Comment on Benjamin Netanyahu says Anthony Albanese 'betrayed' Israel
Tenderizer@aussie.zone 2 days ago
Given his reaction, I take that to mean Australia’s recognition of Palestine is actually a REALLY big deal. He didn’t say this about France and Mexico (two much more powerful countries). I don’t get how Australia in particular is so important though.
It’s worth noting recognizing Palestine comes with a lot of political risk. Labor prime ministers have been couped twice, and the LNP made a joke of any efforts they tried to improve the country in the following years. These coups both happened for defying US foreign policy.
He’s has said similar things of Macron. It’s just Australia came to the table a bit later, so his latest round of vitriol is more targeted at us.
“I say to President Macron, Prime Minister Carney and Prime Minister Starmer: when mass murderers, rapists, baby killers and kidnappers thank you, you’re on the wrong side of justice” You’re on the wrong side of humanity and you’re on the wrong side of history.
What he said to France, Canada, and the UK is far more boiler-plate and less emotive than what he’s said about Albanese.
France is undoubtedly a more powerful country than Australia but Mexico?
It does have a larger population but it has a smaller GDP, significant internal unrest, is bordered by the worlds most powerful nation and isn’t as geopolitically important due to location.
Power doesn’t exist in a vacuum and based largely on the strategic importance of Australia I would say it ranks ahead of Mexico in terms of power on the world stage.
Also I learnt a few things about Mexico, so that’s neat and thank you.
But France does also have a longer historical reputation for defending Liberty.
Australia has a self-image of giving everyone a Fair Go, but has a history of Genocide, Racism and Imperialism.
For us to recognise Palestine is for us to also recognise that we have also been utter bastards to Aboriginal Australians and all the non-Anglo Immigrants that have been victimised by Australian Society over the last 237 years.
Taleya@aussie.zone 2 days ago
We have a pretty big history and we actually for a very long time had the highest population of holocaust survivors outside of Israel itself. We never pogrommed them like Europe did, we never blocked them from country clubs like the US did, we were actually pretty damned chill with the antisemitism and even some of Australias federators were Jewish. When European Jewry fled the holocaust, we were one of the few western countries that actually let them in, and even issued “victims of oppression” visas from '38 until the outbreak of the war. Postwar we pretty much let anyone in.
So basically we’re a western nation that isn’t Institutionally Weird About The Jews and doesn’t have a history of being Institutionally Weird About The Jews. Bibi’s finding out the hard way that Israel the nation state and Jewish people are not considered interchangeable.