Petition: Debunking false charges of anti-semitism against MoveOn.org

[Ian David]

From: Rabbi Arthur Waskow
Sent: Thursday, October 26, 2006
Subject: False charges of Anti-Semitism -Heschel centenary-Beyond Oil


A prophetic voice in Jewish, multireligious, & American life
http://www.shalomctr.org

DEALING WITH FALSE CHARGES OF ANTI-SEMITISM;


Dear friends,

As you know, The Shalom Center as a 501c3 tax-exempt organization is not permitted to and does not endorse or oppose candidates for office. MoveOn.org is one organization that does. Opponents of MoveOn.org have launched a concerted campaign to smear the grass-roots online movement with false charges of anti-Semitism.

The scurrilous attacks on MoveOn have been based on the brief appearance of anti-Semitic comments written by non-staff people on its open forum. When the staff at MoveOn.org learned about the comments, they acted swiftly to remove the offensive remarks. The Anti-Defamation League praised their response, declaring themselves "satisfied with {MoveOn's} responsiveness" and characterizing the matter as having been "resolved satisfactorily."

Moreover, many of MoveOn's staff are not only Jewish, but Jewishly motivated to repair the world (tikkun olam) through righteous action (tzedekah) and acts of loving-kindness ( gemilut hasadim ).

Yet this politicization of anti-Semitism has continued unabated, with charges migrating from The Washington Times to the Wall Street Journal to the Jewish press, repeated ad nauseam on the internet.

No matter what anyone thinks of MoveOn's political views and those of its opponents, it is absolutely unacceptable to charge it with anti-Semitism. False charges of anti-Semitism are not only rechilus – slander – in Jewish law, and reprehensible in any society --– they also risk weakening into meaninglessness any attempt to deal with real anti-Semitism where it does exist. The story of "Crying wolf" is not a Hassidic or Talmudic tale, but it is truth nevertheless

The Jewish FundS for Justice, a vigorous grass-roots foundation bringing Jewish values and money together to empower the poor and seek justice, has put this petition on-line. We urge you to sign it:

"As American Jews, we condemn the manipulation of fear of anti-Semitism for political gain, including the recent campaign against the online movement MoveOn.org. We stand for the Jewish value of placing hope over fear by expanding opportunity and creating justice for all Americans."

Click here to sign the petition.
http://ga6.org/campaign/MoveOn_Petition

A prophetic voice in Jewish, multireligious, & American life
http://www.shalomctr.org

[silverweb]

1. Done!

:thumbsup:

[Jan Mel Poller]

2. MoveOn.Org and Anti-Semitism

I am the person who brought the anti-Semitism of MoveOn.Org and its forum to the attention of numerous people including bloggers and editorialists. The charges are not false. The events ahppened and I can docuemtn them. (Unfotunately, I did not save every anti-Semitic psot that I saw.)Here are the facts:

• I have been following MoveOn.Org since they came to my attention during the first anti-Iraq invasion demonstrations when they teamed up with Stalinist Ramsey Clark and International Answer.

• From the beginning, MoveOn.org had anti-Semitic posts. The posts were not anonymous. The same people were posting this anti-Semitism from the time I got on until they shut down the forum. They had names and they had to be approved with a valid e-mail address by MoveOn.Org personnel.

• Initially, I was approved. I would dispute the anti-Semitic and anti-Israel posts. Because of this, my messages were frequently deleted. I was barred from posting on the forum. Two or three more times I created a different user ID and each time I disputed the anti-Semitic remarks and each time I was kicked off and my posts were deleted.

• The people who posted these anti-Semitic remarks were not censored.

• All of the above shows that the forum was monitored (which they said they did, supposedly to get ideas for MoveOn.Org). For MoveOn.Org (and Eli Pariser in particular) to say that it wasn’t monitored is just a lie.

• There are about 25,000 postings a year or about 500 a week. MoveOn.Org limits forum members to 3 posts per day. 75-100 posts a day are not hard to monitor.

