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

Several readers have asked to read this original, expanded version of the article Haaretz published yesterday under the title, In Praise of the Jewish Blogosphere:

I began my blog, Tikun Olam, in February, 2003 precisely one month before the Iraq war began. But even more than my budding opposition to the upcoming war, what motivated me to begin blogging was my passion to speak out on behalf of Israeli-Palestinian peace. I spent all my adult life dedicated to this cause, but until blogging developed I had no regular, public means of expressing my views. As someone who has always loved writing but not been a professional writer, it was important to have a public means of expression since I didn’t have a regular journalistic outlet. For years, I’d written letters to the editor (i.e. Haaretz, the Irish Times or Los Angeles Times). But having something published once in a blue moon was far too frustrating. And because I was neither a professional journalist nor an academic specializing in this subject, my ability to get articles published was minimal.

So when I began reading about weblogs, as they were called then, and the technology behind them, I decided to throw myself into it with as much passion as I devoted to learning Microsoft Word in 1986, shortly after it was first developed.

It was lonely at first. The world of blogs was much smaller then. The world of Jewish blogging even smaller and the world of progressive Jewish blogging even smaller still. At times, I wondered for whom I was writing. But I kept telling myself that even if I was only writing for myself that would be dayenu. First and foremost, a blog is a personal expression of angst, passion, anger, identity—whatever are your deepest emotions. Of course, everyone wants an audience. But if you don’t have something deeply felt to say, then there’s no reason to have one.

In the beginning, I reached out with mixed success to other bloggers with like-minded views. In 2005, I created a progressive discussion forum, Israel-Palestine Forum. I thought creating a Jewish blogging community was a worthwhile goal in itself; but that this also would amplify our message in the greater blog world. Bloggers though are fiercely independent creatures. They don’t want to be organized. They don’t necessarily want to be part of a community. And they surely don’t want to do what you think they should do. So I’ve had to adjust my ambitions and set humbler goals.

After five years of blogging, 2,000 posts, and 6,000 comments, I have a modest, but substantial readership with 200 subscribers and 200,000 unique visitors annually. The Guardian’s Comment is Free and American Conservative Magazine have published my work. I have guest blogged at the “alt-Jewish” website, Jewcy. Reporters have interviewed me for stories in the New York Times, Jewish Forward, Jewish Week and Seattle Post Intelligencer.

But my impact both on the blog world and the broader debate over the I-P conflict is still less than I would like. The mainstream media doesn’t beat a path to your door and even progressive sites like Huffington Post, Salon, Slate, and The Nation already have journalists covering this issue and aren’t looking for new voices. Al achat kama v’kama, the mainstream media, who are even less interested. Bloggers, except for the best known, are generally seen as second class citizens. Their writing is viewed as less trustworthy than “real” journalism. Bloggers are seen by “serious” journalists as shouters, dilettantes and dabblers rather than serious participants in the media discourse. This of course causes bloggers like me endless heartburn. I know that many of my posts deserve wider distribution, but since I’m not a major political blogger like Juan Cole, Markos Moulitsas or Eric Alterman, I have no traction.

Despite the difficulties I outlined above, blogs have played a critical role in the American Jewish community and their importance will only continue to grow. In the age before blogs, Jewish leaders were like political bosses. They ruled their roosts. Once installed, they were rock-like presences and stayed in their positions seemingly forever. Their word was halacha l’moshe mi’sinai. Anyone who doubted it was easily frozen out of communal discourse. The leaders’ politics were conservative and generally supportive of the Israeli right. The Jewish media was a corporate entity that largely expressed the views of such leaders.

Certainly, there were dissenters regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict like Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg and others. There were also progressive Jewish peace groups over the years like Breira and New Jewish Agenda. But with few financial resources, small memberships, and young, inexperienced staff, these groups formed barely a ripple in the communal pond. Their voice was heard mostly by those who already subscribed to their ideas. They were easily sidelined.

