* Why are so many people sticking their nose into the question of a Federal Royal Commission into the Bondi shootings (and anti-Semitism)? Royal Commissions are far from magical solutions to problems, and its simply obvious that there was going to be protests and a rise in anti-Israeli sentiment amongst all Muslim populations as the Gaza campaign rolled on and rolled, leaving the country reduced to rubble. (And yes, Hamas both started it and could have ended it much, much earlier: but there was no doubt that thousands of civilians were killed in the political crossfire.) I think that Robert Richter makes some obvious sense:
When more than 130 of Australia’s most senior legal minds affixed their names to a call for a royal commission into antisemitism following the Bondi terror attack, one absence rippled quietly through the profession.
Robert Richter, KC – one of the country’s most prominent criminal defence silks – was conspicuously not among them. ...
His concern extends beyond legal doctrine. He warns that a royal commission explicitly framed around antisemitism risks inflaming community tensions – echoing the comments from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese about it being a potential platform for hate speech.
“If there is to be a royal commission … and I don’t think we need one,” he said,“it will go for years, and its definitions will be argued about endlessly.”
In Richter’s view, the key institutional failures exposed by the Bondi attack are already apparent.
“The tragedy at Bondi was the result of a stuff-up by ASIO in not red-flagging the man for overseas travel or anything of the kind, red-flagging his father,” he said. “It was a complete stuff-up by a combination of ASIO, the federal police, NSW Police and border control. We don’t need a royal commission for that.”
* Why do millions of people go see the Avatar movies, yet it is widely acknowledged that the movies don't feel like they have any cultural significance? Everyone seems to agree that the films don't matter much to anyone - unlike the way other series at their peak do (Star Wars, and the Marvel movies, are the obvious examples.)
* Why do so many Republicans refuse to say that it is a very bad thing that Trump publicises nonsense conspiracies that clearly risk encouraging more deranged people to seek violent vengeance for imaginary actions of Democrats? It is appalling behaviour by a guy who most of the world would be happy to see kidnapped by, say, Canada. Who cares what the charges are? Just make them up.
1 comment:
Steve, the two terrorists were inspired by ISIS or their disciples. ISIS don't give a toss about the palestinian cause. Thus the genocide there had nothing to do with bondi
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