To Kill An Alan Dershowitz (The Dersh Slams Michael Lerner Of "Tikkun" Fame Alert)

Frontpagemag.com ^ | 09/27/06 | Alan Dershowitz

[goldstategop]

Last month I wrote an article called “Norman Finkelstein’s Obscenities,” a response to Finkelstein’s latest screed, “Should Alan Dershowitz Target Himself for Assassination?” As the title of the article suggests, Finkelstein puts forward in his article what he believes to be a justification for my assassination as a war criminal, based on my support for Israel.

Nor was this the only obscenity in the article. Not by a long shot. As I wrote in my article, Finkelstein piece was accompanied by a:

cartoon drawn by “Latuff”, a frequent accomplice of Finkelstein. The cartoon portrayed me as masturbating in rapturous joy while viewing images of dead Lebanese civilians on a TV set labeled “Israel peep show,” with a Jewish Star of David prominently featured.

I found out recently that Rabbi Michael Lerner, founder and editor of Tikkun magazine, has been circulating the Finkelstein article from his Tikkun e-mail account and under Tikkun letterhead. Lerner apparently didn’t have the stomach to attach the cartoon, despite the fact that the inspiration for the disgusting cartoon comes directly from what Finkelstein writes in the article circulated by Rabbi Lerner, as I showed in my previous article:

The cartoon aptly represents the content of Finkelstein’s piece, which accuses me of being a “moral pervert” who “missed the climactic scene of his little peep show.” He also claims quite absurdly that I “sanction mass murder” and “the extermination of the Lebanese people.” (I’m surprised he hasn’t accused me of kicking of puppy dogs, scowling at little children, and parking in handicapped spaces.)

This is from a rabbi who modestly purports to devote himself “to peace, justice, non-violence, generosity, caring, love and compassion.” This is a rabbi who purports to observe the Jewish commandments against evil words (“lashon harah”) and bearing false witness. This is a man who ardently opposes Israel’s targeted assassination of Hamas leaders, but who apparently has no qualms about the assassination of pro-Israel academics. That’s a rather peculiar definition of “peace, justice, and non-violence” Rabbi Lerner is employing.

This is not the first time that Lerner has served as a megaphone for Finkelstein’s hate speech. Lerner published an article-length version of one of Finkelstein’s screeds in Tikkun, complete with Finkelstein’s hateful thesis: “Alongside Israel [American Jewish elites] are the main fomenters of anti-Semitism in the world today… They need to be stopped.” (Finkelstein had previously called American Jews “parasites.”) In the same book that Lerner was promoting, Finkelstein invoked some of the most crass anti-Semitic caricatures found in contemporary America, “Should people like Abraham Foxman, Edgar Bronfman, and Rabbi Israel Singer [who are prominent Jewish leaders] get a free ride because they resemble stereotypes straight out of Der Sturmer?” Can you imagine a professor issuing a similar description of a woman or a Muslim, or describing the Pope according to an anti-Catholic stereotype? Can you imagine Tikkun publishing an author who falsely described Rabbi Lerner as resembling a stereotype “straight out of Der Sturmer”?

Lerner tried to weasel out of what he had done by saying the he forwarded the Finkelstein article because I had called him “an anti-Semitic rabbi” in one of my books. (What I actually wrote is that “even a rabbi can support anti-Semitic actions” – as Lerner did when he supported divestment from Israel and only Israel – which is quite different from calling him “an anti-Semitic rabbi,” but never mind.) As a defense lawyer, I would recommend to Lerner that he would be better situated to defend against those charges if he didn’t so eagerly associate with anti-Semites and publish Jew-hating rants.

Through his nefarious association with Norman Finkelstein, who is a genuine Jew-hater, Michael Lerner has forever disqualified himself from being taken seriously on matters of Jewish concern, the Jewish community, or Israel.

[goldstategop]

The Dersh has outed Michael Lerner, the publisher of radical leftist Jewish magazine Tikkun, based in San Francisco, California for associating with the world's only Jewish Hitler lover, Norman Finkelstein! To make matters worse, Lerner has no problems with pro-Israel academics such as Alan Dershowitz being assassinated. One has the impression The Dersh late in life, is becoming a conservative despite his liberal reputation - because the Left has moved over to the lunatic fringe and embraced outright anti-Semites and in Tikkun's case... gone so far as to publish Jew-hating rants. I won't even get into Latuff's cartoon with its obscene imagery that doesn't deserve comment here except to note the Left has lost all bounds of decency. And in Lerner's case, his willingness to print Finkelstein's garbage is living confirmation of the true and trite adage a man is judged by the company he keeps. I would not consider him a rabbi and as The Dersh has rightly ajudged, he "has forever disqualified himself from being taken seriously on matters of Jewish concern, the Jewish community, or Israel." Let that be the last word in the Left's attack on a scholar whom I have tremendously grown to admire despite my disagreements with him on some domestic issues. On issues of Jewish concern and Israel - I and The Dersh are in complete agreement.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

