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The Masdaam, our boat,
reached the West Australia port of Fremantle on the 9th of February, 1968, and
six days later it entered the Port of Melbourne where we disembarked alive and
well, albeit with a great deal of apprehension. As we went through the Customs
and all the paperwork involved an elderly woman approached us and told me that
my mother had written to her asking her to help us. So she invited us to her
house to be her guests. I did not know then that her house was in the heart of
the zionist ghetto of Melbourne, and that she herself was a zionist. As soon as
we arrived at her home and exchanged view with her, and with other people who
arrived to meet us too, we soon discovered a hostile reaction by all of them to
any criticism which I would voice against the government of Israel. I then
resolved to quit the zionist trap before it would be too late. So, I
immediately began looking for alternative accommodation, away from the zionist
ghetto. My spouse, however, refused to move out, and once more she became
hysterical and threatened to commit suicide if I would insist on moving out. My
argument was that we had not made it all the way to Australia to unite with
people who support the criminal policies of Israel's government. She calmed
down and agreed eventually that we move out and live away from the zionist
ghetto.
Our first home would
be in the Melbourne outer suburb of Noble Park. It was mid March, 1968, and
daughter was admitted to grade one of the local primary school. Her 5 year old
brother stayed at home with his mother, and I got a job in nearby Dandenong, at
the General Motors car plant. My weekly wage as an unskilled factory worker was
around 50$ a week, which was hardly enough for all four of to survive on. So I began
looking for a better paid job and eventually found one as a traveler-salesman
for a cash registers company. I then bought a secondhand station wagon on board
of which I would carry the damn machines to show them and to sell them to shop
keepers. It did earn me more money than what I got as a factory worker, but it
earned me the growling of my spouse too. She complained about staying all day
alone at home, and she said she would rather look for a job for herself.
It did not take much
effort on her part to convince me, and soon as I quit the job I began to spend
my time at home and in public libraries researching the subject of zionism with
the intention to write a book about it. She began to practice typing in English
at home, and a great deal of her time was spent typing my notes about zionism.
However, as soon as she got a typist job I had to do the typing myself, and I
did.
Since 1969 I became
increasingly active in the anti imperialist and anti zionist struggles in
Melbourne. Also I established contact with a group of Israelis in London who
claimed to be anti-zionist, believing that they would be as committed to the
cause as I was. At the time it seemed a
great thing to maintain contact with them by letters and by phone, and I
considered them as revolutionaries and comrades in arms. In reality most of
them would become class collaborators, and it is very likely that the zionist
Gestapo infiltrated their ranks, because now they are all in Israel as docile
zionists.
The USA invasion of
Vietnam, with all its crimes against the civilian population there, accelerated
the radicalisation of youth all over the world, including the USA itself.
Another important factor in the global protest was the Great Proletarian
Cultural Revolution in China, which had began in 1966 and engulfed the entire
population of the Peoples Republic of China by 1969, and had its revolutionary
impact over the entire world. The continents of America, Asia, Europe and
Australia became the scene of mass demonstrations growing in frequency and in militancy by the day . Both the
rulers of capitalist countries, as well as the bosses of communist parties,
felt their establishments shaken to the foundation, as if hit by a huge
earthquake.
One of the slogans ,
then popular all over the world ,was this : "power to the people.” Already
when in Paris I participated in the demonstrations against USA imperialism, and
I saw in my involvement with the anti imperialist movement in Australia the
continuation of the struggle. The struggle against USA imperialism is also the
struggle for a genuine democracy, which is why the slogan "power to the
people" gained such popularity all over the world. Also shortly after our
arrival here we joined the ranks of Australians who had been protesting against
Australia's military involvement in Vietnam, and the protests against military
conscription.
During 1971 some good
news, very hopeful news, had reached us from Israel. Two new movements, both
anti zionist by implication if not explicitly, sprung up in Israel. One was the
Black Panthers movement, and the other was the anti -conscription movement.
Both had asked for our support, and I sure committed myself to promote their
causes in Australia. For the Black Panthers, the youth of slum dwellers of
oriental origin, I regularly disseminated in Melbourne their leaflets and
reports about their uprising . On one occasion, when Bob Hawke, the then ACTU
president, promoted zionist propaganda inside the Dallas Brooks Hall we were
assaulted by zionist thugs and I was knocked down unconscious. As for our
support for the newly created anti-conscription movement in Israel I shall
mention more details soon , but suffice to say now that our participation in
the anti-conscription movement in Australia had helped our solidarity activities
in support of the movement against conscription in Israel.
Early in January 1972
I went to Canberra to start a hunger strike outside Israel's embassy in protest
against the imprisonment of an Israeli draft resister in Israel. The next day I
was arrested, beaten by the local police, charged in court, then acquitted,
then returned to my protest outside the zionist embassy. My protest action was rather effective, and
gained favourable media coverage not only in Australia but also in Israel. My
involvement in the local struggles as well as in the Israeli struggles had
become so intense in the early '70s that we run out of money. However, since I
considered it my duty as a human being to continue our political activities in
a selfless manner, and without expecting any rewards, I decided to sell the
house (which was under a mortgage we hadn't paid off) and with the money
received finance my spouse's trip abroad to renew our contacts and cooperation
with like-minded Israelis in Israel and in London.
Towards Xmas 1972 my
spouse returned home with bad news. She said that her mission was a failure.
Not only did she spend the precious little money on "duty free" junk,
contrary to our agreed policy and personal commitments, but she seemed to be
more confused and more depressed than prior to her departure. Anyway, I had
tried very hard to avoid any tension between us thereby allowing here to regain
control over herself, but at a rather high price for my political activities
because I was so dependent on her report about her trip and contacts she had
made. To this day I have only small scraps of information that I managed to
squeeze out of her, and I do not know if it was her personal weakness or it may
be that she had been brainwashed by the zionist Gestapo in some way. The fact
that ever since her return she became almost hostile to me points to the latter
possibility.
To earn our living I began to work as a builder's
labourer. There was no way for me to practice as a lawyer because I was denied
Australian citizenship. Also, as part of blacklisting me in Australia by the
zionist Gestapo (with the active collaboration of ASIO, the Australian secret
police) I could get no other job either, not even unskilled factory jobs. Only
on building sites would I be offered a job, for as long as I could do the job,
and for as long as the job lasted. Only some ten years after our arrival in
Australia did I get my citizenship, and following a long and hard public
campaign with the support of unions and other organisations. During those ten
years I had a few meetings with several Australian Immigration Ministers, and
non of them ever promised to accept our applications for citizenship,
presumably because of the negative notes by ASIO in my file ( notes which
originated at the headquarters of the zionist Gestapo). The consequence was
that not only was I deprived of my right to work in my profession, but also had
to live under the constant threat of deportation. Apart from my ASIO file I had
also another dossier against me, which came to my knowledge only after the
Freedom of Information Act became effective. It was the dossier of the Special
Branch of Melbourne Police. Under the title "comments" it makes the
following statement about me :
"Deft
is apparently a professional demonstrator: a member of the Prisoners Action
Committee;
has come under notice in Canberra for similar demonstrations."
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