Cameron Slater: Zionist and political pundit
It is hard to know where to start with right-wing blogger Cameron Slater (Whale Oil), especially after the release of Nicky Hager’s book Dirty Politics. This confirmed everything many of us thought Slater to be: a snivelling pundit who serves those in power and has a vested interest in distorting the truth to serve his own agenda and those of his morally bankrupt mates like Judith Collins of the National Party.
As Hager’s book was released Slater had already boarded a plane to Israel, on a paid media trip. Yeah, you could not make this shit up. As New Zealanders begin to learn the full extent of Slater’s corruptions, smear campaigns and how much he and his Whale Oil blog have influenced elections in the last six years, he is being paid, as I type this, to also pedal Israeli propaganda.
Slater tweeted this picture a few days ago:
It must be nice to suntan on an Israeli beach and not have to worry about bombs raining down on you for simply existing – the Israel Government’s collective punishment of Palestinians in Gaza amount to a holocaust. Just over four weeks ago an Israeli naval ship bombed a beach in Gaza killing four children while they played, injuring others. It is impossible for me to forget the images of these tiny fragile bodies of Palestinian children whose lives were erased in the name of Israel’s security :
But please, Mr. Slater, sip your fucking-minted-fucking-lemonade and tell the world, “What I am witnessing in Tel Aviv is a vibrant, free and open democracy of tolerance,” as Slater reported to New Zealand’s Stuff on Sunday in the article ‘Blogging, money and burred lines’.
Unfortunately for Palestinians, this “free and open democracy” only extends the people of Israel. The body count for Israel’s latest bombardment in Gaza rests at over 1,900, while thousands have been injured in the name of this “free and open democracy”. I spoke to Julie Webb, an activist who is currently working in Gaza, who told me that an independent on the ground news source in Gaza, the Gaza Scoop, has had their headquarters bombed. They are increasingly desperate for foreign journalists to come to Gaza and bear witness to the atrocities that have been, and will continue to be, carried out by the Israeli forces.
Slater went on to say during his interview with stuff: “From the hotel I am staying at 100 metres across the road there’s a gay beach and the gay beach is 200 metres from the Orthodox Jewish beach – I bet you there’s not a gay beach in Gaza.”
I bet in Israel small children are not bombed to death on beaches while they attempt to engage in normal everyday activities – if you really want to play that game, Slater.
The Israeli propaganda machine is, of course, in full swing as it attempts to distort and cover the truth of the atrocities Israeli forces have committed against Palestinians in the last six weeks. All over the world tens of thousands of people marched and protested in opposition to Israel and in support of Palestine. They are some of the biggest protests for Palestine the world has ever seen; in London over 150,000 people marched for Palestine. People are waking up.
Israel is in full [media] damage control and it is clear Cameron Slater is happy to be complicit in creating static and pedaling propaganda on behalf of the Israeli government, as his Whale Oil blog is already a testament to. Throughout Israel’s recent bombardment of Gaza many blog posts appeared on his site condemning Palestine – obviously Gazans deserve to be bombed and murdered because HAMAS!!!
Travis Poulson who writes for Whale Oil went so far as to call Palestinian children “devil spawn” in one blog and also said:
As a kiwi my eyes are really beginning to open up about the kind of people a lot of the Gaza Palestinians are. Not all, but as I type this I have just finished watching the news and am left with a sense of uncertainty, even impossibility as to the likelihood of any resolution. We have already seen the plight of the Palestinian, we get it rammed down our throat on every news channel or bulletin that we watch. The reasons behind it are not Israel or Israel’s actions. If the Palestinians as a whole believed in peace there would be no wall.
Slater’s blogs on his site are relentlessly aggressive. Early this year Slater headlined a blog ‘”Feral dies in Greymouth, did world a favour” in relation to a West Coast car crash victim and has more recently engaged in sustained and ongoing attacks against sexual assault survivor Tania Billingsley and continues to deny the existence of rape culture. In the book Dirty Politics Hager reveals a conversation between Peter Smith and Cameron Slater which is a disturbing snap shot into his thinking:
When the devastating earthquake struck Christchurch on 22 Febuary 2011 … writing to his friend Peter Smith, he said, “That place is fucked … they should just board it up and close it down. Smith replied, ‘A real tragedy but it will fuck labour for the election.’ Slater said, ‘Yep blessings.’ Later his views hardened: ‘What I can’t believe … is how we have to bail out those useless pricks in the sth island, again.’ Smith replied ‘I said to someone today that National should let then rot, after all they are useless scum Labour voters especially in the areas where the earthquake hit…” Slater added, “Those are suburbs are hard core Labour … the owners will be Nat voters though and the voters tenants, so the houses are gone and the scum are gone too, and so they should get nothing.
