that of Sir Isaac Isaacs, Australia's most famous Jewish government  figure and Australia's first Australian-born Governor General (1946): “The honour of Jews throughout the world demands the renunciation of political Zionism" and "The Zionist movement as a whole...now places its own unwarranted interpretation on the Balfour Declaration, and makes demands that are arousing the antagonism of the Moslem world of nearly 400 millions, thereby menacing the safety of our Empire, endangering world peace and imperiling some of the most sacred associations of the Jewish, Christian, and Moslem faiths. Besides their inherent injustice to others these demands would, I believe, seriously and detrimentally affect the general position of Jews throughout the world" [7].  

The traitorous, anti- Arab anti-Semitic  and anti-Jewish anti-Semitic, racist Zionist Lobby has scored a major victory in forcing an honorable humanitarian, Mike Carlton, out of his job with a major Australian newspaper, the Fairfax-owned Sydney Morning Herald. Hopefully this Zionist  victory will be a Pyrrhic one and decent anti-racist Australians will be prompted to urge the sidelining of the genocidally racist Zionists  and their racist supporters from public life as has happened already to Nazis, neo-Nazis, Apartheiders and the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).

Of course Mike Carlton is not the only decent human being savaged by the Zionist Lobby over criticism of Israeli war crimes. Thus Helen Thomas (August 4, 1920 – July 20, 2013) was an Arab American author and news service reporter, and famous as the  doyen of the White House press corps and as an opinion columnist. She was forced to resign her job when, having been asked  for comments on Israel , she replied: "Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine." and "Remember, these people are occupied and it's their land. It's not German, it's not Poland ..."  and when asked where Israeli Jews should go, she replied that they could "go home" to Poland or Germany or " America and everywhere else. Why push people out of there who have lived there for centuries?" [8].

Indeed at present the British Zionist Lobby has turned it venom on John Prescott (Bar on Prescott, Lord Prescott, a British Labour politician who was the Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 ) for commenting thus on neo-Nazi  Apartheid Israel's latest Gaza Massacre inflicted on  the Gaza Concentration Camp  (2014): “ Those who live in Gaza are kept like prisoners behind walls and fences, unable to escape the bombings, and an Israeli economic blockade has forced Palestinians into poverty. Israel 's Iron Dome defence system easily intercepts missiles launched from Gaza . Three Israeli citizens have died from these ­primitive rockets, with 32 soldiers killed fighting Hamas. Compare that to the toll in Gaza . Of the 1,000-plus to die, more than 80 per cent were ­civilians, mostly women and children. But who is to say some of the other 20 per cent weren't ­innocent too? Israel brands them terrorists but it is acting as judge, jury and ­executioner in the ­concentration camp that is Gaza . And Israel flouts international law by continuing to build illegal Jewish settlements. Why? Because it knows it can get away with it. What happened to the Jewish people at the hands of the Nazis is appalling. But you would think those atrocities would give Israelis a unique sense of perspective and empathy with the victims of a ghetto … We must force Israel to end the blockade on Gaza to ensure free and unfettered access for humanitarian aid and reconstruction materials. There must be a freeze on illegal settlement growth to let talks start. We should support a phased approach to end the occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem within a reasonable timeframe. The EU should play a bigger role in supporting ­mediation and push for ­sanctions for non-compliance. The lack of a two-state solution is a running sore that continues to inflame the passions not just of ­Palestinians and Muslims, but all fair-minded people around the world. We cannot be a silent witness to this carnage one minute longer. The world must force Israel and Hamas to stop this endless cycle of death” [9].

Numerous  anti-racist Jewish and non-Jewish scholars, writers and leaders are variously opposed - like Mike Carlton -  to the horrendous  human rights abuses of nuclear terrorist, genocidal,  racist Zionist-run , democracy-by-genocide , neo-Nazi Apartheid Israel [10-14].   Peace is the only way but silence kills and silence is complicity we cannot walk by on the other side.   Decent anti-racist folk around the world will honour Australian journalist Mike Carlton  for standing up for humanity against  the war crimes of a neo-Nazi Apartheid Israel .  

Decent people around the world must:

(1) inform everyone they can about the horrendous lies, human rights abuses and war crimes of Apartheid Israel (Nazi Israel)  in its ongoing Palestinian Genocide; \

(2) demand immediate cessation of murderous Israeli violence, human rights abuse,  Palestinian Exile and Palestinian Occupation;

(3) demand equal rights and one-man-one-vote for all the present subjects of Apartheid Israel in the former Mandatory  Palestine and indeed for all in a secure, just and reconciled unitary Palestinian state that permits all Palestinian refugees to return (90% of Palestine has now been ethnically cleansed i.e. a just  “2-state” solution is dead);

(4)  demand  justice  through the International Criminal Court or through an International Tribunal of the most eminent humanitarians;  and

(5) urge and apply Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against not just US-, UK-, EU-, Canada- and Australia-backed Apartheid Israel but also, where practicable,  against all people, politicians, parties,  collectives, companies, corporations and countries complicit in neo-Nazi Apartheid Israeli state terrorism and US state terrorism in Palestine, the Middle East, and indeed throughout the world.

