NOVANEWS
Contact Simon McKeon at: Simon.McKeon@macquarie.com
Simon McKeon is Chairman of the Board of CSIRO and also Chairman of Global Poverty Project Australia. He is leading the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce (AICC)’s Innovation, Technology, Science and Social Ventures Trade Mission to Israel on May 10 -16, 2015. For a man of conscience involved in reviews of medical and multiple sclerosis research, global poverty, World Vision and as a past Director of the Archbishop of Melbourne’s Relief and Development Fund, this trip is totally inappropriate.
Israel’s blitzkrieg against the 1.5 million besieged people of Gaza (which Israel calls “mowing the lawn”) unleashed the destructive might of the world’s 11th most powerful military using white phosphorus, cluster bombs and probably depleted uranium. Experimental weapons were also field tested in what can only be described as vivisection without anaesthesia, because doctors like Norwegian Mads Gilbert said they had never before encountered such injuries.
Simon’s World Vision states:
To date, 100,000 Palestinians remain displaced living in dire conditions in schools and poor condition shelters, and over 400,000 children are still in need of immediate psychosocial support.
Since the beginning of the cease-fire, World Vision JWG has been providing emergency relief to approximately 90,000 people:
· Over 10,000 children were provided with psychosocial support through 40 Child Friendly Spaces, in addition to over 13,000 households who were reached through the Psychological First Aid interventions
· 9,000 food parcels have been distributed, providing food essentials to thousands displaced families
· Over 12,000 hygiene kits and about 2,000 educational kits for children have been distributed
· A total of 2,900 winter clothes kits and over 7,400 blankets have been distributed to affected families during this winter season
(http://www.wvi.org/jerusalem)
Simon’s recruitment by the AICC is a major coup for Israel’s propaganda machine. This pariah state lists just above Pakistan and North Korea in the global popularity stakes and is desperate to whitewash its image. We call on Simon to cancel his trip and to roundly condemn apartheid Israel.
