NZ Labour Party appoints Matt McCarten as Chief of Staff

The New Zealand Labour party has strangely appointed Matt McCarten as Chief of Staff.  This is a bizarre move if they actually plan to win government - surely they would need to chase the center vote.  This appears to be a move aimed at winning back the Green vote, maybe to shore up a shot at the 2017 election.

Chances are it may have the opposite effect, in that it drives the center left away. 

Given Matt McCarten's outwardly hostile and offensive comments towards Jews and Israel, I can only hope that Labour never get close to power while he is around.  While he is, the Green party are looking more centrist - especially when you consider he last came from Mana.

David Shearer on Palestine

I'd not heard much about David Shearer before he became Labour leader.  Interestingly, he was based in Israel for a while, and by all accounts, was a real asshole.

Here is an article he wrote on Red Alert on Palestine from before he became Leader of the opposition. 

Some basic falsehoods:

The Palestinians have been trying to secure a state for years based on the internationally recognised 1967 borders with Israel.

Actually, no they have been refusing all peace efforts that would create a state.  At least if it meant a state alongside Israel

The longer the talks go on, the more that Jewish settlers build their homes inside a future Palestinian state – around half a million at last count with numbers growing by more than 5% a year.

The main falsehood here is "talks".  Palestinians are refusing to talk.  And the Palestinians are happy letting their population grow, and have no pressure to absorb refugees.

The issues are not that complicated. Palestinians want to determine their own future. They want freedom, just like other Arab states who we back wanting the same thing. They already conduct democratic elections. What makes it complicated is the Palestinians are occupied by Israel.

What bollocks.  If issues were not complicated, then we would have had peace in 2000.  Palestinians want all kinds of things, but peace with Israel is not necessarily one of those things!

And Israel’s tail wags the US dog. Already Obama is coming under pressure from the Republicans for not being staunch enough backing Israel.

Seriously, is this true?  A Labour minister is essentially stating that the Jews (Israelis) run the US government.

Obama doesn’t want to give Palestinians the chance of a vote, because the US will need to veto it. And that will look bad in the eyes of not only Arab states, but most of the rest of the world’s states which will support the Palestians.[sic]

And not because the Palestinians are having their own problems with violence or recognising Israel.

That’s a US problem. New Zealand should support the Palestinians simply because it’s right. It won’t solve the problem, it won’t stop more settlers building on land that’s not theirs, but it’s an important principle.

Aha, because its right.  Its right to fire rockets.  Its right to blow up buses.  And its right to blame everything on Israel.

David Shearer is Mister Nobody in parliament.  Its easy to see why.  Even the Greens make better and clearer statements than he does.