Israel

Did white nationalists impersonate Oz lawyer Josh Bornstein at the Times of Israel?

Controversy erupted in the usual corners of the web today when, for the second time in a year, an article advocating genocide against Palestinians was published on the Times of Israel website. Entitled “Understanding the Idea of Israeli Land Under Talmudic Law,” the article was falsely attributed to Joshua Bornstein, an Australian attorney, labor activist, and President of Tzedek, an organization that advocates for survivors of childhood sexual abuse in Australia’s Jewish community.
Over-the-top in its inflamed rhetoric, the article, which was quickly removed by the Times of Israel, branded Palestinians “subhuman” “cockroaches,” and called for their “mutilat[ion], rape, beat[ing], and torture.” And that’s not even the worst of it.

The Talmud clearly states (Bammidber raba c 21 & Jalkut 772): “Every Jew, who spills the blood of the godless (non-Jews), is doing the same as making a sacrifice to God.” Isn’t it time for a mass sacrifice of ignoble “Palestinian” scum? Isn’t it time to cleanse the land of Israel – which rightfully belongs to the Jews – of all inferior subhuman vermin? What we need to do is to round up all “Palestinian” cockroaches and slaughter them like cattle. We need to take immense pleasure in raping, torturing, and murdering “Palestinians.” We need to boil “Palestinians” alive in boiling human feces. We need to take “Palestinian” babies and stomp them to death in front of their parents. We need to cut open pregnant “Palestinian” women, put their fetuses on pikes, and leave the fetus-pikes all over “Palestinian” neighbourhoods. We need to anally rape “Palestinian” women with butcher knives in broad daylight. We need to burst into “Palestinian” hospitals and butcher “Palestinian” newborns right in front of their helpless mothers. We need to stuff pig’s heads with explosives and throw the explosive pig heads into “Palestinian” mosques and community centres. We need to take Uzis, bust into “Palestinian” preschools, and slaughter every single “Palestinian” child and teacher inside. We need to mutilate, rape, beat, and torture “Palestinians” in public, while other “Palestinians” watch helplessly. We need to massacre “Palestinian” men, women, and children without any mercy or pity. The Talmud orders us to do so, and any Jew who disagrees has clearly never read and understood the Talmud.

What’s evident is that the author, apart from being a vile and despicable racist, has clearly “never read and understood the Talmud,” whereas the article relies heavily on false, mistranslated, and decontextualized rabbinic texts to make its case — passages frequently cited by white nationalists, neo-Nazis, and so-called “anti-Zionists” who present them as evidence of Jewish perfidy. (Gil Student has compiled an entire collection of them with rebuttals.)
The article also takes a turn towards the Mengele-esque, calling for experimentation on Palestinians, raising a red flag so high, many — after seeing through their initial rage — believed the article to be satire.

And, by conducting medical experiments on “Palestinians,” we can obtain medical knowledge that will ultimately be useful in providing medical assistance for Jews. Not only that, but it would also be a lot of fun to do. Could there be anything more satisfying than the helpless screams of a “Palestinian” child as it’s torn apart by Jewish doctors? I certainly can’t imagine anything more enjoyable.

Even among the most extreme right-wing Jewish rants, this seemed beyond the pale. And that’s because it wasn’t written by Bornstein, let alone any other Jew.

A screen capture of the Daily Stormer post targeting Bornstein.
A screen capture of the Daily Stormer post targeting Bornstein.
Gilead Ini, a research associate at CAMERA, notes that Bornstein has been targeted by Australian white nationalists and their American sympathizers for his support of open immigration policy and hate crimes legislation. A post on the Daily Stormer website calls Bornstein a “Subversive Jewish parasite” against whom they are “waging an all-out war.”
The Daily Stormer’s publisher Andrew Anglin is also a member of the 8chan community. 8chan was created as a “free speech alternative” to the popular 4chan message board from which many an Internet meme, including the Anonymous hacker movement, emerged. 4chan has been called the dark underbelly of the Internet, known as a cesspool of racism, sexism, homophobia, antisemitism, as well as child pornography. Its “free speech alternative” has become the domain of white nationalists and neo-Nazis like Anglin who use the message board to decry “Jewish cultural Marxism” and to sow “intellectual subversion.” In recent months, 8chan users plotted to impersonate Jews online by creating social media accounts with fake Jewish identities. It’s only one small step further to creating social media accounts with real Jewish identities.
On March 26, a blog was created on the Times of Israel’s site in Bornstein’s name and bearing his likeness, which over the next two weeks was filled with content actually authored by Bornstein, relating to Australian policy issues, but originally published elsewhere. It was only after the blog had seemingly established some credibility that it evinced itself to be a put-up job. A 4chan thread from early last month points to a possible culprit.
Screenshot 2015-04-09 20.27.09
The Times of Israel commented by saying, “Earlier today, a blog post appeared briefly on our Blogs platform that we believe should not have been published to begin with. We are still looking into why it was published, but needless to say it was removed as soon as we got wind of it – and in no way do we endorse its content, whether it was meant as satire or not.”
Well, we can tell you why it was published: Because the Times of Israel has absolutely no process for vetting contributing bloggers nor for reviewing their articles before they are posted. Despite its assurances after the last fiasco that it “will take steps to prevent a recurrence,” the Times of Israel has allowed vast harm to be done not only to the reputation of one man, but to that of all of am yisrael. It’s demonstrated lack of responsiblity should not be easily forgiven. TOI, and all those, including this author, who jumped the gun in vilifying him, owe Mr. Bornstein an apology.
[Update] The Times of Israel has acknowledged falling prey to a hoax, describing themselves as victims of their own complete lack of editorial oversight.

