To his credit, Larry Stillman knows how to craft a text, construct rationale, insert valid arguments, drive discussions to the directions conveninet to his agenda.
Conflict of logic emerges the moment Larry attempts to portray himself as a “card-carrying” memeber of a club he does not ACTALLY wants to be a member of, but would intrude as a sixth column, nturally just to destabilise it.
For why would Larry advertise in one top sentence his distaste for BDS and then continue, cute and subtle, discrediting everything and everybody who is GENUINLY fighting the same BDS. To place a plastic cherry atop a synthetic cake, he defines his opposition to the BDS by reminding all and sundry that he “ONLY” objects to the presence, prduction, future of the “settlements”. The rusty wedge he is driving through a coherent argument against ANY boycotts of goods and services INCLUDING, actually with emphasys, the “settlements”, becomes apparent from the first syllable of his risible presentation. Call it prejudice, but when I see Larry Stillman puting his name on a piece about Israel, reflexively I say to meself ” here we go AGAIN”. In most cases i have a reply even before I read his opinion. I agree, we have something in common and that is the healthy preemption of mutual reaction to each other’s typical stances on these topics ( save the fact that Larry would NEVER address me directly !!).
NGO MONITOR is well beyond any criticism when it comes to defending Israel. Larry Stillman should cop ALL criticism ehn it comes to his stand on Israel.
One thing I tend to agree with. NIF can be branded as “moderates” in regards to their attacks on Zionism and generally Israeli State politics, yet they can ONLY be moderates when compared to Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood and all alike.
Lex talionis ( see your mate Hammurabbi ) does not quite apply to the complex world of politics. The Steinberg tooth of the NGO Monitor kind is not at all equal to the eye NIF has on Israel. There is vast difference between an org. profiled on defending Israel and its financial sources and the financial origins of orgs. bent on demonising, destryoing the same.
The best argument is that USA supports quite overtly the State of Israel, but whn it comes to Hamas and their affiliates ( and NIF does play in that vast court !!) we are dealing with entities well bellow the surface of the leagl and the decent. Thus, very true and also necessary, USA and Israel are in the business of DESTROYING proscribed entities, but, from the ethics of the decent people, that does NOT place their enemies on equal footing, in respect of those decent ethics.
This is the crux of the Stillman farcical stance !!!!

Once again, if you are a journalist [where are you published?] you should have noted that Ixfam were given the right of reply and reply they did…

I visited the SodaStream factory today. A young Palestinian, called (full name given but withheld to avoid BDS intimidation), who is studying ***** at ****** University, told me that “SodaStream is the greatest!”

He earns 6000 shekalim per month, rising to 12,000 per month, instead of 1000 shekalim in any other part of the Arab world for such work. There is equality not only between employees, but between managers and employees. Palestinians, Russians and Israeli Arabs are managers.

They get good food for lunch (we had it too). They get clothing, transport to work paid for, fun days, special permits and visits to the beach near Tel Aviv. Women work there too, next to the men, unheard of in the Moslem world.
Come and see for yourself. I am going to suggest to Pat Clegg that she comes and has a look.
(Name withheld at writers request)

I’m a journalist. When I see something false being published I want to determine the facts. Don’t you care whether the figure of 25 is correct or not? I was focussing on the source of the error/falsehood/fib/lie. That is journalism, not personalities.

Lecturing Israel about “unfair labour practices” and human rights abuses against Palestinians,- their sworn enemies,- from here is so ludicrous as to beggar belief. What Arabs are doing to each other, let alone to their own women and what they would like to do to us Jews and also doing to Christian and other minorities, it still amazes me when comparisons are made re “human rights” which they wouldn’t even recognize if they saw it!. Again,- blame the Jews,-whatever they do is never good enough, is it?

J-wire asked Oxfam for a response which was given and published. You Sol have the opportunity of expressing your viewpoint which should focus on the issue and not the personalities

OK, so where is the limit of “unparliamentary language” on this website? I presume I cannot call either the esteemed Editor or my Michael Danby a liar. But saying that “one of SodaStream’s 25 factories being located in the West Bank” is not the truth. It’s a fib and grossly misleading. Since I have a higher opinion of the Editor’s integrity than that of Mr Danby I’d say that the Honourable Member is KNOWINGLY not telling the truth and neither the Editor nor any of the people who read this gives a rat’s arse about facts and figures — they just want to win political arguments.

Get your facts right. I am not an employee of Oxfam. I conduct research in conjunction with Oxfam so please withdraw that spurious and and erroneous comment.

One of the great problems with NGO watch is that it likes to slur critics. Steinberg probably doesn’t know, I am not a supporter of the BDS movement, though I do not support trade and relationships with West Bank businesses and entities (and note that Amos Oz is on board with boycotts of Ariel academic college). I have research relationships with Israeli academics, so don’t try to tar me. ”

NGO Monitor (Steinberg’s organisation, funded by many mysterious sources– which it does not wish to reveal or discuss, in complete contrast to its actions against other organisations http://www.haaretz.co.il/magazine/1.1636887) has a lot of answer for, perusing any number of NGOs in spurious ways. For one, its complaints against Australian NGOs operating in the region have been dismissed by the Australian government (including I understand ASIO). It has continued a spurious campaign against the moderate New Israel Fund (http://www.jwire.com.au/news/ngo-monitor-report-on-nif-and-bds-funding/18062) In the eyes of its critics from several organisation, it has a habit of knowingly publishing false and manipulated information, exaggerating the anti-Israel activity of organisations. It never criticizes right-wing NGOs in Israel

Oxfam takes ethically-based positions, that is all. How it is an ally of Syria is beyond my comprehension. I suppose you could make the same accusation for Israel taking in Syrian wounded. I can’t speak from any position of knowledge about the accusations that Steinberg makes against other organisations, though HRW has taken NGO Monitor to task.

The problem with Steinberg and others who criticize the position I take (and that of the Israeli left ) is that we don’t agree with the occupation and the settlement project for a variety of reasons, most of all, the violation of human rights of Palestinians in the West Bank. Many goverments and NGOs engaged in human rights activity and advocacy take that viewpoint in the same way they condemn abuses and support the rights of people to live freely in many countries. Of course, Israel is prominent because of its democratic claims that are belied by its activity.

As for Ms Johansson, she has a conflict of interest in her position as a promoter of a company that is engaged in unethical business practices, and her position as an Oxfam ambassador. She should make a choice.

That’s not censorship. That is making a political decision. She has to be prepared to justify her viewpoint and connections and endorsements and adequately respond to it. She has engaged in political campaigning in the past for the Democrats and dropped hints that she wants to enter into politics. Well, this is politics. She’s not just a movie star. It is a learning curve to be both.

I note that none of you have actually addressed the substantive issue of unfair labour practices by Sodastream or the other reports I have referred to.