Having not lived in Australia for almost 16 years, I had not heard of Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio host Peter Goers.
Until now. And I wish I hadn’t.
Honest Reporting has shone a spotlight on his recent column for the Adelaide Sunday Mail, which is so unashamed in its Israel-bashing, you can practically see the saliva dripping down from each and every snarling word.
Israel is guns and Moses. Israel is one long persecution of Palestinians. Israeli Jewish historian Ilan Pappe writes: “South Africa invented apartheid. Israel perfected it.” Also: “Jewish atheists don’t believe in God but they believe God promised them Israel.”
As Honest Reporting correctly notes “Ilan Pappe is a notorious anti-Zionist historian who openly acknowledges that he is not objective, cares little about factual accuracy and readily admits that ideology drives his historical writings and statements.”
I’m over God. Other people go on a holiday to sit on a beach. I go to Jerusalem where three people were shot by triggerhappy Israeli soldiers in the street while I was there, including one unarmed child who raised his arms and said “Allahu Akbar”– God is great. Israel’s God is greater. His people are armed.
Let’s just stop there for a second. The IDF and police have been shooting people in the commission of terror attacks. I do not recall the incident of an unarmed child raising his arms and saying “Allahu Akbar”, but those words are not a synonymous with “I come in peace.”
Goers then launches into a praise of Jordan, which looks so out-of-place, you’d think Abdullah II had paid for the product placement.
I did sit on a beach at the Dead Sea. I did look upon Sodom without being turned into apillar of salt. I love Jordan – Amman, Petra, Wadi Rum, Karak and Shobak crusader castles are glorious. Jordan is a modern nation in an ancient civilisation and the people are the most considerate people on Earth.
Speaking of which, perhaps this considerate Jordanian was the “unarmed child who raised his arms and said Allahu Akbar”, to which Goers refers? (after all, the attack seemed rather considered).
The Israeli/Palestinian situation is seemingly insoluble and getting worse for the lack of great leaders. I salute the forbearance of the Palestinians and commit myself afresh to their noble cause. Inshallah.
In case you still smelled a hint of objectivity.
Goers then launches into a diatribe againt Be’er Sheva – which is clearly not Jordan in his eyes – and his Israeli tour guide/driver. I kid you not.
I wanted to see Be’er Sheva. On October 31, 1917, the Australian Light Horse – supported by New Zealand and British troops – took what was then known as Beersheba, a Turkish stronghold in the Negev Desert, in the last great cavalry charge.
It’s a hot, dusty hellhole. Modern Be’er Sheva – with its 350,000 souls – is the ugliest place I’ve ever seen. I managed to hire the world’s worst tour guide/driver. At the cost of $750, he was boorish and inept.
He couldn’t find the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery and when he did, as I lay laminated wattle flowers on some Diggers’ graves, he sat on a headstone using his mobile phone.
He then turns his attention to wealthy Jewish businessman Richard Pratt. Because, not antisemitic at all.
He used Google Maps to find the Park of the Australian Soldier – which was an ego trip funded by Visy Industries founder Richard Pratt.
Before returning to bashing Be’er Sheva and the war memorial, while mocking Israel’s legitimate security concerns.
It’s an oasis full of Australian trees but the toilets are broken and there’s trash around the plinth of an awful statue of a lighthorseman and his horse.
The enclosed park has only one open gate all others are locked. Why? Security. That’s the answer to everything in Israel which has been under emergency law since 1967. Every other park in Be’er Sheva is completely open.
But back to the Israeli tour guide/driver.
I located the old Turkish Railway Station and the monument to the Turkish dead but our guide could not find the battlefields of 1917. Nor could he find the enormous Commonwealth War Grave Cemetery on Mt Scopus, in Jerusalem. He’d never heard of it.
Goers ends off his screed suggesting Israel does not care about its relationship with Australia, as well as claiming we illegally persecute the palestinians.
The Zionists insist that the charge on Beersheba in that desert campaign of World War I precipitated the return of Israel to the Jews and the resultant illegal persecution of the Palestinians.
The Israelis pay Australia a lot of lip service, yet much needs to be done to exhume battlefields from rubbish dumps for the centenary of Beersheba next year.
The Israelis couldn’t care less about Beersheba and, if you think that’s sad, try being a Palestinian and being a prisoner in your own land
So why the hate, Peter? Perhaps herein lies a clue:
In 1996 Goers left Adelaide and moved to Istanbul in Turkey. There he found work in theatre, working as a producer on local productions, before taking up a post as an English lecturer at a local university
Besides the fact Istanbul is hardly a wellspring of pro-Israel/Jewish sentiment, remember it was the Ottoman-Turks who fought against the British, Australian and NZ forces during the Battle of Be’er Sheva.
Goers also seems to hold Muslims in high regard.
Regarding Islam, Goers has stated “Muslims do not proselytise and some of the best Christians I’ve ever known are Muslims.”
Jews? Not so much. Although perhaps some of his best friends are Jewish.