Blogs have changed that. Now, Jewish “bosses” like Abe Foxman (ADL) or Jack Rosen (AJCongress) can be held up to immediate public scrutiny. When Foxman refused to acknowledge the Armenian genocide, the Jewish press and bloggers took him to task and he backed down. When JTA published a false ZOA claim that Desmond Tutu equated Israel with Hitler, Jewish Voice for Peace’s Muzzlewatch brought the fraud to the Jewish community’s attention forcing JTA to correct the record. When a Minneapolis Jewish community staff member advised a local college that Tutu was anti-Israel and the college rescinded a speaking invitation, Muzzlewatch was again able to lead the debate causing the college to back down. None of this would have happened before blogs.

Even more importantly, when Israeli policy goes off the rails as it did during the Lebanon war, peace bloggers published almost minute by minute coverage documenting the carnage and folly of the military-political decisions that informed conflict. Perhaps for the first time in human history bloggers on both sides of a war could not only read the words of those on the other side, they could communicate with the “enemy” almost in real time. I think this had a tremendous impact on blog readers because reading the unfiltered suffering of your enemy had the effect of breaking down the will to fight on both sides.

Within Israel and the American Jewish community, there was a consensus in favor of the war while it raged. Not so in the blogosphere where there was a furious debate pro and con. But what was most important to me was that progressive bloggers had a place to speak truth to power during those dark days. We could rail against the blindness, callousness and lies emanating from the IDF spokespeople and politicians. No one could pull the plug on us. And while it is true that we may not have been feared or even noticed by the Halutzes and Olmerts of this world, we could have our say and people listened.

I am not the first to note that blogs have democratized communication and political debate. But this is especially true in the formerly top-down structure of the Jewish communal hierarchy. Malcolm Hoenlein doesn’t give me marching orders. Neither does AIPAC. I march to my own drummer. And that is the beauty of the blog.

Not that all’s always well in the Jewish blog world. Along with this democratization of the means of communication has come a maelstrom of conflicting opinions. The breaking down of communal consensus has caused a breakdown of civility and an accompanying barrage of hate, invective, and verbal assault. Just look at the Haaretz, Jerusalem Post or Ynet talkbacks if you want to see evidence of such chaos. And the talkbacks are moderated! Imagine if they weren’t.

There has also been a steep rise in partisanship. More radical, violent and racist ideas get attention than ever did in the past. Reasoned debate has almost become a thing of the past. Instead, people go for the jugular. I have been unsuccessfully sued for libel for calling militant pro-Israel activist Rachel Neuwirth a “Kahanist.” The owner of another far-right site, Masada2000, started a mock blog in my name which included pornographic references and a stolen image of my son and me baking cookies to which a caption was added claiming we were making Palestinian suicide bombs. Masada2000’s owner also threatened me with genital mutilation. Members of the Kahanist Jewish Task Force website wished that I would get cancer of the rectum.

It would be wrong to see these merely as aberrant Jewish expressions or the actions of lone troubled individuals (though they might be that). For the internet has given wingnuts a huge megaphone with which to amplify such hate and bring it into the mainstream.

Over the past few months, an anonymous right-wing hoax e mail campaign flooded the inboxes of American Jews. It sought to portray Barack Obama as a stealth Muslim presidential candidate who would bring the views of Al Qaeda into the White House. In a close Democratic primary and general election, these types of smears don’t have to have much credibility nor do they have to. All they have to do is instill fear and doubt into the minds of a relatively small group of voters in order to have a critical effect on the elections. While Goebbels championed the “big lie” these slandermeisters work by planting small seeds of doubt in the minds of many.

Blogs can represent the highest values and ideals of Jewish tradition. And they can also represent the basest emotions lurking in the Jewish breast. Often they are somewhere in between. But there is no going back to the days of yesteryear.

