Every so often, some Israel-hating moron finds this blog via a search for something to do with Israel and Jews. The neo-Nazis come out from time to time as well. There are a legion of David Duke defenders out there who apparently Google Duke’s name every single day, and think it is their job in life to defend the convicted felon/neo-Nazi. In fact, I won’t be the least bit surprised to find a comment for this post waiting for me in the moderation queue tomorrow, doing just that.

It boggles my mind that these anti-Zionists and Jew-haters arrive at my blog and leap to the same conclusion: At last, they think, a blog filled with Zionists simply begging to be taught the error of their ways! And I’m just the one to show them!

The anti-Zionists/Jew-haters then completely ignore the commenting policy, which would have led them to the No Israel-Bashing Zone post (and also an explanation of why I laugh at their claims of censorship), and simply go against the current. I suppose they expect a riveting battle of wits against us nasty Zionists, who will then stand back in awe at the anti-Zionist’s astonishing verbal maneuvers, smack ourselves in the forehead and say, “What have we been thinking all this time? Of course, you’re right! Israel bad! Palestinians good!”

Uh, no. Not gonna happen, not now, not ever.

You see, the thing is, I absolutely do not give a crap about what the Israel-haters think of me or my commenting policy. I don’t care what they think about Israel. I don’t care what they think about what I think about Israel. And I don’t care in the least about getting their opinions on my weblog. In fact, I prefer not to have their garbage cluttering up my comments. Let the charges of echo chambers rebound off the virtual walls. I simply don’t give a shit what a Jew-hater thinks, and rest assured, these people are Jew-haters, almost without exception. The proof, as they say, is in the pudding. Because as these people find they are not allowed to post their comments, they get angrier and angrier, and the comments get more and more angry—or I should say, honest—and the real Jew-hatred comes out. That’s when I assign their IP address to the blacklist and spam filters, and stop seeing their comments at all.

It’s an act played out over and over again, until the Jew-hater finally gives up. It’s usually a behind-the-scenes show that I rarely share with my readers. But every once in a while, some asshole keeps trying long enough that he gives me post fodder again. I supposed I should thank them, but then, I don’t thank anti-Semites. I wish on them what they wish on me and mine.

It is time once again for a chorus of the Yourish.com mantra: Anti-Semites of the world, just die already. Quicker is better.

The latest edition of Haveil Havalim is up.

Say, that sounds like something I just wrote. Like, in the title to this post.

Well, it’s at Soccer Dad’s, who could also be known as Carnival Dad.

I have copied this from the on-line edition of The Guardian of August 11:

Of course, anyone familiar with this blog will know that I do, how to say it gently, criticize The Guardian from time to time for its bias. And some may say that I am myself a biased nitpicker. But what the heck, let’s nitpick a bit more. Let’s also do it in stages.

Stage one: the headline: Man killed in Jerusalem after grabbing gun. What would a reader in a hurry think? Just that a person got himself killed by the simple act of grabbing a gun. Maybe he grabbed his own gun somewhat awkwardly and it went off - happens all the time.

Stage two: let’s assume now that the reader can spare another second or two and reads the lede (a fancy word some of my more literate friends use for the sentence below the headline). So what will the lede tell this reader? That the gun in question did not belong to the killed man, but to an Israeli security guard. Uhu. That’s a bit more information - so the man grabbed a gun belonging to someone else. Then either the gun went off and killed him or someone else killed him for his trouble, using another gun (or even the same gun, taking it back from the gunjacker).

Stage three: now the intrigued reader (how many of them out there are interested in what is going on in Jerusalem really?) clicks through and goes to the article (by Rory McCarthy who provides most of the local info to The Guardian these days). What does our courageous and curious reader see in the first paragraph?

A man was killed yesterday after grabbing a pistol from an Israeli security guard in Jerusalem’s Old City, prompting a chase through the city’s narrow streets. Ten other people were injured.

Now our reader, apparently, gets the whole picture: the bloodthirsty Zionists pursued the gun-snatcher (who could have just wanted the gun for some peaceful activity - like a carnival or something) through the crowded narrow streets of the Old City, shooting indiscriminately and not only killed the man, but wounded ten innocent bystanders - as a bonus. At this point the disgusted reader will obviously click out of the article and go to his usual activities (statistically speaking - perusing some porn sites). And who could blame him or her?

Stage four: now we are dealing with a hardcore reader, the one who is really a) deep into absorbing every printed word and b) just crazy about any whisper from the Middle East. (How many of those do you know about?). Such a reader will get another dose of information from the next paragraph or two:

Israeli police said the man snatched the pistol from a private security guard and shot him in the shoulder. A second security guard chased the attacker past Christian souvenir shops and shot him dead. Several shots were fired during the chase and at least one of the injured was seriously hurt. There were many tourists walking through the streets at the time.

OK, now this is a clearer: so the man not only snatched the gun but used it immediately, shooting the poor shlemiel of a guard. Still, the question of shooting at the gun-snatcher in the crowded streets looms severely over the head of that second security guard, bloodthirsty Zionist that he looks like. Unfortunately, by this stage Rory got bored by the facts and switched to politics:

The security guards appeared to be among the many private, armed men who dress in civilian clothes and operate in the Old City guarding Jewish settlers.

Oh, well, we can start nodding off at this stage. Maybe we should just notice that “settlers” label. And idly remark to ourselves that it may be a good idea to start using it for Brits who got into the habit of buying lots of homes in France lately…

Or, if we are some really information-crazed maniacs, we can go to the

Stage five: compare the quote on the second security man above with some other source:

Another guard ran after the man, and nine bystanders were wounded, four from ricochets, in the ensuing gunfight. Five people were wounded by the assailant’s gunfire, according to Israel Radio.

I think that at this stage we can round up this essay as far as the text “analysis” is concerned and come to the conclusions and epilogue. So what is the conclusion of this lengthy treatise?

I don’t say that Rory M. is a biased journalist. Neither do I claim that the whole vast body of The Guardian are a bunch of anti-Israeli or anti-Semitic vermin just waiting for every opportunity to pounce on the Zionist entity. No - far from it (although they pay salaries or royalties to a few of those - but who doesn’t?).

What I strongly feel, though, is that the whole publishing/writing/editing culture of The Guardian somehow leads its journalists and its editors, no matter how objective they try to be, into this (seemingly innocent) habit of structuring their articles on Israel in a specific way. And that this way will unobtrusively guide the inattentive (and who the heck is really attentive to something going on thousands of miles away?) reader into all the wrong conclusions. Or, at the least, into all the wrong impressions. Nothing to show in a court of justice, nothing to rave about in public, nothing you could put your finger on - in a hurry, that is.

I hope this provides an answer to some people wondering why so many of us are unhappy with The Guardian…

Cross-posted on SimplyJews.