The disclosure obligations may be unrelated to security clearances as such. The US has strict disclosure requirements relating to foreign connections.
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As do we. You need to disclose all relationships with foreign nationals - personal, business etc and those relationships vetted to be granted the clearance. So his relationships may be legitimate and the clearance proceeds. They may consider them too high risk and see him ineligible for the clearance without any criminal offense taking place. I think that would be the extent to which the security clearance process playa a role and the collusion with foreign nationals investigation takes over.
Australia’s disclosure obligations for politicians - connected to potential conflicts of interest- allow for rectifications without penalty. No problem for Billson faling to disclose he was receiving a salary from a franchise body when he was Minister for Small Business. Unlike Dastyari, no reference to Privileges Committee.
I have never understood the security clearance arrangements applying to politicians and their staff, as compared to public servants. It is apparent that the intelligence agencies conduct surveillance operations on them.
Was it ethnic cleansing when Israel forcibly removed every last Jewish man, woman, and child from Gaza so that it could hand the keys over to the Palestinians, only for them to turn into a terror hotbed and launching base for rockets against Israeli civilians?
Or perhaps it was ethnic cleaning when Israel forcibly removed Amona settlers from the West Bank because the Israeli High Court deemed the settlment to be illegal, to the anger of its Jewish inhabitants?
In fact, Israel are so bad at ethnically cleansing itself that as of 2013, Israel’s own Arab population accounts for 20.7% of the country’s population, and they are so mistreated that they have the same right to apply for citizenship, are entitled to municipal services, and have voting rights, just like any other citizen. Israel has Arab MK’s in parliament (some even openly anti-Israel), has Arabs judges, and Arabs are involved in all spheres of public life.
If you want to discuss ethnic cleansing, let’s talk about what a potential future Palestinian State would look like. Apart from being highly dysfunctional, non self-sufficient, and rife with corruption, it would also be free of even a single Jew. ‘In a final resolution, we would not see the presence of a single Israeli – civilian or soldier – on our lands,’ says PA leader (Abbas). Is the the kind of State you’re arguing for?
But who needs to think ‘potential’. If you want to learn more about the mass exodus of 800-900,000 Jews due to the persecution and discrimination across the Middle East, there is plenty here to read. For example, Iraq’s 1948 Jewish population was approximately 135,000-140,000. Today? between 5 and 7 people. Yes, you read that right. And it’s the same across the entire Middle East.
Or maybe you’d like to learn more about the open discrimination against Israeli passport holders. Sixteen countries forbid admission to Israeli passport holders including Malaysia, Pakistan, and UAE. In addition, “Iran, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen do not allow entry to people with evidence of travel to Israel, or whose passports have either a used or an unused Israeli visa. As a consequence, many countries will allow for a second passport to be issued to citizens wishing to circumvent this restriction although the Israeli immigration services themselves have now mostly ceased to issue entry or exit stamps to foreign nationals.”
Ethnic cleansing, discrimination, anti-semitism? I think if there’s a template for how to do it, it’s the Muslim world who have it down pat. Perhaps they could teach the Israelis a thing or two because they seem a damn sight better at it.
And yet, for all of it, where are all the Jewish terrorists? Where are the Jews blowing Iraqi buses and restaurants to smitherines? Why is it that in the face of a history of persecution (after all, who knows better about persecution than the Jews), Jews throughout history have banded together, got on with life, and become productive (even successful) members of the communities in which they inhabit. Why can we not expect the same of other people? Why is there such a tendency to infantilise Palestinians and consider them so helpless, so irrational, as to have no other resort than to kill without conscience. How can that ever possibly be the answer?
How about getting behind the only stable democracy in the Middle East, and placing pressure on the Palestinians to overthrow their terrorist leaders, embrace democracy, and show a genuine commitment and determination to achieve peace. Without even that most basic commitment, ‘peace’ may as well be the tooth fairy - because it simply won’t exist.
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Israel did not declare a West Bank settlement illegal as such, rather the way in which it was funded. As I understand it, funding from private foundations ( mostly foreign) is OK, with the government funding military security, Also, as I understand it , Israeli withdrawal from some non West Bank settlements ( when it blew up all the buildings) was part of the peace deal with Egypt.
The ban on entry of Israelis holding Israeli passports is connected to non- recognition of Israel as a State . It is not a ban on Jews. There are probably many Israelis holding dual citizenship.
