My Response to Weinthal's Character Assassination Campaign against Michael Blume, me, a former IDF Major, the German Jewish Community, & other "Antisemites" and Iranian & Qatari "Propagandists"
My refusal to be trolled into abandoning the truth
Background
In 2021, I tweeted a link to an article by Benjamin Weinthal making allegations against Michael Blume, the German state of Baden-Württemberg’s Commissioner for Combating Antisemitism.
After visiting Germany and hearing firsthand how wrong Weinthal’s article was, I tweeted a link to an article written by Michael Blume, without endorsement. I trusted my followers to make up their own minds after reading both sides.
This was too much for Weinthal. When I refused to delete the tweet to Blume’s article, Weinthal launched a torrent of chauvinistic tweets, DMs, and emails against me, relatives, and unrelated organizations. Fanaticism doesn’t tolerate fairness. And Weinthal is clearly scared someone will do his own homework and discover the falseness of his fantasies. Here is Blume in his own words:
“@Aryeshalicar” is the account of former IDF Maj. Arye Sharuz Shalicar, who served as the Commander of the IDF’s European desk and authored Der neu-deutsche ANTISEMIT. When he refused to go along with Weinthal’s campaigns against Blume and me, Weinthal absurdly accused him of antisemitism and said he was “paid” by the German government. Arye responded with this tweet noting how he “was the first to publish a whole book about the current grimaces of anti-Semitism in Germany in 2018”:
As a journalist, I went straight to the source and put tough questions directly to Blume about the controversy in an exclusive interview on The Washington Outsider.
Readers can judge for themselves how he answered about the Iranian regime (“I do hope that the Iranian autocratic and anti-Semitic regime will come down in the near future, being replaced by a true and secular republic”), BDS (“an odd alliance of older, left-leaning Germans with younger, most often Islamist children of migrants….What is binding them together is Antisemitism, pure and simple”), and Islamists (“German and Islamist Antisemitism is deeply connected to Anti-Americanism”).
Flash forward to now. Weinthal emailed on 2/16 claiming to be on deadline for “the German Jewish publication Jüdische Rundschau (Jewish Review)”, a publication which ceased to exist in 1938. [Correction: Weinthal has provided a link to a publication that is titled Jüdische Rundschau, but “The only thing that it has in common with the historical edition is its name.”]
Despite my past history with Weinthal’s harassment, I answered his interview request because Weinthal’s disinformation campaign against Blume has gone on long enough and been indulged by too many to the detriment of Germany’s Jews and global efforts to combat antisemitism.
I was going to wait to see if Weinthal would break with propagandist practice and accurately quote an opposing view in his upcoming article, but since he lied about deadline and is knowingly spreading falsehoods debunked in my interview, the public interest compels me to share Weinthal’s unedited questionnaire and my answers immediately.
Wienthal has not addressed any of the points below. Instead, he followed-up with allegations derived from the Forbidden Stories hit piece, even after I shared my response:
So why is Weinthal, who is based in Jerusalem and claims to be pro-Israel, spreading Snowdenite/Russian and Islamist attacks on me for my efforts on behalf of Yemeni women fighting rabidly antisemitic Iranian-backed Houthis, as well as for my criticism of the arch antisemite Jihad Jamal Khashoggi and an antisemitic former Al Jazeera anchor, Ghada Oueiss? Why is someone who claims to care about the cause of freedom in Iran and fighting antisemitism, spending so much of his time attacking allies rather than trolling enemies?
It will be be interesting to see how Marc Owen Jones and company feel about having Benjamin Weinthal join their ranks!
At a time when there is rising antisemitism everywhere, we cannot afford to waste time on illusory enemies and alienating true friends. I refuse to be cowed. I refuse to give in to a bully. I refuse to tolerate misogynistic harassment.
Q&As
What is your view of the court decision?
