Tikun Olam-תיקון עולם: Make the World a Better Place

My wish is that the comment threads here become a community of sorts for those interested in Israeli-Palestinian peace and the other subjects. Like any community, there should be room for disagreement (and agreement). There should be education, ideas, humor, criticism–everything that makes up a full-throated discussion.

The comment threads of this blog are moderated. First-time comments are moderated. Once I approve your first comment your subsequent comments will not be moderated unless you violate the rules. I require all commenters to respect the following, no matter what their political views:

1. insults, baiting, vulgarity, harassment or abuse directed toward the blog owner or other commenters are not tolerated. Comments which question the mental health of another thread participant are not permitted. Those which accuse another of violent motives or threaten another with violence are not permitted and grounds for immediate banning.

2. do not republish entire articles, posts or comments from external sources; publish an excerpt with a link.

3. support claims you wish to make using credible sources and links; do NOT make unsupported claims. The more outrageous the claim the more I insist on evidence. If you don’t provide it, then don’t expect to be taken seriously. Links to sources like Debka, CAMERA, MEMRI, Middle East Forum, Palestine Media Watch, Campus Watch, Stoptheism, SamsonBlinded, Cactus48, or other propaganda sites will likely be removed. This blog does not promote right-wing or extreme anti-Zionist sites.

Quotations from figures such as Meir Kahane or Hajj Amin Husseini used to ‘prove’ that all Jews or all Palestinians embrace their respective views are unacceptable.

4. anyone creating false or multiple identities will be banned.

5. comments which deny the existence of the Israeli or Palestinian peoples are unacceptable. Comments justifying the annihilation of either people or individual members will not be tolerated. Comments advocating expulsion of Israelis and their resettlement outside Israel will not be permitted.

6. arguing on behalf of hasbarist subjects such as Mohammed al Durrah, human shields, the Hamas charter, etc. is a waste of your time and mine. Steer clear of advancing conspiracy theories. Anything related to 9/11 is a good example of what to avoid.

7. comments which abuse the Holocaust and Holocaust terms (‘Judenrein,’ etc.) for propaganda purposes may be deleted. Also, use terms like ‘anti-Semite,’ ‘anti-Israel,’ ‘genocide,’ and ‘Nazi’ VERY carefully as they are quite often misused. Calling the Gaza withdrawal “ethnic cleansing” is incendiary and not legitimate argument. Terms like “zionazi” are not permitted.

8. comments which claim my readers or I “hate Israel” or that we are “enemies of the Jewish people,” “kapos,” “self-haters,” “dhimmi,” “anti-Semites” or similar smears are grounds for banning. You may argue that I’ve made an error as long as you support the claim with credible evidence. But claims that I am a liar are ground for banning.

9. comments must be on-topic and relate directly to the subject of the post.  Do not repeat yourself.  If you demand or dare me to answer a question or ask a question more than once, I will consider you a comment troll & banning is likely.

10. complaints about the way I edit the comment threads, or decisions I’ve made about moderating or banning a commenter are off-topic. Such complaints may be taken up via personal e mail (but only for purposes of explanation, not for ongoing debate), but I will not discuss such policy in the comment threads nor allow others to do so. Anyone sending abusive or insulting private e mails will be banned from commenting and added to my personal email spam filter. Plus, I’m unlikely even to open the e mail, let alone read it.

11. I may set limits on the number of comments certain commenters may publish each day if an individual monopolizes the threads. If you publish more than 2-3 comments on a given day and your tone is contentious, you’ve pretty much hit your limit. And if you exceed this regularly, you’re an offender. Do not flood the threads. If you do, your comments may be published at delayed intervals esp. if I wish to reply to them. In that case, be patient.  If your comment repeats an argument heard here many times before from previous commenters it may not be published. I don’t want the comment threads rehashing old battles constantly.

11. Any comments or private e mail remotely resembling a physical threat will be reported to my local police department along with any personal identifying information about the perpetrator. I take such threats SERIOUSLY and react proactively.

12. Comments should be written specifically for this site and in reply to something published here. Any comments already published at other sites may be deleted.

13. Shlilat ha-Galut is not permitted. If you wish to denigrate the Diaspora contribution to the debate over Israel’s future do it elsewhere. This blog embraces kol Yisrael erevim zeh ba-zeh (“all Israel is bound one to another”). That means my contribution is just as valid as any Israeli’s and I will not entertain comments which diminish this right.

Those who comment here are like house guests. Anyone who treats my home, me or readers with disrespect will receive no respect in return. Anyone who violates the rules above may find comments moderated or banned. Anyone who is a troll, stalker, or abuser may be banned.

Blogs are the property of the owner. If you can’t say what you like here following the rules you won’t be welcome.

Comments that take issue with my views are fine. But comments containing vicious, obscene, abusive, racist content have forced me to write and enforce these rules.

Proxy servers: If you use a proxy server to view this blog, don’t. I view such readers and commenters with suspicion. If you publish comments using a proxy server you probably have something to hide. This may cause your comment privileges to be restricted.

E-mail: Readers who send private e-mail should specify whether or not they wish their correspondence to be private. I will generally honor such requests unless I find the original e mail offensive. If you do not specify, your message may be published either in paraphrase or quotation. For e-mails sufficiently nasty or hostile, even a demand for privacy may not be honored and can result in banning from the comment threads as well.

Please do not quote private e mail I write to you without permission. I will likely give it, but like to be asked so that I know I will be quoted publicly before I am.