That headline is only partially true. The pro-Israel goons rule the Twitter algorithm. If you get enough of these slimeballs to report your account, it will be suspended for insulting a ham sandwich. Yesterday, I criticized foreign media (see Facebook post above) for calling Ari Fuld, a settler murdered by a Palestinian assailant in Gush Etzion, an “activist.” Fuld was many things. But activist was not one of them. He was a militant heavily armed settler. He served for decades in the elite IDF paratroopers unit. His websites revealed his absolute hatred of Palestinians and denial of their existence. He also organized armed patrols in his settlement, Efrat.
Before commenters getting their knickers in a knot over the term “activist,” let me pre-empt them. Just because someone promotes a cause, it does not make them an activist. Activists promote human rights, environmentalism, social justice, economic justice. But there are no neo-Nazi activists; no Wall Street activists. And someone promoting Judean supremacism in Israel is no activist. He is working to destroy, not construct.
Fuld was not an innocent. He was not a civilian in this war between peoples. He was a combatant on the battlefield. The West Bank was his battlefield. Ynet’s Hebrew headline explicitly used the term “warrior” to describe him. Combatants get killed…on both sides. Civilians do as well. But you can’t call a warrior a civilian.
There was much gnashing of teeth and attacks against me for being heartless and cruel, and ignoring the fact that Fuld was a father of four. To which I respond, tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians have been murdered in this war, many of them fathers. Why not acknowledge their murders as well? Why should only a settler Jew be mourned?
Now, is this “celebrating” his murder as the slimeballs claim? No. I don’t celebrate anyone’s murder, Israeli Jew or Palestinian. But considering that Israelis kill many times more Palestinians than the latter do Israelis, some perspective is in order. If the settlers and their defenders are going to mourn Fuld, it’s the height of moral hypocrisy to refuse to mourn an innocent Palestinian. You can certainly get away with this if you believe Palestinians are all murderers and terrorists, which Fuld’s supporters apparently do.
If enough Twitter users are incited to report an account, Twitter will automatically suspend your account, which happened to me early this morning. Five tweets of mine were reported for allegedly promoting hate and violence. They did nothing of the sort. Did I speak vigorously and defend myself? You bet. But there isn’t a single word that promotes violence. There are statements that drive these people crazy. But that’s not the same as promoting violence.
As for how I was treated yesterday…well, one slimeball urged me to take cyanide. Another urged someone to “beat me down.” A third hoped a Muslim would knife me in the back and kill me. And there were ten or twenty times more tweets like them yesterday. Talk about promoting hate and violence! None of these accounts faced any Twitter punishment. Because no one filed complaints against them except me.
This is how walking liposuction bag @richards1052 responds to the murder of a man who posed a threat to exactly no one. If you’re not already blocked by this aborted whale fetus make sure you let him know what a popped cyst he is.
Your life is easy Dickie. Not Ari’s type. pic.twitter.com/V26DiEtRQt
— The Mossad (@TheMossadIL) September 17, 2018
Two sites incited their followers to engage in this online ambush. @TheMossadIl and Israellycool were the key culprits. The former account even tweeted encouragement to his followers to report my account. Ironically, that tweet which I reported was not found to have violated Twitter rules.
I would ask you if you have a Twitter account to tweet to @twittersupport (or e mail support@twitter.com) your disagreement with my suspension. My twitter handle is @richards1052. If you are a journalist or blogger media coverage would prod Twitter to review and resolve this matter faster. The account will be locked (meaning I no longer have any access to Twitter) for at least a few days while a human (or hopefully one) reviews the algorithm’s decision to lock my account.
On a related matter, it is far past time to acknowledge that Israeli settlers are a cancer on Israeli society. That includes those settlers who are armed and those who are not. If you are a settler your life is based on theft of another people’s land, heritage and existence. Those settlers who routinely engage in killing and maiming of Palestinians implicate every settler in such crimes.
Neither Israelis nor Palestinians own the land under contention. It is leased from God (to use the settlers own religious terminology), who makes it clear in the Tanach that any people in this land who deals unfairly or unjustly or worship idols will be spewed out by Him. The settlers have made a fetish out of land, resources and power. THey have turned land into an idol. They have turned ancient rocks into objects of pagan worship. This is not the reason that God gave it to us.
