Antisemite CJ Werleman Suing Over Blog Post Calling Him an Antisemite

I’m sufficiently old to simply accept that this comes with the territory, and I view these threats and responses as proof that my punches are touchdown the place metaphorical higher cuts and left hooks are most wanted.

That mentioned, there’s one line of assault I’m unwilling to simply accept as part-and-parcel of the job, and it’s one which’s routinely thrown at those that dare to criticize the state of Israel: being falsely labeled an anti-Semite, a cost that was hurled at me most just lately by the right-wing, US-based publication Twitchy on November 24.

“Look, we get that journalist and ‘activist towards Islamophobia’ CJ Werleman hates Jews and Israel, however we figured that even devoted anti-Semites nonetheless understood that the Taliban is dangerous,” reads the Twitchy article. This was in response to a tweet I posted that day that was meant to be a back-handed praise directed on the Taliban for promising to guard the rights of Hindus, Sikhs, and Shia Muslims.

On no account, may my tweet or something I’ve ever mentioned or written beforehand be precisely construed as hatred of the Jewish folks, and I make this solemn and unambiguous declaration:

I, CJ Werleman, have by no means uttered or written a single phrase or sentence that could possibly be precisely misconstrued as anti-Semitism or hatred in direction of Judaism or the Jewish folks!

I’ve, nonetheless, strongly condemned Israel’s violations of worldwide and human rights legislation, and what I see because the racist, ethnonationalist motion of Zionism.

This actuality has not stopped pro-Israel teams from cynically and menacingly attempting to make Zionism indistinguishable from the Jewish folks, regardless of Zionism being rejected by some orthodox rabbis and an rising variety of Jewish Individuals.

Professional-Israel teams have weaponized expenses of anti-Semitism to delegitimize and silence pro-Palestinian activists and human rights defenders. That is extremely efficient as a result of it harms reputations and causes emotional misery to the meant targets, together with me.

I can stay with being falsely and absurdly smeared a “terrorist sympathizer” or “Hamas defender” by pro-Israel publications, together with Australia’s nationwide broadsheet newspaper The Australian, however I cannot tolerate being labeled an anti-Semite when most of my emotional, skilled, and religious vitality is spent combatting racism and bigotry in all its kinds.

So, for the primary time, I’ve sought authorized counsel to discover my avenues for putting again. What I found is simply how a lot pro-Israel teams and publications maintain the higher hand in defaming their targets with bogus expenses of anti-Semitism.

Given the baselessness of Twitchy’s accusation towards me, and the sheer measurement of its guardian firm, the Nasdaq-listed Salem Media Group, my potential libel case could possibly be “actionable and warrant damages,” based on Australian lawyer Moustafa Awad.

However the path to exacting mentioned “damages” from the corporate isn’t any straightforward journey, notably for a journalist like me who lives paycheck to paycheck. A case like this is able to seemingly run up authorized prices in extra of $200,000 – assets I don’t possess.

The second problem is the U.S. authorized system, which grants extraordinary safety to publications below the First Modification of the U.S. Structure and tends to help the premise that mere criticism of Israel renders a person an anti-Semite by default.

Criticism of the U.S. authorities will not be conflated with anti-Christianity, and critics of Saudi Arabia usually are not labeled “Islamophobic,” so why ought to those that query Israeli governance be smeared as anti-Semitic?

Awad mentioned I’ve “no likelihood of vindicating these kind of [defamation] allegations” in america, however he recommended I might need a stronger case in Australia, the place a latest libel settlement untangled criticism of Israel from anti-Semitism.

“The core of your case can be allegations that you’re an “anti-Semite” and “Jew hater,” Awad mentioned. “The present stance in Australia is that these allegations are actionable and warrant damages.”

Earlier this yr, former Australian parliamentarian Melissa Parke efficiently settled her  libel case towards Australia-Israel & Jewish Affairs Council Government Director Colin Rubenstein.

Ms. Parke, who not solely labored with the United Nations as a lawyer from 1999 till her transfer into politics but in addition oversaw humanitarian efforts in Gaza and Beirut, was slandered by Rubenstein as an “anti-Semite” after she condemned the Israeli navy for abusing a pregnant Palestinian girl at a checkpoint.

As a part of the settlement, Rubenstein said that he had not meant to assault Parke personally and that he regretted that his feedback triggered her misery. The Rupert Murdoch-owned Herald Solar, in the meantime, issued a proper apology to Parke final yr over the identical matter.

“Her settlement was a fantastic win for the pro-Palestinian camp towards pro-Israel teams,”  Awad mentioned.

But, this consequence represents an all-too-rare victory within the effort to guard political leaders, journalists, and activists towards scurrilous and damaging accusations of anti-Semitism from pro-Israel teams and publications.

Finally, whereas anti-Semitism is an actual and pernicious type of racism, Parke’s settlement demonstrates that condemnation of Israel’s human rights violations towards the Palestinians doesn’t make one an anti-Semite.

In response to comparable libelous statements by Twitchy about me, I’m pursuing all my authorized choices. Sufficient is sufficient!