This must be the last Gaza Massacre and all Humanity must stand up and say “Free Palestine” NOW.

References

[1]. Mike Carlton, “ Israel 's rank and rotten fruit is being called fascism”,  Sydney Morning Herald, 26 July 2014: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/israels-rank-and-rotten-fruit-is-being-called-fascism-20140724-zwd2t.html .

[2]. Megan Levy, “Mike Carlton resigns from the Sydney Morning Herald”,   Sydney Morning Herald , 6 August 2014: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/mike-carlton-resigns-from-the-sydney-morning-herald-20140806-100w1u.html .

[3]. Gideon Polya, “ Israel 's Gaza Massacre: 55 anti-racist  Australian MPs condemn Israeli war crimes and Occupation ”, Countercurrents, 31 July 2014: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya310714.htm .

[4]. Letter by Albert Einstein and many other signatories to the New York Times, 4 December 1948, “New Palestine Party. Visit of Menachen Begin and Aims of Political Movement Discussed”,. a letter to The New York Times, published in the "Books" section (Page 12) of the New York Times, Saturday December 4, 1948: http://www.archive.org/details/AlbertEinsteinLetterToTheNewYorkTimes.December41948 .

[5].  Naomi Klein quoted by Yotam Feldman, “Naomi Klein: oppose the state not the people”, Ha'aretz, 2 July 2007: http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1097058.html .

[6]. Moshe Menuhin quoted by Grace Halsell in “Like father, like son: a tribute to Moshe and Yehudi Menuhin”, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs (WRMEA), July 1996: http://www.wrmea.com/backissues/0796/9607018.htm .

[7]. Sir Isaac Isaacs, quoted by Wikipedia, ”Isaac Isaacs”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Isaacs .

[8].  Helen Thomas, Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Thomas .

[9]. John Prescott, “John Prescott: Israel 's bombardment of Gaza is a war crime – and it must end”, Daily Mail, 26 July 2014: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/john-prescott-israels-bombardment-gaza-3918413 .

[10]. “Jews Against Racist Zionism”: https://sites.google.com/site/jewsagainstracistzionism/ .

[11]. “Non-Jews Against Racist Zionism”: https://sites.google.com/site/nonjewsagainstracistzionism/ .

[12]. “Palestinian Genocide”: https://sites.google.com/site/palestiniangenocide/ .

[13]. “Gaza Concentration Camp”: https://sites.google.com/site/palestiniangenocide/gaza-concentration .

[14]. “Boycott Apartheid   Israel ”: https://sites.google.com/site/boycottapartheidisrael/ .

Dr Gideon Polya has been teaching science students at a major Australian university for 4 decades. He published some 130 works in a 5 decade scientific career, most recently a huge pharmacological reference text "Biochemical Targets of Plant Bioactive Compounds" (CRC Press/Taylor & Francis, New York & London , 2003). He has published “Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950” (G.M. Polya, Melbourne, 2007: http://globalbodycount.blogspot.com/ ); see also his contributions “Australian complicity in Iraq mass mortality” in “Lies, Deep Fries & Statistics” (edited by Robyn Williams, ABC Books, Sydney, 2007: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/ockham/stories/s1445960.htm ) and “Ongoing Palestinian Genocide” in “The Plight of the Palestinians (edited by William Cook, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2010: http://mwcnews.net/focus/analysis/4047-the-plight-of-the-palestinians.html ). He has published a revised and updated 2008 version of his 1998 book “Jane Austen and the Black Hole of British History” (see: http://janeaustenand.blogspot.com/ ) as biofuel-, globalization- and climate-driven global food price increases threaten a greater famine catastrophe than the man-made famine in British-ruled India that killed 6-7 million Indians in the “forgotten” World War 2 Bengal Famine (see recent BBC broadcast involving Dr Polya, Economics Nobel Laureate Professor Amartya Sen and others: http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/history/social-economic-history/listen-the-bengal-famine ). When words fail one can say it in pictures - for images of Gideon Polya's huge paintings for the Planet, Peace, Mother and Child see: http://sites.google.com/site/artforpeaceplanetmotherchild/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/gideonpolya/ .

 




 

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