大象传媒

With the best will in the world, Israel has a hard row to hoe. Surrounded by enemies, it doesn't have the moral support from many Jews who live outside Israel, and who are only anxious to fade into the woodwork. Whilst hardly applauding the extremist Moslems who march through London and other towns for real or imagined grievances, they demand more attention and conversely less distain than the milksop Jewish diaspora. Typical examples are Miriam Margolis, Stephen Fry and the dreadfully past-his-sell-by date Harold Pinter.
I had an informal wager that Harold Pinter never did National Service and I won! What I find so foul, mean-minded and avaricious is the fact that he allowed his father to pay the fine, something which must have pleased his puny miserly spirit. If he was a true "conchie" why couldn't he do hospital work, go down the mines, or other acceptable national service. Oh no, too much like real work, and for an armchair socialist it would have been demeaning to his superior person.
I find it horrible that he lives in a country and grabs whatever is going and contributes nothing. If he really wants an honour he could always buy one and join the league of cads. However, looking at recent photos, it doesn't look like he has long on this earth, so maybe it's not worth while paying out of his own pocket.

The well hyped up debate about Israel was laughable in its brevity.
Was it 5 minutes?
And then to paper headlines,Paxman cant even be arsed working out the sun headline and rattles off the rest.
Then its goodnight everybody.
The middle east is A SERIOUS TOPIC.
Israels situation is A SERIOUS TOPIC.
John Cravens newsground could have done better.
Pathetic waste of licence payers money.

it is a free world.let me ask does the israeli govrnmt.speak on behalf of the jews?it certainly thinks that it does.but from where does it get its mandate?on the contrary there are many many jews who are very very unhappy with many many aspects of the way israel conducts itself and how it is perceived internationally.the moment anybody has the'temerity'to dare to voice a sincere opinion in criticism of israel we are imMEDiately jumped upon/accused of being 'antisemitic'this is a typical age-old paranoia;everybody should know we are not perfect,never have been let me ask from where are we entitled to be constatntly constantly viewed as being as good as/better that gold,surely the continuity of this self righteous attitude is of no use to anyone except those who attempt to shelter behind this facade of anybody who criticises us is joning the bandwagon of our enemies.come on the time has now come for a free,proper and constructive discussion of where does israel stand at the moment and where we as jews really DO want it to be

The recent news regarding Bird Flu is very worrying, when you consider the experts and Government adviser's, have not presented the full facts for the General Public to make their own judgements on the risks, involved with poultry. The advice given by 'The World Health Organisation' source: says the following;
"There is no case of Bird Flu that has occurred to date due to the ingestion of cooked food" But they DO SAY, it is possible to get the virus from raw or semi cooked meat from infected birds.
Or from infected parts like feathers or even manure. Obviously, they are referring to infected animals, but what guarantee can the Authorities give the public, that one single bird has not entered the food chain? my guess at this stage, is none!

Once again I watch freedom of speech speechless. Who killed Yitzak Rabin? Who murdered Anwar Sadat? No country should attempt to avoid criticism of it's actions today by invoking the very real horrors of the past. Holocaust deniers are as suspect as those who use the holocaust to muzzle debate.

The Israel bit was a disappointingly faint shadow of a discussion on a most important topic, that some Jews are beginning to appraise some of Israel's actions as less than just. Please could we have a more thorough exploration of this point soon? And with an opponent who could out-talk the awful Melanie Phillips. The setting up of this new organization is a most hopeful indication that a sense of justice is beginning to creep into Jewish thinking in this country. Please give it more air time.

Thank you for the lady who was challenging Rabbi Goldberg about his views on Israel, we can only pray that God will open the eyes and ears of people who are blind to what is going on. Israel did as they were asked and gave up Gaza - look at it now! Is the world still going to blame them and there are so many constant lies being told by the media which makes people think Israel is always the problem! Nothing they do is right according to the world. But we who bless them will be blessed and we should say sorry for the wrongs we have done to the Jewish people in the past, why do we want to take Israel from them - such a small area of land, ask yourselves why is this happening? Where can the answer be found - in the Bible!

