NY’s LGBT center cancels pro-Palestinian event after donor/porn-merchant says it’s ‘anti-Semitic’

This is awful. New York's LGBT Center was to host a "Party to End Apartheid" on March 5 during Israeli Apartheid Week. The event has been cancelled, under explicit financial pressure from a large donor. (Forward did the story yesterday.)

Here, under the title "Don't let wealthy bigots shut down free speech" is a petition signed by Sherry Wolf and Judith Butler among others, protesting the cancellation.

We, the undersigned, are LGBT people and allies who condemn the stifling of free speech at New York’s LGBT Center due to pressure from wealthy supporters of Israel’s anti-Palestinian policies.

A slanderous press release followed by a threatening call-in campaign led to the cancellation of an Israeli Apartheid Week event scheduled for March 5, 2011, and the right of peaceful pro-Palestine activists in the Siegebusters group to meet at the Center.

New York’s LGBT Community Center has a 28-year history of accommodating the needs of oppressed and marginalized groups and allowing controversial opinions to be aired. It is a sanctuary for those seeking a democratic organizing space.

The recent press release by Michael Lucas, a wealthy gay porn entrepreneur, threatened a boycott and defunding campaign if the Center didn’t cancel the event, which it tragically agreed to do. If activists allow this decision to stand, the Center will go from being a liberated space of democracy and free speech to yet another occupied, homogenized venue where wealthy and powerful voices can squelch all the rest.

Village Voice gets it:

The LGBT Center released a two-sentence statement: "We have determined that this event is not appropriate to be held at our LGBT Community Center, which is a safe haven for LGBT groups and individuals. Therefore, the meeting at The Center has been cancelled and the host group will no longer meet at The Center."

But the LGBT Center hosts hundreds of events a year, ranging from A to Z and beyond. Does the Center endorse the viewpoint of every group, forum and discussion that occurs within its walls? Why did the Center find the Israeli Apartheid Week event to be appropriate when it booked the space, but not after Lucas complained?

Here is porn king Michael Lucas's press release attacking the event and describing the Israel Apartheid Week group as "an anti-Semitic organization."

He further demands that the LGBT Center's leaders publicly apologize, and pledge to ban any and all anti-Semitic groups from using their facilities in the future.

"I'm preparing to organize a boycott that would certainly involve some of the Center's most generous donors," said Lucas. "It was an inexcusable decision on the Center's part to associate itself with a hate group like Israeli Apartheid Week, but there's still time for them to reverse course and begin restoring their reputation."

Lucas says he has already spoken with a number of other furious LGBT Center supporters who plan to withdraw all future donations should the "Smash Israeli Apartheid" party go forward.

Anti-Israeli groups, like IAW, are using the pretext of support for Palestinians to stoke old anti-Semitic hatreds and perpetuate Jewish stereotypes. They're also growing increasingly and aggressively pro-Islam.

What does aggressively pro-Islam mean? Oh my god. This is sad, pathetic awful, and reflects the deep divisions within the liberal New York community over Israel. And yes the deep divisions within Jewish life, which is such a determinative factor in liberal culture. Note that on any other issue you would not see the donors coming forward, you wouldn't see the brave advocates of freedom quailing and flailing and folding. But they do, they do!

About Philip Weiss

Philip Weiss is Founder and Co-Editor of Mondoweiss.net.
Posted in Israel/Palestine, US Politics

{ 230 comments... read them below or add one }

  1. Jose says:

    Israel is one of the most gay-friendly nations in the world. If you had to list the 10 worst places for gays, they’d all be Muslim countries. Gays are tortured and murdered by Hamas and, it seems, the PA. What you call “pinkwashing” is simply a reflection if reality. That fact that you wish it otherwise changes nothing.

    • Ellen says:

      Divert alert!

      The article is not about Israel being gay friendly or not.

      It is about suppression of an event by under financial pressure by the porno guy Michael Lucas. And his threats to a community.

    • Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Israel is an equal-opportunity ethnic cleanser, even LGBTs can kick out Arabs. Wonderful !

      I love how it is conventional wisdom that there is somehow something inherently “progressive” in sexual preferences. I’m at a loss, personally, to explain it. This is an interesting social phenomenon, I’m sure some have written about it.

      • pabelmont says:

        Years ago, as a Jesse-Jackson delegate to a Massachusetts Demo convention, I tried to interest a gay guy (manning a gay-rights booth outside the convention center) in casting his vote for a pro-Palestinian resolution. He rejected me and my attempt right away as anti-Semitic. I was so surprised, taking a simplistic view that people who have been discriminated against will side with others similarly d.a. Not that time. And not here, porn merchant or not, but doubtless very rich!

        Perhaps an issue ought to be whether LGBT center should take money at all from anyone (porn merchant or not) who espouses such views.

        I recall when, in 1982, Vanessa Redgrave was first hired, then fired, by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, hired for artistic reasons, fired b/c of pro-Israel blacklisting (and apparent economic blackmail).

        If principle and not finance is to be the basis for ANYTHING in American life, would not the LGBT community be ONE good place to take a stand?

      • Criminalizing discrimination against LGBTs is a good thing, make no mistake. (the recent DOMA statement from the Obama justice dept was a step forward there !)

        “If principle and not finance is to be the basis for ANYTHING in American life…”

        It is, but not for those making policy. They do not have the same interests.

    • Woody Tanaka says:

      “Israel is one of the most gay-friendly nations in the world.”

      That may be so, but it is also the most Arab unfriendly places in the earth. The LGBT Center should understand that denial of the civil and human rights for any threatens the civil and human rights of all.

      • Chu says:

        The comments of Jose fail to address anything relevant to the article. Watching the IBM computer watson perform recently, you begin to wonder if we’ll begin to experience the this type of artificial intelligence on blogs? Jose could be a model example of this half-wit programming.

