This post should be subtitled, My Smear With 
Many of you know I wrote a critique of Israel’s hasbara-infused emergency relief efforts in Haiti, The Zionization of Disaster Relief. Israel’s medical team left 11 days after they arrived, roughly at the same time the world’s TV cameras shut off their lights and went home. The post drew a lot of attention here and elsewhere. I was surprised a few days ago to start seeing visits to my blog from a Huffington Post blog post by Alan Dershowitz attacking those who criticized Israel’s relief effort in Haiti. I searched diligently for a link back to my blog post but couldn’t find any.
Since I have a deep aversion to Der Dersh’s vicious rhetorical style, lies and distortions I never read what he wrote. But a reader has now done me the favor and notes that Dershowitz has done something rather extraordinary. He’s named and quoted my blog post and claimed it was published at a neo-Nazi website. I kid you not. The ballsy nerve of this guy is astounding!
The neo-Nazi website ReportersNotebook.com features a blog entitled “The Zionization of Disaster Relief.” It accuses Israel of “exploiting the suffering of poor, defenseless Haitians on behalf of Israeli Triumphalism.” It complains that Israel is rendering medical aid to Haiti only to deflect attention from its crimes against the Palestinians.
Anyone reading this will come away with the impression that I wrote a blog post for a neo-Nazi website. Now, lest you think this was an accident: my blog post was REPUBLISHED at this site without my knowledge or permission. The site credited me by name as author of the post and linked to the original blog post at this site.
I have a long history of critiquing Dershowitz’s garbage here so his “mistake” or whatever he’ll call it is nothing of the sort. He’s really a sly fellow. He doesn’t go so far as to name me as author, he merely quotes from my post and mentions the neo-Nazi connection. This allows him and all the other pro-Israel hasbarist scoundrels to shrey about my work being loved by neo-Nazis. If someone was dull enough they might even think that I published the work at that site.
This is a common tactic by idiot wind pro-Israel bloggers and pamphleteers like David Horowitz at Frontpagemagazine and Joseph Weissman at Seismic Shock, among others. The less degrees of separation they can find between you and Hitler supposedly defames and diminishes you. In reality, a reasonable person understands that in the internet age anyone can quote or republish anything and there’s little you can do about it. But it gives them a chance to infer that you hang out with neo-Nazis, ergo…
Needless to say, I jotted off a firm note to HuffPo’s editors insisting that they correct the misattribution. One of them replied that they “will address it.” So far so good. But I await a full resolution of the matter.
Sue the bastard, Richard, He slandered you.
can you ask dershowitz please to condemn us too? that would be great. thanks.
He seems to like making enemies so it shouldn’t be a problem. Write something nasty about him & he’ll prob. put you on his enemies list too.
It could become a status symbol, complete with a T-shirt printed with the saying, “I’m on Dersh’s Sh*t List”.
If he thought you were irrelevant he wouldn’t be trying to smear you. It only proves your blog is moving up and up…
I’ve seen other attempts at smearing this blog. All sad really. They don’t even warrant a response.
It’s quite telling of the intellectual character of Zionists, that they hang on by a lint of logic.
The best comment about Dershowitz that I have heard to this day was in The Simpsons, one of the Halloween specials. Krusty the Clown apparently has the Golem in his dressing room. When Bart sees this, he asks Krusty what the Golem is. Krusty’s answer: “He is the legendary defender of the Jewish people. Like Alan Dershowitz but with a conscience.”
You were slandered by a guy who made a career out of keeping wife murderers out of jail. If he does not like you, that means you are on the right path Richard.
If you weren’t on Dershie’s enemies list I’d have to question my own judgment!
What kind of reactionary nonsense is this? Every good defense attorney makes a career out of keeping suspected criminals out of jail – more power to them I say.
There are enough good reasons to despise Dershowitz; that he’s good in his day job shouldn’t be one of them.
Claus von Bulow was a sleazeball. He & Dersh were meant for ea. other. Not to mention that megabuck fee von Bulow paid him to keep him off the electric chair. Dersh’s day job is to be a propagandist for Israel’s worst policies. He’s also a law professor who apparently sees it as part of his academic role to get tenure denied to faculty of academic institutions out side his own. I haven’t heard of a case he’s actually argued in ages.
Don’t forget, our Dersh was also on the O.J. Simpson defense team that got him off.
But of course, his worst offenses are defending Zionist whores and whoredom!
I may be a bit old fashioned, but we prefer to be called prostitutes.
That’s right. I forgot about O.J. Shilling for murderers whether it’s in court or in Gaza.
I think using terms like “whores” goes too far with the rhetoric. I think we can make out point w/o going there.
Perhaps I should explain my irritation Gene: The vast majority of the practitioners of ‘whoredom’ come from vulnerable groups which are coerced into this harsh and dangerous occupation because some men, apparently, have a need for it. The many ways that are used to force women and children into this that can be seen throughout the world clearly show that demand is higher than voluntary supply. Even in my country where prostitution is legal, it is not as if women and boys are lining up to do the job. Studies have shown that approximately 80 percent of prostitutes are not in the business on a voluntary basis. It therefore annoys me when ‘whore’ and ‘whoredom’ are used as terms for people without any principles who are willing to do just anything as long as they can benefit from it. Especially as in English there is not even a proper swearword for the truly unprincipled party, namely the kind of man whose ‘demand’ is the cause of all the abuse.
When I was in Amsterdam a few years ago I noticed that all of the prostitutes appeared to be of African or Asian origin. I don’t recall noticing a single white European.