• I wrote a letter on April 1, 2004 to MoveOn.Org pointing out that they let anti-Semitic remarks stand but they deleted mine and the blocked me from posting. They never answered.

• Eli Pariser can call the postings “abhorrent” or anything he wants. It doesn’t matter. Actions matter.

• All the other MoveOn forum members who protested the anti-Semitism (and there were precious few) were punished the same way I was.

• If you look at the voting on the anti-Semitic posts, it was overwhelmingly in support of the anti-Semitism.

Again, MoveOn IS NOT an open forum as shown above.

Jewish voters can take discomfort in the knowledge that MoveOn.Org and its Jewish leaders (Eli Pariser, Noah T. Winer and George Soros) IS a haven for anti-Semitism and had no problem joining up with International Answer.

This has absolutely nothing to do with Republican or Democrat. I was a lifelong Democrat and became an Independent because of the philosophy of MoveOn.Org and other “progressive” organizations.

Jan Mel Poller
I have been accused of smearing MoveOn.Org, which implies that what I have been reporting is a lie.

I pointed out that MoveOn.Org monitors the forum while my detractors claim that it is an unmonitored forum. Eli Pariser, in his communications, claims that it is an unmonitored forum.

Forum rules can be found at http://www.actionforum.com/general/faq.html .

The MoveOn.Org rules confirm that Eli Pariser lied to you. The fact that MoveOn openly lies to you about things that are documented in MoveOn.Org’s own words should make you question the other things that MoveOn.Org preaches.

Just in case MoveOn.Org removes or changes their rules, I have copied them to my own computer. They can’t disappear.

I want to remind readers that comments challenging anti-Semitic comments were removed and I was locked out of the forum.

Here are excerpts:

Note: You can’t be anonymous, you must register
What are the rules? Everyone is welcome to comment, and rate the comments of others. While you can change your ratings at anytime, you can only rate a comment once. You must abide by the terms of use.

<b>To participate you must give your real name, occupation, and place of residence.</b> This information will be shown after your comment as your “signature”. You must have a valid email address to register and participate. Your email address will be kept confidential.
Note: MoveOn Monitors the Forum

How does MoveOn use ActionForum? MoveOn monitors the forum for input several times a day and uses the information to help set their agenda. Comments that are of immediate relevance are forwarded to the appropriate team member usually within hours. Comments of a more long term nature are compiled weekly in two summaries and passed to the team. Occasionally topic specific summaries are compiled covering a period of a month or more.

How can I make sure someone at MoveOn reads my post ? <b>All comments are read at least twice.</b> While there is no single criteria, comments that suggest a possible MoveOn action and are not duplicative are likely to be immediately passed on, or included in a summary to the whole MoveOn team. Ratings, while important, are not definitive and some comments with few or low ratings are included in the summaries. Important issues are sometimes followed up with a survey to a sampling of the membership compiled covering a period of a month or more.

[pwb]

3. so what about anti christian or anti muslim blogs

do you really think because you are jewish that we all have to agree with everything Israel wants or does. come on..

[Jan Mel Poller]

4. Reread my post

People are allowed to be anti-Semites. They can Hate Jews, Israel, Zionists, the Israeli government - whatever. MoveOn.org is allowed to put all of that on their forum and remove posts that attack those sentiments.

You have an obligation to know what the organizations that you support stand for.

I have an obligation to tell people that this is what the organization stands for.

I have a right to tell people that Pariser and Winer are not telling the truth in their answers.

And I don't expect anyone to support what the Israeli government does 100%. For instance, a lot of people think that leaving Gaza was a disaster, enlarging the war and encouraging Hezbullah to attack. A lot of people think that Israel just shouldn't exist.

You want open government? How about open political organizations?

[DocSavage]

5. Want to have some

fun. Start a anti-palestinian thread. To many, Israel is America of the Middle East, to be condemed and ridiculed for what ever she does.