Few countries recognise Taiwan as a State,
.Taiwan’s membership of international organisations is as Chinese Taipei( province of China). A Taiwan passport might not get you into many countries , although there may be travel papers of less than passport status that are recognised.
That’s how it works.
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While Israel may be more discrimated against than discriminatory, it has some unsavoury practices of its own, like the occasional cutting off of essential services in areas of predominately Arab Israeli citizens . And when Europe and others gave trade concessions to the West Bank to assist econmic development, much was frustrated by Israel transit restrictions and non- tariff barriers against access to the affluent Israel market.
And it was countries in Europe that drove the holocaust not the Arabs Few Jews in Poland and it remains anti-Semitic.
The rhetoric against the FBI is really heating up on Fox. Getting to Infowars kind of level.
Mueller had an impeccable career, a Republican respected, lauded, and trusted by Republicans and Democrats alike, tasked with leading the FBI by two Presidents (Bush and Obama for an unusual extension), a right up until he was appointed to handle an investigation that looks at Trump and suddenly the jackals go to work.
Jeanine Pirro on Fox suggesting that people don’t just need to be fired, but they need to be taken out in handcuffs.
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Listen, I’m not saying Israel is a perfect country and that discrimination towards Palestinians doesn’t at all exist. No country on earth is perfect, as I’m sure everyone here can agree. But when viewed in the context of the incredible challenges that it faces and has to deal with on a daily basis, it’s doing a pretty damn good job under the circumstances. To lay the absence of peace at the feet of Israel shows a myopic and severely limited understanding of the history of the region and what Israel is contending with.
Let’s get this crystal clear. The Muslim world, for the most part, does not recognise Israel’s right to exist within ANY borders. They want the complete and total annihalation of the State, along with all Jews in it. Read the Hamas charter if you don’t believe me. To their credit, they are atleast honest about what they want.
Now, when you consider that that’s the starting point, you have to ask yourself what are the logical next steps. If you’re Israel, and you know you’re surrounded by extremists who want you dead, is your first reaction to hand over land that would achieve no more than to make your own existence even less secure and defendible?
Is it to invite Palestinians (who are not Israeli citizens) the ability to freely roam your borders unchecked when they’ve shown time and time again a desire to kill and maim?
What is it that you would do? Knowing that you’re ultimately responsible for the safety and security of your people?
Even more troubling is the fact that even if you did have an Arab leader willing to recognise Israel, he would be swallowed alive by his own people because the Palestinians would never stand for it.
With such basic, fundamental issues to contend with, the issue of “settlements” is really just a distraction tactic aimed at buying favour politically. It’s nothing more. If the Palestinians showed a true committment to peace, that could all be negotiated as part of an agreement.
The only real way to achieve peace is for the Muslim world to undergo a major cultural and generational shift. Instead of teaching hate, teach acceptance. Personally, I see this as being a pipedream at this point so I won’t hold my breath, but that’s what it will take. Without it, you can build two states, but they will be at eternal war with each other and Israel’s own security would be even further jeopardised.
In the meantime, the world can send a very real and clear message that threats of violence and terrorism will not be tolerated under any circumstance. Nor will trying to bypass a peace agreement with Israel by using means of political intimidation or discrimination such as the BDS movement. You want peace? Make ‘peace’ with the idea that Israeli’s deserve their own homeland too. Maybe then you will finally get what you want.
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Hamas is a listed terrorist organisation in most countries ( including Australia) and Israel has the West’s support for its status and its existence, including importantly US military support. It holds a lot of cards, but I would suggest that West Bank settlements are much more than a distraction - it is a major provocation, condemned by most western democratic countries as illegal under international law , and It makes it hard to defend Israel as a good international citizen. If Netanyahu goes will Israel change?
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Not significantly. Israelis are by and large right or centre right wing now. The days of left wing governments are numbered until the Palestinians come back to the table.
The majority of Israelis have understood that concessions, freezing settlements, withdrawing from Gaza and South Lebanon, removing isolated settlements, have brought nothing more than more violence.
Even the Oslo accords brought some of the most horrendous mass murders in the 1990s, which in part brought Netanyahu to power.