When this conversation was put on public display in the streets of Christchurch by the Campbell Live crew last Friday there was disgusted outcry from everyday New Zealanders – and rightly so it is a shameful example of the callous attacks Slater makes on people he has never met and will probably never know. But in contrast there has been so little outcry and condemnation of the Zionist and dehumanising language used in relation to Palestinians on the Whale Oil blog site.
New Zealander’s lost their lives and homes in the Christchurch Earthquake but Palestinians have lost their lives and homes as well in an ongoing genocide committed by Israel forces over the last 66 years. Our outrage should not be limited to just New Zealander’s who are targeted by Slater and his blogging cronies such as Poulson.
Even while many in New Zealand are not understanding the links between Slater and the National Government courtesy of Dirty Politics at this point, one thing is clear to almost everyone: Slater is abhorrent.
If anything, his involvement in passing on Israeli propaganda could likely backfire, at least partially thanks to Dirty Politics. It’s certainly not ideal for the Israeli Government to be dealing with people of such … questionable repute. It doesn’t help their message when such morally bankrupt people are delivering it. Which is a wonderful piece of irony that we should all take a little pleasure in, even if it feels somewhat empty and bittersweet.
What Slater is a paid witness for, is an extreme right wing and violently racist apartheid regime.
Just like the German nazis, who tried to “cleanse Europe of Jews”; For the Israeli Zionists, no crime is too extreme to ethnically cleanse Israel and oppress the Palestinians and separate them from their land and homes and property, even up to, and including genocide.
Far from being an open society of democracy and tolerance, Israel is a society “tolerant” of fascist style violent abuse, even of a young Jew who dared to peacefully state an opinion different to the official sanctioned racist apartheid ideology of the Israeli state.
After visiting Hebron in the occupied West Bank, returning to Israel he witnessed militant Israeli settlers staging an officially sanctioned provocative racist political rally through a Palestinian neighborhood. Stopping to peacefully express his view that this was wrong and “Not in my name” for this he was brutally attacked and arrested by Israeli police.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWyGlTDkT5A&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfXOKp40b70
Did Cameron Slater visit the West Bank? Did he see anything like this?
There can be little doubt from the extremist views exposed in the book ‘Dirty Politics’ that Cameron Slater would be clapping and cheering along with the settlers, if not throwing in a few punches of his own, protected as these “extremely ideological” settlers were, by armed Israeli Police goons.
Travis Poulson wrote, “If the Palestinians as a whole believed in peace there would be no wall.”
Let’s change a couple of words and re-set to a previous era;
“If the West as a whole believed in peace there would be no Berlin wall.”
Ridiculous? You bet.
Which shows the hollowness of Poulson’s position. Trying to support an aggresive militarily-back government, financed by Imperial America – whilst blaming the victims, is farcical.
Imperial America and it’s clients can put out all the propaganda they like, but in the Age of Information they will quickly be shown as the liars they are.
(Kudos to TV3 and Mike Roberts for being on the ground, in Gaza, showing us what is happening.)
On a final note; having Slater propagandise for Te Aviv is like having George Bush on your side. No thanks.
“What I am witnessing in Tel Aviv is a vibrant, free and open democracy of tolerance,” – Cameron Slater
Followed by;
“Thankyou, Mr Netanyahu, that’ll be $10,000 plus costs, for my endorsement of your militaristic regime.
PS: Love your work on those Palestinian ferals.” – C.S.
Maybe the fact that people are finally waking up to this issue is the reason that they’ve had to resort to a complete nutter to do their propaganda for them.
I wonder if his hosts are aware of Slater’s public image problems back home?
I bet they are aware and proud as well.
someone should send the English press there a wrap of some of the juiciest sick happenings of this ferret. He coming back?
I think you’ve just blown any chance of an all expenses paid trip to Israel 🙂
The Zionist’s expose themselves for what they are when they use odious people like Slater as their allies. Likewise, Key’s association with Slater exposes Key for what he is. Let’s hope the NZ voters get it.
It’s not only Slater, or even Journalists who get paid trips to Israel. Unless Journalists start doing their job, and informing the NZ public on how corrosive and divisive this Israeli Zionist propaganda and interference in New Zealand and World affairs has become. Unless Politicians and the NZ public speak up now. Our democracy as we know it will be gone.
