Over the last couple of weeks I have seen some extraordinary attacks against Avraham Reiss, a poster on these blogs from Jerusalem. Some of these attacks, extremely personal in nature, have astonished and disgusted me, particularly ones from one particular obsessive poster here who described him as a "sick and pathetic" individual, and made Nazi references to him.
http://www.thejc.com/blogpost/if-i-was-a-methodist-i-would-refer-you-new...
Regardless of a poster's views or opinions, this is not warranted. It is absolutely shameful. If the person who made such remarks is indeed Jewish (as he or she frequently claims, throwing in Hebrew phrases to bolster his or her credentials) then this is doubly wicked.
Avraham may express views on here which are unpalatable for some. I can't pretend that I myself haven't winced on occasion when reading them. But I can honestly say that he has said nothing which many, many people of my parents' generation do not think.
He has also been attacked because of his religious beliefs. In this age of heightened anti-Semitism I think this is particularly disgusting. I am not particularly religious, however I firmly believe that one's religious convictions are an extremely personal matter and should be respected at all times. Shame on those who have mocked him for his convictions.
I have now learned that Avraham has had his account blocked by the JC staff. I think this is immoral and wrong, particularly while his worst attacker has received no such punishment.
This is a plea to the JC staff to restore his account and to all posters here to show him more respect. By all means disagree with his opinions if you feel the need to, but please end the personal attacks.
I don't know about others here but I am motivated to post here in order to help to defend Israelis from the constant barrage of abuse they receive. If we cannot even defend just one Israeli from such abuse then we may as well just not bother.
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