There are still fanatical lefties in Israel who are generally anti-religious, and fanatical righties who are downright racist, but the majority (centre right) are very sympathetic to the local Arab people on both sides of the green line, but from bitter experience have come to understand that the Palestinian leadership have no interest in peaceful existence between 2 nations.
The conflict has given them a way to get crazy rich, and keep the populace poor and persecuted by focusing on a common enemy, rather than nation building.
And using the term Apartheid for a country with Arab judges, lawyers, doctors, nurses, MPs, soccer players, mixed towns and neighbourhoods, 1000s of Arabs and Jews together in buses, shopping centres, parks, tourist attractions, etc., Syrian and Lebanese civil war victims, as well as Palestinians lives being saved in Israeli hospitals, is just silly.
This is not North Korea. You are welcome to spend time here and see for yourself. Tour the beaches, hospitals, malls, parliament.
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One of the most interesting posts I’ve read on this site. Thanks.
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Thanks I don’t disbelieve your description of a harmonious life where you live and that domestically Israel is a democratic society. I have heard that from others and I have worked closely with Israelis on economic related issues.
Nor do I disbelieve first hand accounts from those who have worked for international agencies in other areas claimed by Israel of predominantly Arab populations, which provide a different picture of treatment of Arab populations . And I appreciate that Israelis live with constant threats to their security .
I understand that the initial maps proposed by Israel ( which bore a resemblance to the non contiguous settlement zones of apartheid South Africa) may have been amended - and may have been an ambit claim - but they were pretty shocking at the time .
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Sorry if I gave the impression of a harmonious society.
My software company, for example, just hired its first Arab Israeli programmer. Something which I personally find quite ridiculous. Not that the company is prejudiced, just too few Arabs are in this field and applying fro jobs. In Northern Israel the situation is different and based on the situation in Universities, the numbers will change.
There are also claims that Jewish and Arab protesters are dealt with differently.
MUCH more needs to be done to improve the lives of the Arab citizens. While we wish that was the focus of the Arab parliament reps, rather than championing Palestinian causes, that doesn’t excuse the majority from responsibility.
Whatever the situation, in the non-disputed parts of Israel, calling it Apartheid is a joke.
In the disputed areas, the situation is so complex & convoluted right now with autonomous regions, Palestinian security and government agencies, sporadic violence on both sides, Israeli Security services departments dedicated to protecting Arabs from crazy Hilltop Youth and so on, that a clear branding of Apartheid is simplifying the situation.
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The senior GOP senator in Alabama just went on TV and blasted Roy Moore, his party’s own candidate, with the special election on Tuesday. He said he couldn’t vote for him.
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Saw Adam Hills say last night that given Trump’s lack of attention to detail, people in North Carolina must be ■■■■■■■■ themselves.
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@G-Unit, to be clear, I’m not laying the blame for lack of peace all at Israel’s door. Both sides have screw ups. What I am saying is that when you ask for Palestinians and neighbouring countries to lay down arms and acknowledge Israel’s right to existence before any peace discussions will start, you’re effectively asking for the other side to give Israel everything it wants before even getting to the negotiating table. I’m not saying Israel should just hand over land, but they have to be willing to open themselves up to doing that as part of the process.
There is also going to have to be an element of a leap of faith in the outcomes. While holding a big stick of the threat of returning to the current status if it doesn’t work out.
On a side note, I think its a little laughable the idea that violence and terrorism will not be tolerated. You have seen what the USA is doing with drones? Their invasion of Iraq? Russian’s work in Ukraine and Georgia? China and Tibet? All the big boys have no issue with violence. To pretend otherwise is naive. And even the rest of us condone violence when it is “for a just cause”. Most would say fighting WW2 against Germany and Japan was right. There have also been a handful of wars since (e.g. liberating Kuwait) that would appear justifiable. Note that ALL of those nations above justify “their” wars. Its very easy to deplore the Palestinian violence, and to a degree fair. But they don’t exactly have a lot of alternatives.
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A few cancelled Middle East meetings with Pence. Nothing to do with Trump’s decision, just shows they don’t want peace. Perhaps he should have sent Kushner instead.
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This is one of the most magnificent things I’ve seen (works so well if you’re familiar with the original Talking Heads clip…)
Can’t stop watching!!
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Another terrorist attack this morning.
4 people injured? Which I think includes the bomber. He’s going to have a long time to think about things, like failure.