        • annie says:

          Watching the IBM computer watson perform recently, you begin to wonder if we’ll begin to experience the this type of artificial intelligence on blogs?

          i made that same point recently here, about computer generated answers. some of them are so strange it’s hard to fathom them coming from a logical source.

        • Chu says:

          If you think the canned answers are bad now, wait till hasbara 3.0 is released! [Added, desktop megaphone is another way to get the trolls out of their caves. They just provide a flippant response and go back to their day jobs.] But inevitably we should prepare to see computer generated responses.

        • marc b. says:

          According to an embedded MS Word document found in one of the HB Gary emails, it involves creating an army of sockpuppets, with sophisticated “persona management” software that allows a small team of only a few people to appear to be many, while keeping the personas from accidentally cross-contaminating each other. Then, to top it off, the team can actually automate some functions so one persona can appear to be an entire Brooks Brothers riot online.

          Persona management entails not just the deconfliction of persona artifacts such as names, email addresses, landing pages, and associated content. It also requires providing the human actors technology that takes the decision process out of the loop when using a specific persona. For this purpose we custom developed either virtual machines or thumb drives for each persona. This allowed the human actor to open a virtual machine or thumb drive with an associated persona and have all the appropriate email accounts, associations, web pages, social media accounts, etc. pre-established and configured with visual cues to remind the actor which persona he/she is using so as not to accidentally cross-contaminate personas during use.

          And all of this is for the purposes of infiltration, data mining, and (here’s the one that really worries me) ganging up on bloggers, commenters and otherwise “real” people to smear enemies and distort the truth.

          This is an excerpt from one of the Word Documents, which was sent as an attachment by Aaron Barr, CEO of HB Gary’s Federal subsidiary, to several of his colleagues to present to clients:

          To build this capability we will create a set of personas on twitter,‭ ‬blogs,‭ ‬forums,‭ ‬buzz,‭ ‬and myspace under created names that fit the profile‭ (‬satellitejockey,‭ ‬hack3rman,‭ ‬etc‭)‬.‭ ‬These accounts are maintained and updated automatically through RSS feeds,‭ ‬retweets,‭ ‬and linking together social media commenting between platforms.‭ ‬With a pool of these accounts to choose from,‭ ‬once you have a real name persona you create a Facebook and LinkedIn account using the given name,‭ ‬lock those accounts down and link these accounts to a selected‭ ‬#‭ ‬of previously created social media accounts,‭ ‬automatically pre-aging the real accounts.

      • DBG says:

        There are many Israeli Arabs who would much rather live in Israel than any other Arab state.

        • Shingo says:

          There are many Israeli Arabs who would much rather live in Israel than any other Arab state.

          And there are many Jews who would much rather live in Iran than Israel. And many more Jews who would much rather live in the US than Israel.

        • Taxi says:

          That’s a despicable racist lie DBG!

          No Arab or any other human being would choose to live under the jackboot of a colonialist!!!

        • Shingo says:

          Wasn’t DBG complaining about anti semitism just this week?

        • DBG says:

          Hi Taxi,

          I was referring to a study done by the Kennedy School @ Harvard.

          link to democraticunderground.com

          Why is this racist Taxi? I don’t understand?

        • Shingo says:

          How would Isreli Arabs, who have never been to any country other than Israel, be able to asnwer whether they would rather live in Israel than any other country in the world?

          And why do all 25,000 Iranian Jews refuse to live in Israel even after being offered $35,000 to do so?

        • Taxi says:

          You’re assuming Arabs have no dignity and would willingly accept themselves and their children living as second-class in Apartheid israel.

          You’ll forgive me if I don’t click on your link – ALL SUCH STUDIES DONE BEFORE JANUARY 25TH, 2011 ARE NOW UTTERLY IRRELEVANT.

        • DBG says:

          Hi Shingo,

          35,000 dollars isn’t a lot of money to up and move your family. I would be interested to see where you found that statistic from. I am also not sure what Iranian Jews have to do with Israel Arabs in this context. I am sorry but I don’t understand the relevance of that argument.

          Hi Taxi,

          January 25th will be a date which will be remember as start of a middle east united under peace and democracy. Israel will be a participant in this movement.

          I still don’t understand how it is relevant to Israeli Arabs. It is actually degrading to Arabs to think that an event in a neighboring country ‘changed everything.’ I am not sure where you are from or if you are Arab, but I think you should allow them to decide what Jan 25th means to them.

        • annie says:

          dbg, It is actually degrading to Arabs to think that an event in a neighboring country ‘changed everything.

          hmm.

        • Shingo says:

          35,000 dollars isn’t a lot of money to up and move your family.

          How much do American families get paid to migrate to Israel DBG? Surely, after all we’ve heard about Iran, the Jews living there are just aching to move to Israel, because according to you, it’s so awesome. Wouldn’t $35,000 be icing on the cake?

          Or could it be anotehr reason, like for example, the fact that Jews have lived in Iran for many generations and they consider their home?

          I am also not sure what Iranian Jews have to do with Israel Arabs in this context. I am sorry but I don’t understand the relevance of that argument.

          It’s you that doesn’t understand the argument, so let me truy and make it simple for you.

          Your argument was that Israeli Arabs polled would rather live in Israel than a Palestinian state, and you cited that to make the argument that Palestinians have a better life and would rather live as 3rd (yes I said 3rd, as is behind the 2nd class citizens being the Mizrahi) class citizens in Israel, than as eual citizems under Palestinian rule.

          But clearly, Israel can’t be all that wonderful if most Jews in the US refuse to live in there as do 25,000 Jews in Iran who are livimng under what Fuster keeps insisting is a demonic and inhumae regime.

          So DBG, getting back to your poll? Do you think that the reason Isralei Arabs woudl rather live in Israel might be because they have always lived there and regard it as their ancestral home, rather than becasue they hate the idea of living in a Palestinian state?

