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http:// --> Ashland, Oregon HOME Valley & State Sports Nation & World Opinion/Editorial Classifieds Business Columnists Local Issues Obituaries Weather Archive Revels Etcetera Backpage Hot Topics Most Viewed Forum Photo Galleries Video Readers Polls O-Zone Online Games Movie Preview Special Sections Real Estate Guide Menu Guide Shakespeare Subscribe Contact Us Rate Card Place an Ad Featured Galleries: August 28, 2007 Suppressing free speech in Ashland Letter: At length Rachel Corrie and Tony Judt share a common fate. They wrote different types of personal statements critical of Israeli policies in Palestine. The fate they share is that censorial opponents have had great success in denying them (and others) public forums for their views. Their censors are those Americans who offer unqualified support for the policies of the state of Israel, especially in regard to Palestine. Tony Judt is an American-British-Jewish history professor at New York University, highly regarded in American and international intellectual circles. In 2003, he published an essay in the New York Review of Books, “Israel: The Alternative,” in which he called for a single-state solution to end the Israel-Palestine tragedy. Such a solution is anathema to those who support only the concept of a “Jewish State, which Judt regards as an “anachronism.”” This made him persona non grata among the censors. Last year, his scheduled public lecture at the Polish Consulate in New York on October 5 and one set for October 17 at the Holocaust Center of Manhattan College were both canceled after pressure was exercised on the Consulate and the College by such groups as Jewish Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee and, in the later case, by the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale. Judt has written, “I began to realize that there was a sort of suffocating silence not only about what was happening in the occupied territories and in Israel and Israeli political culture, but also that the suffocating silence was largely focused on the illegitimacy of speaking lest they be accused of anti-semitism.” It is just such a suffocating silence that enveloped “My Name is Rachel Corrie” in Ashland recently. That dramatic reading of her letters and diary excerpts depicts her compassionate work and peace efforts in Palestine. Despite lame and duplicitous efforts — depending solely on official Israeli accounts — to depict her as somehow implicated in “terrorism,” the reading was clearly blocked, not because of any “factual disagreements” concerning her brutal death, but because of the zealous open and covert objections of those who see any criticism of Israeli policies as anti-Israel or, worse, anti-Semitic. Rachel Corrie thus joins Toni Judt, and scholars like John Mearsheimer, Stephen Walt, and Joel Benin whose public lectures have been recently canceled and derogated because they criticized, explicitly and implicitly, Israeli policies. It is a suffocating shame. No “contextual framework” can change that reality. Gerald Cavanaugh Ashland Current Comments: Recipe for the promotion of Rachel Corrie. Step 1: Publish your views as provocatively as possible. Use words like �apartheid,� or paint Jewish lobbying efforts in darkly conspiratorial terms, as in the Walt/Mearsheimer paper. Step 2: Dare the Jewish community to lash out at you, then whine about being victimized by bullies. Step 3: Implore fair-minded liberals to line up behind you, forcing them to choose between endorsing your vision--however skewed-- or being Censors. We are being played. 2 State Solution - Ashland, OR - August 29th, 2:38 PM Has Cavenaugh considered that the suffocating silence is because Americans have little regard for the Palestinian cause having seen them dancing with joy when the twin towers fell? Or that Americans see Hamas and Fatah whom the Palestinians support for what they really are, murderous thugs who are just as much our enemy as Israels? I find it ironic that an Al Qaeda operative recently admitted that Jimmy Carter was a prime terrorist target. And the Left has cast their lot with these thugs?. Libertarian - Ashland - August 29th, 4:47 PM Nice spin 2 States. Much nicer letter Gerald. This isn't just blind support of Israel. It's a deliberate misinformation campaign of the most bigoted nature. If Israel didn't have so much to hide, then why all the hiding? Surely such a 'just' cause could withstand a different perspective. You don't see any advocates for Palestine successfully, let alone unsuccessfully, censoring pro Israeli dogma. It's time to give the squeaky wheel the