Nor do I recognize the religion they practice as Judaism. It is some pagan form of idolatry (I call it “Judeanism”) which worships land, power, and violence. My Judaism worships spirit, justice, peace and tolerance. These two concepts cannot be reconciled within a single religious framework. That’s why settlers and their supporters need to read me out of the Jewish religion with epithets like “self-hating Jew” or “Judenrat” (all terms used in my timeline yesterday). But I will not permit them to do that to me. I remain a proud Jew who defends the Jewish values with which I was raised.
Settler militants are terrorists no different than neo-Nazis or white supremacists in the U.S. or European context. Prof. Yeshaya Leibowitz called them “Judeo-Nazis,” which is about right. They must be treated as such. Certainly not by the Israeli government, which is essentially ruled by a slightly more tidy version of a settler militant. But by other governments, world bodies and Diaspora Jewry. They must be shunned and sanctioned. They must not earn any special benefits such as they do now with hundreds of millions in tax-subsidies by American taxpayers in the form of deductible donations. I’d challenge Bernie Sanders to include such a provision in his coming presidential campaign.
If there are settlers who disagree with the militants or claim they’re somehow “different,” then it’s their responsibility to drive these people from their midst. It’s not enough to speak words any longer. Actions are demanded. Personally, I don’t think they can make any such distinction. But I urge them to do so if they can and show us how they have.
Liberal Zionists recoil at such strong language. They are the Rodney Kings of Zionism. They urge everyone to get along. If we just trusted each other or cared for each other like brothers/sisters, we can work things out. Even when the Israeli government spits in the face of Diaspora Jews (as it did in the case of the egalitarian prayer section at the Kotel), they turn the other cheek rather than fight back vigorously. As long as we lie down and roll over, we are the poodles of these ignorant hatemongers. Urgent, direct, responses are called for. Not faint expressions of regret.
I regret to say this is a fight to the death…for Israel, for Judaism, for survival. If you stand for hate and violence, whether you are an armed Jewish settler or Palestinian militant, you are the problem. And you are cursing the future and existence of your people.
According to rabbinic tradition, the destruction of the Second Beit Hamikdash (Temple) can be attributed solely to sinat chinam—gratuitous hatred.
@ Li Hing Lo: And yes, the hatred spewed against me was gratuitous. But you forget that the subjects of this Midrash were brothers. I am not Ari Fuld’s ‘brother.” Nor would he have seen me as his brother as is clear from his own hate-filled posts. Nor do the other zio-creeps who read me out of the Jewish tradition. You might want to take it up with them rather than me. My response is to their original expressions hatred, not the other way around.
[comment deleted: read the comment rules; comments disparaging my Jewish identity are absolutely unacceptable. Since you have published similar comments in the past which I didn’t even bother publishing, you are now moderated. If you continue to either refuse to read the comment rules or refuse to respect them, you will be banned entirely.]
Fuld co-hosted a TV show with Uri Zaki, a well known figure of the Israeli Left.
https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Uri-Zaki-Ari-Fulds-left-wing-sparring-partner-grieves-his-friend-567400
With regards to his political opponent Uri Zaki, Fuld’s humanity transcended ideology. The two political opponents were friends. You wouldn’t dispute that Zaki is an activist, so why argue that his political opposite, Fuld, wasn’t an activist? Because Fuld was active in his local civilian patrol, he’s a warrior?
Fuld may well have condemned the “pro Israel goons”, who attack you.
Of course, we will never know, because Fuld was stabbed in the back by sixteen year old.
@ Li Hing Lo: You’re quite a piece of work. Your comments sound somewhat reasonable at first glance. But you always have to delve a bit beneath the surface. So what is Uri Zaki? A leftist? Hmm. Not so fast. Perhaps he calls himself a leftist. Does that mean he is? Not really. Anyone who wants to delve a bit deeper into your comment should read this not so flattering profile. Uri Zaki, the “leftist” who offered the Israeli government his help in combatting BDS, but who did so without the knowledge of the NGO with whom he worked and was apparently fired for it. Ah yes, Uri Zaki the typical patriotic Zionist leftist, meaning not left at all.