        • Chaos4700 says:

          35,000 dollars isn’t a lot of money to up and move your family.

          I’ve made, at most, as a college educated white male in the US, just slightly more than that much a year in my life. And your ignoring the additional incentives that Israel provides — free land (confiscated from Palestinians), subsidized loans and rent, socialized health care and government services that are favored toward Jews… all with a liberal donation of American taxpayer money, to boot.

          Most Palestinian families who have been forced to start a life elsewhere don’t get NEARLY that much. In fact, for the most part, they’ve gotten NOTHING. Same with Iraqis, having fled the US invasion. Or Lebanese, having fled the Israeli occupation and continual bombing runs.

        • Taxi says:

          DGB,

          Please do me a favor and stop addressing me with a “Hi” and just get straight to your point. It just doesn’t sound genuine that you greet me with one side of your mouth while with the other you continue to spout your willfully ignorant racist crap about Arabs and Palestinians.

          And please do us all here and in fact do the whole world a favor and WAKE UP TO WHAT’S GOING ON ALL AROUND YOU!

          EVERYTHING’S CHANGED!

          How?

          Well waddayaknow: after 64 years of despotism and colonialism in the mideast, one plus one equals two again!

    • annie says:

      Gays are tortured and murdered by Hamas and, it seems, the PA.

      source? i personally know some gay gazans.

      • Jose says:

        For a second I thought you wrote “openly gay gazans”! There are none.
        Start here:
        link to
        /wiki/Persecution_of_Homosexuals_%28Palestinian_Authority_area%29

        • annie says:

          oh, because gazans have no gaydar? one of my hosts was gay. i mentioned i wanted to get him a gift before i left gaza to one of our young guides. she took me to a perfume and cologne store w/about as openly gay guy as i’ve ever seen (and i’m from SF). he proceeded to recommend a multitude of scents.

          you’d have to be blind not to notice. he works at a shop in downtown gaza.

          but i loooved your ‘WikiIslam’ link w/the ‘Testimonies from Former Muslims’ in bold on the righthand side. how impressive. where’s the wikijudea link w/the bolded christian converts column?

          we’ve got a live one folks! lol

        • Chaos4700 says:

          Who would have thought the 21st century version of the Elder Protocols of Zion would be disguised as a wiki?

        • DBG says:

          Hi Annie,

          Since you can not trust Wikipedia, for whatever reason, i suggest you do a search of your own. We saw the same thing regarding Egypt and the sexual harassment of women there. I really question your motivation for dismissing everything which is unjust in the Arab world.

          Modern Judaism and the state of Israel is much more sympathetic to the gay community than any Arab or Islamic country. If you are seriously questioning that you should do some homework.

        • Shingo says:

          Modern Judaism and the state of Israel is much more sympathetic to the gay community than any Arab or Islamic country.

          Yes DBG,

          They are sympathetic to the gay community, yet they massacre Arabs by the thousands.

          Go figure.

    • Chaos4700 says:

      Stop exploiting my sexual orientation, thank you very much.

    • tree says:

      Israel is one of the most gay-friendly nations in the world.

      Its probably bad form to respond to such an off-topic comment, but the comment is incorrect …

      From Haaretz, in August, 2009, shortly after the murders in the Tel-Aviv gay club:

      A Haaretz-Dialog poll has found that nearly half of the Israeli population believes that homosexuality is a perversion.

      The poll, conducted under Prof. Camil Fuchs finds that 46 percent of the people surveyed answered the question “Do you see homosexuality as a perversion?” in the affirmative, while 42 percent answered that it was not a perversion. Twelve percent said they did not know.

      The survey also finds that 71 percent of the ultra-Orthodox population believe homosexuality is a perversion. So do 67 percent of the religious (Orthodox), 64 percent of the Arabs, 57 percent of the Russian-speaking immigrants, 44 percent of the observant (traditional) Jews and 24 percent of the secular population.

      The survey, which will be published Friday in full in Haaretz, consisted of a representative sample of 498 interviewees.

      Fuchs said that a certain decline in homophobia can be seen as compared to previous surveys. An international survey conducted in 2007 revealed that the positions regarding homosexuality in Israel were less liberal than in other Western countries, but more liberal than in Russia, Ukraine and South Korea. The level of homophobia in Israel is close to the level in Bulgaria, he said.

      Gay leaders to Netanyahu: Your ministers incite against us

    • Shingo says:

      You don’t have to be gay to be tortured and murdered in Israel Jose. Just being Palesrinian is sufficient .

    • munro says:

      “…when the Christian right was catapulted into mainstream American politics.

      Menachem Begin and Yitzak Shamir devised a plan in the late 70s. They recognized the huge Evangelical vote in the US, but also knew that the Evangelicals were still on the Jews killed Jesus rag, and had no use for Jews as a result. They also knew that Evangelicals hated fags, hated homosexuals, as a policy.

      So Menachem called Jerry Falwell and said We both hate homos. We need to build bridges to get rid of this scourge in American life.

      That’s what started this. Jerry Falwell became the only way that Reagan could communicate with Israel and get a response. Begin would only communicate through Falwell, which gave Falwell ENORMOUS power and he liked those chitlins. It completely politicized the Christian Right.

      I’m shortening this considerably, and adding some smart-ass of my own, but this is the genesis of it in the USA. Frank Shaeffer can add to this as well.”

      MRW June 13, 2010
      link to mondoweiss.net

  2. lysias says:

    Michael Lucas approves burning the Koran:

    Islam

    His Blade columns on Islam have also been controversial.[50] In an August 3, 2007 column Lucas expressed support for artist Charles Merrill’s burning of a Koran,[51][52] and condemned Islam for attitudes towards homosexuals. Lucas wrote “Between the Koran and the Hadith there is no question but that Mohammed, fatuously and ridiculously claiming to be speaking the thoughts and words of a Supreme Nincompoop called ‘Allah,’ believed that two men caught having sex with each other should be put to death.”[51]

  3. marc b. says:

    perpetuating anti-semitic stereotypes? uh, you mean like jewish pornographers? mr. lucas apparently has a first amendment right to produce porn (a right magically discovered in the constitution for the first time in the late 20th century), and to dissemble on about anti-semitism, but really. go eff yourself. why don’t you just stick to your demeaning, exploitive enterprise and spend your free time thanking g_d that you live in a country where you could become independently wealthy making f*ck flicks.

