In this article, Haitham Sabbah, of Sabbah’s Blog, responds to his recent banning and those of numerous Daily Kos members in what seemed to be a purge of supporters of the Palestinian cause and the ongoing occupation/colonization of Palestinian lands, now funded by the United States. All were diarists who wrote against Israel’s perpetration of a modern human rights injustice and the role of a biased American foreign policy in supporting this hard Zionist project to gain the Greater Israel dream, an Israel from the Jordan River to the sea at the expense of the Palestinians.
The above cartoon by Ben Heine, the Belgian peace activist, depicts Daily Kos as the Daily Censor, in a recent turn of this so-called Left Wing Democratic blog, the representative of people politics, toward acceptance of the Zionist view of Israel, a foreign policy stance once thought to only characterize the AIPAC/DLC centrist wing of the Democratic party. As such, Daily Kos has caved in to the Bush administration and the religious/nationalist Zionists, turned its back on traditional Democratic civil/human rights values, and is now helping these Zionists achieve their goals by censoring criticism and kicking Palestinian and pro-Palestinian voices off his blog.
My friend, Sabbah, entitled his article,
Daily Kos : Quote IOF, you are a peace maker, Quote Palestinian, you are a terrorist
Sabbah believes that Zionism is a racist ideology that has killed tens of thousands of the Palestinian people since the “ethnic cleansing” of 1948, and has kept the West Bank and until recently, Gaza, under military occupation for 40 years, while they continue to be colonized.
It has been nearly a month since I decided to start cross-posting most of what I write in my blog to my diary at Daily Kos. The diaries at Daily Kos are more or less make for a personal blog, where members can publish their essays and engage in comments and dialogue with other members, if they wish to comment. Daily Kos is advertised to be the liberal-progressive front of the Left Wing in the Democratic Party of the United States. In other words, they claim to be the voice of Progressive Democrats, and that’s what I thought, until few days ago.
It is worth to mention that I’m one of many blog owners (Sabbah’s Blog) to cross-post at Daily Kos [see Daily Kos FAQs: . . . “11. Cross-posting from your own blog is welcome. Remember, though, that you can only write one diary a day at Daily Kos.”], activists, authors, etc… coming from different backgrounds and religions, we are Americans and non-Americans, Jews, Christians, Muslims, non-believers alike. What we have in common is being pro-Palestine, pro-Peace, and anti-Occupation. Among the group from this side, there are many ideas and opinions about what is best to resolve the Israel/Palestinian conflict. We might not agree all the time, but we all agree that Israel’s Occupation should end.
For an unknown period of time, there was a very active member on Daily Kos who went by the name, Shergald. He was one of the most active Kossacks members who never missed a day without publishing a pro-Palestine diary. Actually, the majority of his diaries were about the peace movement in Israel, Palestine, the US, and the around the world. Obviously, life is not that easy, and what everyone thought to be a `freedom of speech’ forum turned to be an occupied Zionist zone. Shergald was attacked and attacked thousands of times by this Zionist gang until, when they could not stop him by countering the truth and the facts he presented in his diaries, they started to overwhelm the administration at Daily Kos with complaints about him supporting the worst lies that you can imagine, such as his being anti-Semitic, etc. What Daily Kos administration did was surprising. The progressive left wing voice of the Democrats decided to silence Shergald, to ban him from writing diaries or having any functionality on Daily Kos. He was frustrated and disappointed by the unjust and biased decision to ban him (twice), so he decided to come back, but under different ID’s. To cut long story short, his new IDs were hunted one after another until it reached a stage that anyone who knew or knows Shergald, or had any association with him (no matter what association means, you will see examples later), was kicked out of Daily Kos on behalf of the Zionist gang.
Unfortunately, after Shergald was silenced and banned from appearing on Daily Kos, the frequency of I/P diaries went down in volume to the level that it was hardly noticed to the pleasure of the Zionists. That meant that American readers of Daily Kos (nearly 0.5 million a day) were not going to read the facts behind the news or hear the hidden stories or history of the Palestinian catastrophe or the daily injustices that they go under by the Israeli occupation, or about the many peace organizations that have evolved to stop the injustices. Nor would they hear about the influence of AIPAC on American foreign policy at a times when Democrats are preparing from the next presidential election, a topic progressive Democrats are highly interested in.
What happened next was not very surprising. Several pro-Palestine/pro-Peace bloggers, authors, writers, activists, etc… started appearing at Daily Kos and bridged the gap that Shergald left. The number of new pro-Palestine Kossacks increased during the last 60 days or so to a level where the balance of true facts compared to propaganda/lies turned toward the pro-Palestine side. To name some of those new members, Steve Amsel (a.k.a. DesertPeace), Ben Heine (his blog here), Umkahlil (her blog here), Anna (her website here), Eileen Fleming (her website here), Jon the Anti Zionist Jew (I was told that Jon was posting for long period), and many more. I, Sabbah, was there too. I don’t think that anyone mentioned above expected that their time on Daily Kos would fly smoothly, but at least it was a more even match than anyone thought.
