The Jerusalem Post fired its last prominent progressive columnist over a controversial blog post, without even offering him the possibility to apologise; meanwhile, its ultra-right writers enjoy complete unaccountability. This is a watershed moment for the once-respectable publication.
News came in earlier today that the Jerusalem Post fired Larry Derfner, its last remaining prominent progressive columnist, over a post Larry wrote on his private blog, Israel Reconsidered (proper disclosure: I joined him as a co-author on the blog a few months ago). In the post, Larry expressed the not uncommon observation that the root cause of Palestinian political violence was the violence of the occupation; he called on his readers to state boldly that “..the Palestinians, like every nation living under hostile rule, have the right to fight back, that their terrorism, especially in the face of a rejectionist Israeli government, is justified,” and argued that “if those who oppose the occupation acknowledged publicly that it justifies Palestinian terrorism, then those who support the occupation would have to explain why it doesn’t.”
Larry went on to offer the following reservations:
“But while I think the Palestinians have the right to use terrorism against us, I don’t want them to use it, I don’t want to see Israelis killed, and as an Israeli, I would do whatever was necessary to stop a Palestinian, oppressed or not, from killing one of my countrymen. (I also think Palestinian terrorism backfires, it turns people away from them and generates sympathy for Israel and the occupation, so I’m against terrorism on a practical level, too, but that’s besides the point.) The possibility that Israel’s enemies could use my or anybody else’s justification of terror for their campaign is a daunting one; I wouldn’t like to see this column quoted on a pro-Hamas website, and I realize it could happen.”
Despite all that, Derfner came under a not so much a wave of criticism as a sustained barrage of refuse; one characteristically repellent example can be found in the column of his erstwhile colleague Isi Leibler (assuming you haven’t had your lunch yet.) Although Larry’s post didn’t appear in the newspaper, and although he already apologised on the blog and removed the offending text, Larry offered to publish an apology on the Jpost pages as well, after it got “hundreds of notices of cancellations.” Apparently, “a logistical mix-up prevented it.”
Larry’s main thesis – that Palestinian terrorism is bound to Israeli military violence – is about as old as the state, if not older; even Moshe Dayan has said as much. I strongly disagree with the phrasing – I myself wouldn’t use “right” or “justified” anywhere near violence against civilians, be it Palestinians killing Israelis, Soviet Partisans killing German civilians, Algiers guerrila blowing up cafes, or Yitzhak Shamir and Menachem Begin blowing up Arab marketplaces. Still, the dismissal, despite offers to retract and apologise, is an outrage that dwarfs any conceivable damage caused by Larry’s text. Unfortunate phrasing of an unpleasant argument on a third-party forum cannot be a reason for the dismissal of a veteran columnist; but obviously, for the Jerusalem Post it was more than enough of an excuse.
Larry’s dismissal is made all the more obscene by virtue of the light it sheds on the egregious double-standard that once-professional publication now employs in regard to conservative versus liberal opinion; I say that as someone who fondly remembers the fairly conservative op-ed editor of my own time at the Post soliciting op-ed pieces he openly disagreed with. Larry worries his post might end up on some Hamas website. This is yet to occur, and even if it does take place, it’s doubtful it would influence the decision of any young Palestinian whether to become a terrorist or not. By contrast, the writings of Jerusalem Post deputy-editor Caroline Glick were cited in the manic manifesto of Norwegian terrorist Anders Brevik in justification of the bloodbath he executed earlier this summer; unlike Derfner, Glick has yet to be shown the door.
Moreover, right after the Norway carnage the Jerusalem Post published an outlandish editorial suggesting the calculated, murderous rampage of a self-confessed xenophobe was an opportunity for Norway to revisit its immigration policy. The editorial was so beyond the pale the Post only put it up on the website with a disclaimer, and sparked such an outrage in Norway the newspaper had to spend another editorial on an apology; to my knowledge, all of those responsible for this serialised farce kept their jobs. Not so for Derfner.
