[Peace-discuss] Fwd: Re: [Fwd: Letter to the Editor: Forum Submission (550 words)]

[David Green]

Dear Wayne:

     On Saturday, I submitted the letter you find at
the bottom of this message to the Daily Illini
Opinions Editer, who is you. This morning, I received
the following response from James Sobotaka, a
columnist who is one of the subjects of my letter. 

      Exactly how has this happened? Mr. Sobotka is
welcome to respond to me in print, or personally after
the publication of my forum submission. But to receive
a response like this--and such a nasty one-- before my
letter's publication is a breach of confidentiality. I
would like to inquire how this has happened.

      Beyond that, I think that Sobotka's tone speaks
for itself. He has a forum in the DI, and you are
welcome to publish his venom. But I think that you
should make an effort to bring the Arab/Muslim
community into this disucssion in a more serious way.

Sincerely,

David Green










--- james sobotka <sobotkajc at gmail.com> wrote:

> Date: Mon, 13 Sep 2004 08:23:57 -0500
> From: james sobotka <sobotkajc at gmail.com>
> To: davegreen48 at yahoo.com
> Subject: Re: [Fwd: Letter to the Editor: Forum
> Submission (550 words)]
> 
> David,
> 
> Ordinarily I don't respond to the Matt Hale type,
> but since you're
> such a noted bigot on campus it's my duty as a moral
> being to stand
> against you.
> 
> You're right when you say there is only one
> acceptable form of racism
> on campus, but you're a bit confused.  This racism
> is anti-Semitism,
> known euphemistically as anti-Zionism.  As Martin
> Luther King Jr.
> spoke, after a young man criticized Zionists, "Don't
> talk like that!
> When people criticise Zionists, they mean Jews. 
> You're talking
> Anti-Semitism." (Encounter Magazine, Dec. 1969, p.
> 24)  Moreover, the
> Roman Catholic Church – which knows a little a
> something about the
> topic – recently declared that anti-Zionism is
> anti-Semitism.  Of
> course I doubt either of these facts will move you
> from your position,
> because while the moral people of the world were
> denouncing this,
> while the European Union was busy studying these
> problems, while Danil
> Pearl was being murdered for being a Jew, in short
> while the rest of
> the world gradually became aware of the growing
> danger of
> anti-Semitism promising "Never Again" you sir
> encouraged these natural
> demons to rise up.
> 
> And that, Mr. Green, is why you are the most notable
> bigot on campus.
> 
> I pity you, I really do.  You have been so corrupted
> by tall tales by
> the PLO that you can scarcely tell reality from
> fiction.  Whether or
> not the first intifada was a popular uprising or not
> has no bearing on
> my opinion of Yasser Arafat.  He is a monster.  From
> the 1972 Olympics
> where his organization murdered eleven Israeli
> athletes to the
> present, he deserves swift death.  Perhaps you don't
> realize it, but
> Arafat's PLO was calling for the liberation of
> Palestine before the
> West Bank was captured by the Israelis.  I know you
> have a small mind,
> but perhaps even it could realize what this would
> mean for the Jews. 
> A bullet and a shallow grave are really too good for
> Arafat, but the
> Israeli people are a moral people and will not
> descend into the
> barbarism of the Palestinians.
> 
> I have no such trust in the morality of the
> Palestinian people.  They
> have turned the West Bank into a death cult.  Their
> children attend
> summer camps where they learn to be suicide bombers.
>  Their leadership
> sends children against tanks, hoping they'll be shot
> for propaganda
> purposes.  They cheered on September 11.  They shoot
> pregnant women
> and children on their way to protest.  They invade
> Christian holy
> sites and desecrate them.  They use ambulances to
> deliver explosives. 
> They barge into the Passover meal and blow
> themselves up, sprinking
> the blood of their elderly victims on the maztah. 
> They describe the
> Jews as the sons of pigs and monkeys.  They threaten
> the press.  They
> stifle free speech.  They protest the wall as their
> leaders make money
> selling Israelis concrete.  They adore Adolf Hitler
> and hope to finish
> the job he started.
> 
> Of course you'll probably attribute their actions to
> the Jews, just
> like I'm sure you believe that Beslan and the
> actions on Sept 11 were
> carried out by the Jews.  With those opinions you're
> in the company of
> a large portion of the Arab world.  I'm sure you
> know all about their
> fanaticism, their bigotry, their tyrannts, their
> stoning of
> homosexuals, their sub-human treatment of women,
> their jihad, their
> self-loathing, their dhimmis, their genocides, their
> slave markets,
> their child molestation, their murderous theology,
> their traditions,
> and their immoral prophet, book, and god!
> 
> And moreover, I am sure whole-heartedly approve of
> all of it.  
> 
> Against such evil, it is rather difficult not to see
> the good in
> nations such as Israel, India, Britain, Australia,
> Russia, and the
> United States.  Yet you have choosen to join the
> ranks of the souless.
>  Mr. Green we are at war and the stakes have never
> been higher. 
> Either we shall triumph or darkness the likes the
> world has never seen
> shall sweep the globe.
> 
> I will not stand with those whose only hope in life
> is to take their
> own lives and the lives of others.  I will not
> encourage a theology
> that makes killing and enslaving the infidel a
> religious duty.  I will
> not mask the Middle East, but will actively seek to
> pull the mask off
> their lies.
> 
> You Mr. Green have choosen to support, to encourage,
> and to cover up evil.  
> 
> And you son of a bitch you know it.  
> 
