Andrew Denton GIVES TOO MUCH ROPE

On Monday 13th June's program ENOUGH ROPE, Andrew Denton interviewed Saud Amiry, author of "Sharon and My Mother-in-Law". Despite her ostensibly jovial, good-natured manner, Ms Amiry proceeded to take age-old and worn anti-Semitic positions as axiomatic, including blaming the establishment of Israel for her woes, wishing Ariel Sharon dead, and sympathising with terrorism.

The show has generated a flurry of comments on the ABC Website.

Some exerpts from the transcript of the show follow.....

(Taking her mother-in-law from Ramallah during the seige) "Then I said, 'Mother, come on, let's hurry up, you know. I'll take you home to my house....She was looking for her money and jewelry. ... 'I promise to come back and take the money and jewelry.' And she looks up at me like this and she says, 'You know what, Suad, that's what we said in 1948 when we left Jaffa.' And when she said that, you know, I had tears, I just couldn't take it. "

".....One time, you know, the refugee camp over Jenine, I'm sure all of you heard about it, the Israeli really attacked that camp and they were around 200 people killed, Palestinian killed, in that camp....."

.....ANDREW DENTON: How different would the Middle East be would if Yasser Arafat's pet had met Ariel Sharon's pet? It could be a completely different place, couldn't it?
SUAD AMIRY: Well we've done our share, it's time for the Israelis to have Sharon die.
......ANDREW DENTON: I see, you've got rid of Arafat, now it's Sharon's turn?
SUAD AMIRY: It's time for the Israelis. The ball is in their game.

ANDREW DENTON: You mentioned all the checkpoints and the Israeli soldiers. Do you just view them all as uniforms that are causing you grief, or do you start to view these soldiers as people after a while?
SUAD AMIRY: You know, when I was younger I used to ...get very scared and very resentful and very angry. But...in the last three years ...I started looking at them as young people who have been brainwashed.

...ANDREW DENTON: And many Israelis, they live in fear of suicide bombers. There are still militant elements within the Middle East that say Israel should be wiped from the map. Do you understand your (Israeli) friends' position?
SUAD AMIRY: I understand some of their positions, not all, because I think there is also a lot of abuse of that position and there is a lot of misuse of that position.

I am totally against suicide bombs .... but if you had a son or a daughter who is, you know, about to commit suicide, you will seriously consider what has put them into such a situation. ...What have we done to people to put them to an edge of killing themselves and taking the lives of others?...