We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

The Double Identity of an "Anti-Semitic" Commenter

Click here to access article by Lance Tapley from Common Dreams.  

After suffering criticism from donors critical of frequent atrocious anti-Semitic comments following articles critical of Israel, Common Dreams' staff launched their own investigation of the people behind the comments. What they found was a new twist of the Jewish victimization technique used by Zionists in which they attack people who are critical of the actions of Israel as being "anti-Semitic". 

Read the article to find the details of what they discovered about one individual's devious use of the web to discredit websites like Common Dreams that post articles critical of Israeli actions. Also, the article reveals interesting information about organized efforts to defend and promote Israeli policies on the web and social media.
Jewish and evangelical-Christian groups and other organizations outside Israel have long promoted Israel's interests--some by attacking what they perceive as bias in newspapers and on television and radio. In the U.S., the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), founded in 1982 (with a newer offshoot, CAMERA on Campus), has aggressively pushed pro-Israel narratives in American news media.

Israeli-government-promoted internet activism--reactive and proactive--is a newer effort. News reports show it was ramped up in recent years, in step with other governments, including the U.S. government. Some civilian Israelis apparently are paid by the government to work the internet. The Associated Press reported from Jerusalem last year that the government was "looking to hire university students to post pro-Israel messages on social media networks."