I work to improve the Jewish blogosphere by encouraging more liberal voices to join the debate. We need more prominent communal figures and even journalists to understand the power of blogs and begin writing their own. Some like Leonard Fein, Bernard Avishai and Daniel Levy have already done so. But there is room for much more. And I’m hoping that the mainstream media both in Israel and America will expand their interest in blogs and incorporate what we have to say into their reporting.

tags in-praise-of-the-jewish-blogosphere, jewish-blogs, kahanist, masada2000, obama-muslim-smear, rachel-neuwirth

If Masada2000’s owner were Derek Jeter, he might be out of a job or at least on the bench. Lately, things haven’t been going well for him as he’s batting 0 for 2. He’s now on his third webhost in six months having been bounced from two previous ones because of the pathological hate it espouses. And now he’s faced another defeat.

Some time ago, he took umbrage with my attacks on one of his allies, Rachel Neuwirth and created a fake blog supposedly written by and about me. Among the illegal things he did was to display images of me in violation of copyright. I tried persuading Blogger to take down the site because of its multiple violations of Blogger Terms of Service. That didn’t work. So I resorted to filing DMCA complaints about each copyright violation. And there were many. Yesterday, I filed my third. I guess Blogger too was getting tired of the M2K hate machine or tired of removing infringing photos, because they wiped the entire site clean. There’s now a placeholder blog there with no content.

Poor M2K. Where will the bullies turn next?

To be fair, I should thank Blogger. I haven’t been kind to them in discussing their refusal to honor their own TOS regarding this site. Whatever motivated them to do the right thing (maybe it was a lawyer’s letter), I welcome it.

UPDATE: I take back anything good I said about Blogger. Turns out they removed the site’s content but didn’t prevent the owner from accessing the site. So all the content including the infringing photo is back up again. Amazing that Blogger lets someone get away with this despite the fact that it sets them up for potentially huge DMCA liability.

tags dmca-violation, jewish-cyber-bullying, kahanist-hate, masada2000

Yesterday, someone subscribed to my blog, which is something that always cheers me. I have nearly 100 subscribers (please consider subscribing if you haven’t alrady done so) and it’s always nice to know that someone is interested enough in your writing and views that they want to be notified of anything new that you write.

Because I often get spam subscribers I always check out my new ones to ensure they are real. In doing so, I discovered my new subscriber, Dafna Tal has a wonderful photo gallery website about the Israeli Palestinian conflict, Israelis and Palestinians: Bridging the Ethnic Divide. She is an Israeli photographer who now lives in New York. But she has decided to return to Israel this coming October for a two year project to document efforts by Israeli and Palestinians to offer an alternative narrative to constant war and hatred:

I would like to dedicate the next two years to the documentation and distribution of stories that offer an alternative. Starting in October, 2007, I will use written articles, photography, and audio interviews to document and share the vision of 10 stories, involving positive relations and collaborations between Jews and Palestinians from Israel and from the territories. The first year will be dedicated to production. The second year will be dedicated to the processing and distribution of the presentation to local and international audiences.

Here she explains the purpose of her project in the context of the barrage of media coverage of the constant violence besetting the region:

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with its repeated pain and violence, receives an astounding amount of coverage from the media…[It] plays a considerable role in shaping the public discourse regarding the conflict and in framing the public’s spirit and emotional awareness during times of war.

Regrettably, despite a democratic attempt to report on the event with objectivity, the information presented by the media of both societies is far from representative of the reality as it is and as a whole.

The majority of violent events presented by the media – of both societies – tend to emphasize the acts that are coming from the “other side,” making these acts the cause of the vicious cycle of violence, and turning their own actions into “retaliation.” It also serves to increase and perpetuate the polarization against the other. It has gone so far that the majority in each society have come to see the “other side” in a dehumanized way, creating a numbness and lack of compassion to the suffering of the other side.

The coverage of terror and violence by the media is vital, and serves a necessary function for supplying information on events that transpire, and raising awareness of credible threats. Still, the view presented by the media of both societies, along with other influences, is assisting in intensifying these negative feelings and in the maintenance of past perceptions. It serves as a barrier to positive progress, creating mistrust in any new positivism for the future.

