Hartcher joins the cacophony of pointless commentary

There are few ‘journalists’ in Australia that manage, as Keating suggested, to deliver misinformation and misdirection with such confidence and a voice which seems to have such gravitas. And, here again, we have a fine example of both misdirection and misinformation, in service of the Zionist cause.

With the sound and fury that already is accompanying the visit to Australia by Isaac Herzog, we should know who he is. But, first, who he is not.

Here we go. Look over here. I’ll focus on irrelevancies so that you think they’re important.

Herzog is the president of Israel, not the prime minister. So he’s the head of state, not the head of government. His position is mostly symbolic and constitutional, not substantive or executive. He formerly led Israel’s Labor Party, so he was no friend of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party.

Cue a tranche of irrelevant detail in an attempt to seem well versed in Israeli politics.

In his current apolitical post ..., [four paragraphs omitted to save boredom] he’ll give the request careful consideration.

On and on he drones in that monotone, giving us all kinds of useless and irrelevant information about Israeli internal politics. But, you see, we don’t give a shit. We know that both Netanyahu and Herzog are criminals

Another part of an Israeli president’s job is to cultivate the country’s ties with Jewish people everywhere.

No, Peter. His mission is to justify genocide and give attention to the Zionist ideology that appears to justify it.

Which brings him to Australia.

No. It’s a Zionist tour.

The first wrenching news of the Bondi terrorist murders made his heart miss a beat, he says: “I’m coming to visit and see my brothers and sisters of the Jewish communities in Australia to express our bond, our connection, our love, our affection, our condolences and I think it is something which is very important to a community which has been harassed and devastated by this terrible, terrible attack and by the ongoing onslaught of antisemitism against the community all over Australia,” he says in an interview with my colleague Matthew Knott and me.

Yes. Of course you swallowed that tripe, Peter. Because you are incapable of analysis.

The greatest insult to Australians, who summoned a ‘mud army’ to put Brisbane back together from true fellow feeling and love in their hearts, is to doubt their ability to “wrap their arms around the Jewish community”. We did. The fact that some Zionist cynically and despicably used this as an opportunity to pressure the Prime Minister to invite the representative of militarism, racism, colonialism and apartheid, against which Australians have fought, only shows that they cared less about the deaths.

And he wants to take the opportunity to explain Israel’s position and “upgrade the relations to where it should be” between two democratic nations. “The Australian people are incredible friends. We co-operate with them in so many fields of doing good. We can contribute together to the world positively from climate to water to agriculture to science, so let’s do that together.”

Yep. Peter swallowed that too. And, did he say, “And Australia has many great journalists, like my mate Peter”?

The tedium of Herzog’s little history lesson is only matched by the of Hartcher’s obsequiousness.

”Little do Australians remember something something Doc Evatt, something something.”

I mean, licking arse is one thing, grovelling while licking is another.

We are then meant to bow courteously as we have the rendition of history about PM and President love-ins. It’s like, “Peter. Australians really, really don’t give a fuck. They don’t want war criminals in Australia, no matter how far Albanese and Hawke put their tongues down a Herzog throat.”

But Herzog knows this visit will be very different. There were protests in 1986, “but very little compared with what goes on now”, says Mark Leibler, former chair of the Zionist Federation of Australia, who was present and involved with the 1986 visit, “when you look at these demented non-stop marches”.

Of course. Quote the arch defender of Zionism. Platform a supporter of IDF slaughter. Give a voice to genocide deniers. Bravo, Peter.

But there is so much to protest against. When Hamas launched its barbaric savagery against Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023, it was impossible for civilised, fair-minded societies not to sympathise with Israeli victims.

I’m guessing that Peter might have missed that our view of October 7, 2023 is entirely curated by the IDF, the same outfit that killed its own citizens, as witness testimony, not ambiguous photos, can tell us.

No one could fault him for launching a retaliatory war against Hamas.

Oh, you mean the one launched without evidence and before the bodies were counted?

But the recklessness of his tactics ...

Just reckless. Woops. That kid got shot in the head quite by accident. That family blown into oblivion were just accidental collateral damage.

