More interesting follow-up on the New York Times report about my work on the Leibowitz story. The Seattle Times profiled me in an article published today. One important element of this story is an interview with former Rep. Brian Baird, one of two Congress members monitored by Jewish community leaders before they took a trip to Gaza in the aftermath of Operation Cast Lead. Baird wasn’t surprised at how he was treated:
“I rather assumed something like that was happening,” said Baird, who since has left Congress. “If we were indeed labeled anti-Israel, that’s unfortunate. There’s an attitude that anyone who questions Israel is anti-Israel. I find that anti-American.”
Jonathan Martin also quoted this evaluation of my work published in Haaretz:
Haaretz, Israel’s leading liberal newspaper, described Silverstein’s blog as an “international message board for reports that Israel’s courts and military censor withhold from publication…”
The Jewish Forward also published its own profile today which was remarkably fair considering how complicated my relationship has been in the past with its publisher, Jane Eisner. The one ironic thing about the profile is that it quotes Yossi Melman’s criticism of my work:
“He spreads rumors without checking them,” countered Yossi Melman, a well-connected security and intelligence reporter for Haaretz, and a critic of Silverstein’s work. “He is an ideologue, not a journalist.
“He is speculative,” Melman said. “It is like at the casino: Sometimes he gets it right, and sometimes he doesn’t.”
What is ironic? The fact that the Haaretz passage quoted by Martin was written by none other than…Yossi Melman. By the way, I challenged Melman specifically to disprove my claim about Ali Reza Asgari or provide any information to do so. He declined. Interestingly, Melman did contact me for comment after the NY Times story was published, but refused to hold back his deadline so I could actually speak with him which, though unsurprising, I felt was at best incomplete journalism.
Stand With Us and its minions are probably making hay in the comment threads of both stories, so if you’re inclined to register a comment preserving some balance in the discussion there, I’d appreciate that.
For my Israeli readers, Israeli TV will air an interesting story tomorrow about another story I developed based on the original reporting of Electronic Intifada. A major Israeli political insider will also be interviewed and it should be fun. Sorry I can’t reveal more, don’t want to jinx things.
Thanks for your blog Richard. I was shocked after a visit to this blog bajurtov.wordpress.com/ made by jews.
To read your blog is great experience
Any blog which calls Shelly Yachimovich a “Paciarabista” (in Spanish) is beyond a disgrace. You may come here to wash yourself off.
A major Israeli political insider will also be interviewed and it should be fun. Sorry I can’t reveal more, don’t want to jinx things.
Very strange. Yossii Melman’s whinings.I’d have thought there was more freedom in Israel to publish these kind of “wikileaks” things, but now it seems not. That the sources have to go to an American says a lot about the military style censorship,
On the one hand, Al Jazeera had a bureux in Israel when it was banned in the USA during the Bush years despite the demand, and on the other, you have these cloak and dagger type media shenanigans.
Yossi Melman took over Ziv Schiff’s role didn’t he? Or at least as near as you can get. Schiff, knew what he was talking about. Heck, Haaretz does have some brilliant talent.
These views have put Silverstein at odds even with liberal groups such as J Street, but he insists he is not seeking any organizational affiliation, either journalistic or political.
“That’s why I like being a blogger,” Silverstein said, “because I set my own rules.”
People say things without really knowing and just by assuming. The extreme left which includes rabid anti Zionists is much more radical than Richard, yet the Forward makes it sound like Richard is unique here.
The extreme left, who though fanatical, still better the extreme right because they don’t resort to violence and murder (Baruch Goldstein, Yigal Amir)
Don’t know about the JStreet comparison. What exactly have J Street achieved regarding this conflict? Can anyone shed light?
The supporters of Israel in the US have successfully intimidated any criticism of Israel — which makes Silverstein’s blog all the more important to understand the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. He is willing to speak over the “wall of silence” which enables the rest of us to see the reality of this complicated siutation. General Petraus warned Congress that the Israeli/Palestian conflict threatens US troops — he could have added that it threatens each and every American as we learned on 9/11.