Of course, there are many worthy projects attempting to achieve results similar to Dafna’s. But the proof is in the pudding and Dafna has already produced one extraordinary image that makes her entire project worthwhile in my view.

The view of Ibtisam Mahmeed, a Muslim, and Dorit Lubrani, a Jew, at a meeting of the Jewish-Arab dialogue-group “Anwar” which they established in Nazareth is extraordinary. One could say a thousand words about it and still not exhaust its beauty. I first noticed the tender love and intimacy between the two subjects. Their comfort in each other’s company is so striking compared to the hatred and discomfort raging between their two respective peoples.

The pose of one woman cradling and comforting another reminded me too of the medieval Pietas and there is a love, passion and spirituality in Dafna’s picture that is reminiscent of the Christian images. Dafna’s image is so eloquent that I think comparing it to the great Pietas of Michelangelo and others is apt.

When I see images like this one I feel great hope. If two people can bridge the divide then perhaps two entire nations can do so as well.

But when I read trash like this my hope turns to ash:

“Little Dickie” Silverstein is a Vile Anti-Semite…he is a lying fould [sic] mouthed fulltime smearster who defames every Jew who is not (like him) a pro-terror anti-Semite.

Little Dickie Silverstein…cheer[s] Arab terrorists and call[s] for Israel’s destruction. He smears anyone who thinks Israel has the right to exist and collaborates with CAIR and similar fascists.

…The inane Israel-hating smearmongering obscene little web site run by Kapo Richard Little Dickie Silverstein…Unlike Little Dickie’s own scurrilous little anti-Israel pro-terror blog, I suspect Masada2000 will still be up and running long after Dickie Silverstein is rotting in prison for treason and slander.”

…He wants Israel to be annihilated. He is a full time cheerleader for Arab terrorism and Islamic fascism.

Why couldn’t Little Dickie’s Parents have been infertile? And save us from this lying anti-Israel pro-terror piece of bullcrap.

Silverstein,you’re a first class, top shelf, prize winning judenrat piece of shit. I hope righteous Jews cut your throat after arabs have raped your ass.

Most of the comments above came from Jewcy threads when I was guest blogging there last week (this one in particular). One of the first things you notice is that all these comments are made anonymously. The individual thrives on being faceless and nameless. When I criticize the Kahanists I put my name out there and stake my reputation on it. That’s what allows them to stalk me as they have at Jewcy. This person above, who may be Masada2000’s site owner himself, is too much a coward to do that.

As to why the stirring of the cesspool of hate…It appears the Kahanists are restless now that Masada2000 has been brought low due to the mendacity of its owner. They need someone to blame and its better to blame someone you hate than blame yourself for not properly following the rules everyone else has to follow in registering and hosting websites (that’s all I can say about how the site lost its groove).

Who will win in the end? The Dafnas or the Masada2000s?

tags bridging-the-ethnic-divide, cyber-bullying, dafna-tal, documentary-photography, jewish-hate, kahanists, masada2000

Now, we add Aussie Dave of Israellycool as a new honorary member of the right-wing pro-Israeli cyber-bully fraternity attempting to intimidate Tikun Olam with threats of lawsuits. Yesterday, Dave weighed in on my comment thread about an old incident that still rankles him. One thing led to another and before the night was out Aussie Dave had really worked himself into a lather. Looks like the guy really, really wants to sue me.

It goes back to a series of posts I wrote here attacking his administration of the Jewish and Israeli Blog Awards (JIB) nearly two years ago. I claimed then that the competition was structured either intentionally or unintentionally to guarantee that right-wing blogs like Little Green Footballs, Treppenwitz and several others would win in many categories (and guess what–they did!). I think I used the term “nepotism,” by which I meant that the Awards seemed like they were “all in the family” so that blogs reflecting Dave’s ideological viewpoint would be almost guaranteed to win. I complained there were few left of center blogs nominated. I complained that the Awards seems designed for pro-Israel boosterism. In my specific critique of the nominated right-wing blogs I included Israellycool and what I thought was a particularly condescending post Dave wrote defining what a “good Arab” is.

