Israellycool

It’s worth mentioning that there some other elections taking place this weekend.

New Zealand looks certain to have a new government after about 3 million Kiwis - almost 10% of whom live in Australia - cast their votes tomorrow.

National polls yesterday gave the National Party of John Key a strong lead over the incumbent Labour Party of Helen Clark, who has been prime minister since 1999.

With the economy officially in recession and its budget plunging into deficit last month, most commentators have been tipping for weeks that Miss Clark’s four-term period at the top is coming to an end.

You may recall that John Key is Jewish and has an interest in Israel.

Helen Clark is simply a disgrace.

I’m guessing that there will be more consensus amongst Israellycool readers regarding their preferred candidate in these elections.

Welcome to the land Down Under, where women glow and men plunder dogs eat cars.

A Darwin man woke yesterday to discover dogs had eaten his car.

And he says it’s not the first time it has happened.

Clayton Dwyer, 47, of Millner, thought his girlfriend was kidding when she woke him up and told him his work ute had been gnawed by a pack of savage dogs. But when he walked outside his Beetson Place home he discovered this was no joke.

His front bumper had been ripped from the car and chewed to bits by the dogs. They had even tried to munch on the front panels.

“You can see the teeth marks,” he said.

Asked what he thought when he first saw the damage, Mr Dwyer said: “Doggone it! That’s a bit ruff.”

The landscape gardener said the pack of wild dogs had been lurking around his neighbourhood for months.

“My girlfriend’s car got eaten about three months ago,” he said. “At first we thought it had been attacked with a hammer, but we took it to the panel beaters and he said it was dogs. You could see the teeth marks on it.”

Mr Dwyer said his neighbours had seen the dogs early yesterday and had chased them away by throwing mangoes at them.

He said he was unsure if his insurance company covered dog attacks.

“I hope they do,” he said.

“It’s actually a new bumper. I only bought it a couple of months ago.

“I know it isn’t the prettiest car, but it didn’t deserve that.”

Dogs eating homework is so old school.

Update: Or is it just an excuse?

From the Department of Appropriate Names:

Entrepreneur Dick Smith gave $50,000 to help fund the legal battle to bring confessed terror supporter David Hicks home.

But Mr Smith said “not a cent” went directly to Hicks and some cash had been returned after Hicks was brought back to Australia.

Details of Mr Smith’s financial assistance and other support for Hicks has been outlined in an interview with Readers Digest magazine.

“I sent money to a trust account to David’s solicitor David McLeod in Adelaide,” Mr Smith told the magazine.

“I think it must have got up to about $50,000.

“It was to support family members to visit David and for other purposes.

“The money also funded Geoffrey Robertson, the top international human rights lawyer, to travel to Washington.

—-

Mr Smith said his sense from talking to Hicks was if he had gone before a jury, he would never have been convicted.

“When I read the initial claims about David they just didn’t ring true, that a simple country bloke who had a decent family should become a supporter of terrorism,” he said

Yeah. I cannot imagine how an anti-Semitic country bloke who converted to Islam could become a terrorist or terror supporter.

Relations between Israel and New Zealand have been strained in recent times, thanks in large part to current Prime Minister Helen Clark.

This could be about to change, with New Zealand likely to elect a Jewish Prime Minister with ostensibly warm feelings towards Israel.

It has fewer than 10,000 Jews, less than 0.2 percent of its four million inhabitants. But New Zealand is set to elect its third Jewish prime minister.

Opposition National Party leader John Key, whose mother is an Austrian Jew, is far ahead of the Labor incumbent, Helen Clark, in the polls. An election may be called at any moment, but must be held by November 15.

Speaking to The Jerusalem Post this week, Key, who turns 47 on August 9, said he was “not a deeply religious person,” but still saw himself as part of the Jewish community, and had an interest in Israel because of his heritage.

“If I become prime minister, I would like to visit… I am definitely keen to go,” Key said. It would be his first trip to the Jewish state.

“New Zealand has a warm relationship with Israel,” he said, adding that “there is quite a lot of synergy” between the two countries, citing their small size.

Key’s mother, Ruth Key (née Lazar), escaped the Holocaust as a child by fleeing to Britain. In a profile published in the New Zealand Herald, it was reported that “the person who has undoubtedly had the biggest impact on John Key is his mother.”

Key told the Post that “Mum didn’t practice the Jewish faith when I was at home, but she sometimes took me to synagogue, and she was always very active in the Jewish community.”

Ruth came to New Zealand after WWII with Key’s father, George, but became a single mother of three in 1969 when he suffered a fatal heart attack.

