11 thoughts on “Seattle StandWithUs Leader Accuses Me of Being ‘Deranged,’ a ‘Fraud,’ ‘Fascinated’ With Gay Porn, Urges ‘Spanking’ – Tikun Olam תיקון עולם إصلاح العالم
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  1. RE: “…he called me “deranged,” a “fraud,” and “fascinated” with gay porn.”

    MY COMMENT: You have been a very, very, very bad boi! (lol)

  2. “Let’s figure out how we can encourage a broad debate about such a critical issue and not smear our fellow Jews just because they don’t see things the same as us.”

    Richard, you unmitigated hypocrite! When have you shown an openess to “a broad debate,” or refrained from smearing your “fellow Jews just because they don’t see things the same as (you)?”

    You regularly vituperate against fellow Jews who don’t agree with you (or you don’t agree with them), including many who have done a great deal on behalf of their fellow Jews, employing ad hominem against them with great abandon. And while you go on and on about what you think that Derech Eretz statement requires of those in the Seattle Jewish community, you decline to be bound by it yourself.

    1. When have you shown an openess to “a broad debate,”

      You’re here, aren’t you? If I wasn’t open to broad debate (admittedly debate has to be VERY broad to include YOU), you wouldn’t be here & I wouldn’t be repsonding to you. What about the thousands of other comments here disagreeing with my views?

      As for criticizing others, can you provide an example of someone I attacked who hadn’t attacked me first? And I assure you I modultate my argument depending on the level of vituperation. For those who suggest I be thrown from a high building like Seva Brodsky or who suggest I be spanked like David Brumer I don’t shy away from using strong language. That’s they way it is. You suggest physical violence against me and I’m not going to be your friend to say the least.

      Which other Jews do I vituperate against? Alan Dershowitz? Guilty? David Horowitz? Guilty. Norman Podhoretz? Guilty. Marty Peretz? Guilty. Malcolm Hoenlein? Guilty. Abe Foxman? Guilty. Bibi Netanyahu? Guilty. Dore Gold? Guilty. David Brumer? Guilty. Meir Kahane? Guilty. Moshe Feiglin? Guilty. David Abitbol? Guilty. Aussie Dave? Guilty. If you admire any of the above my critique of their views will leave you pretty much as P.Oed as you appear to be fr. the sound of yr comment. They all richly deserve everything they get in the way of vituperation and I am by no means the only one who serves it up to them. Most are considered leaders of our community & deserve deep & profound scrutiny in that capacity. I’m sure they can handle it though I’m also sure they appreciate yr carrying water for them.

      Though I was never asked to sign the Derech Eretz statement, I would do so were I asked. But where in the Derech Eretz statement does it say that when a signatory of that statement violates it by smearing you that you have to turn the other cheek and not defend yourself?

      I’m curious how you got here? Friend of StandWithUs or other far right pro Israel group? Do tell. Inquiring minds want to know about yr own political affiliations.

  3. “As for criticizing others, can you provide an example of someone I attacked who hadn’t attacked me first? And I assure you I modultate (sic) my argument depending on the level of vituperation…David Brumer… Which other Jews do I vituperate against? Alan Dershowitz? Guilty? David Horowitz? Guilty. Norman Podhoretz? Guilty. Marty Peretz? Guilty. Malcolm Hoenlein? Guilty. Abe Foxman? Guilty. Bibi Netanyahu? Guilty. Dore Gold? Guilty. David Brumer? Guilty. Meir Kahane? Guilty. Moshe Feiglin? Guilty. David Abitbol? Guilty. Aussie Dave? Guilty”

    What need is there for me to “provide an example of someone (you) attacked who hadn’t attacked (you) first,” when you have just provided all those examples?! Each of these people you acknowledge attacking personally attacked you before you attacked them? Meir Kahane (who was assassinated by Nosair, one of Sheik Omar Rahman’s band of terrorists) nearly 20 years ago, he attacked you? Norman Podhoretz and Marty Peretz they too attacked you at some point in time? And Alan Dershowitz and Malcolm Hoenlein (who btw was born in the United States, not Russia)? Abe Foxman has come after you? I wouldn’t have thought you were even on their radar screens. Please do share with everyone the details of those attacks on you by these various individuals, and the many others you have vituperated against over the course of time. (Do we have ideas of reference here?)

