Speaking of Engage...they did not post my logical and civil response to Brian Robinson, yet as you know, they felt free to post my private emails to Linda Grant.

Maybe Alf Green is Simonon's pen name......!

Interesting how Israel's apologists are the ones who don't always have the guts to use their real names whereas we, who are the ones without media or financial backing, do. It seems that the Israel lobby are so used to having it their own way that they have not had the chance to toughen up!
Deborah Fink | 06.26.06 - 5:40 pm | #

The accusation or assumption that the left is anti-Semitic is so frequent now I wonder if anyone remembers Zionists bothering to make the case in the first place. Arguments that the left is anti-Semitic to the extent that they are made at all are weak. The most frequently used and best "left-anti-Semitism" argument is that the left's focus on Israel is disproportionate and this disproportionality is caused by anti-Semitism.
Even if the disproportionate focus of the left on Israel is accepted, this in no way indicates anti-Semitism. This has to be demonstrated with arguments.

Political interests are rarely directed by a consistent framework of values. Why worry about the electoral system which is of marginal significance when compared to the millions who die each year from starvation and malnutrition. Similarly why did people focus on Apartheid South Africa when the number of lives lost were minimal compared to other conflicts? Were active opponents of Apartheid in the west anti-Boar?
There are many reasons why Israel's oppression is a focus for the left, they are not necessarily rational, but they are not anti-Semitic
(1) media interest
(2) the historical complicity of the west in creating and maintaining the state of Israel
(3) the racist nature of the oppression
(4) the inherent interestingness of the Middle East – birth of the three monotheistic religions etc. Its why people like reading the history of Britain and France rather than the history of Canada (a country I am fond of).
patrick | 06.26.06 - 6:56 pm | #

Deborah - next time you post to Engage use the name "Alf Green." I don't think Alexandra Simonon will be using it anymore, especially since using it to support her own Comment is free post and to double sign the Euston Manifesto.

That is of course if Alf really doesn't exist. I still haven't had a reply from Alexandra Simonon or Alf Green. When I wrote to "Malachi" to ask if he was the barrister (no less) Adrian Cohen, he wrote back immediately to say that he was.
Mark Elf (aka Levi9909) | Homepage | 06.26.06 - 7:54 pm | #

I love your investigative pieces when you catch deceptive zionists. I remember you posted on Nick Cohen as well. The funny thing of this is the claim that the Euston Manifesto has no Zionist political bias. Strange since the person who penned it i.e. Geras is one of the advisors of Engage and the Engage people are "bigging it up" (I can be so streetwise!) on comment is free. But it's "anti-semitic" to imply it's a zionist manifesto. It's even "anti-semitic" to claim Engage is a Zionist lobby group. Next as you said they'll deny Hirsch exists just as Alf Green probably doesn't exist!
unclejimbo | 06.26.06 - 11:27 pm | #

Thanks Jimbo but the pieces are hardly investigative. Nick Cohen came to me as did Alexandra Simonon and Alf Green. In the case of Nick Cohen I was curious to see where his "Baruch Spinoza" comment had come from. Ironically in the case of Alf Green, it was when I was moderating "his" comment that I noticed the same IP as Simonon. The irony here is that Alf Green was one of many zionist commentors harrassing me some months ago that led to me setting up the moderation facility. You could say that "Alf" was hoisted by "his" own petard.
Mark Elf (aka Levi9909) | Homepage | 06.27.06 - 6:58 am | #

Is using a false name to support or defend your own article not a blatant case of trolling?

Surely the Guardian has some policy banning this behaviour from their contributors?
harry | 06.27.06 - 10:36 am | #

I think that crossed a line myself. I suppose, in spite of what I said in my post, acting in such bad faith when the Guardian hosted her zionist apologetics in the first place was the worst thing.

I mean that sort of stuff on my blog is to be expected, the Eustonistas are pretty dodgy characters anyway and I'm sure most Engage contributors would admire her chutzpah in using a man's name to give vent to such sheer dishonesty so I doubt if Dov will complain again.
Mark Elf | Homepage | 06.27.06 - 12:28 pm | #

I think there is a danger here of playing the man rather than the ball. I think the Zionist position is sufficiently weak to make it unnecessary to comment on personal characteristics of the arguer.
The personal characteristics of Zionists make no difference to the truthfullness or justice of their position.
As it happens, I find many Zionists to be quite disingenuous, but I think its best to set this aside and assume we are debating an issue on 14th century Dutch shipping.
patrick | 06.27.06 - 4:43 pm | #

I think the dishonesty of zionists needs to be exposed.

We are entitled to ask why the likes of Nick Cohen and Alexandra Simonon don't use their own names when talking tripe.

And since Alf Green seems not to actually exist what man is there to play here?
Mark Elf | Homepage | 06.27.06 - 5:30 pm | #

There's a whole ball of Zionist wax-- taking in the EM, Democratiya, Unite Against Terror, Harry's Place and Engage-- where you get the same 20-odd types endlessly patting each other on the back, in between cheerleading for New Labour and Israel and deleting anyone who dares to point out how their names recur.

Judging by the NeoCounter page traffic at the best known of these hangouts, Harry's Place, I don't think many blog-perusers of the Left are taken in by this racket any more, even if HP (which still plaintively claims to be a general forum for British political discussion) didn't spend 90pc of its webspace abusing Muslims, detecting 'antisemites' in every bush and defending whatever Israel's up to this week, usually by saying that all critics are morons or 'Islamofascists'.

Once HP was a versatile place, but since Harry Hatchet himself and Hari (Johann) bowed out it has become much narrower in scope: full of silly little feuds left over from the leading lights' NUS and Union of Jewish Students days in the 1980s.
Jack the Bear | 07.15.06 - 6:00 pm | #