By Robert Wilkes, , Bellevue
My column, “Jewish Delusions and the Threat to the Jewish People,” (Jan. 28) evoked Casablanca-like shock from Seattle blogger Richard Silverstein in the JTNews. Silverstein pieced together, ransom-note style, segments from my article separated by dots to assert that I had quoted him unfairly. I had not quoted him. His frenetic rant ricocheted from my implied culpability for the Tucson shooting to listing his Jewish bona fides, which are irrelevant. No one doubts that Quisling was Norwegian. He may have meant well, but he sided with the enemy of his people in perilous times. That is also my view of Silverstein.
What his diatribe did not touch on was my thesis: Jews of the extreme left are well-meaning but delusional, and ultimately dangerous to the Jewish people. To understand my use of “delusional,” read my column. I stand behind it. The link to my column is at JTNews.net under the “opinion” category.
Since he can’t take on my thesis, he takes me on ad hominem, and puts me in some extraordinarily distinguished company. Others he has similarly attacked include Alan Dershowitz (“intellectual slimeball”), Natan Sharansky (writes “gobbledy-gook”), Elie Wiesel (“master propagandist”), Judea Pearl (“neocon”), Ambassadors Michael Oren (“sheer mendacity,” speaks “pure fiction”) and Dore Gold (“intellectual thug,” writes “pablum”), and Israeli prime minister’s spokesperson Mark Regev (“outright liar”), to name a few. Dershowitz and Sharansky are “Israeli and American Jewish toadies.” He has ferociously attacked the leadership of the pro-Israel advocacy group StandWithUs as “thugs.” I am thrilled to be included in this list. My Jewish mother, who never let me forget that she wanted me to be a doctor, would finally be proud.
Silverstein is in the business of vituperative attack. His blog gushes invective at an amazing rate. In Silverstein’s world, StandWithUs is a “radical, right-wing” organization. I am a founding member of StandWithUs Northwest. I know almost everyone there. As a lonely Jewish Republican living in the Seattle area, I can only say, “I WISH!” I have no desire to get in a food fight with Silverstein, and I am moving on. Thank you, Richard, for encouraging more JTNews readers to read my columns, and for letting more of the Jewish community see who you are. Sunlight is good for things like that.