It turns out that Dr. Chesler has been attacked mercilessly in a series of e-mails from the followers of Norman Finkelstein. See the whole post, "My Norman Finkelstein Problem—And Ours."
I'll just share one of the attacks on Dr. Chesler here:
Dear Dr. Chesler, I’ve just finished reading your article entitled ‘Our Eternal Struggle’ written for the Jewish Press, and I felt compelled to write you. I have to ask you, in all seriousness: do you genuinely believe this hysterical, vacuous drivel you’ve discharged upon we the already steeped-in-bullshit reading public? Do you genuinely believe in this absurd and unjustifiable conflation of legitimate (and legally supported) criticism of Israel’s post-1967 occupation, warmongering, war crimes, rejectionism, torture, settlement expansion, house demolitions, imprisonment of civilians without trial, slaughter of innocent men, women and children (please show me the evidence from any respected, independent Human Rights organisation’s records to support the claim that Palestinian militants routinely use innocent civilians as human shields); with this old, recycled “New Anti-semitism”? Are you not even a little tempted to entertain the overwhelmingly more credible hypothesis that whatever little new anti-Jewish feeling that does exist can adequately be accounted for by Israel’s very real, very consistent and very gross violations of basic human rights in the eyes of the world? Do you feel at all guilty for damaging, albeit in a very tiny but still notably insidious way, the prospects of achieving a just and lasting peace for both sides to the conflict in the form of a two state settlement in accord with UN Resolution 242 and International Law? I mean, surely this MUST bother you in some small way. Do you suffer from nervous ticks at all? From the trademark Dershowitz facial spasm, perhaps? Guilt must manifest somewhere, surely? Assuming, of course, you’re not a hopeless sociopath.
Your genuinely concerned “new anti-semite” (I can safely assume my preceding remarks more than qualify me as a worthy target for this particular piece of ideological excrement?),
Hugo Newman.
p.s. Shame on you.
Hugo Newman, hugonewman@gmail.com
This is not out of the ordinary for those on the contemporary left.
There are a couple of more letters attacking Phyllis at the link.
I read the letters, and can only classify them as "hate literature."
ReplyDeleteWe live in an amazing time: people can no longer discuss issues; they must attempt to destroy the messenger--how sad.
Rick, you're right it is sad. Or it would be if it were not for the fact that it's all part of prophecy. First, Israelis will return from all the nations and reform their nation...Done. Then they will create a great army...Done. Favor will continue to fall away from the Israelis on every front. At some point the Jews are going to start on the 3rd temple which means the iradication of the temple dome and then you can look for Magog's War. They've already created all the Priests vestments and gathered most of the Temple pieces. All that's lacking is the Ark and temple treasures. They were hidden/lost when the Jews were scattered.
ReplyDeleteChesler is an inspiration. She has the scares to show she's observed oppressive Islamic cultures firsthand.
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