חשיפה: השב”כ עצר את פעיל הימין הקיצוני פיני שנדורפי, בן הרב הקיצוני יגאל שנדורפי
Yesterday, Israel’s digital media held an annual conference. One of the subjects was the press’ relationship to the ever-present Israeli military censor. As in the past, the current censor appeared on the panel. And as in the past, she was peppered by questions about the stupidity, irksomeness and ineffectuality of Israel’s censorship regime. She was asked about several major stories I broke including the Boris Krasny and Anat Kamm cases. As you might imagine (and again, as has happened in the past), this blog and I came up in the questions posed to her.
But unlike in the past, when Sima Vaknin-Gil was the censor and she attempted to minimize the importance of the role I play in reporting Israeli security stories, the new censor, Col. Ariella Ben Avraham, went to town on me. Ice reports this interchange:
“The name of the blogger, Richard Silverstein, came up more than once during the panel, regarding bloggers who don’t fall under jurisdiction of Israeli censorship, and publish information from their residences in the US about explosive Israeli security stories–among them, the story of Kam’s arrest. According to censor Ben Avraham, ‘relations between the censor and bloggers abroad is a big issue, where censorship is not the way you handle it. But if you’re going to do malicious damage, we’ll meet again [we will deal with him] in the future…’”
The level of coarseness and braggadocio is unprecedented compared to the relative humility of Vaknin Gil. That’s probably why Bogie Yaalon accepted the latter’s resignation and appointed the current attack dog, who has already expanded the censor’s reach into the entire realm of social media.
This threat comes in the form of an I-dare-you, I-double-dare-you scenario of children in the playground. Either she’s threatening that she will sic the dogs of the Israeli security apparatus on me here in Seattle; or she’s daring me to come to Israel where she and her security cronies can get their hands on me. Though I don’t relish putting myself in jeopardy for the sake of staring down an Israeli bully, it might be worth calling her bluff someday.
Who knows, if the Digital media conference invites me next year, I might come. That should set off fireworks. Either Ben Avraham arrests me at the airport and throws me in the Shin Bet dungeons; or they don’t and I get to face her at the conference. Though knowing how these apparatchiks work, she’ll refuse to give me the pleasure of showing up, thinking that this will somehow further validate my importance.
She behaved in a similar manner when I called her directly several weeks ago while I was reporting a story involving her office. I asked her a series of questions and every single one I asked she answered with the same few words: “I cannot talk to you. You will have to call the IDF spokesperson.” It got to be where I thought I was talking to an IDF robot.
Ben Avraham, in her remarks made one statement which hovers somewhere between a lie and a deliberate obfuscation. It concerns the case of Krasny, Israel premier corporate lobbyist who once was a double agent for the Mossad who betrayed Marcus Klingberg, the Soviet Union’s top spy in Israel. At a conference last autumn, an MK mentioned Krasny’s name to criticize the stifling impact that lobbying has in Israeli politics. The remarks were immediately censored, even though the MK didn’t mention Krasny’s past working for the Shabak.
In her comments Ben Avraham claimed that she had no interest in Krasny’s political activities and that reference to him was censored not because of his powerful lobbying interests, but solely because of his security record. This is disproven on its face by the fact that Miki Rosenthal, the MK who mentioned Krasny, never mentioned the latter’s job working for the Mossad. So in effect, the censor is protecting Krasny from facing any criticism for his current toxic impact on Israel’s political system.
While we’re at it, why don’t we tweak the censor once again by reporting yet another story that is under gag order. This one involves the arrest of Israeli Jewish settler, Pini Shandorfi age 22, who was detained by the Shin Bet for unspecified security offenses. As readers know, in the aftermath of the Hebron execution by IDF Sgt. Elor Azarya, Israel is in an uproar. The far right is furious that the army is prosecuting the killer at all, let alone on the reduced charge of manslaughter. No doubt, there are settlers like Shandorfi seeking to exploit this tumult to execute a flashy terror attack on a Palestinian target.
Shandorfi has a sordid past. In 2012, when the IDF was called upon to demolish an illegal outpost near the murderous settlement of Yizhar, he was among the troops called upon to execute the order. Instead, he stripped himself out of his uniform and joined the lawbreakers saying: “This is how I was educated at home.” In any other army in the world this would be mutiny. If it was a time of war you could be hanged. During peacetime, you could at least expect time in the brig. But not Israel, where they treat settlers with kid gloves. Shandorfi’s “punishment” was to be removed from combat duty to a cushy desk job.
Shandorfi’s father is an infamous racist settler rabbi who in 2009 called Barack Obama a “nigger” and “that Arab they call a president.” He has also been arrested for interfering with IDF clearing of other illegal outposts. Yet somehow he still remains an official Israeli state rabbi, paid by the taxpayers to insult the President of the United States and stick his finger in the eye of the IDF.
Fascist apartheid Israel already assassinates people in other countries who it doesn’t like, and the international community turns a blind eye. Perhaps fascist apartheid Israel will now start assassinating international journalists who criticize fascist apartheid Israel. Obviously, it’s fascist apartheid Israel’s only way of defending itself against the ugly truth of its barbarism, racism, and crimes against humanity.