We are dismayed that The Times of Israel fell victim to such a malicious and hateful hoax. Needless to say, we are appalled that the Times of Israel’s blog platform was taken advantage of in this manner.
We sincerely apologize to everyone who was affected, directly or indirectly. Most especially, we apologize to Josh Bornstein.

6 thoughts on “Did white nationalists impersonate Oz lawyer Josh Bornstein at the Times of Israel?

  1. Mr. Sieradski,
    Nice work on this piece. What seems to have happened to Mr. Bornstein is loathsome. White supremacists – any supremacists based on race, ethnicity, religion, or favorite soccer team for that matter – have no place in any society. The 4chan bile reminded me of another of Australia’s least appealing citizens, mining heiress Gina Rinehart.
    Yet, and, of course, there had to be a yet, a single sentence of yours lingers with me:
    “Even among the most extreme right-wing Jewish rants, this seemed beyond the pale.”
    I’m not sure I can agree with you. I think of Avigdor Lieberman’s “loyalty oath” or Naftali Bennett’s general attitude and statements galore.
    More recently, I recall Bibi’s claims that a “Soviet-style” media, Obama conspiracy sought to defeat him in the most-recent election. Then there’s this not-even-month-cold (yes, cold) line (courtesy of The Jerusalem Post) from Bibi: “The Right-wing government is in danger. Arab voters are going en masse to the polls. Left-wing NGOs are bringing them on buses.” Bibi got the Win and then apologized, sort of, for that statement.
    Does this really seem “beyond the pale”?
    Take these examples, all – with the exception of the first – culled from the past couple of years:
    #####
    1. 40 rabbis: Jews shouldn’t rent, sell homes to gentiles
    By JPOST.COM STAFF
    The Jerusalem Post
    12/07/2010 10:46
    Rabbis say measure will prevent intermarriage; MK Horowitz: “racist” municipal rabbis should be fired, investigated for incitement.
    Over 40 municipal rabbis signed a petition on Tuesday saying that Jews should not rent homes in Israel to gentiles.
    Amongst the reasons given for the prohibition are the danger of intermarriage and the lowering of real estate prices in areas where non-Jews live. Gentiles’ “different lifestyle from Jews” can endanger lives, they wrote.
    If a Jew sells or rents property to a gentile, his neighbors must warn him, and if he does not change his ways, the neighbors must avoid the person, and may not conduct business with him, according to the petition. A person who rents or sells to non-Jews also may not get aliyahs in synagogue.
    #####
    2. Firebomb attack: Palestinian ‘pulled kids from burning car’ Jamila Riada, who was injured along with her husband and three children in what police called a ‘Jewish nationalist attack,’ says she saw assailant. Netanyahu instructs Shin Bet to bring perpetrators to justice
    By Noam (Dabul) Dvir
    Ynetnews
    Published: 08.17.12, 00:56
    “We were driving up Gush Etzion’s hill, when someone threw a Molotov cocktail at us from a wooded area. I saw his face and clothes. He had side-locks and was wearing a large kippah. When the bottle was thrown there was a big boom, and the car caught fire. I opened the door and pulled the children out,” recounted Jamila Riada (30), the Palestinian woman who was injured Thursday evening along with her husband and three children when a firebomb was hurled at the taxi they were travelling in.
    The taxi driver was also hurt in the attack, which occurred as the cab was travelling between the West Bank settlements Bat Ayin and Gvaot.
    Two of the Palestinians suffered severe injuries; three others sustained moderate wounds, and a young girl was lightly hurt in what a senior police official called a “Jewish nationalist attack.”
    IDF sources said an initial investigation has indicated that Israelis were behind the attack. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed the Shin Bet internal security service to make every effort to apprehend the assailants.
    #####
    3. ‘He cursed my mother; I don’t care if he dies,’ says suspect in Jerusalem beating of Arab youth
    Police arrest two more minors in connection with brutal assault;
    girl allegedly incited suspects to attack Arabs
    By Greg Tepper
    The Times of Israel
    August 20, 2012, 5:36 pm
    The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court on Monday heard allegations against four minors — three boys aged 17, 15 and 13 and a 15-year-old girl — held in connection with last week’s brutal beating of an Arab youth in downtown Jerusalem.