  4. Mooser says:

    “Israel is one of the most gay-friendly nations in the world. “

    Wow! I didn’t know Israel had the power to edit the Old Testament.

    • Hu Bris says:

      Leviticus 18:22: “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.”

      Leviticus 20:13: In transliterated Hebrew, the verse is written: “V’ish asher yishkav et zachar mishk’vei ishah to’evah asu shneihem mot yumatu d’meihem bam.”

      Hebrew Names Version: “If a man lies with a male, as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.”

      Death is sometimes required by the Hebrew Scriptures as the punishment for ritual transgressions. These included the worshiping of other Gods, gathering sticks on the Sabbath (Numbers 15:32-36), improper eating of ritual offerings (Numbers 18:32), ineligible persons acting as priests (Num 3:10)

      All Old Testament canons are related to the Jewish Bible Canon (Tanakh),

      • DBG says:

        Hi Hu Bris (nice name btw)

        I do not understand the relevance of your comment.

        To help you better understand the major Jewish denominations stance on homosexuality I would encourage you to read this:

        link to en.wikipedia.org

        Here is a link to the legal status of homosexuals in modern Islamic countries:

        link to secure.wikimedia.org

        I don’t know why you felt you needed to bring in Judaism as a religion into this debate, I thought it was rather a bigoted response.

        • annie says:

          shorter dbg

          ‘hi hubris, nice name. you’re a bigot.’

          ;)

        • Chaos4700 says:

          TOTALLY unlike your bringing Islam into it?

          This is disgusting. Do you know how many homophobic slurs I’ve endured from Muslim posters here, DBG? None. Do you want to know how many I’ve endured from Zionist posters?

        • Hu Bris says:

          From earlier: Michael Lucas approves burning the Koran:

          His Blade columns on Islam have also been controversial.[50] In an August 3, 2007 column Lucas expressed support for artist Charles Merrill’s burning of a Koran,[51][52] and condemned Islam for attitudes towards homosexuals. Lucas wrote “Between the Koran and the Hadith there is no question but that Mohammed, fatuously and ridiculously claiming to be speaking the thoughts and words of a Supreme Nincompoop called ‘Allah,’ believed that two men caught having sex with each other should be put to death.”[51]

          DBG: I don’t know why you felt you needed to bring in Judaism as a religion into this debate, I thought it was rather a bigoted response.

          O’Rly? that’s a pretty stupid response IMHO, since I was merely contrasting Hebraic Biblical thinking with Jewish Michael Lucas’s rant against the Koran. If he were looking for a holy book to rant against he should probably start with the one his own culture reveres or at least attack both, rather than single out just the Koran – that way I would not be left with the suspicion that he’s a typical run-of-the-mill Jewish Zio-racist.

          so I suspect that, rather than being sincere, your ‘bigot’ comment is merely the usual sad pathetic Hasbara attempt to try and gain some non-existant moral high-ground

        • DBG says:

          I was talking about modern Islamic countries Chaos4700. As a homosexual you should really better educate yourself about the situation homosexuals have to face in Islamic countries.

        • Hu Bris says:

          everything you post here is just a variation on the usual sad pathetic Hasbara attempt to try and gain some non-existent moral high-ground

        • Shingo says:

          Did you know that Iran’s government pays for sex change operations DGB?

        • Saleema says:

          Pakistan is a modern Islamic country. Quite a lot of gay and lesbian sex takes place. It’s looked down upon to a degree. I don’t know if there are laws on the books, but no one reports on gays as far as I know.

          A cousin of mine told me a story about two girls who were kissing underneath the tree at the school yard and they were expelled, but weren’t turned over to the government for hanging.

          Realities on grounds are not black and white.

        • fuster says:

          not at all black and white and in some things fairly tolerant, Saleema.

          how’s that blasphemy thing going, BTW?
          are the Pakistani courts really going to execute Asia Bibi, a 45 year old Christian Pakistani woman, on that terribly trumped-up blasphemy charge?

          link to dawn.com

        • annie says:

          are the Pakistani courts really going to execute Asia Bibi

          courts? wow, you mean they don’t just send in the assassination squad and shoot her in her bed like israel does?

        • fuster says:

          no, annie, and it’s not true that they boil Christians for the meat either.

          how about you either respond to the horseshit blasphemy law …or don’t.

          I don’t think that Israelis shoot old guys for blasphemy. hell, they don’t even do that in Utah anymore.

        • Shingo says:

          how about you either respond to the horseshit blasphemy law …or don’t.

          I thought we were talking about gays and gays being stone in Iran fuster. What happened to that? Weren’t they supposed to have been stoned in January?

        • tree says:

          I don’t think that Israelis shoot old guys for blasphemy.

          No, the IDF just shoots them for being Palestinian.

        • Chaos4700 says:

          how’s that blasphemy thing going, BTW?

          …inside fuster’s head..

          “Crap! The gay stoning canard fell apart! Quick, what’s another good plank of Islamophobia to hate-monger with! Let’s see… aha! If this doesn’t work, then I guess I’ll have to just move on to the worldwide Caliphate canard next!”

  5. ish says:

    Thanks so much for covering this!

  6. mikeo says:

    Yup – Sounds real friendly to me…

    Jerusalem’s gay pride marchers attacked
    3 participants stabbed, 13 protesters arrested as ultra-Orthodox crowd tries to halt parade
    link to bit.ly

  7. Chu says:

    Israel “is a tiny island of democracy in the jungle of the Middle East and Israeli democracy greatly needs our support. It is something that is important to preserve,” Lucas wrote.