The Zionist gang reopened their propaganda operating manual and started shooting accusations left and right that this one is anti-Semitic, that that one is pro-terrorist, and so on and so forth. They first managed to ban Ben Heine in no time at all for the following drawing:
Defenders of Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s most racist government official, who advocates the transfer of Israeli Arabs into Bantustans, were incensed. A couple of days ago, Steve Amsel was banned because someone from the Zionist group complained to the administration that Steve might be Shergald in disguise. The complainer later admitted that he was wrong, but the Daily Kos administration decided to shoot the messenger (Steve) anyway and let the venom of the Zionist gang spread more lies around Daily Kos. So many tried to justify the banning of Steve Amsel, thinking it was the result of his being associated with Shergald. Of course, the biggest evidence they have to blot this association were a comment or two of Shergald’s on Steve’s blog, where Shergald was not saying any more than “well done” or “great post” following one of the master pieces that Steve writes.
Once the war started, it didn’t stop. Other pro-Palestine authors such as Umkahlil, Anna Baltzer, and me were included. In fact, it started only seconds after any of us posted his/her first diary there. One can only wonder how many agents the Zionist gang and AIPAC recruited to act as watchdogs 24/7, sifting through every single word published on Daily Kos, observing every single move of Daily Kos members. It is evident that the Zionists on Daily Kos are very organized and I would not be surprised if they are supported by their biggest allies from the Bush administration Department of State. I’m sure that you all remember my own story about the State Department official who attempted to interfere in my blog (more here).
Yesterday, which marked the celebration of the Nakba, Daily Kos blew the last bridge it had with the Palestinian voices. Midday GMT, the news started coming. They first banned Umkahlil, later on they banned me, and last but not least, they banned Anna Baltzer. Why? Nobody knows. No reason is given. No warning or any notice from the `busy’ Kos administrators to let any of us know the circumstances under which the decision was taken and what valid reasons they gave for throwing these poisoned donuts at us. All that we heard from unofficial sources: we are associates of Shergald, again!
It is sad to believe that Daily Kos administration based its decision on such meaningless illusions. It would not have taken them more than a minute to check the history of each of us and see that we all are established pro Palestine peace activists, just by looking at our blogs and websites. We don’t have to have any association with anyone, not even with other banned Kos members or other groups that might also talk about the plight of Palestinians. Our blogs and our work, online and offline, have their own merits and stands on its own. I do not deny knowing Shergald, in fact I’m proud to know a tough fighter like him, but he is not the reason why I started posting on Daily Kos. The main reason is the same reason I write here in my blog, which all of you know is about presenting the truth about Palestine historically and about the daily catastrophes that result from the criminal occupation of the Zionists of my homeland. I never hid my objectives, which are to bring justice to everyone in this conflict, including Israelis.
Today I’m left with no access to publish anything more on Daily Kos. That’s bad. Not only for me, but for my American friends who know nothing more but the false Zionist narratives of the occupation. It is sad to confirm now that Daily Kos is the latest “Zionist Occupied Zone.” It is unfortunate that they still advertise being a “Progressive Voice” for the Democratic Left Wing. It is also bad to believe that the Left Wing will let it go as is, but I hope not. But imagine the credibility of the Left Wing if this remains the case at Daily Kos, especially as they are preparing themselves for next year’s elections. No one denies that the Israel/Palestine conflict is a central topic of the US foreign policy. If it remains as such, I will not be surprised to see AIPAC ads on Daily Kos soon. And need I say so, there will be another five or more years of support for Israel’s illegal occupation by the new US “Democratic” administration?
Having said all the above, I’m not really interested in going back to cross-post diaries on Daily Kos, even though there is an open invitation to do so in the FAQs. It is not because it is not important. To the contrary, when 0.5 million people read what is published there, it is very important to keep the pro-Palestine view live. But to know that the Zionist gang have taken over the blog, it is next to impossible to make any move without expecting to get hijacked by the venomous Zionists of the site. Venom only seen elsewhere at Little Green Footballs. In other words, until and unless Daily Kos administration corrects its policies, and the mess its created because of its fear of Zionist members and their propagandists, it will be waste of time fighting the winds of colonial Zionism, while they have the control keys of Daily Kos in their hands.
Last but not least, I really feel sorrow for leaving because I will miss the peaceful voices of the silent pro-Palestine majority at Daily Kos. However, I’m glad that I made more friends than enemies while there, no matter what happens. Just keep in mind that if you want to be seen as a peacemaker, stop applauding the war criminals and supporting the IOF terrorists. On the other hand, watch your back if you quote any Palestinian. You will be tagged as a terrorist.
Good bye “Zionist Occupied” Daily Kos!
Update: This diary is a must read – Restoring The Palestinian Voice To Daily Kos
http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2007/5/17/151938/849/c96
You will be shocked to know that the reason we (Nancy and I) got banned for has nothing to do with the Shergald “association” thingy, but is even more silly than that. It is because Nancy and I recommended another pro-Palestine diary there (Anna Baltzer’s) and the administrators think that that diary promotes “terrorist” views.
The DKos claims were defeated and the banning now has no merits. It was a racist action.
Thank you for these insights, Sabbah.
UPDATE: Since this article was published, there have been more bannings at Daily Kos, including a veteran member, ServantSavant, and a few others. I will try to update this information as it is received. Also, although Eileen Fleming was unquestionable banned and unable to blog on Daily Kos for weeks after her emails were ignored, for some reason, her ban was lifted. Perhaps a moment of embarassment or self-reflection stalled the purge.