Which one? Are you referring to Michael Blume’s landmark victory in his defamation case against Twitter in the Frankfurt Regional Court, which compelled Twitter to delete your disgusting attacks on him and his family? Or are you referring to the Hamburg case in January, which, like the prior Court, found your false allegations of antisemitism to be “permissible,” but did not rule on their veracity? Why have you misrepresented the latter decision in the Jerusalem Post as “a landmark ruling, declaring a civil servant antisemitic,” when they did no such thing? It is true that the Hamburg Court cited articles by you as evidence that an accuser (also you) should be able to make such claims, but that is confirmation basis, not substantiation!
What is your view of Blume terming Orde Wingate a "war criminal" and "British murderer"?
What was the context of these alleged remarks? I only evaluate allegations after reviewing the original sources for myself. In what sense do you think criticizing Wingate, who was not Jewish, would even validate a charge of antisemitism? Your repetitive, tendentious articles all follow the same pattern: you make outrageous, unsubstantiated allegations, then quote some credible people attacking Blume. Lots of insinuation and tangential claims, but no actual evidence. Your gambit that people will just rely on whatever you tell them and won’t do their own homework before reacting on the record has paid off, most spectacularly with the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s “Global Anti-Semitism 2021 Top Ten,” which lists Michael Blume as Number 7!
Michael Blume is on the record, in the Sound & Text podcast, “showing that Antizionism = Antisemitism and highlighting the dangers of the #BDS-movement & the antisemitic regime of #Iran.” Given his actual views and the violent attacks on Jewish people in Germany and globally, listing Blume at all is self-discrediting; doing so on the tenuous basis of alleged “likes” is a grotesque farce that dishonors the legacy of Simon Wiesenthal and discourages others from speaking up against real antisemitism. Admit it, if you had smoking gun evidence against Blume, you would have produced it by now in your many thousands of tweets and messages, as well as dozens of hit pieces.
Do you regret supporting a German official who has an international reputation as an antisemite?
I have never supported a “German official who has an international reputation as an antisemite.” As we have already established, this obsessive, personal campaign of yours against Michael Blume is scurrilous and shameful. Blume has written about how you have “fabricated a lot of false accusations against me & my family. But everybody who knows me, my publications & my work knows that I am a friend of Israel and Judaism.” Twitter was unable to defend your abusive behavior and was found liable in the Frankfurt case for giving you a platform in violation of their Terms of Service. There are so many antisemites, why don’t you put your bullying tactics to good use by trolling them?
German Jews and Israelis have told me that you played a role in making Blume's antisemitism "kosher" on social media and in an interview. Do you agree?
Do you mean like Iranian-German Jewish-Israeli and former Israel Defense Forces Major Arye Sharuz Shalicar? Remember when you absurdly accused Arye, who had served as Commander of the IDF’s European Desk, of supporting antisemitism in Germany because of his refusal to go along with your campaigns against Blume and me? You also claimed Arye was “paid” by the German government because of German contributions to Israel. Arye responded by taking a picture holding his book, Der neu-deutsche ANTISEMIT, and writing: “I was the first to publish a whole book about the current grimaces of anti-Semitism in Germany in 2018.”
All I originally did was share one of your articles and then, about a week later— after being in Germany and hearing first-hand about the damage your disinformation campaign against Blume was doing to the Jewish community and country—shared an article by Blume responding to your allegations. I did not take a position publicly. I simply felt that my followers should evaluate both sides for themselves. That was too much for you. You responded with a torrent of chauvinist invective when I refused to delete the tweet. Then you attacked everyone, including Arye and another German Jew, the journalist Mirjam Fischer, as “antisemites” when they sided with Blume and me. Tellingly, you never quote Blume or anyone who doesn’t agree with you, for example the recognized Jewish community organization, the Deutsch-Israelische Gesellschaft. That is the mark of a propagandist, not a journalist.
Should Blume resign?
Why, would you like the job?
