Comments on: Why I Moved This Blog From the Observer

By: David

David — Mon, 29 Nov 1999 23:00:00 +0000

That AmCon article is a nice piece of writing.

By: pcol

pcol — Mon, 29 Nov 1999 23:00:00 +0000

Expressing yourself is the best revenge. Keep up the good work.

By: bill Pearlman

bill Pearlman — Mon, 29 Nov 1999 23:00:00 +0000

Phil, do you want some cheese with that "whine".

By: Qwerty

Qwerty — Mon, 29 Nov 1999 23:00:00 +0000

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.

By: Everett Thomas

Everett Thomas — Mon, 29 Nov 1999 23:00:00 +0000

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.

By: Richard Witty

Richard Witty — Mon, 29 Nov 1999 23:00:00 +0000

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?

By: Gene Machina

Gene Machina — Mon, 29 Nov 1999 23:00:00 +0000

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.

By: Richard Witty

Richard Witty — Mon, 29 Nov 1999 23:00:00 +0000

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.)

By: bill Pearlman

bill Pearlman — Mon, 29 Nov 1999 23:00:00 +0000

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.

By: cooper

cooper — Mon, 29 Nov 1999 23:00:00 +0000

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...