“I have been involved in fund-raising for Hadassah [Medical Organization in Israel], and we had a celebration for the 60th anniversary of Israel,” Key said.

According to the Herald, Key’s party has had a consistent 20-point advantage over Labor in polls taken since August 2007.

“We are running a very positive campaign,” Key said. “They are starting to look quite tired… And we have been leading in the polls for about 15 months now.”

Julius Vogel, a practicing Jew, served two terms as New Zealand’s premier in the 1870s. And Sir Francis Henry Dillon Bell, a non-practicing Jew and later convert to Christianity, became the country’s 20th prime minister in 1925.

If Key does indeed becomes the country’s third Jewish premier, he says there are lessons to be adopted from the Israeli experience.

“We hear great things about how strong the [Israeli] economy is,” he said. “We are worried about the academic and economic performance of New Zealand and we have been looking at some of the things that Israelis have been doing with mentoring programs, hi-tech and venture capital.”

In reference to his views on Israel’s role in the Middle East, Key said, “Most New Zealanders who are aware of foreign politics understand the threat to Israel from Iran.” As prime minister, he said, he “would make the case that it is in the world’s interest if we could have a peaceful solution to the nuclear situation in Iran and North Korea.”

I just got back from the morning prayer service. As I was leaving the synagogue, a drunk man and woman were walking by.

Drunk woman: You wouldn’t happen to have a mobile phone we could borrow?

Aussie Dave: No, sorry (I really didn’t).

Drunk woman: What about in there (pointing to synagogue). Is there a phone we could use?

Aussie Dave: I really don’t know. I am just visiting, but I haven’t seen a phone in there (I really hadn’t, and I wasn’t going to bring a drunk man and woman in to look around for obvious reasons).

Drunk woman: Bullsh**! I’m a Christian you know, and I would help a stranger in need.

Aussie Dave: No need to curse! I would like to help. I really don’t have a phone and I don’t think there is a phone in there (pointing to synagogue).

Drunk man: What do you expect? He’s a f****** Jew (as the two walk off).

Aussie Dave: Hey. WATCH IT.

Drunk man and woman: [Cursing]

Aussie Dave: (sarcastically) Yeah, you’re REAL GOOD Christians.

You are probably almost as shocked at my brazenness as you are with the ease in which the anti-Semitism raised its ugly head. But you have to understand I was so infuriated that part of me actually wanted a fight. Bear in mind that this was the same area of Perth in which some Jewish teenagers were physically and verbally assaulted by a group of youths who shouted anti-Semitic slurs about a month and a half ago. I guess part of me wanted to show these cretins that we are capable of fighting back. Which was, of course, stupid, because:

1) for all I know, the man (or woman) had a knife, glass bottle, or black belt in Karate.

2) I live in a Jewish state which has shown the world we are more than capable of fighting back.

But I was so angry, I would have turned in to the Incredible Hulk (had I also been exposed to gamma rays as a child).

This was my first first-hand experience with anti-Semitism in a very long time, and while I read about it frequently, it both shocked and angered me.

Have I mentioned I am glad I live in Israel?

Members of Australia’s Muslim community are pushing for polygamy.

For the women’s sake, of course.

Members of Australia’s Islamic community believe polygamous marriages should be recognised to protect the rights of women.

Sheikh Khalil Chami of the Islamic Welfare Centre in Sydney’s Lakemba today said polygamous marriages, although illegal, existed in Australia and should be recognised.

“… Not an open door but in a way everyone will have control,” he told Triple J radio’s Hack program.

“It’s a bit hard, very difficult, but unless we face it, how (do) we overcome it?

“If you know there is law that will help you, there is community will help you. Why not? Why not change the law?”

Sheikh Chami said he was asked almost weekly to conduct polygamous religious ceremonies.

While he declined to perform such ceremonies, he said, other sheikhs did not.

“There are a lot of sheikhs here without any qualifications, without any place,” he said.

“They’ll conduct that marriage no problem at all.”

Islamic Friendship Association of Australia president Keysar Trad said recognising polygamous unions would help protect the rights of women in the relationship.

Mr Trad once proposed to another woman with the consent of his wife, Hanefa, but the second marriage did not proceed.

“I certainly would not have entertained the thought of having a relationship without a religious marriage and I thought the relationship with that person was developing to the stage where we had become too friendly with each other,” he told the program.

“Rather than entertain any thoughts of an affair I thought the only decent thing to do was to consider a proper commitment to that person.

I guess it didn’t occur to him that the real decent thing would be to not flirt with other women in the first place.

“This idea of plural sexual relationships, it is not so much frowned upon by society as long as these people don’t say we want a polygamous relationship.”