When we ask Herzog about the conduct of the war in Gaza, ... justifies Netanyahu’s strategy.

Well, knock me down. What a revelation.

To undermine Hamas’ military capability, “you go into a civilian terrain because the whole infrastructure of Hamas is based on civilian terrain, and you find long-range missiles in people’s bedrooms and living rooms, literally. And you find them in mosques and shops and in schools. You find terror equipment, RPGs, bombs, missiles, rockets, the whole thing, literally. So you have to go in physically to take them. And sometimes it’s painful. It is painful, and we tried our best. We alert in advance, we send messages, we send text messages, we tell people to get out so that we can finally clear up the place.”

The full IDF script, stenographed with religious fervor, by the SMH’s resident Zionist apologist.

Don’t want to labour the point, Peter, but journalism 101 is to dig a little deeper than the script provided by the politicians.

He declined to express the least reservation about Netanyahu’s war.

Again, who would have thought?

Signing shells is “tasteless”. Collective blame was “unintentional”. And, “really, I’m just misunderstood.”

Mother Mary, spare us.

Here’s why protest should be set aside at this moment. Because Herzog’s visit confronts Australians with a choice. We can choose to see his presence as a good-faith act of mourning and consolation, connection between the Jewish state and Australian Jews.

You’re right. If we ignore the context, the war crimes, the genocide, the war criminal.

Jewish Australians, a tiny and vulnerable minority, are frightened and frustrated.

Funny how you can speak for all Jewish Australians. Funny how you can speak for David Gonski, who refuses to discuss the genocide, probably because he's disgusted and who says, “Australia isn’t antisemitic”.

Frightened by the virility and violence of the Jew-hate directed against them for no fault of their own.

Except that, during the protests, Jews are welcomed with open arms and venom is directed straight to the IDF.

Frustrated at the unique unfairness that they are held somehow responsible for the decisions of a foreign government.

They aren’t. This is a Zionist fiction. If you say, “Global Intifada” you are referring to the uprising against oppression, not people praying in a synagogue.

No other people is held to this standard.

Nobody holds that standard tighter than the extremist Zionist who think every statement is about them.

If the Herzog visit gives them some measure of comfort, why not allow our fellow citizens this moment of solace, untroubled by noisy protest?

Ah, because we Australians have been so delinquent in our comfort. And, of course, in speaking for Jews of Australia, you know it brings “solace”.

A minority of Jewish Australians, notably the progressive Jewish Council of Australia, wishes he weren’t coming, fearing the divisiveness that will ensue. But that’s not an option. He’s here, invited by the prime minister and the governor-general, and welcomed by the opposition leader in a bipartisan embrace.

To our eternal shame. I guess we keep company with Mussolini, Hirohito, Pavelic, Horthy, Chamberlain, Daladier, PiousXII in welcoming a “foreign head of state”.

It’s a selective moral outrage, of course. Where are the protests against the Iranian dictatorship’s murder of tens of thousands of anti-regime demonstrators in the past few weeks?

I guess you had a media blackout then. Fix your TV.

Which campuses are convulsed with outrage as the ayatollahs relegate women and girls to second-class status and send protesters to torture chambers and mass graves? Nowhere, and none. There’s only silence.

I guess none, because reciting Israeli propaganda is, for most Australians, boring.

Most Australians, as pollster Jim Reed attests based on his research with Resolve Strategic for this masthead, “weren’t taking sides” in the Gaza war, “did not want to take sides, and actually had a mildly positive to sympathetic view of Israel overall”.

Nothing quite like speaking for us, as well, Peter.

The protesters who turn out against Herzog are not representing the Australian mainstream. And they’re not representing the vital Australian value of respect for their fellow Australians in a moment of mourning.

“Basket of deplorables”?

Because the Bondi attackers murdered Jewish Australians, but their true target was Australia itself.

Peter, once again, with that fascinating capability for omniscience, has great insights into the mind of terrorists, having completed a PhD in counter terrorism.

Here’s an idea, Peter. Give it a rest. Pour another and sit quietly on the verandah and dribble down your shirt, away from public view where you might embarrass yourself.