    “Though I was never asked to sign the Derech Eretz statement, I would do so were I asked. But where in the Derech Eretz statement does it say that when a signatory of that statement violates it by smearing you that you have to turn the other cheek and not defend yourself?” When/how did Ron Jacobs ever smear you? He, of course, is your fellow Jew there in Seattle whom you have accused of either being disingenuous or a liar, and demanded that he recant (what?) or be labeled a “smearmonger” by you. (Last year, after your wife and a friend got after you, you actually apologized to Mr. Jacobs, saying you had heard only good things about him as a person. But then you returned to the personal attacks, even saying he would “undoubtedly have done” what you wrongly accused him of doing if he had only been in a position to do it?!)

    “You’re here, aren’t you? If I wasn’t open to broad debate (admittedly debate has to be VERY broad to include YOU), you wouldn’t be here & I wouldn’t be repsonding to you. What about the thousands of other comments here disagreeing with my views?”

    Yes, I am here for the short while you can tolerate having your feathers ruffled before you ban me, as you do most who prove too much of a challenge for you. And as soon as it becomes clear that I am not another of your “progressive” dittoheads, I get the usual Richard snark (“admittedly debate has to be VERY broad to include YOU”). As for what you imagine to be “thousands of other comments here disagreeing with (your) views,” you have a counting and/or perceptual problem, because those who do not tread very, very lightly when disagreeing with you are not long for this board. (Feel free to prove me wrong, if you can.)

    1. What need is there for me to “provide an example of someone (you) attacked who hadn’t attacked (you) first,” when you have just provided all those examples?! Each of these people you acknowledge attacking personally

      First, these are public figures & leaders in the Israeli or Diapora Jewish community. They therefore merit close scrutiny. Since I presume you believe in freedom of speech, I know of no law that demands that I not attack their ideas when I find them objectionable. The vast majority of my critique of all these figures is based on their ideas & not their person. However, when someone does attack me personally, uses violent language, or lies about my views then that rule does not apply.

      Meir Kahane (who was assassinated by Nosair, one of Sheik Omar Rahman’s band of terrorists) nearly 20 years ago, he attacked you?

      My life was threatened by Earl Krugel, a leader of the JDL. But that’s besides the point, Meir Kahane was one of the most dangerous, vile, hateful Jewish leaders of my lifetime. He deserves being attacked by all right-thinking Jews.

      Marty Peretz they too attacked you at some point in time?

      Yes, TNR has attacked me though I can’t remember whether Peretz did personally or not.

      Malcolm Hoenlein (who btw was born in the United States, not Russia)

      Take it up with J.J. Goldberg, who wrote the profile of him from which I derived that information.

      Please do share with everyone the details of those attacks on you by these various individuals, and the many others you have vituperated against over the course of time.

      Spare us the snark. I’m afraid you’ll have to go through the archives here to find records of all the personal attacks made on me. I’ve got other things to do than respond to yr snark. But it’s all there if you’re serious (which you aren’t) about wanting to know.

      When/how did Ron Jacobs ever smear you?

      Again, Rob Jacobs has published a number of comments in this blog about my views that were false on their face. He has also misstated a number of issues he has written about here. He is either ignorant, inarticulate or more concerned with propaganda than facts or truth. I have clearly stated the deficiencies of his arguments. Rather than make uninformed judgments about this matter you owe it to truth & accuracy to investigate here what he has said & what I have said. If you know how to use Google site search you should be able to do that.

      you actually apologized to Mr. Jacobs, saying you had heard only good things about him as a person.