    So one man and his cash coffers threatens to boycott LGBT based on his assumption the event is antisemitic? really?

    This manipulation of big money donors is a familiar tune inside zionist circles. What’s gross about this pattern is there always seems to be a representative for Israel inside many organizations, that stifles discussion (with the threat of boycott, etc) against the will of the majority inside the group. It’s an effective tactic, but completely opposed to democracy. Money holds hostage open debate, quite a familiar theme, no?

    Should LBGT going to publicly apologise for this? That is insult to injury. So much for being gay and free, under the thumb of Zionist machinations.

  8. Seham says:

    Yeah Yossi, unless you are gay in Gaza and under siege or regularly bombarded by Israeli bombs or gay in the West Bank and have to go through checkpoints every 3 blocks to get to work or school or gay in Jerusalem and homeless to make way for amusement parks. I can’t think of a more dangerous place on earth for gays than in Occupied Palestine.

  9. DBG says:

    The first openly gay judge has just been appointed in Israel

    link to pinknews.co.uk

  10. Israel and its supporters are relentless in their drive to censor inconvenient truths. Pro-censorship is not compatible with democracy or freedom of speech. Go back to your autocratic despots in the Middle East who would agree with you. Waving a gay rights banner whilst attacking Palestinians and imprisoning children is not progressive, I think you’ll find.

  11. fuster says:

    It’s too bad that the event is being disrupted. If people find that calling Israel an apartheid regime is, at bottom, outrageous, they know the right thing to do.

    “The only way to disprove a lie is to establish the facts,” declared Judge Hadassa Ben Itto.
    Adding that she personally witnessed “real apartheid” in South Africa years ago, she condemned the concept of an Israeli Apartheid Week as “outrageous” and called for responsible educators to set the record straight.

    As for the treatment of gays in Gaza…..

    Zahar condemns gay marriage, saying: “Are these the laws for which the Palestinian street is waiting? For us to give rights to homosexuals and to lesbians, a minority of perverts and the mentally and morally sick?”

    link to rainbownetwork.com

    Maybe annie might find out what it is that Hamas’ morality police do.

  12. eee says:

    What is the problem? Instead of funding stupid boats to Gaza, take the money and give it to the center. That will change their minds. Why not do something constructive once instead of just complaining?

    • fuster says:

      the problem, eee, is that most Americans object to people with money, and the influence that their money buys, using that influence to stifle the interests of younger and less influential people.

      you are of course correct in pointing out that rich and influential people and groups are using their influence to promote their own agendas against Israel’s regime, but we Americans like to think that money shouldn’t talk quite as loudly as Lucas’s money is talking.

      (it’s so vulgar, as Philip is implying with a couple of “porn-king” mentions. free speech is free speech, of course, but, well, porn means he’s not ….. you know…. really a respectable person or something)

      • Chaos4700 says:

        you are of course correct in pointing out that rich and influential people and groups are using their influence to promote their own agendas against Israel’s regime

        Who are these “rich and influential people and groups” you are talking about, exactly? Haim Saban? AIPAC? Mike Huckabee? Joe Lieberman? Dick Cheney? John McCain? Rush Limbaugh? Rupert Murdoch? Ben Bernanke? Rahm Emmanuel? The NYT? The Washington Post? John Boehner? Eric Cantor?

        Who are you talking about, exactly?

        but we Americans like to think that money shouldn’t talk quite as loudly as Lucas’s money is talking.

        …Same question. Who are these rich and influential leaders of American society you are refering to who reject the notion of “Money talks?”

  13. Kathleen says:

    Huffington Post not allowing criticism of Jon Stewart again. Not posting one of my comments criticizing Stewarts softball interview with Rumsfeld last night.

    Will watch to see if this one makes it up

    HUFFPOST SUPER USER
    thisisntme 6 minutes ago (12:45 PM) 52 Fans
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    Has anyone checked out the unedited interview with Rumsfeld? Jon isn’t even trying to be funny, he’s just letting Rumsfeld have it. The only thing is, Jon isn’t cutting off people.
    Favorite (0) Flag as Abusive thisisntme: Has anyone checked out the unedited interview with Rumsfeld? Jon
    link to huffingtonpost.com
    Permalink | Share it HUFFPOST SUPER USER
    cathleen 0 minute ago (12:57 PM) 71 Fans This comment is pending approval and won’t be displayed until it is approved.

    Stewart’s interview with Rumsfeld was weak at best. I saw Stewart rip into Chris Matthews when he was on on Stewart show far more viciously than Stewart ripped into Rumsfeld. This was for something that Chris Matthews had said in his book. Stewart was an ass with Chris Matthews..­.an easy target.

    Yet with Rumsfeld Stewart called him “sir” never said “lies” allowed Rumsfeld to divert him. Stewart went soft on this war criminal. Can Stewart even say “Niger Documents” He did bring up the Office of Special plans which Jason Vest covered in the Nation before the invasion and Seymour Hersh covered after the invasion. We have yet to witness one person held accountabl­e for that “pack of lies” that was created, cherry picked and dessiminat­ed out of the Office of Special Plans.

