LORI LOWENTHAL MARCUS: THE AWFUL AND NECESSARY TRUTH ABOUT LARRY DERFNER
WWW.ZSTREET.ORG
FIRST HIS APOLOGY…FOLLOWED BY Z-STREET’S ANSWER….
I have an apology to make for “The awful, necessary truth about Palestinian terror,” which I posted here and on Facebook on Sunday. I didn’t mean to say anything “good” about Palestinian terror against Israelis – I see nothing good in it whatsoever, and I thought I made that clear, but I see now that I didn’t.
I wrote that because of the occupation, Palestinians are “justified” in attacking, even killing Israelis, that they have the “right” to do so. Later on I stressed that I didn’t want them to kill my countrymen, and that I would do anything necessary to stop it. I meant those two points to show that I wasn’t “for” terrorism, that while I thought the occupation justified it, that didn’t mean I supported it. But I see now that the distance from “justified” to “support” is way, way too short – and I am as far away as anybody can be from supporting attacks on Israel and Israelis.
Writing that the killing of Israelis was justified and a matter of right took a vile image and attached words of seeming approval to it. This, I’m afraid, produced an “obscene” effect, as one critic wrote. I don’t want to write obscenity about Israel. I didn’t mean to, and I deeply regret it.
I meant, instead, to shock Israelis and friends of Israel into seeing how badly we’re hurting the Palestinians by denying them independence: It’s so bad that it’s helping drive them to try to kill us. This is something I believe, something liberal Israelis and friends of Israel believe, and I wrote that if we were to start saying so publicly, it might force other Israelis to finally confront the reality of what we’re doing to the Palestinians, and thereby get them to see that it’s wrong and must stop.
My intention was to shock people into recognition, but I ended up shocking many of them into revulsion, and twisting what I wanted to say into something I didn’t and don’t mean at all.
What I mean is this: The occupation does not justify Palestinian terror. It does, however, provoke it. Palestinians do not have the right to attack or kill Israelis. They, do, however, have the incentive to, and part, though not all, of that incentive is provided them by the occupation. I believe that if Israel gives the Palestinians their independence, we have enough military power to neutralize whatever leftover incentive they would have to attack us. So my purpose with regard to Palestinian terror against Israelis is not to legitimize it, God forbid, but to end it.
Again, I regret what I wrote on Sunday. I apologize to everyone who was offended by it, and I apologize to my countrymen. The post is no longer on my blog; I’ve taken it down.
MARCUS RESPONDS: Okay, so there you have it, straight from the weasel’s computer. There is much to comment on, in particular the fact that even though folks started criticizing Derfner right away on his blog for the outrageous statements he made, he continued to justify his positions and very happily embraced all the other haters who praised him writing “the truth.” No, this shallow apology is simply an attempt to hang on to his job (we know his editor was investigating what Derfner did, because the editor told us so himself) by groveling just enough to make it appear as if he is contrite.
The bottom line is, this guy makes a living by writing. If he is such a colossal clod that he falls so far off the mark when expressing his feelings on his own personal platform, then he shouldn’t really be trusted with informing the public about anything, should he? No, his original post, read it below, was a clear window into his hideous soul. And since he was so darn proud of himself for saying what everyone was thinking, then he should be “brave” enough to suffer the consequences of his actions. Otherwise he is not only an execrable creature, he is also a coward. But as a factual matter, the distinction he relies upon so heavily in his apology does not hold water. He is now saying that he was wrong when he wrote that Israeli behavior justifies Arab Palestinian terror, but his fog has lifted and what he meant to write is that Israeli behavior provokes Palestinian terror. Ah. Accoring to the World English Dictionary:
provoke vb 1. to anger or infuriate 2. to cause to act or behave in a certain manner; incite or stimulate 3. to promote (certain feelings, esp. anger, indignation, etc. in a person.
In other words (literally), Derfner is still saying Israel is to blame, i.e. is the cause of Arab Palestinian terror.
Finally, I think it is instructive to note that PROVOCATION is a legal defense to an act of violence. In other words, the alleged victim had it coming because he CAUSED the violent response of the attacker. Ahem.
Folks, should Derfner be allowed to slither out of his own pathetic problems by still more offensive word-spinning? I don’t think so, and if you don’t either, contact the editor of the Jerusalem Post, Steve Linde, at steve@jpost.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and tell him what you think of Derfner’s empty apology in which he continues to blame Israel for the Arab Palestinian murders of Israelis.
Comments are closed.