      You characterize what I wrote as an apology though I don’t remember it that way (& I have no interest in going back to review the record). I HAVE heard that Rob Jacobs is an amiable person. But that doesn’t make him a truthful person or an honest person when it comes to expressing his political views or those of others. He isn’t. He is entirely untrustworthy as a representative of StandWithUs.

      I am here for the short while you can tolerate having your feathers ruffled before you ban me, as you do most who prove too much of a challenge for you.

      That is a lie. There are many commenters/readers who disagree with my views who have been posting here for years. But they manage to deal with issues & ideas and articulate their views w/o calling me a hypocrite as you have done. I have comment rules & only ban people who violate them more than once. If you follow the rules you don’t get banned. It’s as simple as that. If you advocate pushing me off a building or recircumcizing me or beheading me or hanging Israeli prime ministers, or calling Israel a Nazi state or say Palestine doesn’t exist (all of which have been written here) and the like–then you get banned.

      those who do not tread very, very lightly when disagreeing with you are not long for this board.

      I don’t have to prove you wrong. My comment threads exist & prove you wrong. They’re there for you to peruse. There are comments attacking my views in almost every thread and many of those commenters publish here regularly, or if they don’t it’s not because they’ve been banned.

  4. Richard –
    Let me say how very much I admire the way you both handle yourself in your posts, and handle the range of comments that your posts generate. I have become increasingly agitated over the last fifteen years by the visible slide of Israel’s boosters into the nastiest forms of psycho-patriotism and hate speach (eeek, I’m using one of their favourite non-words!) and had often wondered if there could be a Jewish community response to the awful degradation by Zionism of the ancient and revered contributions of Judaism to world culture. To be mawkish, I will say that I want (deeply) to love and admire Judaism but have been driven away by the hijacking of it’s base (Al-Quaida, anyone) since the Balfour Declaration debacle. I’ve come to recognise that many, many Israelis and Jews from the wider world are also horribly wounded by the pariah actions of Tel Aviv and the fanatical sects – people I have come to know of who can give me confidence that there is some ‘push back’. I’m inducting you into my personal Hall of Fame for the stout way you handle the issues and the personalities (ughh) who come out against your reasoned approach. You keep it up – you are representing the very best the Jewish intellectual tradition has a right to claim.

    1. Thanks very much for yr praise. I’m not as troubled by the Balfour Declaration as you. But nevertheless, things certainly are a mess & Zionism has damaged as much as it as succored the Jewish people.

      1. I’m troubled by it to the extent that it has haunted my family. BTW, is that ‘succored’ or ‘suckered’ ?
        I’ll be pleased to visit the blof you keep as a regular.

  5. Fellow Jews?

    Is this how it’s always framed? How is any criticism valid then? It has to be within the parameters of what’s acceptable to the dominant political ideology within the Jewish community? Or maybe just the loudest.

  6. I think Richard is brave. He has to be – because of the political economy in West.

    Just look at Mondoweiss’s front page article on JJ Goldberg’s hit piece on Roger Cohen.

    Read the Goldberg article. It’s pure inane condescension. He sounds like a bad 1980s teen movie villain….

    And who here has been a big challenge for Richard? It’s mostly the same tribalism or hasbara blah blah.

    I think Avram (is that his name?) is the only polite Zionist who actually seems sincere in his views.

    He’s the total opposite of Richard Witty – who is polite but very insincere.

    The rest are very vulgar and resort to the usual ‘point-scoring’ rhetoric.

    This blog and Mondoweiss are very important because they humanize ‘the other’ (Palestinians) and they criticize Zionism (which could be a legitimate political ideology and not a RELIGION! which is what is has become).

    1. Thank you very much. It’s always gratifying when people understand the underlying reasons why you blog & the value of your blog.

      Frankly, I’m glad to have Avram, Alex Stein, and even Richard Witty & Amir here because they keep us on our toes & life would be boring w/o counter-discourse. They also point the way (most of the time) to civil discourse even when you disagree. This is a principle that so many of the “point-scorers” among the pro Israeli right don’t seem to understand.

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