    Stewart played softball with Rumsfeld

  14. Kathleen says:

    Last Gasp 14 minutes ago (12:47 PM) 86 Fans
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    Jon stewart paralyzes action. Notice how he never explicitly says anything against the scumlicans­. He promulgate­s a suffering tolerance. He’s no progressiv­e. I don’t like him.
    Favorite (2) Flag as Abusive Last_Gasp: Jon stewart paralyzes action. Notice how he never explicitly says
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    HUFFPOST SUPER USER
    thisisntme 12 minutes ago (12:49 PM) 53 Fans
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    What are you talking about? Because Jon doesn’t call people names or act like he works for Fox News you don’t like him? Do you expect all progressiv­es to act like Ed Schultz?
    Favorite (4) Flag as Abusive thisisntme: What are you talking about? Because Jon doesn’t call people
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    JBourret 3 minutes ago (12:58 PM) 47 Fans
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    Follow Yes, I think there are some who want those talking heads on “their side” to sling mud. It is so sad. I wish being kind and respectful were second nature. Being “nice” is hard work – which is why resorting to name calling and hyperparti­sanship is so prevalent. Too bad.
    Favorite (0) Flag as Abusive JBourret: Yes, I think there are some who want those talking
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    cathleen 0 minute ago (1:06 PM) 71 Fans Stewart will call Chris Matthews or the President of Iran names…bu­t not Netanyahu, Rumsfeld, Condi Rice, or Bill Kristol

  15. Kathleen says:

    HUFFPOST SUPER USER
    cathleen 0 minute ago (1:05 PM) 71 Fans This comment is pending approval and won’t be displayed until it is approved.

    HAS NOT MADE IT UP AT HUFF PO

    Have seen Jon Stewart go after Chris Matthews in a vicious way while playing softball with Bill “bloody” Kristol and now “mushroom cloud” Rumsfeld last night. Stewart carries water for the I lobby and Israel by repeating unsubstant­iated claims about Iran and never criticizin­g Netanyahu or the illegal settlement­s in the West Bank.

    Huff Po seems to protect Stewart by not allowing serious criticisms of Stewart to make it up at your post. What is up with that?

  16. fuster says:

    Jon Stewart must be forced nightly and for exactly one-half of his time on-air to read from scripted remarks prepared by Kathleen.
    Renaming of his show is still being contemplated as the suggested “Jon Stewart Goes Galt” isn’t scoring with the focus groups.

    • Chu says:

      why would anyone put faith in Stewart anyway?
      He’s an actor who doesn’t have the courage to use
      his real last name. That says enough in itself.

      • fuster says:

        What name do you and Kathleen think he should use?

        • Chaos4700 says:

          They were stating a matter of fact, fuster. So when did you stop beating your wife, Mr. Straw Man?

        • Hu Bris says:

          “What name do you and Kathleen think he should use?”

          his real last name?

        • fuster says:

          Hu and the others can have a vote to decide what Stewart should call himself.

          There’s no reason that it should be up to Stewart alone. Very undemocratic that. Denies Chu and Hu (and toto too) their say in the matter.

          Send out the ballots Mr Bris.

        • Chaos4700 says:

          Fuster is just making a stupid straw man. You’ve manufactured this whole “You’re trying to tell John Stewart what his name should be!” canard. All that was pointed out was that John Stewart doesn’t use his real name.

        • annie says:

          the blight of the fustering wound!

        • fuster says:

          I’m not big on the whole” let’s demonize people for undergoing nominal identity reassignment” thing, Chaos.

          it’s not what we do here in this country.

          it’s closer to your best buddies the Iranian theocrats and their nasty laws that call for executing people who don’t wish to practice the religion that their parents chose for them.
          how could you defend that? do apostasy laws fail to offend you?
          where’s your commitment to freedom of conscience?

        • Chaos4700 says:

          This is morbidly entertaining.

          Chu: John Stewart isn’t using his real name.

          fuster: Why are you attacking John Stewart?! What? Do you think he should call himself Johnny Jewboy? Is that it, Chu? Huh?

          Me: You’re simply making a distraction.

          fuster: Why do you hate America, Chaos?! Why do you want Iranian gays to die?! WHY? Why do you secretly support the Iranian mullahs? Why do you hate freedom?! You support the terrorists! You hate Israel and that’s why you want gays to die! Never forget! *mouth foam*

          This is really becoming theater of the absurd, here.

        • Shingo says:

          it’s closer to your best buddies the Iranian theocrats and their nasty laws that call for executing people who don’t wish to practice the religion that their parents chose for them.

          You must hate these guys then.

          link to youtube.com

          how could you defend that fuster?

          do apostasy laws fail to offend you?

          Do conversion laws or ethnic cleansing fail to offend you?

          where’s your commitment to freedom of conscience?

          Where your commitment to human rights? oh that’s right, it only surfaces when discussing Iran.

          Poor fuster. he’s trying so hard to turn every thread into one about Iran and no one is biting.

    • Chaos4700 says:

      Go troll on another topic. You Zionist jerks are only making a dog and pony show of LGBTs because it’s fodder for your culture war.

      When that spotlight fades, we’re stuck with you hypocritical jerks torpedoing the gay rights movement at home.

      • DBG says:

        Hi Chaos, members of the LGBT community which I know are mortified by the treatment of homosexuals in Islamic countries. Can’t you hate Israel and accept that their treatment is less than humane? I don’t see why you need to pick one side or the other?

        • Chaos4700 says:

          False dichotomy. This notion that I support the oppression of gays in Iran is outright slander and it’s disgusting. The FACT is, that Palestinians are treated worse by Israel than homosexuals in Iran.

          Iranian gays face execution by trial for something that isn’t a crime. Palestinians, gay or not, are summarily executed, have their homes destroyed, lands confiscated, farms razed and children targeted, imprisoned and tortured for years.

          If this were WW2, and I was railing against Nazi Germany instead of focusing on anti-Semitism in Great Britain, would you label me an anti-Semite?

          Exactly.

        • fuster says:

          Chaos—Iranian gays face execution by trial for something that isn’t a crime. —-

          you’re again wrong Chaos.

          it most certainly is a crime……

          ””””””’On Sunday, November 13, the semi-official Tehran daily Kayhan reported that the Iranian government publicly hung two men, Mokhtar N. (24 years old) and Ali A. (25 years old), in the Shahid Bahonar Square of the northern town of Gorgan.

