Naomi Chazan spoke to a well-attended drinks and nibbles function of AJDS supports and friends on Wednesday 16 June 2011.
You can listen to the mp3 audio files (unfortunately, the room was a bit dim and the video isn’t 100%, nor is the audio, but it well worth considering her argument, even if you don’t agree with it all).
The audio files are attached at the end of this page.
(click or download with right hand mouse button/save]
(use VLC player if you have any problems)
A very characteristic photo of Naomi at function, with the menu in the background.
I, Michael Brull, a young writer and blogger and Mark Baker, of the Centre for Jewish Civilization at Monash, representing three different viewpoints on a left continuum, talked about dissent in the Jewish community for a panel at Limmud Oz 2011 in Sydney. You can listen to the sound file below.
The session was chaired by Angela Budai, replacing Jenny Green who withdrew in protest at the censoring by the organisers of Peter Slezak and Viv Porzolt. Their session on another topic was cancelled because of their political views on BDS (Background to this is linked here and another perspective here.)
Naomi Chazan spoke to a packed hall at the Marrickville Synagogue in Sydney on Monday 12 June (the Chilean ash cloud means that I was trapped in Sydney so Fortuna allowed me to tape the recording). Click the link below to listen to or download the first mp4 which is only 13mg. There is an introduction, then she starts talking at 7’15”. The first few minutes are about the New Israel Fund and local politics. Depending on your POV, you may find these remarks helpful or unhelpful. The second mp4 is a very short answer by her to a question which sums up many of her views.
This is a drawing by a child in an Australian detention centre/Lager ” and I won the detenshen sente be clos”. Notice how the houses are placed, everyone is crying including the child (name blurred), and ‘oficers’ (no faces) at the bottom. Wire/bars over everything.
Another document concerning the psychiatric assessment of a child was also displayed. It called for the child’s release. Philip Ruddock, the minister responsible at the time had scrawled across it ‘Bucklies’ (misspelling for Buckley’s–an Australianism meaning–no way!)
One year ago Lex Wotton was released from jail after serving two years behind bars as a political prisoner. Lex got a 6-year sentence after being found guilty of riot with destruction by an all-white jury. He took part in a justified community protest against the death in custody of Mulrunji Doomadgee. In contrast, Chris Hurley, the police officer responsible for the death in custody, has been promoted and compensated. The whole response to the 2004 death in custody has been scandalously flawed.
The Refugee Advocacy Network is calling on all groups and individuals who support refugee rights to come together and send a clear message to the government: it’s time to end mandatory detention.
The crisis in Australia’s detention system has reached a critical point. There are now almost 7,000 people locked in detention centres across the country. Increasing number have been incarcerated for long periods of time – months or even years. Asylum seekers and refugees in the camps are increasingly despairing and desperate.
The torture and murder of a Syrian child by agents of the regime is unconscionable, but typical of such a dictatorship which has outlived its usefulness.
As the SMH put it, “His head was swollen, purple and disfigured. His body was a mess of welts, cigarette burns and wounds from bullets fired to injure, not kill. His kneecaps had been smashed, his neck broken, his jaw shattered and his penis cut off.
What finally killed him was not clear, but it appeared painfully, shockingly clear that he had suffered terribly during the month he spent in Syrian custody.
“Beneath the legal arguments, the fate of Lifta brings up some of the most contentious points in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: the right of return and the struggle to control the historical narrative.”
Litfa is an Palestinian village abandoned in 1948 on the western edge of Jerusalem, hungrily eyed by developers. Everyone who comes to Jerusalem on the highway from the airport passes it, but most people are unaware of what it represents, other than apparent ruins. It is still alive in the memories of many Palestinians who lay claim to it.
The AJDS is pleased to invite you to drinks, canapes and a talk by Naomi Chazan.
Where: Izzi/ Brown Cow Cafe/Bar, 272 Glen Huntly Road Elsternwick VIC 3185 (Right next to Elsternwick Railway Station).
When: Wednesday, 15 June, 7 for 7.30-9pm.
Entry: $25 waged/$17 students/non-wages for canapes and a drink. Cash bar as well.
RSVP for catering purposes: [email protected] OR @ Facebook
Australian Jewish community politics when it comes to Israel and dissenting views is explosive, and a current controversy is no exception. (See, for example, what I wrote for New Matilda in 2009, but there have been episodes since then).
Limmud Oz 2011 has recently banned two speakers, known as supporters of BDS from the conference, even though they were not going to talk about BDS. Why it has happened at such a late stage is interesting–is it another case of the people with the money making not so subtle hints…