With Israeli PM [Benjamin] Netanyahu now in Australia, it appears that Australian political leaders are almost falling over themselves in professing their solidarity and affection for the the state of Israel ("Netanyahu reaches out", February 23). This ignores the harsh reality on the ground. Talk of a peace settlement and a two-state solution is largely meaningless when the Israelis have been busily "balkanising'' the future territorial integrity of any future Palestinian state through their aggressive settlement policies and the expropriation of Palestinian land. Along with policies of collective punishment, arbitrary arrest, systemic discrimination and humiliation, what peace process exists in reality? None, I would argue, and yet any criticism of the action of an increasingly right-wing Israeli regime is somehow labelled as anti-semitism and supportive of terrorism. Meanwhile, the dehumanisation of the dispossessed Palestinian people is reinforced by "Bibi" and his supporters at every turn. Mark Latham's famous phrase, "a conga line of suckholes", appears an apt appellation to apply to Turnbull and Shorten in this.
Lindsay Smith Faulconbridge
In 2015 I visited my daughter in Jerusalem. She explains the presence of a suspicious canister in her handbag as pepper spray – as a necessary means of protecting herself. I am stupefied and horrified. She has no army training or background; no self-defence training. She was shown the basics by the shop seller – many others are also resorting to such protection.
During my four weeks stay, there were daily attacks against innocent Jewish people in the centre of Jerusalem and its busy commercial/tourist areas.
It is violence and total disregard for Jewish lives that are the obstacles to peace. Everything else flows from that. Israel is here to stay – it is the home of the Jewish people. It is time after so many decades of lives lost and so much destruction for the Palestinian Authority/and Hamas/Hetzbollah/Al Queda to show some wisdom and respect.
It would be far more constructive if critics of Israel, and those protesting against Mr Netanyahu's visit, looked towards the future. Toward a model of co-existing, of co-operation and of sharing the socio-economic benefits as experienced by countries within the European Union.
Adele Abraham Bondi
Many of your readers may have found distasteful the fulsome praises our PM heaped upon his Israeli opposite number; a man whose government repeatedly steals its neighbours' land.
Please don't judge either of them too harshly. Both Bibi and Mal are centrist politicians who have been tied hand and foot by the bunch of rabid right-wingers whose support they needed to get the top job. Perhaps their mutual admiration is recognition that they are enduring similar ordeals.
Bernard Verrall Batehaven
After decades of blatant violations of international law and United nations rulings, it is profoundly ironic that Prime Minister Netanyahu, speaks of being a friend of the Arabs (in Sydney Synagogue, February 22). Successive generations of the theft of Palestinian land – called "settlements", with no thought for the people made homeless by such actions; the building of walls to separate families from each other and essential services such as hospitals and schools; these are not "friendly" acts. Palestinians have been made refugees in their own land; many have fled; those left live in fear. Israel has become an apartheid state, that many people (including many Jewish people) claim, is worse than the South African apartheid regime last century. Negotiations with such an unscrupulous oppressor have been worse than fruitless: they have resulted in more oppression. We stood up against the apartheid regime in South Africa. Why do we ignore it in Palestine?
Kerry Foster Allambie Heights
The visit of the Israeli prime minister reminds me of how delighted I was to hear the news of Israel's triumph in the six day war of 1967, but that was 50 years ago and much has happened or failed to happen since then. Israel has powerful friends and has consistently defied the attempts of the United Nations to make it vacate the land it has occupied and return to within its boundaries. It is not being antisemitic to point out that Israel is in breach of international law and is at least morally obliged to return the occupied land to the Palestinians.
Ian Edwards Glebe
I enjoyed that photograph of Benjamin Netanyahu hitting his forehead with the palm of his hand. All that was missing was a caption saying "Oh, THAT two-state resolution!". Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.
Garth Clarke North Sydney
Schoolboy offers key to help friends open locked box
It was almost eerie reading Mr [Alan] Stokes article on his battle with depression and suicidal thoughts, likening it to being in a box ("Vickerman tragedy exposes my secret life of suicidal thoughts", February 22). On Tuesday, my son in year 12 at school said he and his friends had been discussing the topic of depression (triggered by Mr Vickerman's death) and some stated there is little you can do to help in situations like this (another scary thought). My son decided that this is a concerning attitude to hold and that evening emailed his entire class cohort with the concept of having a school "locked box". Basically, this meant any of his school friends could contact him confidentially to just listen, or talk or just know someone was there for them, if they were having problems. As a "locked box" the discussion would not go further. This was received very positively by his group who suggested going further to include a physical locked box at the school where students could write about their problems and drop them in anonymously (to be collected later by school prefects). I was incredibly impressed at the students' maturity, concern and proactive attitude to this very real and pervasive problem (with the proviso that the students listening know of professional options to refer their peers to if required). Maybe sometime just listening can be the key to a locked box?
Lifeline 13 11 14
Tracey Dillon Woy Woy
Church reaping rewards for doing nothing
Following the revelations of sexual abuse concerning the Roman Catholic Church uncovered by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, there have been numerous letters recently calling for an end to the funding of Catholic schools and the tax-free status of the church (Letters, February 23).
In the main, the church's response to the allegations of abuse, the calls for removal of funding and the loss of tax-free status has been the same, "Things are different now".