Now, I’m not suggesting Glick and the author of that editorial (assuming they’re not the same person) should be fired for their opinions. There are many other reasons not to retain Glick’s services. Serious complaints of her conservative column’s ultra-liberal attitude to facts should be a warning sign for any reader; her suggestions regarding the possibility of an alliance between Israel and the Vatican, instead of fickle, fickle USA, are enough to give anybody pause; and as far as embarrassing appearances outside the Jpost go, her responsibility for a “satirical” clip showing a blackface minstrel Barack Obama singing to Israel’s destruction is hard to forget.
Yet Glick’s right to express even the strangest and most obsolete of opinion from the pages of what publication would have her remains in place and should not be infringed upon. Opinion is up there to be read, to be disagreed with and to be criticised; this is the fundamental principle of op-ed pages. The Jerusalem Post has obviously sunk so low and became wedded to Glenn-Beck-type readership so tightly it now applies this principle to conservative opinion only. Pity. It used to be a newspaper once.
August 30, 2011
11:15 am
Right, so as the comment policy states, the editors delete comments using their best judgment. Obviously, we are not going to ask readers to vote on whether or not a comment is suitable.
I am the same Lisa Goldman who blogs on this site and at the one you linked to.
August 30, 2011
11:19 am
Deleted by moderator.
August 30, 2011
12:03 pm
972 is a leftist blog-based magazine with some of its journalists representing the most vile anti-Israel, anti-Zionist positions.Derfner crossed a line and the Post as a for profit news outlet has every right to fire him.
August 30, 2011
12:15 pm
[...] a Palestinian of the right age, I would join, at some point, one of the terrorist groups.”In a defense of Mr. Derfner, Dimi Reider, the other contributor to the blog “Israel Reconsidered,” argued that The [...]
August 30, 2011
12:31 pm
The JPost’s readership is ultra right wing of the hardest sort. Anyone who peruses their talkback sections will read comments that not even Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage or Glenn Beck would utter without being ashamed.
Such hatred is indicative of major psychiatric problems. One wonders how it is that the moderators find them acceptable to publish.
I was born in Haifa and grew up there but I find it difficult to explain to my American associates why Israelis or Jews in general would spout such vile venom in public.
If you hate others so virulently surely you hate yourself in the same measure.
August 30, 2011
12:41 pm
// a watershed moment for the once-respectable publication //
That watershed moment occurred in 1990.
August 30, 2011
12:44 pm
Haven’t bothered reading Larry Derfner’s articles since he crossed the line between reasonable dissent and anti-Israel propagandizing some time ago. The latest example of his delusional commentary was more obviously appalling. Knowing he might be contributive the continuous propaganda designed to break Israel’s will and courage and still did so, is hardly forgivable. He might now more formally join the ranks of his country’s enemies should he choose to do so.
Anti-Israel leftists always declare they have Israel’s best interests in mind…in disregard of the vast majority of Israeli’s regularly discrediting their views. If the facts do not suit them…rather than alter their views…they will sooner alter the facts. litists
August 30, 2011
1:11 pm
@ Steve , as you said “some” of its journalists while other journalists are moderate Zionists (although I dont believe in moderate Zionism) unless you are asking for a “Liberman” to join them .I’ve never read an article that denies the right of Israel to exist in Palestine.Even Joseph (whom I consider the left of the left) never said that.I think Ynews is more suitable for you.
August 30, 2011
1:22 pm
This is silly. Derfner is saying it’s okay to kill his fellow Israelis. In America, we’ve made so many mistakes, and I’d never use that to justify killing Americans. It’s childish, it’s masochistic, it’s stupid.
August 30, 2011
2:12 pm
In your heading you are suggesting that even an anti-semitic comment urging the death of Jews should be respected in the name of fairness. Come on, make up your mind as to where you stand.
Comment was moderated. Editor.
August 30, 2011
2:53 pm
@ Nathan , can you refer to me where he allows comments urging the death of Jews ?
August 30, 2011
4:21 pm
I’m completely disgusted by the comments on Larry Derfner being an anti-Israeli.
Derfner has very strong opinions on ’48 being a justified war from the zionist point of view, he has absolutely no questioning concerning the ‘original sin’ or the Jewish illimited right to settle down in Palestine. He was originally opposed to all kind of ROR, but has maybe changed slightly, i.e. accepting a minimum of Palestinians returning home in order to solve the conflict, NOT because he thinks it’s a inalienable right.
