Israel hater Ali Abuminah of the Electronic Intifada has attacked Brian, me and this blog over Brian’s post from yesterday.
And as usual, his post is full of lies.
Among his claims:
- Brian of London “incited to murder” a 17-year-old
- This blog has “close ties” to the IDF and “functions as an outlet for its anti-Palestinian propaganda”
- Both Brian and I are “settlers”
Regarding the first claim, Brian is a big boy and he can answer for himself. But from my point of view, he was not “inciting to murder” anyone. Brian was expressing frustration that those trying to murder or maim innocent people are not killed in commission of this crime, before they are able to succeed in this endeavor. And don’t make any mistake about it – rocks and other such projectiles do kill and maim (I know someone personally affected), and those hurling them are not doing so just to dent or scratch a few cars.
Killing someone in the commission of a terror act is not murder. It is a legitimate act of self-defense. The Jewish Talmud teaches, “If someone comes to kill you, arise [preempt him] and kill him first” (Sanhedrin 72a). The Shulchan Aruch affirms this by ruling: “If one sees that someone is pursuing him with the intention to kill him, he is permitted to defend himself and take the life of he who is pursuing him” (Choshen Mishpat 125:1). And while Brian was clearly upset over the Rudoren article and expressed himself with some emotion, he was not inciting to murder. He was not calling for anyone to now find the 17-year-old and kill him.
I know Brian and, like me, he is no raging Arab-hater. At the risk of sounding like Roger Waters when he says “Some of my friends and family are Jewish,” the fact is, Brian deals with Arabs on an almost daily basis and hopes for a peaceful Israeli society in which Jews and Arabs coexist. His comments were aimed solely at those in commission of an act design to maim and kill.
Regarding the second time, Abuminah uses as “proof” the fact I was once invited to a phone briefing from the IDF which I could not attend. While I fully support the IDF as protecting the safety of Israel’s civilians, this blog does not function as an outlet for it, nor has close ties to it. This blog is totally independent and expresses the views of its contributors only (which can and do differ from each other on many issues). For example, I personally have criticized the IDF and Israeli government and will continue to do so where I believe they are letting us down.
Abuminah also uses a photo of Brian with Israeli army spokesperson Barak Raz – taken at a going-away party of a mutual friend – to further suggest some close connection between the blog and IDF. This is dishonesty, plain and simple.
Regarding my posting the IDF version of events, as I have shown on here on many occasions, it is way more reliable than that of the Arab media and pro palestinian websites. I think Abuminah’s disdain for the truth manifest from this very post reinforces the point!
The claim that Brian and I are settlers is perhaps the most telling. Both Brian and I live in Israel proper, meaning within territories not in dispute according to even those who believe the territories captured in the 1967 war are occupied. By calling us settlers, Abuminah reveals his view that all Israelis are “settlers.” It is no wonder he defends Hamas.
This is not the first time Abuminah has shown his disdain for the truth in pursuit of his attacks on pro-Israel activists. For instance, just recently, he wrote this piece on the Eric Burdon cancellation story, in which he attacked the Jewish Agency’s Avi Mayer for tweeting Burdon had been threatened by BDS activists. But Burdon himself confirmed the threats.
Abuminah clearly sees Israellycool and the work we do as a big threat, referring to us as a “prominent blog.” I am truly glad he, and others like him, views us as such, because it is a further badge of honor, and vindication of the work we are doing. However, I won’t stand for any lies about us to go unanswered, especially when Abuminah and others like him start getting personal.
Update: Not surprisingly, Israel hater Richard Silverstein gets in on the act.
Besides the lie regarding a call for anybody’s “execution”, Silverstein is adopting Abuminah’s characterization of Brian as a “settler.”
He lives in Tel Aviv.
Nuff said.
Update: I overlooked another very recent Electronic Intifada lie, which was exposed.
Last week, Electronic Intifada, a blog aligned with the BDS movement, announced its latest “victory,” claiming that Delta Air Lines had decided to stop serving a snack produced in the Barkan Industrial Zone, due to its location in Samaria. Electronic Intifada claimed that the decision was made after a complaint was lodged by a member of the far-left “Coalition of Women for Peace,” publishing what it said was the text of an email in which the airline said that it would be dropping the product. The blog’s editor, Ali Abunima, claimed that “Delta Air Lines lawyers ruled that Israeli settlement-made snacks should not be served.”
Veteran Israeli activist Avi Mayer, however, was unconvinced, and promptly discovered that claims of a boycott were completely false.
In a letter to Mayer (which he promptly published on his Facebook page), the airline explained that the snack in question – a vanilla halva bar – had indeed been removed, but only as a result of “a normal catering cycle and review,” in which the in-flight menu regularly changes.
But there was more. Not only were reports of a boycott unfounded, but Delta’s representative explained that more than 1,000 Israeli-made items are “sourced by our local caterer,” adding: “the snack (fruit) that replaced the bar is grown locally in Israel. Delta makes a practice of sourcing local goods for catering in most international markets we serve.”
Which also goes to show why Abuminah is constantly attacking Avi Mayer.