grease, but different grease than they are used to. E - Ashland, OR - August 29th, 4:49 PM So what happens when someone has a "different perspective" on homosexuality, abortion, global warming, nuclear energy or a thousand other politically incorrect topics? There are many in this town who speak out when people try to censor things they hold dear but look the other way when people try to censor ideas they don't agree with. How about fair and open discussion on all subjects? Phil - Ashland, Oregon - August 29th, 8:20 PM As I wrote in my blurb Phil this doesn't happen in reverse. Palestinians don't censor Israeli sympathy or understanding, especially when it involves atrocities against Americans so you make a moot point. If it did I would be against it. What does go unchallenged is the ongoing misinformation campaign by the neo-cons and the pro-Israeli groups on the issues in the Middle East and the bigotry projected onto Palestinians and Muslims. Religious fanatics are an issue regardless of which faith. E - Ashland, OR - August 30th, 9:43 AM Fair and open discussion? Absolutely, Phil. Moderated with representatives across the spectrum is the ideal when contentious issues are presented. Not always practical but should be pursued, if possible. Libertarian, don't lump the "Left" as being in in lockstep. E., Israel seems to air out it's dirty laundry, often, publicly. I only wish our own country did as much soul-searching. Finally, what censorship? Alzado ponders and delays "Corrie", Nuwandart picks it up--good. 2 State Solution - Ashland, OR - August 30th, 9:49 AM 2 states, this is a play based on the diaries of an individual. Where is the open discussion necessary for this? Obviously it doesn't contain a journal entry regarding her reporting of the nature of her death, so why is there a correction of any facts in order? Israel prevents airing of their laundry, even in the US. You are mistaken as the demographics of Israel indicate. The secular Jews have been leaving Israel while the Orthodox war monger fanatics have been busing having large families E - Ashland, OR - August 30th, 1:43 PM Where do you get your facts, E.? Close to 70% of the Israeli Jewish population consider themselves secular. Speaking of bigotry, why do you lump all the Orthodox together? Some are anti-Zionist, some unpolitical, all stripes. Even the settlers are not a monolithic bloc (many are secular Likudniks). Sorry that the world is ever so much more a complicated place then you seem prepared to admit. Of course there's room for dicussion on "Corrie" -- have you read the play? I have. 2 State Solution - Ashland, OR - August 30th, 2:57 PM To my old friend Gerald � there were no "censorial opponants" of the play or did anyone participate in "denying...public forums." Words can hurt or heal. Your words hurt because they are inaccurate. Rachel's death was a tragedy, and so have been the thousands of Jewish, Muslim, Druze, and Christian civilians murdered by suicide bombers. The controversy surrounds the way she died � not whether the play was the victim of a "suffocating silence." There is no such silence in Ashland. Rabbi David Zaslow ( [email protected] ) - Ashland, Oregon - August 30th, 5:15 PM E somehow missed the protests of Palestinian journalists about the terror they are subjected to by both Hamas and Fatah when they dare to report on these groups' terrorizing PALESTINIANS that dare to criticize them. Alan Edelstein - Sacramento, California - August 30th, 6:35 PM "Libertarian": Palestinians were dancing, not on 9-1l but at a wedding a year before, i.e., another zionist hoax shown on TV an hour after the collapse. Dancing on that day was a group of Israelis, right here in Weehawken, high-fiving etc. People who saw them called the police and they were arrested. Their van tested for explosives. They were Mossad and Israeli military. After failing lie-detector tests, they were let go back to Israel by Michael Chertoff, who was then head of NJ Justice Dept. Jaywalk - Weehawken, N.J. - August 31st, 2:53 PM In "The Open Society & Its Enemies", the philosopher Karl Popper used the term "conspiracy theory" to criticize the ideologies driving Fascism, Communism and other absolutist political belief systems. Popper argued that totalitarianism was founded on "conspiracy theories" which drew on imaginary plots driven by paranoid scenarios predicated on tribalism, racism or classism. To what "ism" does Jaywalk of Weehawken subscribe? P. Feyerabend - ashland - August 31st, 9:20 PM Jaywalk swears by real-ism. Paranoid? The arrest of the dancing, high-fiving Israelis filming the towers collapse was in the local papers. They weren't