Israel's ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, warned today that Iranian dissidents in exile in Germany are threatened by the Iranian regime. See https://www.bild.de/politik/ausland/politik-ausland/israels-botschafter-warnt-in-bild-vorsicht-vor-russisch-iranischer-kriegsallianz-82923552.bild.html. Michael Blume , in contrast to Prosor, termed Iranian dissidents in exile "corrupt exiled nationalists." See this tweet:
We the Iranians in Exile, even if Mr. Michael Blume insults us and calls us "Corrupt Exiled Nationalists", are defending the right of our people who are suffering and getting murdered under the Mullah regime. A democratic country like Germany should notice it.If you need additional information and articles about Blume's attacks on persecuted Iranians, please advise Iranian-Americans and Iranian-Germans have termed Blume's remark "bigoted."
Michael Blume is on the record, in an exclusive interview with me, saying that he “hope[s] that the Iranian autocratic and anti-Semitic regime will come down in the near future, being replaced by a true and secular republic.” That is a remarkable statement for a German government official, no less one who, at least according to you, is pro-Iranian regime!
Blume wasn’t referring specifically to Iranians nor did he denigrate all dissidents. Whether you agree with him or not, you have a journalistic obligation to quote him accurately and not mischaracterize his views. Everyone should read the thread for themselves so they can see what an insufferable propagandist you are. Blume first wrote: “The West has allowed itself to be manipulated too often by corrupt nationalists like the Shah, Saddam Hussein or Karzai. Our soldiers died for local & corrupt elites. This has to stop.” Later on in the thread he condemned “corrupt nationalists in exile” who don’t “love our democracies, agitate against the West & only wants [sic] to burn our soldiers.” There are unfortunately groups that fit this description. There are also, following Soviet/Russian practice, agent provocateurs controlled by the regime: fake oppositionists who undermine the cause of freedom in Iran by instigating in-fighting and making disreputable claims. Your attacks on Blume are false, but have nevertheless done damage. The Iranian regime and other antisemites are the only beneficiaries of your campaigns to divide the opposition and focus the Jewish community on going after false targets. You feign concern about the increase in antisemitism in Baden-Württemberg, while doing everything in your power to delegitimize and distract Blume and undermine his efforts to combat rising antisemitism.
Do you agree with the Iranian-Americans that Blume is a "bigot"? Critics say that you helped promote Blume's attacks on Iranian dissidents who oppose the theocratic state and are pro-Israel. Is this accurate?
I am currently exiled from Twitter (unlike you I did not violate the Terms of Service) and Blume is against the Iranian theocratic regime, so the charge that I “helped promote” fictitious comments by Blume is on its face false. And, while you are at it, please note I will never stop advocating for the human rights of the Ahwazis, Azeris, Baluchis, Kurds, and other minorities in Iran and condemn regime efforts to exploit ethnic tensions, at home and abroad, to divide and rule.
Blume is currently promoting an antisemitic conspiracy theory on Twitter that he is a victim of "Team Jorge" in Israel, say critics. Do you believe Blume is a victim of "Team Jorge"?
Please cite where Blume claimed this. You haven’t and you can’t. What he wrote about was your trolling of DIG President Volker Beck, Blume and his family. In that same thread, Blume went out of his way to praise Israel’s Consulate General in Munich for upholding democratic principles and the rule of law by “credibly distancing” the State of Israel from your malign activities.
What is your view of Blume calling German Jews, without proof, "right-wing extremists"? See this Jpost op-ed by the famous German-Jewish anti-BDS activist Malca Goldstein-Wolf. https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-704090 Do you agree or disagree with Malca's criticism of Blume?
What kind of anti-BDS activist attacks Michael Blume, a German government official, who has said the following: “According to my perception, the BDS-movement in Germany is comprised primarily by an odd alliance of older, left-leaning Germans with younger, most often Islamist children of migrants. They are trying to depict Judaism and the State of Israel as being ‘racist’ and ‘colonialist’. Although they claim to be active for the sake of human rights, they are seldom addressing the atrocities of the Hamas regime in Gaza or even the attacks of the Chinese government on Uighurs and Tibetans. What is binding them together is Antisemitism, pure and simple.”