Sunday, March 27, 2016

Danby/Plibersek: Netanyahu's Tag Team in Federal Parliament

Fresh from Labor's shadow foreign minister Tanya (Once Was Warrior) Plibersek's linking of IS with Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation - on February 22's Q&A (See my 24/2 post Lobbyotomised) - we now have its shadow minister for Israel, Michael Danby, pushing the nakedly Netanyahu agenda of screwing the Iranian economy through international sanctions in order to preserve Israeli hegemony in the Middle East:

"Melbourne ports MP Michael Danby has won support from the Labor caucus to refer the government's decision to ease sanctions to the Senate Foreign Affairs Defence & Trade Reference Committee, but will need the support of the Greens and four crossbench senators for it to go ahead... Danby said the inquiry was needed because the decision had been made without any parliamentary debate or scrutiny. He also said the Senate would be able to determine whether any Australian goods shipped to Iran following the eased sanctions could have military use... Mr Danby said... there was also a need for the Senate to examine Iran's involvement in the Syrian conflict." (ALP seeks probe into Iran sanctions relief, Sarah Martin, The Australian, 3/3/16)

This BTW is the same man who "last year... erected [at taxpayers' expense?] a giant billboard in St Kilda of the Foreign Minister in a headscarf meeting the Iranian President, Hassan Roubani." (ibid)

In addition to her support in caucus for Danby's posturing, the shadow minister thought she'd do some posturing of her own on the coming visit of Iran's foreign minister Javad Zarif:

"The Foreign Minister has been... so prepared to turn a blind eye to the anti-American rhetoric of the Iranian government, the anti-Israeli rhetoric of the Iranian government, to the human rights abuses, where people are locked up for their sexuality, for following a religion that's not approved of by the regime and, most particularly, for political organisation against an oppressive government." (Tanya Plibersek 'hysterical' on Iran, Sarah Martin, The Australian, 15/3/16)

Which merely allowed Liberal foreign minister Julie Bishop to remind her of her 2002 description of Israel as a "rogue state" led by a "war criminal," the only thing of any substance Plibersek has ever said on the subject of the Middle East.

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