Hear, hear to the Rabbi and his co-signatories. They and JP are right in their assertion that a real appraisal of the policies and actions of Israel is viewed by its 'supporters' as tantamount to anti-semitism.Nobody epitomises the view that the slighest deviation from the tired and frankly untrue claims of Israel being the victim rather than aggressor than Melanie Philips. She in fact called Will Self's Jewishness into question (pardon the punt) on Question Time simply because he had the temerity to dissent from her conferred false status of victimhood

I agree if you make a comment about israel needing to listen to its frends and change its ways you are attacked as if you have committed murder including veiled threats. it has hapened to me my e.mail was flooded with abuse and i was trying to be helpful.they have lost a lifetime freind now at71years i have swung around compleatly my sympathy is with all those that have been destroyed by them ,our leaders think israel can do no wrong .the splinter group have my blesing they may need it as mossad will now have them in its sights-{NB mordecai vanunu}

Jeremy Paxman hosted the debate between Melanie Phillips and David Goldberg, and from the start it clearly looked like it was disastrous to pit an old man -- who was clearly not accustomed to dealing with the kind of scrapping this Newsnight scenario required -- against the feral Ms Phillips. He was not deft in the way that he would have had to have been and naive to agree to go up against Melanie Phillips anyway. That should have been a giveaway to Newsnight, but, presumably, Newsnight knew precisely what it was doing. Making sure that she will make mincemeat of her opponents, say what she may, is what defines the author of 'Londonistan'. It was, in the end more of a 'Punch and Judy' type spat than anything more illuminating. One could only listen with some fascination to Ms Phillips contortions of victim and victimiser, demonising and criticising - points that would have taken at least 15 minutes response time for anyone to deconstruct.
Melanie Phillips stalked the Newsnight cage, teeth bared, eyes blazing. Newsnight went for effect not debate. It wasn't even good television. It was just a snarl.

For many years the UK was itself under attack by terrorists in Northern Ireland, yet at no point did we resort to demolishing neighbourhoods to purge them of suspected terrorists; at no point did we liberally and without concern drop hundreds of cluster bombs over areas occupied by covilians; at no point did we round up and detain people on mass, withholding them with no trial. Had we done so, then we should have been criticised by the world, and yet this is exactly what is being done today and no world leader raises a voice against it.
There is nothing wrong or anti-semitic in criticising the GOVERNMENT of a country which is the worlds greatest breaker of UN resolutions, which is for some reason deemed to be unregulatable by the international community in areas such as nuclear weapons.
Yet people like Melanie Phillips will argue that the reason that Israel should not be criticised is because its actions are "right".

Melanie Phillips made an appearance on newsnight.I have read many,if not all of her books and was interested in what she had to say.Paxmon had introduced her and the rabbi into which camp they belonged.Melanie Philips was clearly a supporter of Israel and its polices and has consistently,in her writings and newspaper columns,argued her case in support of Israels conduct,presently or historically.Phillips is a seasoned and astute pundit and the rabbi somewhat struggled to argue his valid case in questioning israels behavior in the middle east and beyond.What got my attention was when paxman mentioned that he has received a "torrent of emails"regarding how difficult it is to criticise Israel
without the charge of anti semitism been leveled at you.Many books have been written on this subject regarding the power Israel,and especially American Jews have.Any critiscism from individuals,groups or even other countries is met with a quick response of charges of anti semitism usually from the anti
defamation league(ADL) and other Jewish interest groups.
The ADL is a powerful group whos birth in the second decade of the last century was to protect Jewish businesses in the USA,funded with criminal"Mafia"like activities.
The ADL has been exposed many times in its machinations over the years,and has links,networks,and interest from print to TV media,the TV networks in the USA are run by Jewish corporation and you can see the Jewish interest line being played out with the "war on terror" and advisors setting out the agenda for the current Bush administration.The 大象传媒 is not as bad as US media but you will still find Jews in prominent positions within its core decision makers,producers,financial and such like.I suppose you could say that the
expulsion of the Israelites from Egypt many years ago and for them not to have a homeland wandered around the world have made the Jews a more resourceful group,known for finance,commerce and a steely determination to be successful,born out of having no real homeland.Since the creation of Israel,the Jewish movement in securing and safeguarding its existence is understandable when considering the holocaust,the problem with Israel is,it has taken lands from the Arabs,Palestinians,and
the defence that god had promised them this land is a poor one.I am not anti Jewish or pro Palestinian,i have formed my conclusions drawn from an objective analysis of Israel and its history,and certainly not from conspiratorial theories that are so often bounded about.
The information is out there for all to read.Authors or writers including misguided historians of note find themselves imprisoned for questioning the Jewish faith,its dealings or its omnipresent behind the scenes political and financial power,its massive military strength achieved all within 60 years.well is it not any wonder Jews are looked upon by some,with contempt.
Will i expect a mossad agent kicking in my door with his standard issues some time soon? yes its possible.To be critical of Israel and or the Jews can be a dangerous thing to do...knock..knock..click...
i wonder,will spielberg make a flick about my potential persecution for holding an opinion?
Hollywood say eeeeerrrrr no.

