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

It’s one thing to be attacked by Kahanist swine like Steven Plaut and Rachel Neuwirth who don’t even have the courage use their own names to create a defaming blog about me. This is behavior I’d expect from someone convicted of libel in an Israeli court (Plaut) or who harasses the wives of Israeli peace activists calling upon them to leave their spouses (Neuwirth–story confirmed personally by Yigal Arens). But what I didn’t expect was a solidarity campaign by Anglo-Israeli rightist blogs in support of Plaut’s efforts.

To be more precise, I did expect such a response from someone like Aussie Dave. We don’t have much use for each other. I could’ve expected him to excuse and temporize in the face of a pornographic assault on me. But that doesn’t bother me because everyone in the Jewish blogosphere knows Dave is a hard-core right-winger.

But on April 11th, I was attacked at Jewlicious by CK with whom I also have a history. When I criticized Aussie Dave’s administration of the Jewish & Israeli Blog Awards two years ago, CK defended Dave enthusiastically. CK and I got into it. I didn’t let him get away with calling himself a progressive regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict despite the fact that he favors the Separation Wall, is opposed to the immediate end of the Occupation, accepts the killing of Palestinian civilians in IDF operations, and approves of extrajudicial killings. What is more insidious about Jewlicious’ attacks on me is that many in the Jewish blog world believe that Jewlicious is a tolerant, open-minded, even liberal blog. I believe that some of his readers may be surprised to know that when CK laid down with Steven Plaut he got up with fleas.

Here are a few of the things CK writes:

Richard Silverstein writes a blog…that focuses…on his far left anti-Israel and anti-Zionist opinions.

This is an outright lie and CK knows it. He likes playing fast and loose with the truth. Don’t you hate people who insist on mislabeling others even after they’ve been told how the person identifies themselves? I am a progressive Zionist–NOT anti-Zionist or anti-Israel. I would challenge CK or anyone to find any place in this blog where I have said that I am anti-Zionist or anti-Israel.

Note here how he attempts to minimize the pornographic content of my fake blog:

The pornographic context was, as far as I could tell, the use of the word penis and a reference to “Little Dickie.”

Here is what the actual text states:

“When I get “religious” then I just stroke my penis to see what comes out.”

More ignorant comment from CK:

I mean, I was prepared to be horrified by pics of Little Dickie’s ass or something equally horrific. But no.

Actually, there WAS originally at this blog a picture of me juxtaposed with a man’s hairy ass. Since I owned the image of me (but not one of the hairy ass, thank God) Blogger was forced to take it down due to copyright infringement. But if CK had looked early enough in the life of the blog he would’ve seen precisely what he claims WOULD HAVE horrified him.

More lies:

he considers anyone who disagrees with him and says so on his blog to be a harasser.

CK disagrees with me on my blog. I consider him to be an annoying, lying SOB. But he isn’t a harasser. Not nearly in the sense that Plaut and Neuwirth are. Harassers wish cancer on you. Harassers call you vulgar, racist epithets. Harassers publicize your e mail address on their websites (like Masada2000 used to do). But just because CK is an oaf doesn’t make him a harasser.

And here is where CK begins to normalize Plaut’s aberrant behavior making it kosher to maul those you despise by calling them Nazis and kapos and the like:

If he puts his opinions out there, he shouldn’t cry if people disagree…What annoys me most about Mr. Silverstein is what a whiny bitch he is.

Remember what men used to say about women who were assaulted: “she got what she had coming to her.” That last phrase reminds me of such despicable rationalization of hate. This is what is most dangerous about Jewlicious’ countenancing of Plaut’s site. Jewlicious is respected by some in the Jewish blog world (why in heaven’s name I don’t know, but it is). If this site says it’s OK to go after some of us because our “opinions are simply too offensive and too off the radar” or “hateful and even patently idiotic” (CK’s characterization of my views) then where will this stop? And who’s next?

This is why I supported Tim O’Reilly’s call for a blogger code of conduct in the face of the death threat Kathy Sierra faced. We desperately need such a code of conduct in the Jewish blogosphere. And it should begin with not accepting cowardly defaming attacks on our fellow Jewish bloggers even if we despise their views.

I call upon my fellow Jewish bloggers to criticize Jewlicious for countenancing such horrific and hateful behavior against our fellow Jewish bloggers. I call upon every blogger whose attacks on me are linked in this blog (besides Jewlicious and Aussie Dave–Zionist Youngster and Daily Scoreboard), to say in your blogs that you don’t approve of the defaming blog or its use of your material in it. You don’t have to agree with me or like me. But don’t let a cowardly anonymous Kahanist appropriate my name, my reputation and my identity to attempt to bring shame upon me amongst my peers. Hooking up with freaks like that is not kosher. That should be beyond the pale.

I would also challenge CK to say publicly whether he has had contact, collaborated, or coordinated in any way his attack on me with the anonymous creator of my defaming blog.

UPDATE: Since originally writing this post, I have learned that an anonymous party claims ownership of the fake blog, furthermore stating that Steven Plaut has not participated in its creation. A reporter tells me Plaut has denied his involvement. So while I have no idea whether the anonymous party is being truthful, it is possible that Plaut is either not involved in the blog, is partially involved, or that the blog claimant is lying and Plaut is fully responsible. I don’t yet know for sure which is the case. My impression of Plaut’s authorship was based on a number of factors, including Roland Rance’s firm conviction that Plaut was responsible for the separate blog of which he is a victim.

The counterfeit blog purporting to be authored by me was created in the immediate aftermath of a series of posts I wrote criticizing Rachel Neuwirth, which leads me to believe that she has had some direct or indirect involvement in the creation of this website. Again, I cannot yet determine the extent of that involvement, if any, though it appears likely to me there is some, if not more than that.