Today, I received the bill from my webhost, WordPress Engine, for the coming year’s worth of hosting: $990. Those who know something about hosting will say: “that’s a ton of money.” True. But for a site that’s been hacked once and brought down by a DOS attack another time, such ironclad security is important. You can’t imagine how many hours I devoted to responding to this nastiness. It’s worth my piece of mind knowing my site is now much more secure.
All this by way of asking for your support. Those of you who read Tikun Olam will, I hope, understand the value of what I do. If you value exposing the secrets of Israel’s national security state. If you value breaking the gags and censorship of the Israeli military and intelligence apparatus. If you value not allowing them to get away with murder, literally. If you value all of this, I hope you’ll use Paypal to make a contribution to support this work.
Last year, I’m delighted to report, Tikun Olam received its largest single donation ever: $5,000. Donations of that size were made not by one individual, but by two! I am so grateful for their support and the generosity all of you have shown over the years. If you’d like to make a tax-deductible donation, use this WePay link.
You should know that what I do doesn’t come free. There are expenses for calls to Israel and Palestine. Subscriptions to Israeli publications. Web-hosting and other online-related expenses. Not to mention the thousands of hours each year I devote to researching and writing these posts. Democracy has a price. I hope you’re willing to pay.
There are other blogs who’ve attracted support from foundations and well-connected progressive interests. While I would love to have such support, the value of what I do isn’t well-understood by the mainstream media and progressive donor community. So I rely on you. You are the heart of this enterprise. It’s a partnership between you and me that allows me to continue doing this.
I donate to many independent blogs, even those I disagree with the authors’ views, because I don’t trust main stream media. One of these blogs that I disagree with 70% of the author’s view and still donate to is called Eishton. I donated because a) I feel I can trust that what he or she has written is true b) I feel that he or she wants Israel to continue to exists and be better place to live in.
I have been reading your blog for about 2 months and as you might guess I disagree with 70% of your views/commentaries. The problem, which was magnified with this post, is that I sense you wish that Israel will cease of exists as it has no right to defend and protect itself. “If you value exposing the secrets of Israel’s national security state. If you value breaking the gags and censorship of the Israeli military and intelligence apparatus”. Every nation has secrets that needs to remain secrets (or should the US disclose the password of getting into the Pentagon?).
I wish you good luck with your donation campaign (I really do) but you will not see a dollar (3.625 NIS) from me.
@Nir Katz: You’re woefully misinformed about my views. Not only that, you have the ultimate chutzpah to tell me proudly you’re going to be a free loader/schnorrer here. Don’t you know Israel was created to put an end to schnorring by Diaspora Jews?? You’re continuing that nasty habit. Mazel tov!
I’m going to invoke a fee for every time you publish a comment it will cost you $1. That’s a reward for your chutzpah. Don’t pay, don’t get published. Seems fair to me.
Richard, He has a point, isnt he?
Do you have a better response – other than whining?
@ Nicos: What’s his point? That I hate Israel? It’s a lie. That’s not whining. That’s a fact. It’s a lie.
@Richard Silverstein
It’s a deal.
I will pay you $1 for each comment that I write on the condition that you publish each one of them as is whether you like them or not. Consider them the same way as the Google AdSense I see in your blog (that some are advertising products made in Settlements)
So if you publish this comment, I will pay you $1.
Gmar Hatima Tova!
You’ll pay me a dollar when the Messiah comes! I dare you.
Let me know when you see such a settlement ad & I’ll be sure to ensure it doesn’t appear again. BTW, my philosophy is I love seeing such ads here because it means the far right are wasting their money by advertising here, where they’ll find almost no support (except you of course).
I just paid you $1.32, since I always do what I say.
Oops, do I need to pay and additional $1 for this comment too? :-).
Thanks for your gift. I look forward to your next comment…and gift. But don’t lie or mischaracterize my views again.
@Nir
I do not believe that Richard truly wishes that Israel ceases to exist.
His post appears to me to be an expression of his frustration with a part of the Israeli psyche
that is trapped in a time warp while the world continues to evolve.
Yes, Israel needs to defend herself but her best defense is a vibrant democracy based on a strong economy.
P.S. I got 3.5609 NIS to the $ today.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=usdils%3Dx&ql=1
Keep up the good work, Mr. Silverstein. I hope you get the necessary donations.