How different the treatment of dissatisfied IDF soldiers! Some do not want to serve in OPTs at all and are jailed. Some (as shandorfi) are happy to serve in OPTs but not to act agaisnt israeli settlers, and they are handled with kid gloves (not pig-skin or rhinoceros-skin gloves as might be more appropriate).
RS: Wishing you well. The long criminal arm of Israel (sometimes aka “The Zionist Entity”) has acted against Jews before. As Einstein and others wrote in 1948 to the New York Times:
RS: Please ask your programmer (or blogging service) to make LINKs (labeled URLs) show up in a easily-visible color (or BOLD or italics or distinguishing font. It is true that the links change color when one “hovers” over them, but they are indistinguishable (at least to my elderly eyes) until the color changes, and no-one would (IMO) have a clue where a link is from any visual cue.
RS: Examples for previous comment on color of links: This is a red link and This is a bold red link.
Two serving soldiers (one an officer) from the heradi nahal were also arrested this week – at their base.
Regarding the “nigger” remark – Kushi (כושי) doesn’t have the same connotation as nigger, and is a much older name – dating back to biblical Hebrew (Kush – was probably present day Sudan).
In any event – it is definitely NOT slang – it is actually very proper Hebrew to use Kushi (כושי). The negative connotation to the Hebrew Kushi cam from translating Nigger (which was used extremely pejoratively in American English) to Hebrew – the negative modern connotation came by translation – even though many different terms were translated to Kushi (just about any term relating to a black-skinned person was translated to Kushi up until 50 some years ago).
Yeah, and ‘nigger’ is very old too, as it goes back to Latin ‘niger’ (shining black), as opposed to ‘ater’ (dull black). So obviously there is no problem at all in using the word ‘nigger’. Anything else you want to add?
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It’s not the same.
Kushi didn’t have a pejorative usage in Hebrew. We didn’t have black-skinned slaves. Moses’s wife Zipora in the bible is described as Kushit.
In Lea Goldberg’s דירה להשכיר (Apartment for rent) – an anti-racist children book – one of the tenants (the cat) is described as a Kushit…. Potential renters come and each finds an issue with one of tenants – a -white pig- (who is illustrated like a 50’s American with a cigar) rejects living with the Kushit cat – because she’s Kushit – and is rejected by all the other tenants. (the book ends with the pigeon renting the apartment – because she likes the tenants in the building).
Just about any reference to black-skinned people (or animals!) was translated to Kushi. so –
African-American => Kushi
Negro => Kushi
Black => Kushi
and also Nigger => Kushi
Kushi wasn’t used locally, in Hebrew, as a pejorative term – it gained a loose association with Nigger by translation from English – really association by translation.
And it is definitely not slang – it is a very old (biblical – so at least 2500 years) Hebrew word.
@ lepxii: Please stop giving Hebrew lessons. You are so wrong & out of date.
Kushi is never used to replace the world “Black.” The word “Shachor” is always used in such a context and has no pejorative connotation, just as “Black” doesn’t in English. Kushi is also never an equivalent for African-American. Never.
Hebrew Wikipedia has an entire section on Kushi as a racist term. Go read it if you can: https://he.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%9B%D7%95%D7%A9%D7%99#.22.D7.9B.D7.95.D7.A9.D7.99.22_.D7.9B.D7.9B.D7.99.D7.A0.D7.95.D7.99_.D7.92.D7.96.D7.A2.D7.A0.D7.99
Virtually every word you write above is trash.
BTW, Leah GOldberg died 20 years ago and the poem you refer to may’ve been written 50 years ago (is that the last time you had contact with the language–because it seems so?). Language isn’t static. As I said, some Hebrew speakers who are aged may’ve used a term 50 years ago that was completely acceptable socially, but which isn’t now. Also, Leah Goldberg had virtually no contact or association with anyone Black in the Israel of her day.
You’re done in this thread. Move on.
How interesting. Over here cats are also often called “Blackie”. People not so much though. You are grasping at straws.
@ lepxii: That is false. Of course the word kushi is an old Biblical name. But that doesn’t mean the word today retains the same meaning as it did long ago. Today, the word is the Hebrew equivalent of the “N” word. Nor is it “proper” to use the term today. The only Israelis who use the term are the ones so old that they first learned and used it decades ago when it was not considered as pejorative as it is now.
I communicate regularly with Israelis and read tens of thousands of Hebrew language articles each year and have never seen the word used once, unless it was meant pejoratively by the Hebrew speaker. You are woefully uninformed.
Actually “כושית” was the name of a wife that Moses took and is interpreted as ‘ beauty, comeliness etc’
Yup, and ‘yid’ goes back to ‘Yehuda’, son of Jacob, and ‘hymie’ goes back to ‘hyman’ (‘life’) so no problem with using those words for Jews either, right?
Words change in meaning and connotation over time. Get it?
