Andrew

Writer, photographer | No one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark (Warsan Shire)

[Drew Pavlou 🇦🇺🇺🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼 @DrewPavlou]

Imagine a terrorist organisation completely dedicated to wiping out an entire ethnic minority group from the Middle East - an ethnic minority group that within living memory endured the worst genocide in history.

Imagine that this terrorist group smuggled meth for cartels and carried out countless suicide bombings across the world deliberately aimed to murder as many civilians as possible.

Imagine that this terrorist group lorded over their society and ruled through terror and fear, abducting and murdering their political opponents with car bombs.

Imagine that this terrorist group had murdered tens of thousands of Syrian civilians over the course of a decade, starving entire towns into submission and ethnically cleansing entire regions.

Imagine that this terrorist group constantly fired missiles at the neighbouring state they wish to destroy as part of their genocidal mission. Imagine that they even massacred ethnic minority children playing soccer, murdering 11 kids in cold blood.

Then imagine that this terrorist group decides to order 5000 encrypted pagers as part of its terror command and control network. Imagine that they use this pager system to communicate military messages and plot further terror attacks and massacres.

And then imagine that a minuscule amount of explosive was placed in each pager such that it would incapacitate and injure the wearer of the pager. Imagine it was so precisely targeted that the overwhelming majority of those injured were part of the terrorist command and control network and the only civilians injured were injured because the cruel terrorists embedded themselves in civilian areas with no heed to the danger this posed to innocents.

Then imagine that millions of people on Twitter melt down in anger and fury that the military operation was overwhelmingly successful. Imagine that they were more angry at the existence of the counter-terrorist operation than the existence of the brutal and vicious terrorist group.

What a world we live in:

[Michael Fullilove @mfullilove]

In today’s prisoner exchange, Washington won the freedom of journalists and other innocents. Moscow sued for the release of assassins and spies.

Never was the moral contrast between the 🇺🇸 and 🇷🇺 clearer.

[David Coltart @DavidColtart]

Farcical 🤦🏻‍♂️

[Drew Pavlou 🇦🇺🇺🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼 @DrewPavlou]

NORMAL: The Australian Federal Police confirmed on Thursday to the Australian Senate that they disrupted a plot by Chinese foreign intelligence in Australia to violently harm me and other Australian critics of the Chinese government like @veryvickyxu. We were ''potential targets of violence'' and they were forced to raid individuals to disrupt the plot.

This testimony was before the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs. Thank you to Senator James Paterson for asking these important questions. Full exchange here: https://t.co/cDoJbCFHtx

[Marc Innes-Brown @AusAmbPH]

Australia supported an important forum on the Philippines’ Maritime Zones Bill.

Defining maritime zones, consistent with UNCLOS, is crucial for upholding sovereignty, bolstering maritime security and protecting the marine environment.

[Ben Bland @benjaminbland]

Norway’s intelligence agency has chosen a rather striking image of a bear and a dragon assailing a snow-capped Nordic idyll for the cover of its latest annual threat assessment https://t.co/I10bVfVTwV

[Rory Medcalf @Rory_Medcalf]

I appreciate the Director-General of @ASIOGovAu would not name the treasonous Australian politician referred to in the threat assessment. It would be useful, however, to know what motivated that person. Was it Money, Ideology, Compromise or Ego?

[Andrew @and_harris]

@marvelstadiumau it’s a total fire ban day and it’s a million degrees in the stadium — turn off the flames! It’s madness. The play is hot enough.

[Stephen Dziedzic @stephendziedzic]

I absolutely implore diplomats and officials across the vast blue globe we call home: can this handshake please please please never ever become a thing

[John Geering @PosolAustralia]

Today Ambassador John Geering laid flowers in memory of Alexei #Navalny at the Solovetsky Stone memorial for victims of political repression. Australia holds the Russian Government solely responsible for his treatment and death in prison.

[Claire Lehmann @clairlemon]

In December, Clementine Ford told The Australian she was not an antisemite, describing the suggestion as “ludicrous”. But since the doxxing of 600 Jewish creatives on her social media accounts, it is worth re-examining the charge and the evidence that supports it.