You’re absolutely right Shirin: It’s the new slave trade. Dutch women are protected by the social system and so the sex industry (which preys on vulnerable people), drags women from poor countries across the world to Amsterdam. There are white women though, but again, mostly imported (from Eastern Europe). The idea behind the legalization was that it would offer women more protection, and diminish the power of pimps, but it is widely acknowledged now that the policy failed miserably and that abuse is still the norm. There is nothing ‘progressive’ about it. (But I know this is off topic, and also; I too use strong terms when I am angry.)
Fiddler, a good defense attorney makes sure his client’s rights are upheld in the criminal proceedings. It is not an attorney’s job to necessarily get his client acquitted, especially not if he lies to the court. An attorney is an officer of the court,and it is unethical to present erroneous information to a jury or in any stage of a court matter, in order to secure an acquittal or a dismissal.
A good attorney represents his client with the aim of acquitting him if he is innocent. Otherwise, that attorney will do his or her best to make sure the client is fairly represented and that his rights are protected.
Mary, of course I was overly simplistic. Ikke’s line that I quoted struck me as the stereotypical reactionary attitude that identifies attorneys with their clients and generally sees defendants’ rights getting in the way of convictions as a bad thing.
I wasn’t trying to lay out the finer points of court proceedings, for which you’d be better qualified anyway.
On the other hand, there are sleazy types like Dersh who are happy to fight for the freedom of murderers, ethics be damned.
I think there are people who are going to latch on to whatever “results” Dersh presents from his non-investigation, know they’re bogus, but present them as truth anyway. This is the grand tradition.
That’s a hilarious line about Dersh. Thanks for sharing it.
I can’t decide whether Dershowitz is a delusional madman, a conscienceless scumbag, or both.
I think the defense of the wife murderer took place only about a year or so before I arrived in Rhode Island…
I like what mary says above.
Remember what Lee Hays (the Weavers) said:
” If it wasn’t for the honor, I’d just as soon not have been blacklisted…”
Richard, if I could send you money, I would, this blog is such a mitzvah. Thank you for your work and patience…
You can send a donation which is always gratefully appreciated–through Paypal. The button is in the sidebar.
I see that you rattled the guy. That can only be good.
RE: “DERSHOWITZ ACCUSES ME OF PUBLISHING AT NEO-NAZI SITE” – RS
MY COMMENT: Be careful Mr. Silverstein; he has you in his crosshairs. Perhaps he has decided to make “Silverstein” the new “Finkelstein” (formerly of DePaul). Oh dear, I’ve probably just ruffled his feathers. Sorry about that!
OT but the AAI sent me a list of Arab donors to Haiti, that I wanted to share with you:
ALGERIA
Granted $1 million in emergency humanitarian aid.
BAHRAIN
Sent a disaster relief team to provide aid, pledged $1 million in relief and the Bahrain Red Crescent Society appealed for donations for Haiti.
EGYPT
Allocated medical supplies and personnel.
JORDAN
Established a 12-bed military hospital in Port-au-Prince, and are also feeding children who enter; dispatched two planes carrying a mobile field hospital, rescue team, doctors and six tons of aid supplies that include food, medicine and clothing.
KUWAIT
Sent 100 tons of food, medical supplies, tents and blankets; donated $1 million, delivered through the country’s Red Crescent Society;
LEBANON
Airlifted 25 tons of tents, 3 tons of medicine, vaccines and other supplies; sent aid workers to help in relief effort.
MOROCCO
Sent $1 million worth of medical and pharmaceutical supplies.
PALESTINE
Individuals donated money, food and clothing to the Red Cross.
QATAR
Mobilized 26-person rescue team of soldiers, police and medical professionals; sent 50 tons of aid.
SAUDI ARABIA
Donated $50 million, which will be directed through the United Nations.
SYRIA
Airlifted 30 tons of humanitarian aid.
TUNISIA
Allocated $1 million to the United Nations Emergency Fund that was created for Haiti relief.
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Contributed over $2.6 million; three UAE charities donated more than 200 tons of medical equipment, tents and blankets, food and drinking water.
Thanks for this list. A reader earlier commented that S.A. had given $500 million & I erronenously repeated this. Let’s note that the amt. is $50 million, still meaningful.
That was me. I included the link to the article where it said $500 million. I think it was a typo in the article and I suspected the $500 million was a tad high.
No harm. We’ve corrected the record thanks to Gloopy Gal.
So Richie – just how much money did YOU donate to the poor Haitians?
Enquiring readers want to know!
First, it’s none of yr business. But I’ll make you a deal, I’ll answer the question if you do (& I want to know who you have to & how much). If you don’t then you’re a hypocrite.
And if you do respond perhaps readers would be so good as to tell us how much they gave to Haitian relief as a result of my Haiti relief ads in my blogroll.
I read Dersh’s item but found no mention of YOU! Maybe you are suffering from the Carly Simon song complex?
Precisely the pt moron. He MISATTRIBUTED the post. Do you understand what this means? He didn’t credit me as the author & credited MY post to a site where it did not originate.
[comment deleted for violating comment rules]
Mary and Richard, here is the quote from the report link given in a prior post by Mary, the 500 million wasn’t for Haitian relief,that figure was from 2008:
“In 2008, when the WFP issued an urgent call for funds in light of increased food and fuel prices that raised global hunger and poverty levels, Saudi Arabia pledged $500 million, leading the WFP to recognise King Abdullah as a “Champion in the Battle Against Hunger.”
This time, for Haiti, KSA pledged 50 million, so they are two different instances.