When I watched the video of a Jewish family from Australia dancing at various death camp sites in which Hitler and the Nazis tried to exterminate the Jews, I wept.

I only heard about this video tonight on the Channel Nine TV news. Some people are offended by it. Some Holocaust survivors don’t approve of Jews dancing at Auschwitz, but I take a different view.

I say “Hitler tried to kill us all, but he is dead and we are still here. Let us rejoice.”

As a person who is involved in The Jewish Holocaust Centre I am well aware of sensitivities. We should respect and mourn what happened. We should never forget and personally I will never forgive.

But be damned if I don’t glory in the fact that all those Empires and civilisations which tried to destroy the Jews are dust.

So if 89-year-old Holocaust survivor, Adolek Kohn wants to dance at Auschwitz with his daughter and three grandchildren, good luck to him!

I’m sure he has shed enough tears in his lifetime and I would encourage him to celebrate to his heart’s content.

If you have not seen the video, here is the link:-

Grandpa Kohn’s words at the end of it are what made me cry.

Looks as if the video has actually been removed from Youtube.

Now it’s back again. I strongly recommend that you view Parts 2 and 3 of the video too. We’ll see how long this one lasts but just in case I’d better explain what I meant by “Grandpa Kohn’s words at the end of it made me cry.”

The family did some very simple unchoreographed dance steps at the various sites with their aged grandpa.

And then the mood changed and Mr Kohn reflected on his life to the music of Leonard Cohen’s “Dance me to the end of Love.”

“If you had told me 63 years ago,” Kohn says, ” that I would be here dancing with my family, I would have said what you talking about?…what you talking about?

Had Hilter achieved his aim then none of that delightful family would have been born. No wonder he marvels at being back where he could have perished. He considers himself blessed.

So many people did not survive, including many members of my family. I wept for them but I also wept with joy that Mr Kohn is alive.

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Imagine you are sitting at prayers in your local mosque on a Friday when suddenly thirty of your fellow worshippers are shredded to bits by a bomb. This is a frequent occurrence in Pakistan and Iraq. The murderers are Muslims themselves and we in the rest of the world no longer bat an eyelid on hearing of such an event. Why is that?

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It didn’t take long before the usual bigots brought up the subject of Israel after Julia Gillard’s defeat of Kevin Rudd. So what is the gripe this time? A former ambassador to Israel, Mr Ross Burns, has written a letter to The Age newspaper accusing Gillard of being soft on Israel. This opinion was repeated by another reviled former ambassador to Israel, a Mr Rodgers who is notorious for being anti-Israel.

What these two bigots are really saying is that unless you are vehemently anti-Israel then you are soft on Israel.

Prime Minister Gillard has denied this accusation. All this happened because Gillard’s partner, Tim Mathieson, works in real estate for an Israel supporter. Apparently, that’s a crime according to Burns and Rodgers.

Which brings me to the topic of our former Prime Minister. I first met Kevin Rudd a few years ago in Queensland. He attended a Jewish function, praised the Jewish community and generally sucked up to everyone there assuring the Jewish community of his true and genuine admiration and loyalty.

When he became Prime Minister, however, Rudd revealed his true colours. He took hasty actions against a member of the Israeli embassy long before other nations in the alleged passport affair. He also directed his representative at the United Nations to vote against Israel.

He did this because he was sucking up to the Arabs in the U.N. Rudd’s ambition is so rapacious that he would be prepared to court anyone who can support his aim of becoming a bigshot at the U.N. And that is why he joined the enemies of Israel.

But then Rudd’s popularity polls went south and he suddenly remembered that he had betrayed an ally and that he had wounded the Jewish community in Australia. So just a few short weeks ago he tried to win over the Jewish community once again by meeting with some leaders and assuring them that he was “a friend of Israel.”

