Speaking of Norm Finkelstein, here is the story of how my blog ended up here, and off the Observer site. And yes, it’s a form of censorship; these views will not be underwritten in the mainstream…
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Why I Moved This Blog From the Observer
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{ 16 comments }
That AmCon article is a nice piece of writing.
Expressing yourself is the best revenge. Keep up the good work.
Phil, do you want some cheese with that "whine".
Bill Pearlman is a fine example of how the stifling of free speech grows like a cancer in this country supported by the media, political and intellectual jackboots.
More proof of censorship in America:
Talking about the Niggers. Imus lost his job over nothing.
Keep up the good works Mr. Weiss. You are a hero.
Some on the left (or right) are similarly hateful in their comments and willingness to assault.
I would take your former editor's comments seriously about getting cornered into an issue that can be a career cul-de-sac, if not getting overly fixated in reaction.
Nothing about issues of Israel or "Israeli lobby" is simple, as in good-bad.
There is no position that you could take that would not be proven WRONG in a couple years, and by wrong I mean innaccurate.
Even AIPAC is diverse. Even Alan Dershowitz.
This is adult life.
"These views will not be reported in the mainstream", is an example of you getting into the cul-de-sac.
They ARE reported in the mainstream. Have you yourself not been published on the Israeli lobby a dozen times?
Ricard Witty, if the pro-Israel lobby in this country didn't try to suppress views critical of Israel, Mearsheimer and Walt wouldn't have had to go to the London Review of Books to find a publisher for their paper on the Israel lobby. An old journalist friend once told me that when he was outspokenly critical of Israel at a dinner party he was told by another guest that if he ever repeated his remarks in print he'd never have another book published in this country. From where I sit such threats are real and disturbing. Furhermore, they are profoundly anti-American, which apparently is fine with the people making such threats because America isn't their first love anyway.
Except that there are publishers that will publish material critical of Israel.
And, if one can't find an external publisher, one can self-publish.
Material critical of Israel receives varied reviews.
From the publications I read, I remember Finkelstein also asking for external comment in support of his tenure. If he wanted no external comment, he would have similarly lied low.
You have to be VERY careful to then not silence those that support Israel, in your opposition to those that you perceive as stifling criticism of Israel.
It does happen. Its happened to me abusively. You wouldn't believe the names that I've been called and threatened by so-called protectors of democracy and free expression.
(I also have a somewhat "reactionary" streak. When I am among xenophobic Zionists, I tend to criticize Israel. When I am among dogmatic leftists, I tend to criticize demonization of Israel.)
Gene my friend, if the Zionist web spreads so far and wide riddle me this. How come the esteemed professors have a book deal and I can't seem to get away from Jimmy Carters smiling mug.
A mention of Solzhenitsyn's latest work seems apropos. The world's greatest living writer, a Nobel Prize winner, cannot find a New York City publisher willing to translate and produce his most likely last (and possibly finest) work.
Surely Russian translaters have not disappeared since "Gulag Archipelago". Solzhenitsyn's subject matter- Jewish-Russian relations over the 200 years between 1795-2005- just may have something to do with this shocking de facto censorship…
Bill, I take your point re Carter and Walt and Mearsheimer. Things are slowly changing. The American conversation is changing. Maybe some day I'll get a book contract! Phil
"Maybe some day I'll get a book contract! Phil"
We figured as much.
Good stuff, Philip. I didn't know about much of that Observer history. You're lucky to have had a Kaplan in yr life though too bad he couldn't support you in the way you really needed him to when you needed him to.
We all know that Israeli and South African human rights activists have been comparing Israel's policies to apartheid for years. It took Jimmy Carter–a former American President who brokered the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt–to bring this comparison to mainstream America and he was vilified for it. Things may be changing, but we've got a very long way to go.
Weiss and Finkelstein two peas in a pod.
They are both losers and whiners.
Each thinks they can attack the Jewish community but that Jews don't a right to fight back.
They are wrong.
Just a couple of spoiled brats.
Ironically, I found your blog from Rossner's mention in his Ha'aretz column about your American Conservative article.
As for a book, didn't they try to PULP one of Michael Moore's as "unpublishable," after they had published it? Talk about tough critics!
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