Time to Stand Up.

Yesterday, I posted an Israeli flag as my Facebook banner and a picture of a child hostage as my Facebook profile picture, along with an accompanying article on the October 7 massacre.

It has been an instructive 24 hours.

People fall into several camps:

·??????? Openly supportive of Israel

·??????? Angered by support for terrorist groups and states

·??????? Openly disgusted at Israel

·??????? A subtext of support for terrorism against Israel.

There can be no doubt our nation is utterly divided on the events of the Middle East, and I rather suspect the divisions will continue for a generation or more.

The left are absolutely against Israel and seek to apportion all blame for the situation on Israel – “Yes, but …” being the generic phrase to step past the October 7 massacre and get back to the resultant horror of Gaza.

The right are absolutely resolute in their support of Israel and lack of interest in the situation in Gaza.

There is no room for somebody in the middle, who supports Israel, but who sees blame on both sides. Expressing support for Israel means you’ve gone to the dark side, the far right – on media sites yesterday, I was more often than not, referred to as a “Genocidal Nazi lover,” for expressing support for Israel in terms of October 7.

There are three other groups of people:

·??????? Jewish people who are too terrified to speak up

·??????? Friends who may not agree with me, but choose to keep quiet

·??????? Friends who agree with me, but feel it’s safer to be silent

Within all these viewpoints, there is, thankfully, a common thread – nobody wants this horror in the Middle East to continue; unfortunately, I think there is less hope of that outcome in the foreseeable future, than ever.

Why?

·??????? 3,000 years of targeted hatred against Jews

·??????? Insane religious interpretations (Jewish and Islamic)

·??????? Power

The world at large has never really liked Jews, they’ve been figures of derision for two or three thousand years, whether those in power were Egyptian, Ottoman, English, German, or the Catholic Church. I’ve left out the Romans – they seemed in a mad way to appreciate Jewish business acumen and work ethic – pay homage to the Emperor, Rome and taxes and all is good. Here in Australia, there’s always been an undercurrent of resentment – “Who let the Jew into the club?” During WWII, we really didn’t want the boatload of Jewish refugees. There wouldn’t be a Baby Boomer Aussie or Kiwi reading this who hasn’t at some stage heard a snide remark about Jews in business. It’s always struck me that there is an awful irony in that Melbourne, said to be one of the biggest Jewish communities in the world, is also resolutely and almost proudly anti – Jewish.

The Arabs and the Jews don’t like each other, during the British Protectorate of Palestine years, the constant fighting was almost beyond control. There was no middle ground, the Arabs wanted the Jews gone and the Jews didn’t want to go. The Islamic religion only came about around 600 – 622 AD, so it had no bearing on the Egyptian dislike of several thousand years ago, however it does seem that religious differences overwhelmingly are a major part of modern hatred, which segues to Ultra Orthodox Jews, Netanyahu’s power base.

To me, that group is as bad as HAMAS and Hezbollah, their continued self-entitled theft of land from Palestinians, as they expand ‘settlements,’ is no different from Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s attempts to take over the South China Sea. In many ways, the inexcusable Settlers land grabs empowered HAMAS and led inexorably to October 7.

Israel is a bitterly divided nation – on the one hand, the great majority of Israelis are secular, just like most Aussies, they have some basic religious beliefs, but religion is not a 24hr lifestyle. Unfortunately, the Ultra Orthodox fanatics, inevitably far right in their views, have control of the Israeli government, partnering with the real Zionists, giving Netanyahu his power base.

There’s a morbid humour to the fact that the Ultra Orthodox bear a very large responsibility for the current catastrophe, yet they refuse to be conscripted and fight for their country, indeed, some may be shocked to learn the absolute far right don’t even regard Israel as being legitimate, they believe they have a ‘God – Given’ right to take and be where they are. The Israeli Court has recently ordered that they must serve, it will be interesting!

To me, the Ultra Orthodox seem alarmingly similar to the lunatic Islamic terrorists and the repressive authoritarian regime of Iran.

Many of our Israeli friends have worked so hard over the years for peace, coexistence and a two state solution, in the face of open and dangerous opposition from Israel’s far right. Equally, my wife Ann relates experiences she had visiting the West Bank, which perfectly illustrate the conundrum ordinary Palestinians face every day. The Palestinians are forced to walk beside a wall, fenced with barbed wire, while Jewish settlers pour and throw refuse and body waste down at them. A Palestinian shop proprietor in Bethlehem invited Ann and her group in and offered them tea while they were waiting for their bus back to Jerusalem, but he was constantly worried that HAMAS spies would find out he had Jewish Israelis and Germans in his shop.