> I have choosen to support, to encourage, and to
> expand whatever good
> exists in the world.
> 
> And you son of a bitch you know it too.
> 
> You and I Mr. Green are on opposite sides of a war
> of ideas.  I might
> not have your degrees, your resources, or your years
> of hypocrisy to
> back me, but I have the hearts, minds, and souls of
> every moral man
> from Moses and Socrates to Sharon and Bush.
> 
> And you know what else you son of a bitch?  You know
> the truth and
> this knowledge daily eats away at whatever is left
> of your soul.
> 
> My words have been harsh, but I do not appreciate
> being called a
> racist, and I doubt you do either.  If you wish to
> discuss the
> relative merits of Israeli actions, I am open to
> discussion, but I
> will not discuss anti-Semitism as a respectable
> philosophy.  Your
> views, if implemented, would result in a second
> holocaust.  Either you
> are too stupid to understand this, or are hoping for
> it.  I don't know
> which way you lean, but I have an idea.
> 
> Until you are willing to accept Israel's right to
> exist, then please fuck off.
> 
> James Sobotka
> 
> 
> 
> On Sat, 11 Sep 2004 21:05:27 -0500 (CDT), DI
> opinions editor
> <opinions at dailyillini.com> wrote:
> > -------- Original Message --------
> > Subject: Letter to the Editor: Forum Submission
> (550 words)
> > From: David Green <davegreen48 at yahoo.com>
> > Date: Sat, September 11, 2004 6:00 pm
> > To: opinions at dailyillini.com
> > 
> >      In response to my critique of the "new
> > anti-semitism," Jeremy Glassenberg (9/9) goes back
> two
> > years, and to Canada, to find an example on campus
> > that is not fabricated. But he fantasizes that a
> > "racist" mob chanted "kill the Jews" when
> protesting
> > Netanyahu's Concordia visit.
> > 
> >      Jordy Cummings, an eyewitness, wrote that "a
> few
> > people engaged in violence. But in a situation in
> > which police, goaded by counter-demonstrators
> chanting
> > anti-Arab bigotry, attacked the thousands of
> peaceful
> > pro-Palestine demonstrators with tear gas and
> pepper
> > spray, a few tempers flared." As for racism,
> Cummings
> > states: "Pro-Palestinian speakers at Concordia
> have
> > never engaged in anti-Semitism. Netanyahu is
> clearly
> > anti-Palestinian and murderous, and wears his
> bigotry
> > on his sleeve."
> > 
> >      Glassenberg writes that scholar Norman
> > Finkelstein claims that the holocaust was an
> > "exaggeration." Finkelstein is the child of
> > concentration camp survivors, and has claimed no
> such
> > thing. But he has convincingly argued that the
> > holocaust has been used to silence criticism of
> > Israel.
> > 
> >      Meanwhile, the only politically correct form
> of
> > racism on campus abounds in lurid fashion in the
> DI.
> > James Sobotka (9/7) writes "if the media
> accurately
> > portrayed Yasser Arafat, would he have won the
> Nobel
> > Prize? After starting the first intifada, all
> Arafat
> > deserved was a bullet in his temple and a shallow
> > grave."
> > 
> >      Sobotka is unaware that the first intifada
> (1987)
> > was a popular uprising unrelated to the PLO, which
> was
> > exiled. Yitzhak Rabin, Arafat's co-prizewinner,
> > responded to the rock throwers by asserting "we
> will
> > break their bones." And so they did, well before
> > suicide bombings. Later, he was murdered by a
> > right-wing Jew.
> > 
> >      To add to this hateful chorus, Elie Dvorin
> (9/9)
> > claims that in Gaza, "Islamists stone rape victims
> to
> > death." I would like to see evidence for this
> claim. I
> > have seen photographic evidence that Israeli
> marksmen
> > aim for the upper bodies of young unarmed
> Palestinian
> > demonstrators. In terms of moral responsibility,
> this
> > should be Dvorin's priority. After all, our tax
> > dollars support this.
> > 
> >      Dvorin asserts that "only countries with
> Jewish
> > and Hindu majorities are democratic and most
> > Christian-majority countries are democracies as
> well."
> > Tell that to those in occupied Palestine, and in
> > Gujarat. Because Dvorin defines terrorism in a
> manner
> > that excludes the actions of states like the U.S.
> and
> > Israel, he is able to maintain the illusion of
> being
> > on the side of good.
> > 
> >      The Zionist and neoconservative discourse of
> the
> > "new anti-semitism" is a transparent cover for
> Israeli
> > and American criminality, and for bigotry against
> > Arabs and Muslims. Such propaganda is promoted by
> > Illinipac and the Jewish Federation, which last
> spring
> > accused the editors of the DI, demonizing a Muslim
> > journalist. On September 2nd, historian Omer
> Bartov
> > leveled this charge in global Islamic terms,
> sponsored
> > by the Drobny Center and the Illinois Program for
> > Research in the Humanities. It was presented in
> > institutionalized racist fashion as a conversation
> > among Jews--no Muslims invited, none present.
> > 
> >      Again, this is the only acceptable form of
> racism
> > at the U of I, and its practice spans from
> > indoctrinated students to professors to invited
> > luminaries. It should be the topic of serious
> debate,
> > if those involved can allow Muslims to represent
> > themselves, and to connect this discourse to a
> > different reality than seen by those who claim to
> > represent Jews. The rhetoric of Jewish self-pity
> > serves the propaganda of American empire.
> > 
> > David Green
> > 2709 Lakeview Drive
> > Champaign, IL 61822
> > 356-2034
> > 
> > __________________________________
> > Do you Yahoo!?
> > Yahoo! Mail is new and improved - Check it out!
> > http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail
> > 
> >
> 



		
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