Mr Trad’s mother was a third wife in a polygamous relationship overseas and he said the women had admiration and respect for each other and supported each other.

“In a sense, it’s a compliment to the original partner that if he didn’t find marriage to be so good why would he go into it again,” he said.

“In a sense, he’s saying that his first wife has made life like heaven for him so he’s willing to provide the same service, love and support to a second woman.”

Can you believe this guy?

He said women were choosing to enter into such marriages.

Mrs Trad said many people in polygamous marriages kept it a secret - not only because it was illegal, but because society did not accept it.

“Tell you the truth, the hardest part of it (is) the way the others perceive it not what’s happened between me and him,” she said.

Asked if it was just about wanting sex with more women, she said: “Yeah it can be, but having it in the right way instead of having it in like go to prostitute or just date”..

Talk about wishing to have your cake and eat it (assuming the cake was not purchased here).

By the way, Keysar Trad is the spokesperson for the infamous Sheikh Taj Din Hilaly, someone not exactly known for protecting the rights of women.

With the blog-triggered Dunkin’ Donuts keffiyeh controversy receiving quite a bit of airplay in the mainstream media, another keffiyeh controversy is now being reported from Australia.

And the story has a number of interesting aspects. For a start, the complaints have not just originated from those who deplore the ubiquitization of palestinian terror chic. Palestinians have also taken offense - for very different reasons.

The “keffiyeh kerfuffle” - which forced Dunkin’ Donuts to dump an ad featuring a celebrity chef wearing a scarf similar to a traditional Arab head-dress - has hit a Bondi bottleshop, one of its staff claims.

Sandra Tieger, 20, alleged to smh.com.au she began to feel like a terrorism supporter following the reaction to her wearing a black and white scarf to work at Kemeny’s.

Ms Tieger’s claims - which the store rejects - follow attacks on an ad for the US Dunkin’ Donuts chain, in which celebrity chef Rachael Ray wore a scarf. Critics have said the scarf has “violent symbolism and anti-Israel overtones”.

But Ms Tieger said she had “no idea about the politics” when she bought the scarf at the Tree Of Life store.

“I thought it was a nice scarf, a cowboy scarf. I thought: ‘It’s black and white, no-one will say anything to me because that’s all we can wear [with our work uniform]‘.

“A Palestinian customer came up and asked me if I’m wearing this scarf as a fashion statement or for political reasons.

“I had no idea what he was talking about because I don’t follow politics at all. I just laughed it off.

“Two days later he called and complained about it.”

Shevonne Hunt, a freelance journalist who has reported on the keffiyeh’s popularity in Australia, said many Palestinians were annoyed the widespread use of the keffiyeh for fashion had watered down its meaning.

In other words, palestinians are annoyed that the keffiyeh’s violent symbolism is being watered down by its widespread use. Which reinforces what an emotive symbol of terrorism it really is.

The story has another interesting yet troubling aspect. While many Jews have justifiably taken offense to the keffiyeh, not so the head of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies.

NSW Jewish Board of Deputies CEO Vic Alhadeff said the wearing of the keffiyeh as a fashion item was a “non-issue”.

“It’s a non-issue as far as we are concerned. If someone chooses to wear such an item for whatever reason that’s their choice.”

This is the same Vic Alhadeff who earlier this year raised concerns over two NSW stores that had been selling Nazi memorabilia and clothing, saying it “sends a very unfortunate and dangerous message for people to be openly displaying Nazi insignia, given what the Nazis stood for and given that Australia fought against the Nazis.

Why isn’t Mr Alhadeff also indignant over the widespread wearing of keffiyehs, given what “palestinian terrorists stand for”? Because let’s face it, the main difference between them and the Nazis is the numbers.

She’s still getting herself into trouble over her butt.

An Israeli tourist who stripped naked last week when New Zealand road workers whistled at her has been admitted to a mental health unit after allegedly assaulting a bar worker, police said Wednesday.

The woman was arrested Friday night after allegedly putting out a cigarette on the face of a bar worker in the tourist town of Coromandel on North Island.

She appeared in Hamilton District Court on Saturday charged with assault with intent to injure and was remanded to Waikato Hospital’s mental health unit, said constable Peter Easton of the Coromandel police.

On the plus side, she’s now qualified to run for the Knesset.

But this time, no-one was complaining.

Road workers in a small New Zealand town got their wish granted when a woman stripped saying she was fed up with their wolf-whistles.

The Israeli tourist was about to use an ATM in the main street of Kerikeri, in the far north of the country, when the men whistled, the New Zealand Press Association reported.