Dave, who is very thin-skinned and self-absorbed, accused me of calling him “corrupt” and a “racist.” We had a long, knock down drag out argument in which I explained that I never wrote the word “corrupt” and didn’t intend to claim that he had accepted money or conducted the Awards immorally as that word tends to connote. This didn’t satisfy Dave, of course. He has this habit of taking things you say and upping the rhetorical ante as lawyers tend to do. I accuse him of “nepotism.” To Dave, that becomes a charge of “corruption” despite my explicit denial that this is what I intended.

As for the “racist” claim, Dave doesn’t like most Arabs or Palestinians. Especially not ones resisting the Occupation. Dave doesn’t even oppose the killing of innocent civilians during targeted assassinations (”…this does not mean that I oppose all targeted killings where innocent people are inadvertently killed”). There are a few good Arabs for Dave. They’re the ones like Nona Darwish, Walid Shoebat and Tawfiq Hamad who attack their religion (or former religion) as corrupt and embrace Israel as a light unto the Middle East (”Yunis Owaidah [is] a PLO Arab who is proud of the fact that he “collaborates” with Israel”). You can call such an attitude toward Arabs whatever you like–extreme condescension, cultural arrogance, etc. But I’d call Dave an Islamophobe at the least. Some people might use a stronger word. And if you look at what I wrote in context, the owner of Jewlicious accused me in the comment thread of claiming Dave was a “raving genocidal racist.” I denied the first two words of that phrase, but not the last.

In writing this JIB series, I found a picture of Dave at the PJM site, where he was then affiliated as a resident blogger (he is no longer affiliated and claims that he resigned rather than was dismissed by PJM). As I periodically do with a relatively small minority of my posts, I displayed his image with one of my JIB posts. Dave told me in no uncertain terms that he didn’t like the caption. But he NEVER told me he owned copyright; NEVER told me to take it down; NEVER filed a DMCA or Cease and Desist order which provides legal notice that you wish someone to remove something that violates copyright. I assumed that PJM owned copyright to the image since I found it there. To be fair, Dave claims that he said at his site that he wanted the image taken down (though I’ve never seen the link). Why he would assume I would read it there is beyond me since I make it a point of never visiting his site unless I really have to do so. Besides, this would not constitute a fair notice of copyright infringment.

A month ago or so I challenged Dave and Jewlicious to disassociate themselves from Steven Plaut, who’d quoted their previous attacks on me at the fake blog Plaut created in my name. Dave, of course, dismissed my anger over Plaut’s defamation as trivial. Instead, Dave complained once again about the image (over 15 months AFTER the image went up at my site). I replied, if the picture bugs you so much why didn’t you ever ask me to take it down. He said, now that you mention it it does bug me and take it down or I’ll sue. I did take it down for a time. But his braying attitude annoyed me so, that I decided to obliterate his image and display a black space where his face had been, saying in the caption that the image didn’t refer to anyone mentioned in that post. This was lame and I shouldn’t have done that. I should’ve removed the image and left it at that as Dave demanded.

Now, there is no image at all displaying at that post. But again, until a few weeks ago Dave has never made any specific claim of copyright infringement either legally or otherwise. Now, he’s itching to sue me. And he reminds me how formidable an opponent he’s likely to be. Here are some of his promises/threats. They start at shouting level and get progressively shriller:

You said I was booted from PJM and this is a LIE!

What kind of person throws an allegation to the public, and then tells the subject “Prove otherwise.” And if that wasn’t bad enough (from moral, ethical, and halachic perspectives), you ban the subject so they can’t even prove otherwise (and I have email exchanges to prove otherwise which I will likely post on my blog to show what a liar you are).

By the way, I AM a lawyer and I am compiling some of your defamatory statements about me (incl. accusing me of being corrupt wrt the JIBs and making an agreement with LGF, accusing me of racism) which I will be reviewing. And don’t bother trying to change the offending entries…I have a nice catalogue of screenshots and archived posts.

