Muslim incensed at Australian stamp

Image: the offending stamp. (This appears to be the action at Tel el Saba, a Kiwi action.) Courtesy News .com.au 

The latest in Australian stamps that has been distributed jointly with Israel has incensed a Palestinian activist who is having conniptions over it being a ‘disgraceful insult’ to whoever.  The problem she is frantic about is that they feature the Battle of Beersheba.

The charge of the Light Horse at Beersheba is one of the iconic battles in Australian history.  The 4^th Light Horse was ordered to take the town by dark after the British XX Corps had attached the town for most of the day, making little headway against stiff resistance. 

The 4^th and 12^th Regiments were ordered to attack the Turkish trenches in a cavalry charge rather than the traditional tactic of dismounting and attacking on foot.  The town was secured within the hour. 

There only seems to be one complaint so far, but it has apparently been a slow news day: 

Australia Post's noble envelope-carrying mission is embroiled in controversy today - with the company accused of making a "disgraceful" insult to the Palestinian people in a range of 60c and $2.60 postage stamps. 

"Just the other day I needed a postage stamp," Australian Palestinian activist Sonja Karkar wrote on her blog, "I duly handed over my 60 cents at an Australia Post outlet and received far more than I bargained for - nothing less, would you believe, than a dollop of Israeli propaganda." 

The issue? The stamps feature World War I near the town of Beersheba where Australian soldiers fought the Turkish.  But Ms Karkar says the stamp is tied to Israel when Beersheba was a Palestinian town in 1917. Israel did not exist until 1948. … 

… An Australia Post spokeswoman said it received its information from sources including the Australian War Memorial. And the stamps were fact-checked by war historian Peter Stanley.

It is difficult to understand why this has been given publicity, given that the ‘outrage’ described consists of one blog post by a Palestinian radical who wishes to censor the history of this nation.  We can though, now expect plenty of bleating and bitching to follow from the usual sources.

Giving these idiots oxygen is only likely to result in more demands in the name of political correctness and the avoidance of offense to Muslims.  There is already far too much appeasement of these people who seem to find nearly everything ‘offensive’.

Probably one of the most ludicrous examples was a report by Veterans Affairs fretting over whether ANZAC day was likely to upset their delicate sensibilities: 

The Government squandered $370,000 so that Veteran’s Affairs Bureaucrats could finance a number of ‘Focus Groups’ to develop still more political correctness and tell us that ANZAC Day commemorations were “unpopular with younger people” and offend recent Islamic immigrants.   Someone forgot to tell the focus groups about the increasing numbers of young people that are attending dawn services and other ANZAC Day commemorations around Australia, at Gallipoli and other memorial sites on the battlefields of WWI and recent immigrants are offended by everything Australian. 

The Government then spent another $105,000 to measure the impact of ANZAC Day on recently arrived Islamic migrants and to tone down the commemorations by not mentioning the current and recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq as Muslims may be offended.  What consideration was give to the offence that will cause the survivors and/or families of those Australian servicemen killed or maimed in those conflicts? …

About the only offensive thing about this stamp is the cost of posting a letter.