This is simply BS. I’ve commented on Larry’s blog for a while in the beginning, and I left because I found absolutely not use in discussing with a Liberal Zionist – that’s what Larry Derfner is – and the many right-wingers around there. His concern is Israel, only Israel, and not the Palestinians which is quite normal for a blog called ‘Israel reconsidered’ after all
When I read people here and elsewhere foaming at the mouth about Derfner being an anti-israeli propagandist, I wonder what the hell is going on in their minds. I don’t agree with Derfner on much, we had long and tough discussions, but at least he understood that I could never recognize the State of Israel, that if he’d been a Palestinian, he wouldn’t either, and he said that spontaneously. I wonder how many have really read his articles on his blog, and his comments. A liberal Zionist: if that makes so much fuss in zionist circles, it’s that fascism is here !
August 30, 2011
4:44 pm
Well maybe Larry Derfner is more fit to write in Haaretz…. There he will find readers that agree with him.
Nonetheless the point is not being left, center or right, but the lack of any logic on what someone thinks, says or writes!
By declaring “that Palestinian terrorism is bound to Israeli military violence”, all facts point to the inverse, the 1929 Hebron massacre of Jews had nothing to do “Israel military violence”, neither the intifadas of 1921, 1936, 1947…the killing of children in Maalot and other massacres perpetrated by the Arabs…In this region of the world or you are harsh to survive or you die… I am originally from an Arab country I know what the laws of survival in that region, I presume that American liberals think that the rest of the world is a kind of Disneyland.
August 30, 2011
5:18 pm
@Kalpal – “Anyone who peruses their (JP) talkback sections…” I have been recently. And they are truly disturbing. They provide an insight into the ugliest side of Jewish nationalism and racism. And they are there for all the world to see and to draw our own conclusions (in my case, a New Zealander). It is beyond me why a newspaper that seems so vehemently supportive of the Jewish State would allow such damaging material to be displayed for all the world to see. Can someone explain???
August 30, 2011
5:33 pm
I think that you’re making way too much of this, I think that you look a bit ridiculous for making such an issue of this.
The JPost have their editorial line as does +972, more than that I think that this was a purposely provocative blog post designed to gain some publicity and now you’re milking it as much as you can.
August 30, 2011
5:38 pm
Derfner is not a progressive. Progress never meant the destruction of Israel and the extermination of its unhabitants.
August 30, 2011
7:57 pm
I hope that Dimi and LIsa Goldman will take meaningful steps to protest the firing of Larry Derfner. These steps would include support of BDS and an unlimited right of return, plus consideration of israeli repatriation to Europe and AMerica
Raed Kami – If you make another comment urging Israelis to move to Europe and America, it will be deleted and you will be banned. You have repeated the same remark on far too many occasions to count. Constant repetition of the same comment, particularly when it is not germane to the article, makes you a troll. There will be no further warnings. (Editor)
August 30, 2011
8:27 pm
Good for Mr. Derfner. And good for Jpost for showing their Reactionary selves. The Reactionaries unfortunately always go down in notoriety on the wrong side of history. It is clear the now 10 yrs of provocations to keep this conflict going to pay the dividend earners in US military industrial and provide the unsinkable aircraft carrier needed to do the decade’s work in Turkmenistan, Georgia, Azerbaijan. Starting with Sharon traipsing over Al-Aqsa, while settlements were built with US private plutocrat money in violation of official State Department policy. The Impunity granted here of money elites on both sides of the Atlantic is what is taking Israel down. Nothing else. Zionists supporters, like Americans today, will have to face reality that they let their rulers use them by failing to rein them in. Justice will prevail. Religion will once again show itself to be a device of killers.
August 30, 2011
8:31 pm
This comment is completely unrelated to the article. Please follow the commenting rules by staying on topic. Further comments in this vein will be deleted. There will be no further warnings. (Moderator).
Chosen? Really? You forget the Himyarites and Khazars…and pretty much all of Europe. They were Judaized proselytites. Judaism was a proselytizing force for centuries, much like the Christians and Muslims…lost traction though after the middle ages…then spent the 19th and 20th centuries rewriting that history. I have more genetically in common with the Judeans than most Israelis.
