Liam Getreu

Video: Sacha Baron Cohen banned from attending Oscars as his ‘Dictator’ character

Liam Getreu — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 21:20:56 +0000

A couple more previews of what the new Sacha Baron Cohen film is going to be like. The man's a genius...

Ponting for PM

Liam Getreu — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 19:54:27 +0000

According to a very scientific poll on Channel 9, Ricky Ponting is overwhelmingly the favourite to be Australia's next prime minister. They have always said the captain of the test team is the toughest job in Australia...

An aerial attack on Iran might not even be possible for Israel

Liam Getreu — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:00:57 +0000

Analysis by the New York Times suggests that even if Israel does want to strike and remove Iranian nuclear targets, it may not even have the capability to do it.

Israel’s Hasbara Ministry sends settlers to the Diaspora to combat Apartheid Week

Liam Getreu — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:41:59 +0000

Israel is sending settlers, among others, to Diaspora university campuses to educate Jewish and non-Jewish students about Israel's "diverse society that values equality and human rights," according to the Jerusalem Post. Israel has plenty of positive attributes it can use to show non-Jews on campuses around the world that it isn't the bigoted, racist, apartheid regime the cultist BDS'ers portray it as. Showing the settlers and the settlements enterprise as a part of the "diverse society that values equality and human rights" is simply laughable.

Bibi’s first step towards a peace agreement is a good start

Liam Getreu — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 20:14:09 +0000

A month ago it seems that Bibi's peace envoy presented the Palestinians with an actual proposal on borders. The proposal isn't exactly the ideal one, and the Palestinians would (and should) never accept what was put in front of them. But it is a good first start. I don't expect Bibi -- or Abbas, for that matter -- to show all his cards in the first round. This is a starting point, presumably. It takes strong leadership, a la President Clinton, to bring the sides closer together. A number of issues, including Jerusalem, were never discussed, it seems. But I still think this is a step in the right direction. The Quartet just needs to bring everyone back together now and continue to nut everything out.

Are consumers to blame for Apple’s labour practices and Google’s privacy issues?

Liam Getreu — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 15:38:28 +0000

While perhaps a tad over-simplified, I don't think it's necessarily a far-fetched conclusion. I don't think it's necessarily fair to place the blame on the consumer -- you also have to say that executives and shareholders are to blame, trying to milk every dollar out of supply chains or advertisers to maximise their profit. But still, it's something interesting to think about.

Video: Norman Finkelstein calls the BDS movement a “cult”, slams one-staters

Liam Getreu — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 21:18:51 +0000

Hardly Israel's best-friend Norman Finkelstein in a very interesting video interview. This should be compulsory watching for anyone who encounters BDS or BDS activists, particularly students on campus.

Isi Leibler on the Chief Rabbinate’s “myopic attitude towards conversion”

Liam Getreu — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 23:04:03 +0000

Isi Leibler's latest column focuses on the Chief Rabbinate and conversion in Israel.

Israeli court to decide if Im Tirtzu is a fascist movement

Liam Getreu — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:40:06 +0000

After creating a Facebook page "Im Tirtzu - Fascists", seven Israelis are being sued by Im Tirtzu for NIS 2.6 million. Their defence centers largely on two points: one, that Im Tirtzu is, by definition, fascist; and, that the word "fascist" is nowadays actually slang that means anything right-wing and anti-liberal.

The two sides of Hamas: Haniyeh says he’ll never recognise Israel, Mashal says they will

Liam Getreu — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 13:49:04 +0000

Hamas's leader in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh, in a speech in Tehran, pledged to never stop resistance or acknowledge Israel. Of course, eight weeks ago, formerly Damascus based Khaled Mashal said Hamas would be giving up weapons-based resistance and would agree to a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders.