Original Article Found at +972

It is a very interesting thing, reading the anti-Israel websites. I find them to be...well...absurd. Without thinking about it, they see a situation and automatically it is Israel's fault. It is truly fascinating. Israel can never do anything right in these people's eyes.

For instance:

"Anybody who believes the platitude that the people want peace, it’s just the leaders who want war, should have been at Ben-Gurion Airport today. It’s a good thing those Free Palestine activists got arrested; otherwise, the little mob that formed spontaneously would have punched them up pretty good."

Its sad really. Why should Israeli citizens be angry at people just speaking their mind and practicing free speech? Do you not get it Mr. Derfner? Are you really so blind to the situation as a whole? Why do you think the Israelis are upset? I mean, I have known Israelis to be, for the most part, extremely warm, kind people. Very welcoming. So I guess it just doesn't make sense that they don't want the "Free Palestine" activists in Israel?

Honestly, thank G-d you live in Israel, because if you acted like you did in Iran or Syria, your head would be conveniently misplaced.

"I was there ostensibly as a journalist, and I was scribbling notes, but I felt cowardly not saying anything to these nationalist hooligans, so I started telling them in Hebrew, “What are these people doing?” The woman who wanted them thrown in the garbage said, “They’re hurting us!” I said, “They’re talking,” and the little mob turned on me, a couple of the men raised their fists. The woman told me, “Go back home, get out of here,” I said, “I live here.” The cops mistook me for a demonstrator, put me in the police van, but when I showed them my press card, they let me go."

As a journalist with a conscience, Mr. Derfner, do you not see screaming "Israel Apartheid" and "Free Palestine" is an act of provocation? Would you want to be called an anti-Semite or a biggot when you have actually done nothing wrong? Maybe I'll sit here, with my head in the clouds, and call you a racist. Does it make sense? I've not even met you and have absolutely no proof to support this statement.

Is Israel an apartheid state? You say yes because Desmond Tutu says it is. He MUST know about it because he lived apartheid for so long. You say Desmond Tutu, I'll say Malcom Hedding, who says its not apartheid, but self-defense. How about former President of South Africa during the apartheid era, F.W. de Klerk, who said "I think comparisons are odious. I think it’s dangerous. It’s not a direct parallel, but there are some parallels to be drawn. Why did the old vision of so many separate states in South Africa fail? Because the whites wanted to keep too much land for themselves. Why will it fail, if it fails in Israel and Palestine? Because Palestine is maybe not offered an attractive enough geographical area to say 'this is the country of Palestine'"

My personal favorite is this one:

"In the Durban Review Conference of 2009, the Israeli-Arab journalist Khaled Abu Toameh criticized Arab Knesset members for supporting extremism and calling Israel a "state of apartheid" rather than fighting for the rights of Arab citizens of Israel.

And then they come here to tell us that Israel is a state of apartheid? Excuse me. What kind of hypocrisy is this? What then are you doing in the Knesset? If you are living in an apartheid system, why were you allowed, as an Arab, to run in the election? What are you talking about? We do have problems as Arabs with the establishment here. But to come and say that Israel is an apartheid state is a big exaggeration. I am not here to defend Israel, but I think that Knesset members like this gentleman are doing huge damage to the cause of Israeli Arabs. I want to see the Knesset member sitting in the Knesset, in Jerusalem, and fighting for the rights of Arabs over there." Found on Wikipedia.

My point is this, Mr. Derfner. You are judged by the company you keep. Yes, there are crazy people on both sides. I will continue to delegitimize them because they do not speak for me. You, however, agree with these crazy people. They failed at the "Flotilla", which your friend Joseph Dana, was aboard. They blamed sabotage. Does Israel really care about the Flotilla? Not even slightly. Even if you brought building supplies through the right channels, it would be a fraction of what Israel already supplies the Palestinian Authority on a weekly basis. Israel doesn't want the Flotilla because it breaks a legal barrier, set up to keep its citizens safe from the terrorist groups in Gaza...or do you call them "Freedom Fighters?"

When you started yelling at the people protesting the protestors, you chose sides. You should have actually been arrested. You are lucky you actually weren't. And if you honestly think that you are bringing "oxygen to a suffocating nation," I would offer to pay for your plane ticket straight to Tehran, they LOVE free thinking "journalists" like you.

I can beg and plead for you to actually focus on an issue that is actually important, like Iran becoming nuclear, or Syria killings its citizens, but I think because you live in a nation that is being suffocated, the lack of oxygen has severely damaged your brain. I can only pray for you Mr. Derfner. Refuah Shleimah.