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance states it is not antisemitic to criticise Israel or Israeli policies. Criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Defence Force strategy or tactics in the war in Gaza cannot be antisemitic. Many people – including several world leaders – have called for a ceasefire to the hostilities in Gaza, and such calls are not prima facie evidence of hostility towards Jews.

But what is antisemitic, according to the IHRA, is denying the Jewish people’s right to self-determination (ie, in claims that Zionism is “racism”), applying double standards to Israel (ie, expecting behaviour that is not expected of any other nation), the use of classic antisemitic images, symbols or stereotypes in relation to Israel (ie, blood libels) and holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of Israel (ie, black-listing). On each of these accounts, Ford is guilty.

On her social media accounts and Substack newsletter, Ford amplifies Islamist rhetoric that portrays Israel as an occupied territory since the 1947 UN vote on the Partition Plan for Palestine. When she talks about “occupation”, she isn’t just talking about Gaza or the West Bank. She’s referring to the state of Israel as a whole.

The Anti-Defamation League in the US explains that criticism becomes antisemitic when “Israel is denied the right to exist as a Jewish state and equal member of the global community, and when traditional antisemitic symbols, images or theories are used in the demonisation of Israel”.

On her Instagram account, there is a video of Ford speaking softly in dark lighting in front of her phone camera about “Zionist ideology.” She says there are “not enough babies in the world who could be bombed” to satisfy it. On a post to her Substack account this week, she writes of children being “ritually maimed and disabled” by Israel.

Throughout her social media posts she describes Zionists as “monsters”, “sadists” and “ghouls”; Israel as a “disgusting”, “evil” “oppression machine”.

Ford has shared disinformation about the war in Gaza, including conspiracy theories about Israel “harvesting the organs” of Palestinians (false), and planning to use “illegal nerve gas” resulting in children having “flesh melted away” (also false).

The ADL describes such disinformation as modern-day blood libels. The blood libel, or ritual murder libel, is an ancient trope that accused (and still accuses) Jews of ritually murdering children for blood. The ADL explains that “blood libels have frequently led to mob violence and pogroms, and have occasionally led to the decimation of entire Jewish communities”.

These libels have been reinvented and redistributed since October 7. The charge of genocide against Israel is one. Repurposing images from the Syrian civil war is another. While Ford is quick to condemn the use of (non-existent) nerve gas by Israel in Gaza, I could not find any record of her condemning the very real use of chemical weapons in Syria.

This double standard is how anti-Zionism becomes antisemitic. Of course, children have died in the war in Gaza, and all civilian losses during war are a tragedy.
But to paint the Israel-Gaza war as being “genocidal” is to deny the history of urban warfare, and where the Israel-Gaza war sits within it.

Here is some context. In the 2022 siege of Mariupol 25,000 civilians were reportedly killed, including 600 in a single theatre bombing. In the Chechnya conflict of the late 1990s, more than 50,000 civilians were killed. When the Allies went to war against the Nazis, the UK bombing of Dresden claimed 25,000 civilians. When the US firebombed Tokyo, 300,000 civilians were killed including 80,000 to 100,000 in a single night. In the 1945 Battle of Manila, 100,000 civilians were killed.

More recently, in the 2016-17 battle of Mosul to defeat ISIS, more than 10,000 civilians were killed. And in the ongoing Syrian civil war more than 300,000 civilians have been killed.

Civilian casualties happen during urban warfare – even when nations adhere to the international laws. This is the horror of war. Condemning Israel for a defensive war after its citizens have been slaughtered, raped and mutilated, and blaming Israel for civilian deaths when Hamas hides behind human shields, holds Israel to a standard we do not expect from any other nation.

But perhaps the most egregious example of Ford’s malignant activism has been her doxxing of 600 Jewish creatives. It is worth noting again that both the ADL and the IHRA state that collective demonisation of Jewish people over the actions of Israel is antisemitic.

After all this, however, Ford continues to argue that she is not an antisemite. She says she can’t be because there are “Jewish anti-Zionists” she is allied with. But separating out “good Jews” from “bad Jews” is just another form of invidious hate. Jews know that whenever they find themselves on lists, real physical danger is not far off.

Ford’s online rants against Zionists are not influential among serious people. Most Australians are not antisemitic, and most Australians have a reflexive distaste for the kind of bile Ford spews. Nevertheless, her reach among young people and women in particular is substantial. For as long as her work continues to be endorsed by respected institutions it will continue to have the appearance of legitimacy.