Power: Isn’t that the end-game of all these religions – power, especially over women, but equally, some Catholic priest trying to seduce a choir boy, or an Imam working over teenage boys to his beliefs in world domination, or an Islamic terrorist, convinced Allah has given him the right to murder, rape, behead and terrorise innocent people, or a criminal thug like Netanyahu, using death and destruction as an excuse to evade consequence.

All of which leads us to where we are with the Middle East. Somehow, in Western Democracies, the Jews have become the ones held responsible for the horror and insanity that is the cauldron of hate and war with Israel at its centre. There seems to be a body of opinion that Jewish people have no right to be in the region, a region they’ve lived in for thousands of years. There seems to be a body of opinion that the Israelis have gone ‘Too far’ in protecting themselves from attack, Heaven forbid that they should be pre-emptive in trying to protect themselves, that hackneyed, “Yes, but …” response.

How far is too far? Are people really that na?ve, or so determined in their beliefs, that they think you can negotiate in good faith with terrorists? How do you negotiate with an enemy who’s publicly declared raison d’etre is to wipe your nation off the face of the earth? “Yes, but …”

October 7: 1,200 killed, 200+ kidnapped and a figure not usually mentioned, 4,500 maimed and injured. “Yes, but …”

I’m genuinely sorry if you find my attitude towards all this offensive and wrong, but let me be absolutely clear, I find your, “Yes, but…” piss weak, a dreadful, inexcusable cop-out, with a subtext of antisemitism.

I also think those Australians so quick to harshly condemn Israel’s response, should ask themselves exactly what they would expect an Australian government to do if such an act of terror was carried out on Australian soli.

The situation on the Middle East is murky, incredibly complex and all sides are equally at fault. HAMAS, Hezbollah, Netanyahu, the far right Ultra Orthdox and Iran are all equally responsible and equally hideous. Power must be taken from all of them before there is any hope of some sort of peaceful resolution. God help us if Trump is elected President – Netanyahu will rage unconstrained, the only hope is that Harris is elected. But the restraining of Netanyahu would mean the western world also had to control HAMAS, Hezbollah and Iran. Nothing is simple.

Fighting terrorists is completely removed from armies fighting armies. There are no rules of engagement, there are no rules. “Yes but, it’s the IDF telling us HAMAS hide in hospitals,” the inference being the Israelis are lying. Let’s put that into perspective. We are told 40,000 innocent Palestinians have been killed, by the Gaza Health Ministry. Who are they? HAMAS. Are people telling me HAMAS is more trustworthy / believable than the Israeli Armed Forces?

Truth, as always, is the first casualty of war. Yet somehow we all have to wade through the information spewed out from right and left wing media and from insidious marketing arms of combatant sides, assiduously using social media to influence.

Each of us will reach our own conclusions, based on personal experience and beliefs. Sadly it seems that any sign of support for Israel is seen as a sign of, at the very least, having gone to the dark side, (the far right), or, off the scale, being a ‘Genocidal Nazi racist.’

My purpose in changing mastheads etc yesterday, was to respect the people of Israel and Jewish friends for the atrocities of October 7. To me, it was shockingly bad form and completely lacking in empathy, to add, “Yes, but …” as a response. I singled out the media release from Independent Senator David Pocock as an example of “Yes, but …” His statement was almost two-faced, or as somebody accused him – “Having a bet both ways David?” ?I put it that it was a bit like a far right German AfD politician releasing a statement saying, “Yes, it’s terrible that 6 million Jews were murdered during WWII, but what about all the good SS Officers we lost?”

Divided as a nation? Yep and I think it’s going to get worse. As another has written, “Strange bedfellows are being forced together.” ?

Me, I will continue to openly support Israel. It’s far from perfect, currently governed by a dreadful government, but it is a great nation, with wonderful people, surrounded by nations that want to kill them and wipe their country off the face of the earth.

If that means some feel they should finish our friendship, I’ll be genuinely sad, I’ll understand, but I must stay true to my beliefs and I believe I must stand up for Israelis.

Greg Ross

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