Not content with disseminating his dishonest rants on his own blog, anti-Israel blogger Richard Silverstein blogs elsewhere, such as The Guardian’s Comment is Free, and AlterNet. It is at the latter that he has posted his latest attack on those with whom he disagrees.
The latest targets of his venom are those who took Jane Fonda to task for signing a letter protesting the Toronto Film Festival for spotlighting Tel Aviv. Amongst other things, Silverstein makes a serious accusation: because of Fonda’s stance, some wealthy Jews threatened to withdraw support from Fonda’s Atlanta charity, the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention, compelling Fonda to issue her clarification.
Fonda too came under fierce assault for endorsing the declaration. She founded an Atlanta charity, the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention, which enriches the lives of young women by seeking to avoid early pregnancy. Among her funders are many wealthy prominent local Jews, some of whom took umbrage at her stance on TIFF and threatened to withdraw support.
Her worst fear was that the nonprofit she worked so hard to create would be destroyed. As a result, she felt compelled to pen a “clarification” of her endorsement, which didn’t retract it but certainly tempered it with a series of statements that indicate pro-Israel operatives, including a Chabad rabbi, worked her over pretty well.
Silverstein’s source is this letter from a group of Jews in Atlanta, which appeared in the Huffington Post. The problem is, the letter never makes this claim.
Jane Fonda has done great good in Atlanta. She is the driving force behind G-CAPP, the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention, that is committed to enriching the lives of young women and helping them achieve a healthy, productive future free of early pregnancy.
When she is mischaracterized through these outrageous misrepresentations and accusations, many in our community might not know the truth — that Fonda is a strong supporter and friend of Israel — and they may stop supporting G-CAPP. Were that to occur, not only would Israel’s friend be hurt, so would thousands of teenagers who are helped by G-CAPP.
We are speaking out in support of Fonda because the truth must be known about her strong support for Israel, and we need to support G-CAPP not only for her, but also for the young women who need our help.?
In other words, the group of Jews from Atlanta are concerned that perhaps some Jews will stop supporting G-CAPP, but are not claiming – as Silverstein does – that any actually threatened to do so.
The absence of any such threat is reinforced by Fonda herself.
As you can tell from my blog comments not to mention all the other internet activity circulating about the Toronto International Film festival protest letter that I signed along with 1500 or more friends and colleagues—there’s a lot of hatred spewing out there. I have not censored most of the hostile blog comments because I want to give space for the full range of voices. One of the hostile comments suggests that I wrote a follow up statement (released on the Huffington Post as well as on my last blog) because of pressure from Rabbi Marvin Hier with whom I met after I had begun composing my statement. What I said in my statement is true and I am not proud of it: I neglected to read the protest letter carefully enough. It was the outcry that ensued that caused me to study it very carefully. It was then that I saw that there were parts of it that I did not agree with. That is why I wrote my statement, not because I was pressured by anyone. It was a case of having to sit down, take a deep breath, go into a meditative state to clear away all the noise and zero in on my real feelings.
Once again, Silverstein has been caught lying. He has no compunctions about spreading libel against his fellow Jews, as well as Jane Fonda, to advance his anti-Israel agenda. The question is, how much longer will others give him a platform to do so?