This word zionist is not to be confused with Christians, because Christians are not zionists.
“Zionism
/ˈzaɪəˌnɪzəm/
noun
1.
a political movement for the establishment and support of a national homeland for Jews in Palestine, now concerned chiefly with the development of the modern state of Israel
2.
a policy or movement for Jews to return to Palestine from the Diaspora
Derived Forms
Zionist, noun, adjective
Zionistic, adjective
Zionism in Culture
Zionism definition
The belief that Jews should have their own nation; Jewish nationalism. Zionism gained much support among Jews and others in the early twentieth century, and the hoped-for nation was established in the late 1940s in Palestine, as the state of Israel. Zionism is opposed by most Arabs. ( See Arab-Israeli conflict.)
It wouldn’t be so bad if that was all it was.
Who is funding the trip, out of interest?
“The Israeli embassy approached him about the trip, he says, and covered some costs, but he is paying for a significant portion of his travels. He has posted anti-Hamas and pro-Israel stories on his blog in the past.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10391846/Blogging-money-and-blurred-lines
I want to know who else is on the trip with Slater, what other Kiwis have been bought off.
Spose the dead Palestinian babies are ferals too mr slater
Thank you for this article bringing these revelations to light. I have never voted due to being disillusioned with the system and I have been feeling rather conflicted about voting this year. However this is all so utterly disgusting that I am now determined to vote this vile lot out. This so-called “Government” and the company it keeps – is so stink – it’s intolerable to bear any longer.
what a disgusting man, and a disgusting human being. stay behind your computer you scumbag. 🙂
So funny that a so called free market economic liberal is supporting the biggest welfare state around – the US$5 billion in grants and cheap loans by US taxpayers every year is one of the most destructive things for a Israeli society because it’s politicians and public never pay the financial cost of their actions (illegali land stealing and race based settlement building) to destroy the chance of a 2 state solution.
And every time they bomb the schools and hospitals in the Gaza ghetto beach, causing billions of dollars of infrastructure destruction to the expelled indigenous people (the so-called ‘Gazans’ ) the Israelis never pick up the tab – Kiwi taxpayers do with other UN member taxpayers.
The ultimate welfare dependent race based state and he likes it because he can go to the beaches which are ethnically cleansed of israel’s non Jewish civilian population who were marched to their Gaza ghetto camps between 1947 and 1953.
But it does raise good question of how many MPs in NZ and media including social media have had subsidized trips to the Apartheid State- hopefully Mana MPs can pursue this in next Parliament, it is important to know so we can assess what comes out of our MPs’ and media on the issues.
A great article, thanks Chloe !
Talk about “a jigsaw puzzle coming together” ! This is fascinating. I saw Slater’s comments about “Gay beaches” and tolerance for gay people in Israel.
When I first read it a few days ago, I thought “WTF – this coming from a vile homophobe who refers to gay men as ‘cock smokers’?”
Then I read a link that I was sent below, which really opened my eyes to what a feral, mercenary whore Cameron Slater really is. I won’t say any more…I think we can expect a lot more Zionist propaganda from Blubber.
http://queersagainstapartheid.org/gayisrael/
“What I am witnessing in Tel Aviv is a vibrant, free and open democracy of tolerance,” Cameron Slater
In what universe does someone who has worked so tirelessly to twist and undermine democratic processes as Slater get to decide what a ‘vibrant, free and open democracy’ looks like?!?!
The embassy invited him is all we need to know.
“What I am witnessing in Tel Aviv is a vibrant, free and open democracy of tolerance,”
Obviously Cam hasn’t gone any further than between his hotel and the beach.
Mind you, the last time I was there I nearly got blown to smithereens by a hand grenade cluster bomb on Tel Aviv Beach, so I wouldn’t recommend hanging about on the beaches too long either Cam.
Whale rhymes with jail, and this bugger should be doing life. He is an absolute psychopath who revels in bloody death and destruction.
He is everything that a fair dinkum Kiwi is not. This is a toxic waste dump that shouldn’t be free to pollute this Nation with it’s vitriolic, hateful, criminal, traitorous filth.. I say traitor because anybody who uses criminal means to subborn our democracy is most certainly a traitor.
“Take all these overgrown infants away, somewhere, and build them a home, a little place of their own, the Fletcher Memorial Home for Incurable Tyrants and Kings”.
With few exceptions, the Nazional Party and their handlers would be most suitable tenants.