I am seriously considering making an example out of you.

To which I replied:

I’ll post anything at my site that would prove what you said is true. I just won’t publish yr comments calling me a liar.

I can’t believe you’d do something as foolish as trying to take me to court. But it’s yr call. I have both a Seattle and Los Angeles law firm already representing me. A lawsuit would provide me with a great megaphone to both defend myself and let the larger world know about my blog.

His response:

Did you hear what I said? I AM a lawyer. I am glad you have a law firm representing you, since when sued, it is your right to have one. Just know that I am a very good lawyer, and will take you to court if I believe I have a good case, and will achieve my objectives.

To which I replied:

So you’re a lawyer. So you’re a very good lawyer (if you do say so yourself). You want me to shiver in fear? Forget about it. If you have a good case, then you go right ahead. I’ll be waiting. You can say anything you want in an e mail. A judge will hopefully hold you to a higher standard.

His final ‘bloodcurdling’ reply:

Don’t worry, I will.

As best I can see these would be his grounds, I displayed an image of him that he knew all along was on my blog; and it took him well over a year to request that I take it down, which it now is. I’m a lying hypocrite. I accused him of being “corrupt” (which I didn’t). And I called him a “racist.”

Some might see this as an attempt to punish me because I’ve written things about Aussie Dave he really, really doesn’t like. Some might see this as Dave’s attempt to squelch someone whose political views about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are anathema to him. With three websites displaying infringing images of me and two threats of lawsuits, some might see this as a budding alliance of pro-Israel right-wingers like Rachel Neuwirth, Steven Plaut, Jewish Task Force, Masada2000 and Jewlicious out to “get” someone whose blog has needled them for far too long (in their minds). I’m the uppity Jewish nigger (remember that slightly chilling phrase: “I’m seriously considering making an example out of you?”). I’m the nail that sticks up from the board that needs to get a good hammering back into its proper place. Or as Jewlicious’ owner wrote so charmingly at his blog, I’m that “whiny bitch.”

A chilly wind is blowing in the Jewish blogosphere.

UPDATE: Since originally writing this post, I have learned that an anonymous party claims ownership of the fake blog referred to above, 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 the firm conviction of another victim of a very similar fake blog that Plaut was responsible.

tags aussie-dave-israellycool, jewish-and-israeli-blog-awards, jewish-cyber-bullying, jewlicious, jib, masada2000, rachel-neuwirth, steven-plaut

The Jewish Task Force proudly announces they’ve found a right-wing friendly webhost to resume broadcasting the Kahanist spew for which Masada2000 has become notorious. But they’re trying to conceal the name of the webhost to prevent the inevitable complaints about its content:

The new host has explicitly told us that, as long as what we post is within our First Amendment rights, they do not and will not monitor the content. However, I’d still rather not advertise the host and bring them undue pressure.

This of course is public knowledge that becomes known as soon as the domain tool services update their information on the site.

UPDATE: Thanks to W Dean below, we’ve discovered that Bluehost is the proud new webhost for Masada2000. Only took 12 hours! Now, let’s see how Bluehost responds to my complaint.

We should give credit to one webhost which apparently thought better of associating itself with the creepy Masada2000:

Well, apparently we’ve been screwed over by Lunarpages. It’s been a month and a half, they received the yearly payment (in cash), they say that they are checking out some things and to bear with them. But that’s as far as it went. And now they ignore all emails asking why they are ignoring us!

If anyone knows of a web host with a backbone who would be willing to host Masada2000.org, please let me know! It’s time to get it back online!

These guys have been trying to get back online unsuccessfully for two months. I love it! Give credit to Lunarpages for smelling a rat.

Another JTF forum member seems to have a nebulous idea of what constitutes libel:

He has written so many libelous things about her [Neuwirth] and still refuses to retract them. I think she’s got a good case. :-)

God, I wish this ignoramus represented her instead of the counselor she does have. Someone please point out a single thing I’ve written about Rachel that is libelous? Even her attorney didn’t mention libel in his letter.

