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Perhaps it may be a slight overstatement to say that I am proud of the motley crew of angry rightists who rant and rave against me and what I write here. But to have enemies of such base qualities who go so far as to threaten your life means in some peculiar way that you are on the right path. It is, though, unfortunate that you have to deal with such hate in doing the right thing regarding the Israeli-Arab conflict.
Violet Crumble, who co-administers my Israel-Palestine Forum site, warned me that one of the most pathological and perhaps even mentally unstable of this crowd, who goes by the name Gabbyspoppy at Pro-Semite Undercover has penned an especially rabid rant.
Before I quote it, I wanted to note that one of the most striking aspects of this diatribe is how fictionalized it is. The writer, whose real name is Paul Katz and who lives in New York, takes a scintilla of accurate information from my biography and then weaves an entire fictional narrative out of it. Personally, I think this may be the mark of a mind that is lurking somewhere between Neptune and Pluto and indicates someone who has a tenuous hold on reality at best:
For even the most casual readers of TIKUNHAMAS, an accumulation of crap from our own “Lil, DICKie KAPOstein it is common knowledge that his critics are “Right-Wing, Likudists, Kahane scum” engaged in the most horrid sin of Lashon Hora. Yet the main theme of this SCUMBAG is to ridicule and bad mouth every Jew that doesn’t agree with him. The irony is breathtaking but hold on it gets even better.
Prior to developing into an unemployed “Basement Blogger of Bile” he was a fund raiser for Jewish Institutions. The most important attribute to be a fundraiser, especially among Jewish organizations is the ability to reach out to wealthy American Jews or Israelis and have them open their checkbooks to any cause he represents. Most if not all of this segment of the Jewish community won’t even take his call much less write a check to the organization he represents. To the Jewish community of Seattle, KAPOstein on his best day is considered a pariah and that is when he takes a day or two off from his usual CRAP. KAPOstein’s “fund raising” is on par with Ford’s Edsel as an example of business acumen.
He is now relegated to “pimping” Norman Finkelstein’s books and begging for pennies at his forum “Palestinian Apologists Underground”. He also has for sale his photography (which mostly consists of pictures of his kids) cornering the pedophile market. But what the heck, a dollar is a dollar.
Normally a pathetic creature like this would invoke a certain amount of pity. He’s not worth a pittance of pity when he puts a target on the back of my friends and family and then “justifies” that target. He is only worthy of the scorn and derision that he receives. He earns that derision the “old fashioned way”, he works hard for it.
The “KAPOS” of the 20th century were complicit in the extermination of 6,000,000 Jews. The “KAPOS” of the 21st century are trying to “finish the job”.
NOT THIS TIME YOU ASSHOLE.
If you studied the psychopathology of such people, this might be an interesting piece of writing.
I’m struck by Katz’s reference to pedophilia. Why would someone bring up such a subject unless these types of thoughts afflicted him?
In truth, my family photo gallery features images of my children as millions of other such galleries do. In a few of these images my infant children are displayed (modestly) in a bathtub. Though there is no nudity in these images (except that you can see their upper bodies), this twisted mind has jumped from the purity and innocence of babies having their first bath to the foulest perversion imaginable. Can you imagine this? Can you imagine the mind who must think these things?
You’ll also note how he equates my work with Nazism and accuses me of attempting to exterminate the Jewish people. Lest you call this the raving of a crank, let me remind you that it only takes a few of these to assassinate a prime minister and turn back the hands of history as Yigal Amir did.
I know that many of my readers will ask why I’m going into this sordid territory. Believe me, I’m not doing it for my health. I’m doing it because I believe that Paul Katz represents more than just himself in having such views. Though David Horowitz, Daniel Pipes, Gerald Steinberg, Steven Plaut, Alan Dershowitz and Norman Podhoretz may be suaver and slightly more articulate in their attacks on progressive Jews, they all have just a small element of the paranoia and mania reflected in Katz’s twisted psyche. That is why if we wish to defeat these people we must look their words and deeds squarely in the eye without blinking. We must testify to their hatred for the world to understand it and hopefully turn away from it.
We may wish we didn’t have to understand what lies within the brain of a settler extremist who would attempt to assassinate Zeev Sternhell, but we do. It is a sad testimony to the current state of affairs, but the Paul Katzes of the Jewish world hold far too much sway in setting the tone and tenor of debate.
Tags: hate
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[comment deleted per comment rules]
I agree that it is very important to understand (to the extent possible) what is going on in the heads of the ‘angry right’.
A SOMEWHAT RELATED ARTICLE:
I Found My Gut Reason for Voting Obama
by: David Sirota
Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 20:31
We all have our own reasons as to why we are going to vote whichever way we are going to vote. I’ve long had many reasons why I supported Obama in the Democratic primary contest with Hillary Clinton, and why I plan to cast my vote for him in November. My brain tells me he’s far more progressive on most of the issues that I care about. But finally last week, I found my gut reason – the reason why I’m going to go into that voting booth and slam my vote through that ballot box with real umph: I’m voting for Barack Obama to reject the people and the views I met head on earlier this week in a debate with fringe-conservative radio host Dennis Prager…..
ARTICLE- http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=8546
Thanks for posting that important article.
Many progressives exist in a bubble, refusing to acknowledge how MANY stupid and hate-filled people there are, like the ones described.
We tend to conduct our lives among people like ourselves.
The article reminds us of the millions of people who lovingly and fawningly follow Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, etc.
…scary…
Thanks for the article, Richard.