You right wing hasbaroids think anyone who isn’t Netanyahu is a “leftist.” Tzipi Livni is a leftist. So is Herzog. Tamar Zandberg is practically the Red Queen. Uri Zaki is affiliated with Meretz. Leftist? About as much a true leftist as Kamala Harris or Cory Booker is a “leftist.” Which means, not much.
So what were we saying about Uri Zaki? That he was a friend of Ari Fuld I have no doubt. That he was a leftist, not at all. Not to mention that his leftism is being touted by JPost, which wouldn’t know an Israeli leftist if one bit it in the ass (pardon I know I’ve used this term before, but I just can’t help repeating it). Also, when people like you bring the Post as a source proving that someone is a leftist or an activist or for any purpose, know that I’m going to laugh you out of the comment threads. There are a few rare instances in which I’ll use the Post as a source. Otherwise, it publishes more hoaxes than accurate journalism. Hasbaroid beware!
Armed militants who served in the Tzanchanim for over two decades, who hate Palestine and Palestinians, who want to destroy the Haram al Sharif and replace it with a new Jewish temple and start a worldwide religious holy war–“activist?” Not so much.
Fuld might have sung Gilbert and Sullivan for all we know. Condemned those who attacked me? Really? Someone claiming to be his cousin attacked me before the goons shut it down. She couldn’t even bring herself to use the term “Palestinian.” Not to mention that Ari Fuld’s own Twitter account blocked me–AFTER he died. How’s that for a dead man blocking you on Twitter? And you claim Ari Fuld would be my pal? Support me amid the swamp of hate spewed at me? Really? Who do you think those swamp things were on Twitter? Many of the great pals of Ari. Falsely claiming I “celebrated his death.” Oh Ari would’ve loved me.
He was stabbed by a Palestinian who hated everything he stood for including Fuld’s absolute hatred of the Palestinian people. If I hated Palestinians, walked around permanently wearing an assault rifle, & devoted my life to denying the existence of a people which shared my own country, I’d expect to be hated by such people. If you ask Fuld which term he preferred, “warrior” or “activist” he’d definitely say “warrior.” Or perhaps “warrior-activist” which is a contradiction in terms, meaning he would like it. That doesn’t mean any of us do.
He was a warrior, plain and simple. He lived by the sword and died by it.
Personally, if Israel were a state which honored the rule of law I’d be happy for the murderer to be tried and convicted and serve a long jail sentence. This being Israel as it is, it’s a wonder the kid didn’t get a kill shot on the street as he lay there. He’ll rot in jail for the rest of his life.
And the house of the 16 year old will be demolished, even though his mom ran to the IDF to warn them. To make you PUKE, wouldn’t you say, One Hung Lo?
Thank you.
It sounds like we need to start a “Reported by the Organized Goon Squad” victims’ group because I had the exact same experience and was given a 12 hour shut out by Twitter over a comment saying only that he was violent and carrying assault rifles in all of his pictures (a fact).
A friend of mine noted there are now over 160 engineers of Facebook in Israel. There are probably many more moderators. Looks like Twitter has been B2B’d as well by Likud Inc. The censorship also came during Israeli time zone hours for me. They’re manipulating this from the inside.
I’m not sure how cooperative the actual companies are with Israel or other governments, but they seem to be on many ends. I’ve seen pictures of Mark Zuckerberg and Saudi Arabia’s Bin Salman as well.
I stand corrected. We did not go through the same thing. My browser just loaded the Tweets I don’t think I saw before. I only meant that my criticism for Fuld’s settler extremism landed me with censorship similarly.
Those are shameful comments and these trolls/cowardly anonymous bullies who made and liked them are unworthy of you or your time.
In the eventual final fight of Judaism versus “the Jewish State”, David will win.
Twitter has been turning un-usable for a while if you do anything even slightly controversial. Sorry that Richard and Elisabeth were zapped – Twitter is turning into as much of a trash platform as Reddit or Facebook or YouTube.
[Comment deleted: you are banned]
Dear Richard,
Your comments make proper sense, the hasbara trolls don’t. It is a shame that these keyboard warriors can result in blocking a voice of reason who defends the rights of the oppressed. My best wishes to you.