Obviously there was a philological side to the comments above. No one is interested in using the ‘n’ word.
But according to your thought “Words change in meaning and connotation over time. Get it?” it seems that this applies today to the anti-semite/Zionist/Israeli synonyms.
.i.e.”Yup, and ‘yid’ goes back to ‘Yehuda’, son of Jacob, and ‘hymie’ goes back to ‘hyman’ (‘life’) so no problem with using those words for Jews either, right?”
I don’t understand your point in as much as the examples above are not in the pejorative and Jews use them between themselves.
Also ‘hymie’ goes back to ‘hyman’ (‘life’). Hyman is not life but ‘chaiim’ is life. If someone does use the word ‘hyman’ it seems to be some kind of error or just a nickname with no negative implications.
@ iliya: OF COURSE those words used to connote Jews are pejorative. Jesse Jackson was caught using “Hymietown” and it derailed his entire presidential campaign. What world are you living in? No Jew I’ve ever known has used the word “hymie” to describe a Jew. Jews use terms like “yid” or “kike” in precisely the same way Black people use the “N” word. It is not meant in a nice way, trust me.
You are, as usual, wrong about the origin of the name “Hyman.” It does indeed originate in the Hebrew word for life, chaim. If you want to comment here, check out your claims before you make them. It’s boring and a waste of my time to have to prove when you’re wrong as you are here.
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They are in the pejorative, and that is exactly why they can only be used by Jews between themselves. This mechanism is so well known that it surprises me I have to point this out to you. ‘Nigger’ for instance, is sometimes used by American blacks between themselves, but it is not OK for you to use it, I assure you. And it is not OK for everyone to use ‘yid’ and ‘hymie’ either. Please quit pretending.
@ iliya: “Interpreted” perhaps 2,000 years ago. But no longer. The meanings of words from the Bible change drastically over time.
Nor are you even correct. Kush, was a place. It may be that women from Kush were considered beautiful or comely. But it does not mean what you claim, unless perhaps the word comes from whatever language was spoken in Kush. That I do not know.
Cush is know as Ethiopia where the people are all or mostly black. Look it up!
You should know when to stop. This is childish.
Yes it is childish because RS is always right! Did you ever read his essay on himself circa 2003 where he states he was abused{not sexually}. It reveals a lot about him being a self-hating anti-semitic Jew!
@ iliya: Ugh, now he’s a psychiatrist! And as bad at practicing psychiatry as producing hasbara. Please shut the door on the way out!
Congratulations on sinking even deeper. Good bye, iliya! I don’t think we ill hear of you again.
RS….blessings for your steadfastness in covering/reporting this essential information…now if there was just a way to ensure that Americans would READ …not just activists.!
@Miriam: Amen to that!
I wonder what that censor was thinking of when she indulged in this threat? Did she have some Mafia style assault in mind or does she really think that Israel has jurisdiction over foreign bloggers, so that there would be a basis for prosecution if you were ever so incautious to travel to Israel (don’t). As a by-product of the Eichmann-trial Israel apparently also referred to a concept of jurisdiction applicable to acts on foreign soil that are deemed detrimental to the state’s interest:
“As a supplemental form of jurisdiction, a further argument is made on the basis of protective jurisdiction. Protective jurisdiction is a principle that, “…provides that states may exercise jurisdiction over aliens who have committed an act abroad which is deemed prejudicial to the security of the particular state concerned.” “ (Wikipedia).
It must be pretty galling for official bullies of this type that even within the very “den of the lion” a link can be provided to your blog:
“Graffitis started showing up around Tel Aviv reading ‘Google Anat Kamm,” which at the time led web surfers to a U.S.-based blog by Richard Silverstein, who was openly publishing details about the affair.”
http://972mag.com/archaic-gag-order-lifted-two-israeli-civilians-being-held-in-gaza/108684/
It seems that if the censor wants to stop the so-called leaks she would have to cut them of at the Israel root source. Or maybe they really don’t want to cut out certain things. We will never know.
Ben Avraham’s reported comment really is stupid and inappropriate. Israel cannot control foreign press, period.
If she wants to go after somebody, let her go after the Israeli officials or reporters, who are under Israeli jurisdiction, who are leaking you details that are under gag order.
But I would ask @Jester, if he has the same angry indignation regarding freedom of press in the face of bullying, regarding violent reactions among some elements in the Arab and Muslim world, when their religious or national figures are depicted in cartoons in Denmark or France? Or is he among those that demand that the western press show “sensitivity” and censor itself?
@ Yehuda: Classic hasbara diversion tactic. DOn’t try it here. COmment directly on the post itself. This comment was off topic.
My apologies, I intended it to be a comment for the post, I erroneously clicked reply in the wrong place. My intention was to not let @Jester’s comment, (isn’t he off topic??) go unanswered.
Richard, I think you could do some good for the cause by reporting the threat against you to your Congressperson. A threat by a foreign government official against a U.S. citizen residing at home is serious. At the very least, reporting it and demanding that your rep take some action would spread the word.