We all know the saying “With friends like these who needs…”

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The position of Foreign Minister should be given to someone who has the respect of other nations. Rudd, with his grandstanding on the world stage and embarrassing demeanour, should not be representing us in such an important position.

Moreover, Rudd is now regarded by Australia and the rest of the world (that’s if anyone else really cares about Australia) as a loser and so has no credibility in that representative role.

How can one introduce him as Foreign Minister after he has been kicked out of the Prime Minister’s office?

Julia Gillard is now in a bind because she has, no doubt, promised Rudd something so that he would leave without a fuss.

She could make him our ambassador to the U.N so that he can pal up with his friends there. The U.N is a circus with no credibility so it would suit Rudd perfectly, in my opinion.

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Sometimes good news and bad news come together. I cheered when Kevin Rudd was ousted as Prime Minister. His farewell speech was quite impressive and welcome although he failed to thank the troops fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Julia Gillard, on the other hand, remembered to thank the troops and did a fine job of explaining why she challenged Rudd. She also did a clever thing by acknowledging the contribution made by John Howard, something that Rudd never did. He should have done so. Why not give credit where credit’s due?

Rudd has only himself to blame for his downfall. He was a one-man band and a poor listener. I’m sure that nobody except his young minions and Ms Rein could give him any advice. He certainly did not listen to his party and now he has paid the ultimate price for his arrogance. I would be sorry to see him appointed as Foreign Minister, so fingers crossed that Gillard has not promised him that sweetener.

The bad news is that Lindsay Tanner will be leaving and that is disappointing. He always answered questions and stuck to the subject during interviews. I would have preferred him to be Federal Treasurer instead of our current one. Never mind, it has been a happy and exciting day and now we will see if Gillard can do any better.

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We are used to seeing the Prime Minister of Australia looking calm and composed. He struts around the place with a benign expression on his face. He joins hospital patients on their beds and promises to cure the sickly Health System.

He puts on a hard hat and inspects all kinds of factories and nods away as if he really understands what the workers are complaining about. He hugs babies and reads primers to school children. All this in front of the media who trudge along behind him hoping to get a glimpse of the real Rudd.

We have been told that he is unpopular with his staff because he screams at them. We are told he puts on a tantrum if he can’t get a blow dryer for his windswept hairdo. We are told that he does a Naomi Campbell impersonation when he can’t get the food he likes on a plane trip.

Until now, this was all hearsay. Last night, however, Rudd showed his true colours on The 7.30 Report on television.

He had been asked by interviewer, Kerry O’Brien, why he had deferred the ETS or Emissions Trading Scheme. Now according to Rudd, climate change is the greatest moral challenge facing this planet. Nothing is more important than climate change and Rudd was going to show the world how to tackle it.

He would be the Pied Piper of Climate Change and the rest of the world would follow!

But then in a shocking about turn that stunned the people of Australia Rudd decided to put off the legislation…for a while.

Well, things heated up as Rudd went on the defensive with O’Brien. All O’Brien had asked was why Rudd had not called for a double dissolution instead of deferring the ETS legislation. Rudd bristled, gave no answer and then called O’Brien “mate” in the same way that Americans call someone “buddy” when they mean the opposite.

I always suspected that Rudd had a Dorian Gray portrait stashed away in the cellar. Last night, our Prime Minister gave his inner self a proper airing. I predict that as the polls continue to go south and Rudd becomes more desperate, we will become intimately acquainted with that portrait.

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After copping a ton of criticism from yours truly, Prime Minister Rudd is to be commended for his new tax hike on cigarettes. It would be great if people could be persuaded to stop smoking altogether since it’s such a nasty habit. But smokers already know this so stronger action had to be taken. This increase in the cost of smokes should make smokers think twice before lighting up.

If they continue to smoke then the tax hike should help pay for their medical costs when they succumb to the health problems caused by cigarettes.

What really annoys me, however, is Tony Abbott’s stupid comment that the extra excise is all about raising taxes. I am disappointed in this comment and would have preferred to hear Abbott applauding Rudd for his initiative. As a fitness fanatic, Abbott should have supported this decision.

