Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Ismaele...sei stato tu?

Hate mail
Jewish activists opposing the Israeli government's policies face
intimidation and harassment via email and on the internet. Brian
Whitaker reports
Monday January 19, 2004
Deborah Fink is a singer and music teacher living in London. She is
also Jewish. Last month, out of the blue, she received a deluge of
hateful emails - more than 150 in the space of a week.
One came from a rabbi in New York, informing her: "Your soul, my dear,
is petrified and lost." Another said, menacingly: "Hitler killed the
wrong Jews."
Yet another - ostensibly from a Jewish doctor of medicine in the US -
elaborated on the Holocaust theme. "Too bad Hitler didn't get your
family," it said. "With six million Jews dieing [sic] 60 year [sic]
ago it's a shame scum like you somehow managed to survive."
What, exactly, had Ms Fink done to deserve this vitriol? The short
answer is that she had been planning to sing.
Ms Fink is a member of Just Peace UK, a mainly, but not exclusively,
Jewish group opposing the Israeli occupation and seeking "a viable and
sovereign Palestinian state alongside a safe and secure Israel, with
Jerusalem as the shared capital of both states".
Just before Christmas, she helped to organise an alternative carol
concert in Trafalgar Square, at which traditional Christmas songs were
sung with new words. One of them went like this:
Oh little town of Bethlehem,
How still we see thee lie.
A wall is laid where tourists stayed,
And tanks go rolling by ...
To publicise the event, the organisers sent out several hundred
emails. One of them fell into the hands of Naomi Ragen, a US-born
novelist and dramatist who now lives in Jerusalem, where she also
writes freelance columns for the Jerusalem Post.
Ms Ragen then circulated an email of her own, which began: "I suppose
it's fitting that self-hating Jews will be singing anti-Israel
Christmas songs to curry favour with oh-so-genteel British
anti-Semites."
Her message concluded: "I hope this will give British Jews a chance to
organise a counter-campaign. If, after reading what the hate-mongers
are going to be saying, you'd like to contact them, here are some
addresses."
Email addresses for four of the "hate-mongering" carol singers
followed, including that of Ms Fink.
For good measure, Ms Ragen sent her own personal note to Ms Fink,
saying: "I hope you and your children suffer what we in Israel have
suffered. And then perhaps I will sing carols praising those who blow
you and yours up. Happy Holiday."
Among those who received her complaint about the carol singers was an
organisation called Isralert. Its exact purpose is unclear, although
it describes itself as a "Jewish advocacy network".
It also operates a private, and rather secretive, emailing list. The
only way to join is by invitation from an existing member - and even
then, its organiser, Harv Weiner, "may refuse a subscription to anyone
for any reason".
This was not the first time that a message from Ms Ragen had appeared
on Isralert. Last May, she attacked businessman-philanthropist Edgar
Bronfman and 13 other prominent US Jews for breaking with the "Jewish
leadership".
Their "offence" had been to write a letter to Congress, supporting the
road map for peace in the Middle East. The peace plan is backed by the
US, Europe, Russia and the UN.
"I'd like to say this to dear Mr Bronfman," Ms Ragen wrote. "Take your
money ... and shove it. You are betraying us in Israel. Your recent
statement makes me sick, and can in no way be viewed as a friendly or
helpful gesture to Israel or Israelis. However, I'm sure Mr Arafat
will send you a thankyou note."
The day before the Trafalgar Square carol concert, Isralert posted Ms
Ragen's email about the carol singers - together with their email
addresses - on 
think-israel.org
, a website based in Bethesda,
Maryland.
Among other things, 
think-israel.org
 claims that the Palestinians
"have no historical, national or cultural identity distinct from other
Arabs of the region", and that the whole of the West Bank belongs to
Israel.
Ms Ragen's message, along with the note from Mr Gross, also surfaced
as a special "action alert" on a website called 
ourenemies.org
 -
undoubtedly one of the nastiest non-pornographic sites on the
internet.
The site is registered in Bogota, Colombia, where its owner is
identified only by a Hotmail address. It is hosted by a company in
Florida called Aleph-Net.
Besides making crude attempts at satire ("Arafat is gay! Former
paedophile outed"), 
ourenemies.org
 targets what it calls "self-hating
Jews" in a vicious and highly personalised way.
Among those featured is a Jewish lawyer who defended terrorism
suspects in court, and "the Jew who broke bread with Arafat on
Passover ... currently married to a bug-eyed Michigan-born ARAB who
calls herself a 'Palestinian'. Was it a match made in Hell? Or simply
a Jew made in Hell! You be the Judge!"
An Israeli teenager who refused to do military service is pilloried as
a supporter of "Arab terrorism", with the suggestion that he should be
shot for high treason.
There is also a rabbi "who supports the murders of Jewish children,
and condemns Israeli action to protect its citizens", and a list of
"Other (Self-Hating) Jewish Freaks of Nature" - mainly Israeli peace
organisations.
The name of one of the site's victims is shown in large brown type
with a note below saying: "Does the color of the above text remind you
of anything?"
The site gives personal details of the people targeted, including
their email addresses, phone numbers and home addresses, together with
street maps in some cases ("so you won't get lost").
In the case of organisations, details of their internet servers are
given - presumably to facilitate hacking. This is followed by a
disclaimer urging people not to harass or threaten the targets, hack
their computers, send them viruses, and so on.
Ourenemies.org says it is affiliated to another website,
California-based Masada2000, which publishes a "SHIT List" of more
than 6,000 "Self-Hating, Israel-Threatening" Jews.
Interestingly, most of the nastiness generated in the name of
defending Israel seems to come from the US rather than from Israel
itself.
It may be the work of a lunatic fringe but, according to Ms Fink, even
Jewish activists in Britain who reject the Israeli government's line
can face various kinds of harassment.
Earlier, Ms Fink had come under fire from the Union of Jewish Students
when she tried to set up a student branch of "Jews for Justice for
Palestinians".
Last November, a Jewish protest in Golders Green - the heart of the
London Jewish community - against the construction of Israel's West
Bank wall was greeted by threatening phone calls, a
counter-demonstration and cries of "traitors".
It ended with one of the peace activists - a former Israeli soldier -
being punched and knocked to the ground.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,7792,1126294,00.html

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Ci mancherebbe... Comunque anche se fosse, non ci sarebbe bisogno neanche
del terst del DNA... La puzza di suino sarebbe intollerabile...
Che mi dici della tua... qualche ritardo ultimamente?
K