[comment deleted: you are banned]
kosher to comment on Kippur?…this Ari Fuld was a scumbag settler living in a settlement that was established on 2200 dunams of Palestinian land confiscated by the state of Israel…nothing anti-Semitic in calling out a land grabbing criminal and/or not crying over his death
On a sidenote: the French embassy in Israel comdemned the killing of Ari Fuld on Twitter, 6 Palestinians were killed in 24 hours (among them a young man beaten to death by Israeli soldiers in his own house yesterday morning), not a word of condemnation of course, and not a word when 24-years old and 9 month pregnant Inas and her little girl Bayan were killed in a bombing of their house in Gaza recently,but at least pratically all the comments to the embassy tweet were negative and some posted infos about the Palestinians killed.
your account isn’t blocked at the moment. was it released ?
Richard writes that his account is suspended which means he can’t post new tweets, if I understand correctly.
@Deir Yassin: Not just that. I can’t access Twitter at all.
your account isn’t blocked at the moment. i have full visibility to it
I would be interested in seeing what would come of Albert Einstein’s 1948 Letter to New York Times ( also signed by 10 other Americans ) if it wen’t through Twitter today. Good luck on this.
Oh well, one day, the sun will explode and all of this here will be gone. But until that day, the record of wat people wrote online will remain accessible, and Richard will shine as one of the righteous.
There are many more righteous people around of course, who will remain unknown, because they do not have access to internet, or work to improve our sorry human condition in other ways, but what this blog represents is not a little thing.
“I regret to say this is a fight to the death…for Israel, for Judaism, for survival. If you stand for hate and violence, whether you are an armed Jewish settler or Palestinian militant, you are the problem. And you are cursing the future and existence of your people” I’m a bit confused…its a fight to the death but people who fight with weapons are the problem and a curse? Just my opinion but hippy PC days of trying to talk stuff out is over. The only way to reach a consensus is to remove the opposition so lets man up and get this civil war started and done with.
The way of controlling social media by Israeli and Jewish organisations is build on the success got in their organised and controlled antisemitic/holocaust denial smearing. Massive aggressive antisemitism claims supported with holocaust whining, which have nothing to do with the expressed opinions, make sensible discussion impossible. Which is their real goal.
Israel and the local “lobbies” have already for a longer time with rather good success neutralised western politicians’ will to publicly express views which condemn Israel’s actions and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. Before here in Nordic countries leading politicians, researchers and civil servants dared to express their opinions about Israel and the events on occupied areas. Nowadays nobody is so crazy, that they would risk their carrier and ability to take care of their work by saying something that Israel and its supporters MIGHT not like. This after several politicians etc here have had to experience a world wide carefully coordinated and organised character assassination by Israeli and international (where “they” have influence) media, local Jews and their organisations supported by international Jewish organisations. Defending the rightful opinion about Israel’s actions is impossible in this organised antisemitism storm, which accuses the “target” having Mein Kampf on their bed side and all kind of equal mindless accusations which have nothing to do with the core issue. Nobody wants to enter in these battles where he/she is turned in seconds to a racist Nazi and demanded to answer these “have you stopped beating your wife” type questions which have nothing to do with the original item.
Dear Mr Silverstein,
In the Pal/Israel department I have seen many accounts permanently suspended in the last, say, 6 months, accounts who are sincere in their activism and substantiate their criticism of Israe policyl/zionists.
I started to monitor it more closely. I have noticed that no matter how many times pro-israel zionist accounts get reported, they do not get suspended indefinitely. This happened once, and this account @SimonBradley22 is back as @SiBrad
Now it happened to me over the weekend – @qAmndap, I appealed but Twitter disagrees with me, while out of 4 tweets only one was a bit over the edge. A bit. Not my opinion, opinion of others. Quite frankly, I have tweeted worse (which you slapped me for 🙂
Had my account since 2012. Only the last 6 months was I locked for 12 hours, then for 7 days and now suspended. It really is a matter of the paid zionist hasbarafia ganging on proPalestinian accounts.
And Twitter, I feel, is certainly no unbiased.
Happy to see you got back in. Pals need people like yourself. To push back on the Israeli advocacy pouring out on all social media. I will keep following you on your blog.
Blessings,
Amanda