My advice to the Leader of the Opposition who is not performing as well as I thought he would, is to get OFF his bike and start thinking without the aerobic high that is obviously clouding his intellect.

Abbott is an intelligent man but I am waiting for him to demonstrate his acumen. There is no time to lose or someone else will challenge him for the leadership of the Liberal Party.

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The more that I observe President Obama the more I conclude that he does not understand the real world. He sucks up to the wrong nations while taking for granted his genuine allies. I cannot erase from my mind the image of Obama bending over for the Saudi King. How subordinate and Uncle Tom is that?

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Let others comment on the debate itself, I want to comment on Prime Minister Rudd’s rudeness today.

Rudd has done this sort of thing before. He refused to look at the Premier of N.S.W when she was discussing health with him. He purposely looked down and ignored her. No eye contact, no acknowledgment of the other person. Just look at your notes or straight ahead and be as uncouth as possible.

Well, Rudd did it again today during his debate with the Leader of the Opposition. Tony Abbott would direct a comment to him and Rudd refused to face him.

I find that kind of behaviour to be so crass but I am reluctant to put it down to bad upbringing. In Rudd’s case I feel it has more to do with arrogance. He exhibits many qualities of a narcissistic personality by failing to validate other people.

His spin may be annoying. Quite frankly, I’m totally fed up with his mums and dads references and that working families phrase. But what is worse is the way he treats other people. He simply can’t look them in the eye.

I wish that Abbott would have said “Hey Kev, look over this way, mate! Don’t you have the decency to face me?”

Evidently, the answer to that question is no.

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The problem with Kevin Rudd is that he is not masculine. He’s as asexual as Alexander Downer was but without Downer’s kindly demeanour. Whereas Downer reminded us of a benevolent uncle, Rudd is more like a petulant child. He sulks. He is disrespectful to women as he was to Premier Kristina Keneally and he is disliked on a personal level. The more he feels threatened by the popularity of the Opposition the more bombastic he will sound.

For a man to appeal to women he has to possess the manly trait of inner strength, not to be confused with blind ambition. Rudd is brimming with ambition to strut the world stage at the United Nations.

I don’t get the sense that Rudd is a strong character by way of temperament. A bully he may be to all around him, but bullying is the antithesis of masculine strength.

Rightly or wrongly, the way women regard a man has to do with an hormonal response to him. Former Prime Minister, Paul Keating had masculine appeal, and in a different way, John Howard demonstrated it also. That certain something that makes a man a man. Hard to define, but a politician either has it or he hasn’t.

I suppose that it has to do with a woman being able to imagine the man having sex. I’m being intentionally basic here, but it really is comedic to imagine a sex scene with Rudd asking himself questions such as “So how do I feel about this?” “Am I having a pleasurable experience?” and then answering himself with “The bottom line is…”

Quite frankly, I suspect that Rudd would be more content doing it all by himself with only himself in mind. He is self-sufficient in a most unattractive way.

And it’s not about looks either. There are many handsome men who are not attractive to women. Take male models, for example. Say no more. And there are many plain men who exude masculinity. I guess it has to do with behaviour and getting things done in a quiet and dependable way. Less talk and more action would do it. It’s about time that the government stopped promising change and started getting down to business in a serious manner.

Those countless announcements of revolutions are becoming ho-hum and it appears that the public is tiring of them also if the polls are to be believed.

On the other hand, do we really have faith in a government that screwed up so badly on something as simple and finite as the insulation fiasco? So, as long as the Prime Minister keeps talking and ordering reports, we are probably safer.

Rudd has been eloquently described by Tony Abbott as ‘all hat and no cowboy’. He seems to be talking through it as well. To be honest, we could forgive him for not being appealing to women if he would just do something apart from talking all the time and pestering patients in hospital.

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