the only sinister Israelis in the U.S. on 9-11 and before. There were dozens of spies who passed themselves off as "art students" and they were all over the country trying to get access to off-limits sites, attracting attention by their pushiness. When asked what "art school" they attended, the name they gave was nonexistent. Check it out. Jaywalk - Weehawken, NJ - September 1st, 12:32 PM "P. Feyerabend": Jaywalk talks about facts. His only "ism" here is "fact-ism," in dramatic contrast to your "Quick,-change-the-subject-ism," accompanied by its close relative, "name-drop-ism." Yours is the basic zionist strategy: In defending the indefensible, discuss ANYTHING but the facts. We probably need a new rhetorical term, "anything-ism," to characterize such intellectual bankruptcy. quercus - Ashland, OR - September 1st, 1:19 PM Saying "My Name is Rachel Corrie" is controversial because we don't know if her death was an accident is like saying the South fought the Civil War for states' rights. Everyone knows the South fought to protect slavery, and everyone knows that Mr. Alzado cancelled the play because Rachel's eyewitness accounts of life under the Israeli Occuation casts Israel in a bad light, which local Zionists objected to. Gene Robbins - ashland - September 1st, 4:53 PM Smells like uban myth, Jayhawk. Why don't you post some links so one can "check it out"? Sasha - Ashland, OR - September 1st, 7:41 PM Alan E, so what? That's irrelevant to this discussion. What's your logic, there are things wrong with Palestinians as well so the issues of Israeli oppression don't matter? 2 State Solution, in terms of lumping together all Orthodox, no doubt I am guilty of this. When discussing arcane factions of what is a tiny religion to begin with, I think this is understandable. Regardless of the percentage of orthodox vs. secular, it is growing. I never quoted any figures relating to total percentages E - Ashland, OR - September 2nd, 3:56 PM And to the Rabbi "there were no "censorial opponants" of the play or did anyone participate in "denying...public forums."" How in the world could you know this? Are you omnipresent? Even if you intended to indicate no such action was taken by your flock, you still would not know this. This is dishonesty plain and simple and it is very troubling to see you create this type of "us vs. them" climate through your insular attitudes. Regardless I think the facts contradict your claims. E - Ashland, OR - September 2nd, 4:03 PM Don't be so lazy, Sasha. You can Google it. Just type in Israeli "art students" before 9-11, and voila. The dancing Israelis I didn't have to Google, it was written up in the local papers. Why do you think Chertoff let those suspicious characters who failed lie-detector tests and smelled of explosives, go back to Israel? Maybe because he's an ardent Zionist? This is the man in charge of our "Homeland Security"? Who feels "in his gut" that there'll be another 9-11 soon? God help us. Jaywalk - Weehawken, NJ - September 2nd, 7:57 PM To jaywalk---Not lazy, I had Googled the topic before I first responded to you. All I can find are assertions from ultra-right and ultra-left bloggers without documentation. Strange bedfellows, those--Neo-Nazis, Racists Trots and self proclaimed Anarchists (?!). Balls in your court, JW, although, frankly, I'd rather hear from my fellow locals. Have a nice Labor Day. Sasha - Ashland, OR - September 3rd, 9:21 AM To be fair, I have found 2 more balanced sources talking about the art students. From the Left leaning Israeli paper Haaretz--and on Salon.com (sorry, no link). Students running amok selling awful art door to door? Yep. Explosive residue, gigantic Mossad spy rings, special treatment? Not so much. Let alone far nuttier claims. Sasha - Ashland, OR - September 3rd, 11:04 AM Sasha, if you'll dig a little deeper you'll see no nuttiness in these claims. The five dancing (and arrested) Israelis, two of whom were known Mossad, was reported in the Bergen Record of Sept. 12. The van they were driving tested positive for explosives, they failed lie-detector tests, and Chertoff let them go. A fact. Yes, I'm a long way off, right across the Hudson from ground zero. I watched as the controlled demolition brought down the 2 towers and Bldg. 7. Happy Labor Day to you. too. Jaywalk - Weehawken, NJ - September 3rd, 1:09 PM Leave a Comment: Advertisement: Advertisement: Paid Advertising: Debt Help Inkjet Printers Payday Loans Free Ringtones Debt Consolidation Security Systems Debt Relief New Hampshire Primary Advertisement: Copyright © 2007 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers. All Rights Reserved. Del.icio.us