2nd Letter to RJ Rushmore

Based on: http://blog.vandalog.com/2011/12/artists-4-israel-part-two/

RJ,

I am vey disappointed that after more than a month, with unlimited resources and an entire academic community of research available to you, the best you can come up with is a rambling diatribe that does little more than accuse me of racism and say the equivalent of “Artists 4 Israel is right, but…”

There is so much moral equivocating and misleading information in your article that I have to expose to the light of truth but I am tired and busy. I know, a terrible excuse, but true. You had more than a month. You had my answers. You had an opportunity to research and all you come up with is a twisted misinterpretation of facts and mishandling of your responsibilities as a reporter and as a thinker. I will, of course, respond to your lies and accusations and offer you a much more realistic method for truly addressing the conflict in our thinking and understandings.

I am busy because I am traveling to Israel tomorrow to receive an award for Artists 4 Israel’s work in painting the bomb shelters in Sderot. Are you familiar with Sderot? It is a tiny city that sits on the border of the Gaza Strip. Daily, it is bombarded by rockets by Hamas and the people you refer to as Palestinians. I know you accuse me of oversimplification. But, sometimes, simplicity is the very definition of truth. Trying to camoflauge b.s. with 5,000 word verbal vomit that trips over itself is the very definition of lies and having something to hide. The Devil is in the details. Truth is in simplicity. Love is good. Chocolate is tasty. Terrorists trying to murder children is bad.

Let me oversimplify for you again since that seems to bother you so much. Shooting rockets at innocent people - bad.

More simplification: Children should not die because of terrorism.
Is this too simplistic for you?

Try this, then: “Palestinian” television, movies, books, educational system and popular culture celebrate murderers and terrorists. Their children are raised in a war-like culture. Please visit PalestinianMediaWatch.org or CAMERA.org and, before you claim they are also Pro-Israel and cannot be taken seriously, I don’t want you to read any of their writing. Simply, click on any number of links that show “Palestinian” media and tell me if any of those things, pulled directly from the horse’s mouth, are not violent, misogynistic, disgusting and at odds with the ideallyc picture you attempt to paint.

Israel provides awards for those who attempt to use art to create and for those who attempt to soothe the suffering of children. The popularly elected leadership of Gaza choose to name soccer stadiums after killers of children. I can end this document here. Nothing more needs to be said. It is simplistic, indeed, but completely accurate. Seriously, I have to pack.
Unfortunately, though, it seems I must also defend myself against your ad hominem attacks and continued befuddling, muddying and complex system of innuendo and lies.

Throughout the article, you say how I hide behind an accusation of racism against those who disagree with me. What you fail to do is explain how the answers where I discuss racism were based on questions you posed to me about racism. It is a cheap trick at best, gross negligence to your duties as a reporter and downright slander at worse to ask a question, get a specific response to that question and then pull the question so as to make the answer, appearing out of context, seem different than it is.
Yet, even with your attempts at libel, I stand proud and happy with my answers. So must you as you more than once call my points “factual accurate,” and “legitamite.”
What is not factually accurate is repeating a comment that some student maybe, might have potentially heard someone say. The student thinks she remembers Seth saying something about Temple students being “stupid?” This is the most embarrassing piece of writing imaginable.

Oh wait, no it is not. Because soon after this heresay of which the accuser herself isn’t even sure, you trot out some near-Professor to respond to arguments that were never even raised. I take great offense to this almost-Professor’s criticisms. He pretends to know my entire belief system based on a narrow window of answers I have given. Yet, again, like you, even with all the antipathy he holds for me and DTF, he still admits we are right! Amazing. Then, in the most twisted display of pseudo-logic available, he actually makes up an argument for me and debates it! Apparently, my answers to your questions were so valid, so truthful, so airtight, that the only way this Mendelsohn can find fault in it is by making his own arguments. “Dershowitz didn’t go for…” Right, I didn’t say it. So, then, why defend against it?
Ok…last thing. The specific points raised in the flyer.
Demand the Facts: As always, you agree with me. (“Yes, people could be better educated about their history…”) Thanks, again. Of course, there are negative and positives on both sides. Study the history. Do the research. 100 times out of 100, you will find Israel to be just, moral and politically, historically and culturally correct.
Defeat the Fanaticism: More agreement from you, RJ. (“True, extreminism threatens rational discourse.”) Why are we arguing? You keep agreeing with everything I say. You think Hamas, the dictatorial regime known for murdering Israeli children as well as their own politicall opponents are “probably” not the best group for fostering peace. Yet, Hamas is the recognized, popularly elected government of Gaza, the chosen representatives and leaders of the “Palestinian” people. The few Israeli settlers who may have done some things wrong are not the Israeli people. In fact, Israel has an entire system of law by which to punish anyone who transgresses against the life and liberty of others. If you have ever been mugged in New York, do you indict the entire city or the entire country?
You then get on this kick about Israel “blowing shit up.” If, by that, you mean fighting defensive wars in which they target the very rockets that have for more than two years been launched against civilian towns, then, yeah, we do that. Israel also drops leaflets, even in times of war, before any bombing raids giving citizens who live near rocket launchers 24 hours to clear the area. This is a dangerous and stupid idea in the time of hostilities yet Israel does so to fight the most moral war possible.
Down to Fuck: Third fact and third agreement from you, RJ. (“Israel is a land with more sexual liberation than Palestine (sic).” You recognize this is a good thing, right? Your only response is to point out a few isolated incidents where there have been regrettable hate crimes against homosexuals. Similar hate crimes occur in the U.S. but, in Israel like in the U.S. these crimes are punished. That is not the same as in “Palestine” and, in fact, a large homosexual Arab population has moved to Israel, hiding from the oppressive and dangerous Arab countries into which they were born.
Diversity Triumphs Over Fear: Final set of facts and final agreement from you, RJ. (“Legally, one could argue that the first part of this is true.”) Jeez, man, you accuse me of verbal manipulation and games but say sentences like the above. Is it true or not? Do Israelis – whether Arab or Jew – have more freedoms in Israel than in “Palestine?” Or, for that matter, anywhere in the Arab world? Yes or no, RJ? Your only point is to point out one poll that says some Arabs are discriminated against. Well, duh. Throughout the world, people are discriminated against for various things – race, creed, religion, weight, intelligence, gender – but only in places that I will support is this discrimination against the law and punishable when proven.
The question of whether Israeli Jews are discriminated against in “Palestine” is curious. You see, Israeli Jews are not allowed into “Palestine.” I am going to go ahead and call that really bad discrimination, if you don’t mind.
Oh, I will also take great pride in you acknowledging that “the DTF tour…brought students together.” Unlike you, who sits on the sidelines yelling at imaginary wrongs and injustices, we try to make things better. It is similar to having a blog where you promote graffiti, providing information for the cops to use to track and arrest the very artist you exploit for personal gain, without ever getting up yourself – but, I digress. We set out to create dialogue and we did. You set out to prove me wrong and failed. Just like the Israel – “Palestinian” conflict, one side creates and births – the other attempts to destroy and kill.
Seriously, enough. I need to pack and you need to go back to reading Said.
But, this dialogue that we started is important. There are a million lies and innuendos in your piece that need to be addressed (did you really quote the Walt-Mershemier piece that has been unanimously rejected by every serious author and even disowned by the authors themselves? With all that time on your hands – you should have done better research). So, how do we contonue the dialogue?
RJ – I offifically challenge you and Radwan and fake Professor Mendehlson to a debate. If the word “debate” is too aggressive for your delicate liberal mind, call it an “open discussion.”