Friday column 👇
https://t.co/04seZsC1EV

[@Iceland_Review @Iceland_Review]

In a speech before Parliament yesterday, the Prime Minister stated that the ongoing volcanic activity on the Reykjanes peninsula constituted the most significant challenge in the history of the republic.

https://t.co/NY7IZT4DuI

[Andrew @and_harris]

Quick reminder: governments run countries, control militiaries, and decide when, where and how to deploy lethal force. The people who elect governments should be held accountable for voting them out, or otherwise removing them. Not for the actions taken by their governments.

[Andrew @and_harris]

#EnoughIsEnough

[David Baddiel @Baddiel]

Powerful.

[David Baddiel @Baddiel]

Powerful.

[John Spencer @SpencerGuard]

I have also seen international news as lately as today inaccurately say "killed by Israeli strikes" @Reuters which again isn't even what Hamas says. https://t.co/dssfhddDbn

[On Elpeleg @onelpeleg]

Young Jews expirience hate and loneliness in #Norway.

Tomorrow's frontpage on @vaartland - Machine translated:

[Rachel Riley MBE 💙 @RachelRileyRR]

If you want to help the Palestinian people, you need to know what they’re up against 👇

[Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib @afalkhatib]

Smothered & Suppressed Gazan Voices & Perspectives. I spent hours today listening in on multiple 'Twitter Spaces' in Arabic with diverse Palestinian voices, including those of Gazans in and outside of the coastal enclave. Many vehemently opposed Hamas, while others supported resistance as they opposed Hamas; there were some casual supporters of the group and believers in Hamas’s propaganda. Most offered details, perspectives, facts on the ground, and relevant information that is difficult to obtain from traditional media or online. Many spoke of the horrendous conditions that make daily life and meeting basic needs incredibly difficult while dodging Israeli bombs and bullets. However, they also offered painful details about corruption, Hamas’s violent rule, lawlessness & chaos, the ignorance of Hamas’s supporters, combat conditions and details, Hamas’s nefarious backers, the destructive role of Aljazeera Arabic, and the use of Gazans as human shields by the group.

Here are the top ten most interesting takeaways they shared from & about the War in Gaza:

1. The majority of Hamas’s battalions in northern Gaza have been decimated, and there are only a few disconnected pockets of resistance by leaderless cells that are operating on their own without any direct contact with commanders in the al-Qassam Brigades. Most of Hamas’s units there are no longer combat-effective even though caches and stores of munitions, as well as various tunnels, continue to enable small-scale operations against the IDF.

2. The 200k+ estimated civilians who remain in Gaza City are facing famine-like conditions due to the extremely limited food supplies that are making it in. Additionally, criminal mobs and networks are now operating openly and freely throughout the north and systematically stealing from homes, robbing people, hijacking bags of aid, and carrying out “revenge” killings in line with tribal traditions, given the lack of law and order. Weeks ago, some Gazans suggested the formation of local protection committees/councils but were opposed by Hamas which did not want the emergence of anyone who could compete with its rule. The idea here is that Hamas would rather have crime and chaos spread and proliferate than see Gazans get organized because they could potentially replace the group after the war or prevent it from returning to governance.

3. Hamas regularly and grossly steals aid and prevents large quantities of it from reaching desperate and needy civilians. This is done through elaborate and sophisticated mechanisms whereby the group uses small trucks, pickups, and even donkey carts to siphon tons of aid and food from warehouses and storage facilities. In addition to stealing aid, Hamas, through its Ministry of Economy and other bodies, sells aid items to Palestinians at enormously inflated prices to make money and secure revenue for the group’s post-war reemergence as a governing body. Hamas is even charging taxes and customs fees on the very aid that it is selling to private enterprises and even offers a “payment plan” that allows people to pay after the war ends.