          The government reportedly executed the two men for the crime of “lavat.” Iran’s shari`a-based penal code defines lavat as penetrative and non-penetrative sexual acts between men. Iranian law punishes all penetrative sexual acts between adult men with the death penalty””””””

          link to hrw.org

          see, Chaos, they even have a name for the crime and everything.

          they’re a really swell regime.

          could be that when Ahmadinejad (that lousy little jackass) said that there were no homosexuals in Iran, he was merely broadcasting his intention to kill every last one.

          but you keep right on nodding and grinning and saying that it’s not so bad and Palestinian have it worse.

          let me know when you find that Israeli law that says all Palestinians should be executed.

        • annie says:

          but you keep right on nodding and grinning and saying that it’s not so bad and Palestinian have it worse.

          did you see this? i dared you.prove it.

        • Shingo says:

          Still pulling 6 year old reports fuster? Your nails must be split with all that barrel scraping going on.

          Meanwhile, Israel has been killing Palestinians at a rate of 1 every 2 days. But hey, Iran’s the real human rights violator here.

        • Chaos4700 says:

          but you keep right on nodding and grinning and saying that it’s not so bad and Palestinian have it worse.

          You don’t care about Palestinians, you don’t care about gays and you certainly don’t care about Iranians. You just care about ripping on anyone who isn’t a staunch “loyal” Zionist Jew.

          Go away, Nazi. We don’t want what you’re selling fuster.

        • Taxi says:

          Let’s all remember here how kind hitler was to his pet lobster.

        • fuster says:

          nah, Shingo, did you miss the one from two weeks ago?
          the one where Iran proudly announced that two homosexuals were going to be STONED to death?
          Iran loves to kill people that don’t agree with their filthy medieval interpretation of Islamic law.
          they kill more prisoners for political crimes than any country but China.
          they love to call them enemies of God.
          link to theblaze.com

          no scraping necessary, except for the necessity of the Iranians scraping these filthy beasts off their shoes and out of their government.

        • annie says:

          The news indicates that they will be stoned this Friday, Jan 21st 2011.

          do you have an update?

        • Shingo says:

          According to what?

          The International Committee Against Stoning

          And are we seriously to believe that 2 gay men would have been foolish enough to video themselves having sex while holding up pictured of Ahmadinejad? Seriously fuster, do you get pleasure from soiling yourself in public? Or do you get paid by the word by Hasbara Central for any anti Iranian hyperbolic post?

          When was the last person stoned to death in Iran fuster? Surely you have that listed along your pre-prepared talking points.

        • Shingo says:

          do you have an update?

          Nicely spotted annie. I hear crickets.

        • fuster says:

          what is don’t hear is that my answer went into the mod queue and then wasn’t published.

          no idea why.

        • fuster says:

          no, Shingo, what you’re seriously to believe is that two men made a mocking movie about the Iranian Topo Gigio, were arrested, and sentenced to death for being homosexuals.

          if you don’t want to believe it, that’s fine with me.

          link to democraticunderground.com

          link to gaytravellersnetwork.com

          link to gbmnews.com

        • annie says:

          my answer went into the mod queue and then wasn’t published.

          oh please, next you’re going to be telling us your superduper msm article confirming that dare got eaten by your dog.

          this must be pretty big news in iran i would imagine. i’m sure jpost or haaretz would have articles right? the guardian ? do you have any international msm source confirming this stoning? i’ve heard of these threats in the past but when is the last time anyone was stoned in the ME? do you know?

          maybe if your posts didn’t get thru your sourcing was challenged.

        • fuster says:

          ask the moderator, annie old girl.

          and whoever is doing the modding sure ain’t MY dawg.

        • fuster says:

          my answer to this was posted at 11;32, Shingo.

          it’s a S L

          O

          W

          grind.

          your crickets

          will

          be

          l
          o
          n
          e
          l
          y

        • fuster says:

          and my 11;32 answer to you, Shingo still is in the half-way house at 1:14.

          could be the three links.

        • Mooser says:

          Oy Vey, new trolls, and we gotta go through all the same crap all over again. “The moderator ate my answer” was played out a while back.

        • Shingo says:

          if you don’t want to believe it, that’s fine with me.

          Of course don’t believe you fuster, but the point is what your sources say. The all three of your links are basedon the saem upsubstamtiated report, which incidentally, claims the 2 men should have been stoned last month.

          So what happened? Surely your friends at gaytravellersnetwork should eb able to fill you in?

  17. marc b. says:

    the dog and pony show is part of ‘progressive-y’ forces in america. why obama’s justice department just announced that it won’t defend the DOMA in court. see how progressive-y he is?

  18. Mooser says:

    Whoa! I can see what’s going on, and as usual, it’s my fault! Instead of posting the link to :

    link to jewssansfrontieres.blogspot.com

    which I used to do at least once a day, I have been remiss. And now Mondoweiss is infested again. That’s:

    link to jewssansfrontieres.blogspot.com

    Every single ridiculous word our Ziocaine-addled trolls spew is covered in the linked article. Frankly, I think Mondoweiss should reprint this classic article, but really, the fault is mine, and mine alone.
    The article contains the whole of Hasbara which can all be extropolated from four basic statments:

    1) We rock
    2) They suck
    3) You suck
    4) Everything sucks

    And if I’m not mistaken, Jose and the rest have hit all four in this thread, repeatedly.

  19. Mooser says:

    I don’t know, why do I get the feeling that if Zionists were trying to get something from older conservative American Jews, the first thing they would try is bragging about Israel’s adherence to Jewish moral values.
    Or maybe crowing about Israel being “gay-friendly” goes over good with the Christian Zionists? Hard to know.
    That is one goddam fungible Jewish State they got there.

  20. Jose says:

    I wonder if you’ve ever thought about what those 4 categories mean? They are simply basic principles of argument. Positive point, negative point, ad hominem, and appeal to comparisons. I don’t think you can make an argument without it. Basic principles, my moose. Give it a try.

