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May 25, 2010
An investigation by the Australian Federal Police and spy agencies has found that Israel has equipped a Mossad team of assassins with forged passports of Australians and other nationalities (those of Britain, France, Germany and Ireland), for a hit on Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh. He was a senior figure in the militant Palestinian organisation Hamas, who was found murdered in a hotel room in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates on January 20.
In response to the identity theft by Israel the Rudd Government has expelled an Israeli diplomat, just as the former Brown Government did in the UK.
The voices of the local Israel lobby said that the government's action was an overreaction; a response that functions to defend Israel, now a full blown national security state.
 The position of the local Israeli lobby is a refusal to admit that Israel has erred.
They see their job as defending every action by the Israeli government. Israel is our ally, (both countries belong to the same camp), Israel's actions can be excused because it was fighting terrorism. What the Australian government should have done was to condemn Hamas, the extremist Islamic terrorist movement that controls the Gaza Strip, and to denounce Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Both Hamas and Iran want to destroy Israel, which has to fight for its survival. Israel, which is the only democracy in the Middle East, is the only Middle Eastern country that can be relied on to act resolutely against international terrorism.
The arrogant and smug Left defend Hamas despite the threat that violent Islamism poses within Western societies. Islamism is a form of totalitarian ideology that is profoundly reactionary and deeply antisemitic and, racist.
Julie Bishop, the Shadow Foreign Minister, claimed that there was insufficient hard evidence to support the government's decision and that it was an attempt by Mr Rudd to seize control of the media cycle. Then she went much further:
The government is facing an election,The government is also seeking to pursue a seat on the (UN) Security Council; the government is keen to curry favour within the Arab community.The Arab community have made it quite clear to Mr Rudd in writing that unless the Australian government showed a more negative attitude towards Israel, they would not be able to count on their vote for Mr Rudd's quest for a seat on the Security Council.
The implication is that Australian Government cowtows to the demands of Arab governments in the Middle East. Is this the dog whistle of Islamophobia?
There are strong currents in the 'fear or hatred of Islam' discourses and criticisms that have distinct sources, motivations and goals in Australia, and these often surfacs in the modern-day demonization of Arabs and Muslims by politicians in the media.
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And if a Libyan government agency used some forged Australian passports, in order to kill a dissident in Berlin? How would be deal with that?