She calmly stripped off, used the cash machine, before getting dressed and walking away.

The woman told police she didn’t take too kindly to the whistling from the men repairing the road.

“She said she had thought ‘bugger them, I’ll show them what I’ve got’,” Police Sergeant Peter Masters told NZPA.

“She gave the explanation that she had been … pestered by New Zealand men. She’s not an unattractive looking lady,” Masters said.

“She was taken back to the police station and spoken to and told that was inappropriate in New Zealand.”

Question: You were a terrorist who undertook combat training with al Qaeda and served with the Taliban. What’s your punishment?

Answer: At least one million dollars.

Former Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks will go from broke to millionaire overnight if he accepts the latest mega-offer to tell his story.

Channel 9’s 60 Minutes has put $1million on the table for an exclusive interview with the convicted terrorism supporter.

With the queue of media outlets begging to interview with Hicks first now numbering 40, his lawyer David McLeod said he had “not heard” about the $1 million bid from 60 Minutes which could trump them all.

But Mr McLeod said his client was focusing on getting his life together.

“(Hicks) hasn’t made up his mind whether or not he wants to tell his story, so no decision has been made, as far as I know,” Mr McLeod said.

Hicks, 32, has been lying low since he walked free from Adelaide’s Yatala maximum security jail in December.

Mr Hicks said his son was not ready yet to speak publicly.

A Channel 9 spokesman last night denied the station had made an offer to Hicks, however it is understood discussions have taken place about drafting reporter Ray Martin for the job.

If this is true, it is yet another reminder of how far from North society’s moral compass is pointing.

Over the Sabbath, I met the Israelis who were bashed in Perth a few days ago. I can confirm that this was likely not motivated by anti-Semitism or anti-Israel sentiment, given that the perpetrators were a gang of Aborigines (I myself have been on the receiving end of some of their “love” a long time ago). Why no-one stopped and helped is still a mystery though.

One of the Israelis is now in a wheelchair and is flying out tonight because of the senseless attack. When I asked him about the attack, he gave me the typical Israeli response: Gam zu l’Tova (’Also this is for the good’).

I tell you, there’s nothing like Israeli optimism. I could do with some of that myself right about now.

Israellycool reader, real-life friend and fellow blogger Gedalia posts about a possible anti-Semitic/anti-Israel attack that occurred in Perth a few nights ago.

This story started last Thursday.  I received a call from a friend in Melbourne.  Usual story - there are two Israeli backpackers coming to Perth. Can I take them in for Shabbat, help them find accomodation and work while they travel around Western Australia for a few months.  Kol Yisrael Aravim zeh la zeh - Jewish people look after each other like family, no matter where you are in the world .  So we fed and housed our friends and arranged accomodation over the weekend.

All was OK, until late last night.  My phone was on silent, but as I walked past I saw the screen flashing.  I noted it was the number of one of the Israeli backpakers.  My initial reaction was that they wanted another lead or some connections and the matter could wait until tomorrow.  But something in my gut made me pick up the phone.  The guy said to me in broken words that he had been “beaten up” and was in the city, could I help.  He could not give me directions, but he was outside the bus-station at the Northbridge link.

I called the police, and jumped in a car with a friend.  We arrived at the same time as the police.  They had been lying on a blood splattered pavement for at least half an hour.  Even as we were pulling up there were people walking past.  Not one person had stopped to help them.  One of the Israeli’s was lying on the ground in acute pain.  He had been hit in the face, kicked to the ground and thought his leg was broken.  The other had had his head viced between a wall and a pillar and crushed.  They were roughed up pretty badly.

We established with the guys, one of which appeared to be concussed and the other who was concerned he may lose consciousness, that one of them was wearing a Kippah (Jewish skullcap - ed).  Their wallets and passports had not been touched - they were not attacked for money.  Of the three people walking past them one of them initially spat at the Kippah wearing Israeli.  He then turned around and started attacking.  Two more people appeared and the guys were left lying on the sidewalk when they ran off.

I haven’t seen anything about this in the media. I suppose they are too busy reporting the follow-up to Quokka-gate, although it’s also possible they have not yet heard of the incident.

Yeah, I know. There’s no proof the attack was racially motivated, nor that people did not stop to help because the victims were visibly Jewish or Israeli. But the fact is the attack did occur and no-one stopped to help the victims. That is disturbing in itself.

Update: By the way, the Torah commands Jews to help out in such a situation, when it states (Leviticus 19:16):

“You shall not stand over the blood of your neighbor”

I am so proud to be part of a religion like this, rather than part of the moral relativism crowd.