    • Hu Bris says:

      “.. …, my moose..”

      watch out, Mooser. He’s claiming that you belong to him now -Yahweh gave you to him 3000 yrs ago – Mooses said so in the Bible.

      • Mooser says:

        “Mooses said so in the Bible.”

        Many people don’t know the writers of the Old Testament worked under very stringent conditions, with a great shortage of letters, especially “O’s” That’s why they left out the “O” and the name was shortened to “Moses”. And in time, the shortened version became the accepted spelling.

    • Chaos4700 says:

      OMFG! This guy thinks this is what sane rational people actually do when it comes to serious debate.

    • Ellen says:

      Jose, you must be insane or are joking.

      If you are serious (and sadly delusional) something went dreadfully wrong in your upbringing and education.

      Argument is rhetoric, which is speaking well with rationality and honestly….to persuade with truth. That is what wins the soul.

      Attack and ad hominen, comparisons are not debate, not rhetoric. Are the principles of a lost stance, lost argument…..of a loser.

    • Mooser says:

      ” They are simply basic principles of propaganda

      Joser, can you see? I fixed it for you.

    • Mooser says:

      “I wonder if you’ve ever thought about what those 4 categories mean? They are simply basic principles of argument. “

      ROTFLMSJAO !! Jose, I know you’ll be flattered when I show your comments to Gabriel Ash (who wrote the article). I bet he didn’t know quite how accurate the article was! It’s nice to have it confirmed right from (as the saying goes) the horse’s ass!

      Yes sir, Jose, I can see Zionism has one hell of an advocate in you!
      It’s easy to see that, either by dawn’s early light, or even the rocket’s red glare!

  21. annie says:

    They are simply basic principles of argument. Positive point, negative point, ad hominem, and appeal to comparisons.

    is this what you learned at the settlement hasbara weekend workshop?

    did they mention it’s the WAAAY you do it? for example let’s check out some of your contributions (cough):

    Israel is one of the most gay-friendly nations in the world.
    a very boring version of 1) We rock

    If you had to list the 10 worst places for gays, they’d all be Muslim countries.
    a very boring version of 2) They suck

    here’s moose’s response to your hasbaristani verbiage:

    “Israel is one of the most gay-friendly nations in the world. “

    Wow! I didn’t know Israel had the power to edit the Old Testament.

    so tell me yossi, is that
    1) We rock
    2) They suck
    3) You suck
    4) Everything sucks

    whatever it is it’s certainly entertaining!

    ;)

  22. Jose says:

    I’m trying to find a single contribution by Annie that doesn’t amount to “you (Jews) suck.” At least I use all 4!

    • Mooser says:

      Jose, don’t get discouraged! What’s more important, Jews, the lives of Jews, or the Jewish State? Heck, there’s millions of Jews, and a lot of them like me, low-quality, of suspect racial mixtures, and even outermarried. But there’s only one Jewish State! And it’s pure Jewish! So what’s a few Jewish lives, or a few Jewish lies, if they are in support of that noble project?
      Don’t ever be ashamed to lie, cheat, steal, or kill for the Jewish State, Jose! Remember, Statehood (especially ethno-religious supremacist types) are a dirty business. And why should we Jews be the only ones not to try it? T’ain’t fair! Why shouldn’t we throw our sacred religion (and its holy proscriptions of gay sex) into the mix. Sure, we’ll fail, just like every state of that type, and it’ll take the remains of the religion down with it, but in the meantime, we’ll show those Gentiles, whoops, I mean Arabs, oh hell, we’ll show the entire world what we’re made of!
      Jose, can you see (like the Mexican at the ML ballgame) how proud I am of you for making Aliyah and going to live in Israel, and defending Israel with your own blood. I mean, if you hadn’t done that, I might think you were some kind of phony.

      • Mooser says:

        And besides, Jose, you can see that even a cursory view of Jewish history shows that Jews ruling other Jews has always been a fantastic sucess. I mean, isn’t that why we held on to the Holy Land until Gen Allenby came to acknowledge our single-handed victory over the Ottoman Empire? And the unparalled sucess, the dizzying heights reached by Jewish exclusivity in Europe.
        Yes sir, if there’s one thing history tells me as a Jew, it’s that I should allow “Jewish leaders” to decide things for me. It’s always worked out so well!

      • Mooser says:

        “Crickets”

        Jose, just because you endorsed as real what was a satire, a parody of Zionist reasoning, is no reason to start hurling Israeli Hebrew curses at me.
        I appreciate your honesty tho! As soon as you saw the list, you jumped up and said: “That’s me, and proud of it!”

    • Mooser says:

      “I’m trying to find a single contribution by Annie that doesn’t amount to “you (Jews) suck.”

      Oy, I know, and doesn’t it stand in stark contrast to the veritable mountain of empathetic, compassionate, egalitarian, comments from Zionists I’ve read here.
      Jose, I don’t want to shock you, but the old schtick of condemning criticism of Israel and Zionism as anti-Semitism is pretty much played out here.
      But you go ahead and use your religion any way you see fit. If that’s what you think Judaism or Jewishness is good for, as a shield to defend the actions of Israel and Zionists, have at it.

  23. RoHa says:

    Of course it’s antisemitic. Everything is.

  24. Jose says:

    For the record moose, I do live in Israel. In Givatayim. And I never killed any Palestinians. I only shot at one Arab, and I
    missed.

  25. Mooser says:

    Well, see you later, Jose! I’m sure that 1) endorsing what was an obvious parody of hasbara reasoning, and 2) being caught lieing about where you are (yeah, like “Jose” is a Jewish name) is all in a days work for you, and you’ll be back tomorrow.
    But then we all know that after the incredibly satisfying Ziocaine high comes the ziocaine amnesia, which allows you to forget what a goddam fool and liar you exposed yourself for.
    So where will you be from next week?

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