4. Despite this being a controversial claim that is often raised by the pro-Israel side to justify horrendous bombardment and the killing of thousands of Gaza’s civilians, Hamas deliberately and specifically operates in a manner that not only puts people’s lives at risk, but seeks to derive some protection from having civilians around – aka, uses them as human shields. This has been true in numerous cases where Hamas authorities fail to give civilians information about evacuation orders or the presence of Israeli ground troops – with the goal of having people remain in their place to make it impossible for the IDF to operate and to indirectly maximize the number of casualties to put pressure on the Israelis. Some Gazans ironically now look at the “Monasiq” or COGAT’s Facebook page, or that of the Arabic-speaking IDF spokesperson to get updates on ground operations, while Hamas spokespeople regularly tell people nothing’s happening and everything’s fine, don’t go anywhere. This has resulted in numerous casualties that could have been avoided had Gazans been warned to leave or head to safety – but instead, Hamas sacrificed some of these people to ensure that there’s a civilian population throughout which it could operate.

5. Hamas’s regional backers, especially in Qatar, have enabled the group to hide the massive disaster that has befallen Gaza’s people and the enormous setback facing the Palestinian cause by acting as mouthpieces for Hamas's propaganda. This is especially true with the Arabic-speaking Aljazeera, not the English Channel, which runs a professional operation. Aljazeera starts all news broadcasts with Hamas’s propaganda videos showing attacks against the IDF and attempts to inflate the military capabilities of the group. Aljazeera does not talk about aid theft, crimes, Hamas’s corruption, or many details that could actually help paint a real picture of what’s happening in Gaza. Instead, the channel has brainwashed millions of Arab and Muslim audiences into believing that Hamas is racking up victories and achievements and is killing/maiming an unbelievable number of IDF soldiers. Additionally, the Iranian-led “Axis of Resistance” is the most dangerous, deadly alliance that used Hamas and the Palestinians in their nefarious calculous and sells empty slogans that have fooled so many non-Palestinians. In essence, the Qatari-backed Sunni Muslim Brotherhood and the Iranian-back Shia “resistance” have been the most destructive, destabilizing forces within the Middle East and have used Gaza as a piece in their evil chessboard with no actual regard for the long-term well-being and prosperity of the Palestinians.

6. There are numerous things that Gazans see and detest about Hamas but are terrified of speaking out. Despite the ferocious Israeli bombardment and massive killings of Gaza’s civilians, Hamas’s police, intelligence, and various authorities are still actively cracking down on opposition and preventing people and journalists from showing dissent and anti-Hamas voices. Importantly, people are terrified of how Hamas uses civilian infrastructure and puts its tunnels and assets underneath homes and even medical facilities without any regard for the consequences. People want to share their disapproval and anger about those things but are also worried about this being used in Israeli propaganda to justify further atrocities and targeting of civilians and infrastructure.

7. Hamas is in on the corrupt business of “coordination fees” that some Gazans have paid for years, but especially during the war, to leave the Strip through Egypt. These fees can reach up to $9,000 per person and the group collects a percentage for every Gazan leaving the Strip.

8. People feel empathy for the “foot soldiers” or Hamas’s rank and file who are being needlessly sacrificed by their leaders in a futile fight that will get thousands more of them killed, on top of the thousands of fighters who have already perished in the IDF’s ground operation. Imagine if these young men were given a different path and if they had a chance to build lives and establish families instead of dying to put some scratches on Israeli tanks while Hamas’s leaders are hiding in safety or living abroad.

9. Talk of full liberation from the river to the sea is not only illiterate, stupid, and ridiculous, but it overlooks the fact that the best Palestinians could have hoped for would have come out of the imperfect yet viable Oslo peace process, which Hamas helped destroy. Additionally, Yasser Arafat made a mistake when he partly militarized the Second Intifada that he helped launch because that gave a deadly opening for Hamas to enter the scene and grow out of control with its violent attacks. This led to the group’s 2006 electoral victory and ultimately gave it a chance to expand its political power.

10. The fingernails of Gaza’s children are 1000 times more worthy than all of Hamas’s leaders and empty talk of victorious armed resistance, which has set Gaza back and destroyed generations to come. Gaza’s going to take decades to rebuild and will likely need tens of billions. That can’t/won’t happen if we don’t learn from past mistakes and keep doing the same thing expecting a different outcome. For now, the priority should be on alleviating the unbelievably horrendous humanitarian conditions, but after the war, there needs to be a reckoning with Hamas, which must be held accountable by its people for dragging them along its grossly miscalculated adveture.