My S.H.I.T. List entry once again features a copyrighted image of me, thus violating the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. Virtually every other image on the is copyrighted either by the owner or surely someone who wouldn’t want the copyright violated by having it displayed on this site. I would urge anyone whose image is featured there, once we discover the webhost (which I will announce here), to file a DMCA notice to the webhost. If they do not take the image down then they have opened themselves up to serious liability.

UPDATE: I guess Masada2000’s site owner does believe in copyright, but only for those who threaten his webhost with a DMCA violation. He’s taken down my image. But left up hundreds of other copyrighted images for which I’m hoping the owners will also make DMCA claims. Furthermore, the site is riddled with countless other egregious violations of the web host’s Terms of Service. Did he bother to read the TOS before going with Bluehost? I doubt it? He relied on the word of a customer service rep who told him that Bluehost doesn’t review site content. We’ll see. But you guys may want to start looking for yet another new host in case the good, pious Mormon folk at Bluehost don’t take too kindly to your spew.

The owner’s made a feeble attempt to make his site kosher by removing the masada2000 reams jewish women. He’s also removed the image picturing me next to a man’s hairy backside. Though we’ve kept images for posterity and to show current or future webhosts the site may attempt to patronize. I can see that Meir K. Shmendrick removes whatever offensive material I describe here. So I’ll stop making such references. Only his webhost will know for sure.

Israel Appel, a Jewish Task Force member, [Note: Mr. Appel has asked me to correct the record and note that he is not a "JTF member," but rather a JTF forum participant] believes that my life is being made a misery by the resumption of Masada2000 and Rachel Neuwirth’s threat of a lawsuit:

It looks like he is being sued for defamation…

This is great. A Month ago he was all excited that he got the site taken down, now the site is up, he faces a law suit, and is now begging for charity on his website.

First, I’m not being sued, not yet. But it will be interesting to see if she goes through with it. Though no one likes being sued, I view the prospect of such a lawsuit as an opportunity to educate the public about the hate spewed by the Rachel Neuwirths and JTF’s of the world. It’s also an opportunity to test whether the judicial system upholds the notion that the internet is an arena that protects free speech and the expression of opinion. And of course if she does sue, she will make the Jewish world wonder what all the fuss is about thus bringing attention to Tikun Olam and its mission.

I knew when Masada2000 was taken down that it would likely go up again and said so. This is a long battle against hate. If you win a battle you haven’t won the war. But ultimately our vision of peace and justice and two states living side by side will win. And the haters will be consigned to the dustbin of history where they belong.

A hat tip to the first reader who can discover who the new Masada2000 webhost is.

tags jewish-task-force, masada2000, rachel-neuwirth-harasses-jewish-left, yigal-arens

My thanks to Mary Brandel for taking up the subject of cyberstalking in today's Computerworld article, Five Ways to Defeat Blog Trolls and Cyberstalkers (for full page version). She interviewed me at length and we had a comprehensive discussion on the subject. This is a topic that internet free speech absolutists and blogging platforms and hosts don't take nearly seriously enough. Personally, I think we all need to treat this not just as a free speech issue but as an issue of human dignity, respect and rights. As I mentioned in the article, I appreciate blogging platforms like Wordpress which give their users innovative plugins allowing them to exert more control, if they wish, over the ...

A Kahanist allegedly named Neil Pomper was the first person to notify me that Masada2000 had a S.H.I.T. listing for me. This led, in turn to my notifyng the site's host about its content. This in turn led to the site being taken down. After this, I wrote to Neil (if that's his real name) suggesting that if he'd kept his big mouth shut, his site might still be beaming its hate all over the world. Apparently, Neil hasn't been able to get Masada2000 up again. But he's resorted to the next best thing. Any slime bucket can create a blog at Blogger.com. So he's impersonated me, and mimicked my name and created ...