The furore over the Morrison government’s ‘riffing’ on moving Australia’s embassy in Israel has distracted from the even greater crimes being perpetrated against Palestinians. Dr Peter Slezak explains.
Despite the storm of local and international condemnation, Prime Minister Morrison’s willingness to consider moving Australia’s Israel embassy to Jerusalem is a significant public relations win in the larger political scheme of things. Whether or not the harshest criticisms of the proposal are warranted, the furore over the embassy issue has been a successful sleight-of-hand, diverting attention from the most urgent and important political issues in regard to Jerusalem in particular, and the Israel/Palestine conflict in general.
It is undeniable that arguments in favour of the embassy move have a superficial plausibility when seen in isolation, but the larger picture has been removed from the agenda. The overall effect of the embassy controversy has been to narcotise the public and commentators.
The most dramatic illustration of this opiate effect was seen at the public forum for candidates in the Wentworth by-election on Tuesday October 16th, hosted by the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies and the Executive Council of Australian Jewry. Given the context and the audience, the event was astonishing not for what was said and widely reported but for what was not mentioned and not reported at all.
Read the article by Peter Slezak on New Matilda.