But as five Catholic Archbishops prepare to deliver their carefully crafted responses to the Royal Commission in Sydney, the following question must be asked: "Does covering up institutional sexual abuse work?" And the answer must be an unequivocal, "Yes! If you sweep abuse under the carpet for long enough, you will continue to be rewarded."
Tom Orren Wamberal
The sexual abuse of children is a heinous crime. The Catholic Church, or any other institution so implicated, is not above the law.
If they have any credibility at all, they will immediately hand over to the police all their records regarding sexual abuse claims.
Otherwise they could be considered accessories after the fact, which is in itself a crime, and any statements of contrition or change are meaningless.
Jennifer Katauskas Wahroonga
PISA answers won't be found in US
Answers aren't always correct, especially if based on poor information ("US has answers for our failing schools", February 23). Our schools are hardly "failing". The latest (2015) results in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) still have Australia above the OECD average, though it has slipped backwards. We should work to improve, but looking to the US for a model seems an unlikely solution, since we clearly outperform it in those PISA results (as we have long done) and at a consistently lower per-student cost.
Al Svirskis Mount Druitt
Charter schools are another form of privatisation of education, and their introduction will only muddy the waters of the education system in Australia,
a system which is already disparate, segregated and hierarchical, and the cause of the ballooning inequity of education, which PISA measures. They have been extremely controversial in the US. The subtext of "school choice" is privatisation.
Vanessa Tennent Oatley
Aaron Lane of the IPA spruiks the benefits of charter schools but fails to mention that evidence suggests that there is little difference in student achievement, despite the structural changes he so much favours. The reality is charter schools run on public funds and it's money that would otherwise be used in traditional public schools thus widening educational inequality. I prefer my IPA in a glass, keep out of our schools.
John Bailey Canterbury
Power out to Parra
Who will go to a Parramatta Powerhouse (Letters, February 23)? Perhaps not even western Sydney-siders when the proposed site is far from Parramatta Station, with few other attractions near it. Not people here in the south, nor in the north, nor in the east, nor visitors which our harbourside CBD will continue to attract. A project as foolish as an under-seated Metro unable to be connected with our railway system, and a light rail that is as light in commonsense and practicality as Edinburgh's recent expensive experiment.
John Bunyan Campbelltown
La La Land tedious
Well Garry Maddox, ("Shortcuts: Have a heart, haters: The La La Land Backlash is wrong", February 23), I wasn't dropped on my heart as a child, but nonetheless I loathed La La Land. For me, the film was tedious with no redeeming features. The score was dull and the acting less than impressive, as was the dancing. I did not find the story "witty, warm and touching", but rather, boring, cold and very long. Nor did I find the characters "likeable idealists". In fact, the Ryan Gosling character was a weak, obsessive and selfish man and Emma Stone's character unmemorable.
Suzanne Tatam Aranda ACT
Fairfax saving plan
I'm glad Fairfax made a bit of profit and that the print version of its newspapers are safe for years, hopefully ("Domain float gets nod as Fairfax profits rise", February 23). However, I was going to send a comment earlier in the week about last Saturday's paper. I noticed that Domain has gone and turned into a glossy magazine.
I am one reader/subscriber that would prefer not to receive it and would want any savings go towards paying the paper's staff, I say this as I reckon there are thousands who would think the same as me, therefore saving some well needed dollars.
Con Vaitsas Ashbury
Glad bags again
Doug Walker need not be too critical about Gladys Berejiklian (Letters, February 23).
My local op shop, the Wayside Chapel, is a treasure trove of labels from renowned European houses and it is possible to buy a Carla Zampatti outfit. In my opinion more embarrassing is doing a photo spread for the Women's Weekly.
Suzanne Wicks Potts Point
Neal's reputation
Don't they know who she is? ("Belinda Neal charged under ALP rules amid preselection battle", February 23)?
Allan Gibson Cherrybrook
Rudd annoying guest
Kevin Rudd has become that annoying guest at a party that doesn't leave until all the cabanosi is gone. ("Kevin Rudd scolds Benjamin Netanyahu amid Australia visit", smh.com.au February 23)
Craig Moore Bondi
Minding your Ps and Qs a common failing
Thank you Liz Stephenson (Letters, February 23). I was starting to think that I was the only one with a problem with the present use of I and me. Even my friends of the same vintage are beginning to use them incorrectly. I can yell at the politicians on television but I can't yell at my friends (or correct them) so I do it silently.
Lia Sergie Gymea Bay
While correcting the ever more common unfortunate use of the wrong form of the pronoun (I/me, she/her, he/him, etc), Liz Stephenson also falls into a trap by calling "her" the possessive adjective. While "her" can indeed be that, in this particular case the "her" (like "me", "him" etc) is the objective case of the pronoun "she". See: "I know her (pronoun) and her (possessive adjective) mother".
Herman Beyersdorf Armidale
Ah, indeed, the joys of parsing and analysis. (Letters, February 23) Does anyone else remember this little ditty?
"Bobby Brown, proper noun, parse him up, parse him down, neuter gender, hopeless case, governed by his ugly face."
Helped me every time.
Anne Butt Bensville
We were teachers. Our grandchildren call us Parse and Grammar.
Lyndsay McAuliffe Epping
A grammar revolution? Sick – and if like they can like banish like the use of insidious fake words then like I'll be like stoked, you know?
Patrick McGrath Coogee
0 comments
New User? Sign up