Prospero

I went to have a look at who the groups are that actually pay for all these little journalists jaunts to Israel. And in doing so, I found some much more troubling facts. Including around indoctrination of children and adults in closed environments. But first, the trips. The first one I looked at was the Australian/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council, who sponsor trips via their Rambam program. And here’s their description. Our organisation carried out the following activities in furtherance of our charitable purposes promoting reconciliation, mutual respect and tolerance between groups of individuals that are in Australia and advancing education: undertaking information, research and educational activities including producing regular commentary and analysis, establishing a visitor program that brings international speakers to events around Australia and New Zealand, sponsoring visits to lsrael by selected senior journalists, politicians and student leaders etc, establishing an educational forum for young professionals with a desire to get involved in education and community service, publishing a monthly and publishing a news and commentary service accessible by the general public as a vehicle to highlight and counteract instances of misinformation about the Australian and International Jewish community, Israel and related issues in the Australian media and wider public debate, promote efforts to further Australia's development as a tolerant and harmonious multicultural society and combat forms of extremism and fundamentalism, expose incidents of racism and antisemitism in Australia and online, raise awareness of issues associated with the Australian and International Jewish community to government, media, and other community organisations and facilitate interfaith dialogue to increase understanding of Israel and related issues and international human rights. I was interested in the publications, so went to look. They have moved to an online publication, it seems. From the introduction to their Jan 2025 edition - And don’t miss Allon Lee’s analysis of the meaning of Australia’s UN vote shifts, David Adesnik’s deconstruction of the Interna- tional Criminal Court’s arrest warrants against Israeli leaders, and Julie Szego’s dive into the controversial ideology driving many of the cries of “genocide” being directed against Israel. I see. It seems that it is run by Colin and Paul Rubenstein, with Mark Leibler. Who are the only Directors, apart from one Kevin Slowmoi. acnc.gov.au/charity/charitie… And upon digging further, I came across this extraordinary foi correspondence. On 29 November 2018, Jon Philp, a senior PM&C official, wrote to Colin Rubenstein and AIJAC’s Jeremy Jones. Philp was arranging consultations concerning Morrison’s review of Australia’s position on Jerusalem. The proposed meeting involved Mike Pezzullo, then secretary of Home Affairs, and representatives of AIJAC. On 5 December, Colin Rubenstein sent Philp further legal and historical materials supporting AIJAC’s position on Jerusalem. The correspondence establishes direct engagement between AIJAC, PM&C and senior Home Affairs leadership during the Morrison government. Tell me, how does all this not comprise foreign interference? pmc.gov.au/sites/default/fil… @RonniSalt @jommy_tee had you seen this FOI? Not sure who applied for it.

I admit that I completely broke down today. I cried uncontrollably. I couldn’t hold myself together after witnessing what I saw with my own eyes. Today, we went to film a journalistic report inside the displacement tents along the seashore. I swear, what we witnessed was beyond what any human being should have to endure. I saw men crying bitterly. Men I had never seen cry when they lost their children or when their homes were destroyed. Today, I saw them crying because they were powerless to do the simplest thing: protect their children from the water and the cold. We spoke to families who told us they had spent the entire night carrying their children in their arms after floodwater covered the floors of their tents and soaked their mattresses. They couldn’t find a single dry place to put their children. They couldn’t even give them a few hours of sleep. I saw children no older than five, without proper clothes to protect them from the cold, without heating, and without a dry place to sleep. Children shivering inside tents that cannot keep out the rain, protect them from the wind, or provide even the most basic sense of safety. What more must happen for this world to act? How much more suffering must people endure before someone remembers that they are human beings? I am sick of this world. I am sick of its hypocrisy and empty slogans. To hell with a world that talks endlessly about human rights while leaving children to drown inside their tents. To hell with everyone who has witnessed this suffering and chosen silence, and to hell with the governments and institutions that have the power to act but continue to turn their backs on us.