August 30, 2011
8:45 pm
@Moderator…sorry, I was responding to something said earlier in the morning by Brad. I can see how it has little context here. You can delete it if you like.
August 31, 2011
12:20 am
P Brandt-
Who is on the “right” side of history? They always used to say the USSR was on the “right side of history”. That was how they explained away the GULAG concentration camps, the mass terror, the repression of various minority groups, the imperialism carried out in Eastern Europe, the endemic economic stagnation, because in spite of all those things “the USSR is on the right side of history”. At least up to 1990. Now Obama says Assad is on the “wrong” side of history. How do you guys know which way history is really going?
Is Left/Progressivism on the “right side of history”? Well, the Arab countries who have recently overthrown old dictators don’t seem to be going in that direction. Who is?
August 31, 2011
3:46 am
Why should JPost fund incitement and hate speech against Israeli’s? Why should they support murder of civilians? Murder of innocents remains murder of innocents no matter how you look at it. Its good that they let this excuse of an Journalist go
August 31, 2011
6:09 pm
It’s simply indefensible to justify terrorism. Which makes it indefensible for Demi Reider to defend Derfner. This would be the case even if Derfner’s claim were true, namely, that the root cause of Palestinian terrorism is “the violence of the occupation.”
However, Derfner’s contention is manifestly false, as Arab terrorism against Israel and Jews long pre-dates 1967, and in fact goes back centuries. The root cause of unrelenting Palestinian and Arab terrorism against Israel is hatred of the Jews and the refusal to accept a Jewish state.
Case closed. Good riddance, Derfner. Is there any way for someone to fire Reider, as well?
August 31, 2011
10:55 pm
I am an avid reader of the Jerusalem Post and I am pleased to see the last of Larry Derfner and his mendacious and ugly progressive blogs. I am proud to be a conservative..zionist..and non apologist for Israel and the U.S. In closing I have zero respect for the socialist agenda which has caused more harm in this world then even Hitler. You are the most misguided “useful idiots” I have ever come across.
September 1, 2011
1:57 am
” For once a journalist who didn’t mince words. A perfect counterweight to Caroline Glick. That he was fired is outrageous and confirms the decline of what was once a decent newspaper. How many of those do we have left? ”
Wow sh , coming from you that is sheer hypocrisy.
Aint you the same sh from here @
http://shalom-salaam.net/
that shut down the voice of the atheist post-zionist left ?
September 1, 2011
9:13 am
@Dimi
“By contrast, the writings of Jerusalem Post deputy-editor Caroline Glick were cited in the manic manifesto of Norwegian terrorist Anders Brevik in justification of the bloodbath he executed earlier this summer; unlike Derfner, Glick has yet to be shown the door.”
Are you serious? I was respecting your opinion until you started playing guilt by association. At least the “conservatives” know how to argue like adults.
September 2, 2011
5:01 am
Derfnerian reasoning
1) Palestinians have a right to kill Jews because they occupy Palestine. Jews have no historic right to be in Palestine
2) Spain has the right to kill Jews because Jews have become too successful in the Catholic Church
3) Ukrainian peasants had the right to kill Jews in 1648 because some Jews collected taxes for Polish nobility
4)The citizens of Kishinev had the right to kill Jews in 1904 because the resulting pogrom would garner bad publicity for the city of Kishinev
5) The Arabs had the right to kill Jews in Hebron in 1929 because they knew that 70 years later, there would be conflict between Jews and Arabs in Hebron
6) The Germans had the right to kill off the Jewish populations of Warsaw, Oslo, Minsk, and Salonika because there were too many Jewish lawyers and doctors in Berlin
What Derfner is trying to say is that killing of Jews is a time honored way of letting off steam. It should thus be culturally protected (perhaps a UNESCO heritage)
September 2, 2011
12:13 pm
Larry Derfner himself wrote the best comment about his article justifying terror and murder, when he, near the end of his text, writes “Writing this is not treason. It is patriotism”, proving how right was Samuel Johnson when he wrote “Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel”.
September 8, 2011
3:42 pm
This comment was deleted. (Moderator).