[Alouette]

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[Moose4]

Guys like Dershowitz and Nat Hentoff (of the Village Voice) and Joe Lieberman are liberals on social and probably on fiscal issues, of that there's no doubt. But they aren't moonbats. I don't think Dershowitz has had some sort of Damascene conversion to being a conservative. Unlike the radical left that's hijacked the Democratic Party, he's just sane enough to see things that the moonbats refuse to.

}:-)4

[cajungirl]

Is Lerner not the man Hillary was so enthralled by and talkked about "the politics of meaning" when embracing his views?

Dersh may be an ACLU criminal loving lawyer, but he is a good Jew and knows anti semitism when he sees it.

[A.Hun]

After Dershowitz's empassioned defense of the Liar in Chief, he can KMA. He has been teaching his moonbat brand of law for years, legally twisting the definition of truth, and now it is biting back

As far as I am concerned, he is on his own.

[gusopol3]

Hillary to Lerner c.1993, re ethics, "Am I your mouthpiece or what?"

[goldstategop]

A neo-con. We conservatives so defined are mostly ex-moderate liberals repelled by the counter culture excesses of the 60s. People like The Dersh and Lieberman will increasingly find themselves on the Right simply because the Left has been taken over by the crazies. There is no longer a sane Left in this country.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

[OldFriend]

Oh yes, Lerner was her heinous' guru when she first came to national power.

Let anyone think it won't matter if the left comes to power.......I beg you to think again.

[bkepley]

--The Dersh has outed Michael Lerner

Who didn't know Lerner is a loon? This is a catfight.

[maryz]

One has the impression The Dersh late in life, is becoming a conservative despite his liberal reputation -

Not really -- or not necessarily. It must be about 20 years ago that Dershowitz had a regular column that the Boston Herald used to run. On most subjects, it was infuriating liberal pap (though more literate than most). On Israel, however, he was always spot on!

Not so reliable on Judaism. Didn't he have a book some years ago, proposing a "Judaism without God"? -- he wanted some kind of animating and unifying Jewish identity, but he's not religious (no, I never read it, but I think I saw reviews). To my Catholic ear, it sounded like a call for "Judaism without Judaism." Talk about bricks without straw!

[maryz]

and talked about "the politics of meaning"

Thanks! That's the phrase that was eluding me. I recalled the connection with Hillary (in yet another ill-starred Dem attempt at the "spiritual"), but I couldn't recall the catch phrase.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

There is no longer a sane Left in this country.

There never was...

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

Without Genesis, there is no Judaism or Christianity...

[cajungirl]

If my memory is correct, HIllary was on the cover of the NYT Mag, dressed in white and the title was Saint Hillary. And she waxed enthusiastic over Lerner. It made me nauseous,,the moral posturing. And Lerner sounded like a snake oil salesman turned guru.

[MarkL]

This just goes to show that Trey Parker and Matt Stone are prophets, and their show, South Park is prescient!

Does anyone remember the episode "Jewbilee?" That was where "Elder Garth," from the "Synagogue of Antisemitic Jews" tried to usher in "The Reign of Haman."

On a more serious note, some of the worst oppressors of Jews in history have been people who were once Jews (or had Jewish ancestors), and rejected being Jewish. Examples would include many involved in the Bolshevik revolution and ruling the Soviet Union. And of course, there's been the rumor for many decades that Hitler had some Jewish ancestory.

For a less virulent version of this sort of thing, one can simply look at militant anti-smokers.

Mark

[true_blue_texican]

bttt

[joebuck]

The Dersh is an enigma. Half the time I see him I want to throw a vase through the TV - the other half I'm cheering every word he says. Go figure.

[Alouette]

Does anyone remember the episode "Jewbilee?"

One of my all time favorites!

[justiceseeker93]

Yes, I remember when Lerner was the unofficial chief liaison between the Jewish community and the Clinton WH!

I've heard though that Lerner and HRC may have had some kind of falling out. Does anyone have any details on why this occurred (if it did) and if there is any connection remaining between Lerner and Her Royal Thighness? After all, they both like to fancy themselves as "progressives."

[SJackson]

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The articles in question

Norman Finkelstein's Obscenties (The Dersh On The World's Only Jewish Hitler Lover Alert)

Should Alan Dershowitz Target Himself for Assassination