I went to “pro-semite-undercover” and checked it out. It’s quite clear these folks are very pro-Israel DEMOCRATS. I checked out their political forum and nearly all of them, especially GabbysPoppy and the other big posters there, are trashing McCain and are in favor of Obama.
You also mentioned Dershowitz in your article. How is he a rightwinger? Has he ever voted rightwing or republican? As far as I know, he’s a big supporter of Hillary Clinton and I’m 99% certain he will vote Obama in 5 weeks.
FROM HAARRETZ-
I accuse
By Carlo Strenger
Tags: Ze’ev Sternhell, Israel
On the night between September 24 and 25, it happened again. Prof. Zeev Sternhell, an internationally acclaimed political scientist and historian, recipient of this year’s Israel Prize for political science, was wounded by explosives put at his doorstep. As yet, we do not know who the perpetrators were, but whoever they will turn out to be, there are those who should wonder what is their part of the responsibility for this despicable act…….
J’accuse- http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1024899.html
My apologies to HAARETZ!!!!
THE INDEFATIGABLE URI AVNERY –
Ze’ev Sternhell Warnings on the Growth of Israeli Fascism
It Can Happen Here
By URI AVNERY
The German name Sternhell means bright as the stars. The name fits: the positions of Professor Ze’ev Sternhell indeed stand out sharply against the darkness of the sky. He warns against Israeli fascism. This week, Israeli fascists laid a pipe-bomb at the entrance of his apartment and he was lightly injured……
ENTIRE ARTICLE- http://www.counterpunch.org/avnery09292008.html
[commenter banned for repeated violations of comment rules]
@rundmc:
You didn’t just “go” to PSU. You’re a member in good standing there w. member name phx_dem. That automatically makes anything you say suspect. So first, yes members at PSU are “very pro-Israel.” As for being Democrats, you’d have to provide proof on a case by case basis for me to believe that claim. As for the claim that Paul Katz is pro-Obama, I’ll believe it when you can find anything he’s written that confirms it.
Alan Dershowitz, like PSU, is an ardent pro-Israeli militant. He may be a Dem. but Henry Jackson was a Dem too. He’s a hawkish pro war Dem. He was undoubtedly pro-Hillary. For God’s sakes, even Marty Peretz can pretend to support Obama. What does it mean? Very little.
Most important is the vile nature of ea. of their pro-Israel rants and the violence of their hates & opinions.
You know, on the computer games forums I frequent we call these people trolls – they write shocking things to affect you, and hope to provoke you into an impassioned response, and the more people hate them and write about it the more “fun” they have.
This guy is for real though.
Truly interesting.
The Omen In My Mail
By Kathleen Parker
Wednesday, October 1, 2008; Page A17
Allow me to introduce myself. I am a traitor and an idiot. Also, my mother should have aborted me and left me in a dumpster, but since she didn’t, I should “off” myself.
Those are a few nuggets randomly selected from thousands of e-mails written in response to my column suggesting that Sarah Palin is out of her league and should step down……
ENTIRE COLUMN- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/30/AR2008093002315.html?sub=AR
How I Became A Target For Israel’s ‘Jewish terrorists’
from “The Independent”, Thursday, 2 October 2008
Peace campaigner attacked with a pipe bomb tells Donald Macintyre why right-wing extremism should be feared
Zeev Sternhell is careful about his choice of words when he unhesitatingly calls the pipe bomb which exploded outside his front door last week “an act of Jewish terrorism.”
As a Holocaust survivor orphaned by the age of seven and a combat veteran of Israel’s wars, Professor Sternhell, 73, who was lucky to have only been injured in the leg by flying shrapnel…..
ENTIRE ARTICLE- http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/how-i-became-a-target-for-israels-jewish-terrorists-948610.html
An excellent Haaretz article by Claude Kandiyoti: A red line is needed between Jews, Israel
A discursive red line
By Claude Kandlyotl
BRUSSELS – Let me start with two Belgian stories – unfortunately, not funny ones……
…..These two tales are typical of the gap of understanding that divides Belgian Jews, indeed European Jews in general, and the national communities they belong to. The Jews often feel lonely, even abandoned, when they hear Israel subjected to public criticism, and they react angrily. Most politicians and commentators in turn fail to perceive anything but paranoia in their response. Michel and Flahaut genuinely do not see themselves as anti-Semitic, and believe they are sincere friends of Israel and the Jewish people. The Jews, on the other hand, are shocked by their attitudes toward Israel, and tend to see them both as enemies, who conceal their hatred of Jews under the cloak of opposition to Israel’s government……
ENTIRE ARTICLE- http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1026026.html
Glenn Greenwald
Thursday Oct. 2, 2008 12:33 EDT
The right’s two-pronged religion of rage and self-pity
The Right in this country — meaning the faction that followed George Bush for the last eight years — long ago ceased being a movement of political ideas and is driven by two, and only two, extreme emotions: (1) intense, aggressive rage towards their revolving door of enemies, and (2) bottomless self-pity over how unfairly they’re being treated. As their imminent defeat looks increasingly likely (potentially on a humiliating scale), these two impulses are in maximum overdrive, feeding off one another in endless self-perpetuation (the more they lose, the more victimized they feel, the more they rage against their enemies who oppress them, etc.)……..
ENTIRE COLUMN- http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/10/02/self_absorption/index.html
Apparently it’s only Loshon Hora when “Kapo scumbag liberals” do it. Sigh – do these people have ANY sense of irony, or self awareness?
GH”T and all that.