I was hoping to leave this subject alone – since it is boring even me – but given the amount of disinformation being spread by one Richard Silverstein, I feel the need to clarify a few things.
Silverstein has repeatedly claimed his address, phone number, wife’s employer and phone number are published here, as if equating his abuse of my privacy with my own purported abuse of his.
So to be very clear:
- Silverstein’s details are widely available on the web and easily found via Google. He has mentioned his wife’s name on his own blog, and there’s even a Slate article on both of them. In fact, Maariv just published this article on Silverstein which mentions the names of his wife and children, further indicating that he has never made an effort to hide his personal details.
- Despite this, I have never posted those details here. The closest I got was posting a link to his wife’s LinkedIn profile (again, easily accesible via Google) to support my contention she is the breadwinner of his family.
- While some commenters have in the past posted links to some of this information, and, on at least one occasion, posted it in the comment itself, I have not been vigiliant in summarily deleting them since:
– this information has been left openly online by Silverstein himself, as explained above
– he never emailed me to delete the comments
– no-one ever threatened to use this information to harm him
– I do not check each and every comment on my site
In contrast:
- I have stayed anonymous online out of security concerns and made my wish to remain anonymous very clear, even going as far as to pay extra to have my details remain private and not available to those performing a WHOIS search for this site
- Silverstein knew I wanted to remain anonymous but, despite this, went ahead and posted my private details
- These private details were not readily accessible, but rather found by one of his readers who paid money to access archived WHOIS information (which I did not even know existed online)
- Silverstein did not post my name and photo only (which is, in itself, reprehensible); he also posted the name of the neighborhood in which I live
- Silverstein implicitly threatened to publish other details if I don’t act to his satisfaction
There is no moral equivalence here.
Some have also portrayed this as a “spat” between two bloggers. I reject this characterization outright. While I have not hidden my distaste for Silverstein and his views, I have been motivated by exposing his shoddy fact-checking and outright lies, not out of some sense of “revenge.” This motivation has only strengthened as media outlets have repeatedly turned to him as a source.
Update: In the wake of Silverstein’s publication of my personal details, he has continued to lie and mischaracterize my views. For instance, in this post:
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2012/01/05/israel-human-rights-lawyer-blames-idf-commander-for-soiling-memory-of-jawaher-rahameh/
Silverstein claims that palestinians are “not fully human” to me. This is slander.
I have made clear to anyone who bothers to read my posts that I distinguish between palestinian terrorists and those who support them, with palestinians who just want to get on with their lives. I have conversed civilly with some palestinian bloggers, and even revealed that one of my friends is palestinian. I reject the notion that being anti-terrorist is the same as being anti-palestinian.
You have to ask yourself: what does Silverstein wish to achieve by publishing my name and neighborhood along with claims I view palestinians as “not fully human”?
