From: John Beckett 

Interesting - thanks. Re your comments on Jewish-influenced media:

There was a recent incident in Sydney showing the other ugly side of this
type of debate. There is something known as the "Sydney Peace
Prize" (sounds a bit of a wank to me). Anyway, last November the prize
was awarded to the Palestinian Hanan Ashrawi.

There was a tremendous fuss here. Ashrawi couldn't have been more opposed,
even if she had been the mother and supporter of Hitler and Irving! It was
quite a demeaning spectacle with politicians falling over themselves to
announce how much they loved Jewish voters and how appalling was the
decision to award a peace prize to a Palestinian!

However, the Premier of NSW is Bob Carr, and he is a well-read historian
and unusually well educated. He was one of the very few high-profile
supporters of the prize.

Carr gave a terrific speech when presenting the prize to Ashrawi (it
sounded better than it reads):
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/11/07/1068013383222.html?from=storyrhs

I heard her reply. She was really touched. I think she was also amazed that
she could find an intellectual politician Down Under, but she was too
polite to mention that.

John

--- BBBS/NT v4.01 Flag-5