Melanie Phillips facial expressions made her look deranged. As she is such a staunch and fanatical defender of Israel why doesn't she go and live there?

In contrast the reports on Berezovsky, the Litvinenko case, and the H5N1 avian flu outbreak were excellent.

When I witness people like Melanie Phillips in action, it reinforces my belief that a state such as the present-day Israel should not exist.

For centuries, followers of Islam, Judaism - and, for that matter, Christianity - lived cheek-by-jowl in relative harmony in the Middle East.

Unfortunately, this pattern was not the case in most of Europe, where there was a long and bloody tradition of persecuting minorities. As we know, this culminated in the holocaust of 1033 to 1945. The only good thing to come out of that was the final realisation, in Europe, that persecution was wrong.

Like all new converts, European governments proceeded to go too far. In their guilt and remorse for what had been, they agreed to the formation of a specifically Jewish state, being temporarily blinded to the fact that its creation would mean the displacement of thousands of local inhabitants.

To my mind, the only way forward for Israel is as follows:-

1. Abandon the concept of a "Jewish homeland": become a truly multi-cultural society.

2. Unite with Jordan and Lebanon (as well as the semi-autonomous "Palestinian" areas) to form a truly multi-cultural democracy.

As for arguments about traditional homelands, consider this. Both Christianity and Islam were born in the same "Jewish homeland". Consider also that most inhabitants of the USA have their ancestry firmly rooted in Europe and Africa - how would we feel about a little "USA homeland" in part of Europe or Africa? People move on.

Get the feeling the bird flu situation is going to get serious. Hope susan gets at it, she did a good report last night.

Regarding the discussion on Israel, J.P. asked 鈥淲hy are people not allowed to criticise Israel?鈥� When it was suggested that no one was stopping him from criticising Israel J.P. complained about a 鈥淭orrent of critical emails". Boo hoo Jeremy! You have to understand that your viewers are typically not left-leaning Oxbridge Arts graduates. I am not Jewish, I have had Arab and Muslim friends over the years, and I strongly support Israel. This support is based on my reading of history and the current state of the Israeli democracy and the stated aims of Hamas, Fatah, Iran and others to destroy it.

Mr. Goldbergs suggestion that Palestinian rockets were 鈥渘ot the most remorseless thing going on day after day鈥� was utterly risible. The question I would like to ask Mr Goldberg is; to what extent do the Palestinians have to hone their rocketry skills before you deem Israel鈥檚 defensive operations to be justified?

Melanie Philips made her case well given the ridiculously short time scheduled for the discussion.

The idea that 鈥減eople are not allowed to criticise Israel鈥� just doesn鈥檛 pass a basic reality test. I hear and read constant criticism, and sometimes demonisation, of Israel on a regular basis. Just pick up the Guardian any day of the week. I think the problem is that the Liberal Elite (that鈥檚 you J.P.) can鈥檛 comprehend why there is still significant support for Israel, despite the overwhelming media bias against it.