Australian PM Called Thatcher a ‘F------ B----’ in Angry Phone Call

THE TELEGRAPH: The two leaders were at loggerheads over British and Irish Lions tour to apartheid South Africa until Mrs Thatcher withdrew the team

Margaret Thatcher and Bob Hawke were said to have a 'love-hate relationship' CREDIT: Getty Images
A former Australian prime minister called Margaret Thatcher a “f------ b----” during an angry phone call about the British and Irish Lions tour in 1986, a new memoir claims.

Bob Hawke, the Labour prime minister from 1983 to 1991, contacted his British counterpart to persuade her to call off the rugby tour in South Africa in protest against apartheid.

John Brown, the former Australian sports minister, has said in his new memoir that the conversation proceeded on diplomatic lines for about 10 minutes when “suddenly the mood changed”.

“Thatcher had popularised the expression ‘the lady is not for turning’ and she was obviously determined to maintain her stance supporting South Africa,” he recalled.

“I could see Bob, as I had seen him many times before, becoming agitated and angry. Eventually he reached the limit of his patience,” Mr Brown wrote. » | Roger Maynard | Friday, December 8, 2023

De Klerk Apologises for Apartheid in Posthumous Video

F.W. de Klerk, South Africa’s last white president, apologized for his past statements on apartheid, which had angered some people who still live with the legacy of its injustices, in a posthumous video. Mr. de Klerk had helped dismantle the apartheid system as the president.

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F.W. de Klerk, Last President of Apartheid South Africa, Dies at 85

THE NEW YORK TIMES: A prominent Afrikaner, he vehemently defended the separation of the races but later stunned his deeply divided nation, and the wider world, by reconsidering the country’s racist ways.

F.W. de Klerk and Nelson Mandela in 1994. They shared the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating the end of the apartheid state. | Juda Ngwenya/Reuters
F.W. de Klerk, who as president of South Africa dismantled the apartheid system that he and his ancestors had helped put in place, died at his home near Cape Town on Thursday. He was 85.

The former president’s death was confirmed by the F.W. de Klerk Foundation, which said in a statement that he had been receiving treatment for cancer.

A member of a prominent Afrikaner family, Mr. de Klerk had vehemently defended the separation of the races during his long climb up the political ladder. But once he took over as president in 1989, he stunned his deeply divided nation, and the wider world, by reconsidering South Africa’s racist ways, a step that led to him and Nelson Mandela, whom he released from prison, being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

South Africa had become such a pariah in the eyes of the world by the 1980s, its internal strife and tainted reputation so disruptive to the economy, that Mr. de Klerk argued that the country’s future depended on a new course. » | Marc Lacey | Thursday, November 11, 2021

Afrique du Sud : mort de Frederik de Klerk, «l'homme qui a aboli l'apartheid» : DISPARITION - Le dernier président blanc du pays, prix Nobel 1993 de la paix, était connu pour avoir officiellement mis fin à l'apartheid et libéré l'icône Nelson Mandela. Malade d'un cancer, il s'est éteint le jour de ses 85 ans. »

„Aus dem Kreislauf der Gewalt ausbrechen“ : Frederik Willem de Klerk, Südafrikas letzter weißer Staatspräsident, ist im Alter von 85 Jahren gestorben. Er trug maßgeblich zur Überwindung der Apartheid bei, obwohl er als Verfechter der Rassentrennung angetreten war. »

Südafrikas Türöffner für Demokratie: Frederik Willem de Klerk ist tot: Nichts hatte in der Biografie von de Klerk darauf hingedeutet, dass er entscheidenden Anteil am Ende der Apartheid in Südafrika haben würde. Im historisch richtigen Moment brachte er dennoch den nötigen Mut für den weitgehend friedlichen Regierungswechsel auf. »

FW de Klerk obituary: Last president of South Africa under apartheid who oversaw the orderly transfer of power »

Palestinian Lawmaker: Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib Were Kept Out to Hide Israeli Apartheid

Israel announced that it would bar Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib — the two first Muslim Congresswomen — from entering the country, sparking outcry from Democratic leaders and Palestinians. Mustafa Barghouti, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, says Israel blocked the two progressive politicians because their trip would have risked "exposing" Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands and what he calls "the worst apartheid ever, where racial discrimination is practiced against Palestinians in the worst possible way."

Israelis Favour Discrimination against Arabs - Poll
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A majority of Israeli Jews favour introducing discriminatory policies against the country's Arab population and would support an "apartheid" system in the West Bank if it were ever annexed, an opinion poll has shown.

With three months to go before a general election, a survey reported in the Haaretz newspaper shows further evidence of a sharp tilt towards nationalism in Israeli society.

More than two-thirds of those questioned by Dialog, an opinion pollster, said they would oppose suffrage for the 2.5 million Palestinians living in the West Bank were it to be annexed to Israel.

Nearly three-quarters -- 74 per cent -- say they also support a system of segregated roads for Palestinians and Israelis in the West Bank, although the majority say they would view such a policy as “necessary” rather than “good”.

Although favoured by some nationalist Jews, the prospect of Israel annexing the West Bank, which it has occupied since the Six-Day War of 1967, remains a distant one.

But with little progress being made in resurrecting the Middle East peace process, the possibility of annexation is viewed by some as increasingly likely. » | Adrian Blomfield, Jerusalem | Tuesday, October 23, 2012