Here is the latest message in our series, “What Mondoweiss Means To Me.” We are honored that leaders in the movement for justice in Israel/Palestine respect the site enough to offer these statements in order to help us raise $60,000 by December 31. Please read Scott Roth’s comments, and if you agree that quality news and analysis are essential, join him in giving. And please be sure to check out the messages from Steven Salaita, Rebecca Vilkomerson, Omar Barghouti and Phil Weiss as well!
Each one of you has your own reasons for visiting Mondoweiss, a unique news operation that serves an amazing community of activists and thinkers. Please donate today, and tell us what Mondoweiss means to you.
If you would like to know how donations will be used, click here to understand how dollars and cents are transformed into truth-telling.
Dear Mondoweiss Readers:
Two years ago, I described mainstream American politics and the mainstream media as “obscenely silent” about Israel/Palestine, and I expressed my gratitude that this site, Mondoweiss, provided a space where I could be true to the humanistic values I cherish and “attack the odious, morally repugnant effects that result from the practical application of Zionist principles.”
I was describing why I had increased my commitment to Mondoweiss from reader to donor to writer for the site, and my decision to become publisher. As I took on this new role, I asked readers to hold me and Mondoweiss to the highest moral and journalistic standards.
Today, we ask for your support because the obscene media silence persists — and the voices shared by Mondoweiss are still uniquely valuable.
Two years later, I am glad to stop for breath, put aside the myriad decisions we face in running the site—tough choices because our lean budget doesn’t allow us to take on all we judge necessary—and consider where we’ve come over this time.
Jumping in as publisher was exciting and scary. Adam, Phil and I weren’t sure what a publisher does for a publication like Mondoweiss. But we had an instinct that the work would benefit from someone who is not immersed in the daily writing and editing—who can focus on the big picture while also attending to financial concerns.
The increase in Mondoweiss’s impact and readership over this time (see graph at right) suggests that our instinct was right: added attention to strategy and context has helped the site meet readers’ needs.
It has been said that the role of journalists is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable, and that’s precisely the goal you can help Mondoweiss achieve.
For anyone who fairly and open-heartedly considers the facts, the suppression and abuse of Palestinians by Israel is agonizing. But many Americans, especially American Jews, devote massive energy to avoiding the facts, so that they can cling to a fantasy of Israel as a democracy and Palestinians as terrorists. I know personally the appeal of that fantasy; it took me years to tear off the blinders. By providing credible, carefully reported news from Israel/Palestine, Mondoweiss seeks to help people move beyond know-nothing avoidance.
And among those who already discarded the blinders—or who never had them—many have told us that their work for justice is strengthened by the information Mondoweiss provides. In response to our current campaign, one reader told us, “I appreciate Mondoweiss because it gives me the opportunity to learn and to document my own frustrations about Israel/Palestine and help to present the truth.” We believe that bearing witness and truth-telling are essential parts of the movement for change, and we hope that in some small measure our work comforts those afflicted by this massive injustice.
To be sure, we realize that the site doesn’t do all that we and others would like it to do. We are ever-mindful of the need to extend the volume and scope of the content we provide. While we do all we can to improve Mondoweiss within the resources we have now, we ask that you help as well: please donate so that our coverage and our reach can continue to grow.
Thanks for your support and insights—
Scott Roth
Publisher, Mondoweiss
P.S. For me, building Mondoweiss is a privilege as it gives me the opportunity to fight against falsehood, indoctrination, and racism. If you too recognize the atrocities committed under Israeli rule—if you too are eager to awaken every human conscience to the urgent need for change—please help us continue and increase our coverage.