    The victim of the attack, 17-year-old Jamal Julani of East Jerusalem, was severely injured in the brawl — and nearly died, Channel 2 reported. Julani has a heart condition, which exacerbated his injuries.
    “He cursed my mother; I don’t care if he dies,” one of the suspects said at the hearing, referring to Julani. “There were 40 or 50 kids there, and they were all beating him. I was in the square, I was involved. If I catch him I’ll beat him. He’s an Arab.”
    #####
    4. Bennett: ‘I’ve killed lots of Arabs’ quote was taken out of context
    By Mairav Zonszein
    +972
    Published July 29, 2013
    Naftali Bennett said Monday that a quote attributed to him, saying, “I’ve killed many Arabs in my life, and there’s no problem with that,” was taken out of context. He made the statement during Sunday’s cabinet meeting authorizing the release of Palestinian prisoners, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Monday morning.
    The economy minister and Jewish Home party head was arguing with National Security Adviser Ya’akov Amidror about the prisoner release.
    According to the Hebrew-language report in Yedioth’s print edition, Bennett “proposed a problematic and controversial way for Israel to avoid having to put [captured terror suspects] on trial.”
    Bennett: “If you catch terrorists, you have to simply kill them.”
    Amidror: “Listen, that’s not legal.”
    Bennett: “I’ve killed lots of Arabs in my life – and there’s no problem with that.”
    #####
    5. ‘Price tag’ attack in West Bank following prevented lynch of settlers
    Two cars vandalized and graffiti found in Palestinian village of Madama; security forces on heightened alert for revenge attacks by Jewish settlers in West Bank.
    By YAAKOV LAPPIN,
    JPOST.COM STAFF
    The Jerusalem Post
    LAST UPDATED: 01/08/2014 11:18
    Less than a day after a lynch was prevented on Jewish settlers in the village of Kusra in the West Bank, a ‘price tag’ act of vandalism was suspected to be carried out on Palestinian property in another nearby village.
    In the village of Madama south of Nablus two Palestinian vehicles were burnt out and graffiti was found next to the cars reading “Esh Kodesh”, “revenge”, and price tag along with a Star of David.
    #####
    6. Hundreds rally in support of bilingual school after attack
    Netanyahu vows to uphold rule of law; Livni promises ‘zero tolerance’ as students return to class despite damage caused by arson, graffiti
    By AFP, Lazar Berman and Tamar Pileggi
    The Times of Israel
    November 30, 2014, 2:10 pm
    Students at the Max Rayne Hand in Hand School returned to school Sunday as police continue to investigate the vandalism and arson attack that damaged Jerusalem’s bilingual Hebrew Arabic school Saturday night.
    School officials and parents said they would not allow the anti-coexistence message to derail their mission, as dozens rallied outside to denounce the incident and ministers condemned the attack.
    Firefighters responding to a fire set in the school’s playground Saturday night found racist anti-Arab graffiti spray painted on the buildings, reading “Death to Arabs,” “Kahane was right” and “down with assimilation.”
    “There is no coexistence with cancer,” read another tag spray-painted on a wall.
    #####
    7. Arsonists torch car belonging to Palestinian prof. who led Auschwitz trip
    Mohammed Dajani gained notoriety after leading the first organized group trip of Palestinian university students to Auschwitz.
    By Haaretz
    Jan. 18, 2015 | 12:51 PM
    The car belonging to Mohammed Dajani, the former Al-Quds University professor who led the first organized group trip of Palestinian university students to Auschwitz, was torched in Jerusalem over the weekend in an apparent arson.
    Dajani posted pictures of the burned car to Facebook, with the caption: “Last night, my car was burned, and all I have to say is: Islam is my religion, and moderation is my doctrine and my way of life.”
    Dajani founded Wasatia, a social and political movement based on concepts of moderation, pluralism, democracy and justice that he found in the Quran, in 2007.
    Dajani gained notoriety after the March 2014 trip, where he took 30 Palestinian students to Krakow and Auschwitz-Birkenau as part of a joint program on conflict resolution called “Hearts of Flesh – Not Stone” organized by Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, Germany and funded by the German Research Foundation.
    Following the trip, he was denounced as a traitor and collaborator, and expelled from the Al-Quds University workers’ union – even though he was never a member to begin with.
    #####
    8. Writer assaulted at home days after calling PM a racist
    Yonatan Geffen beaten, branded a traitor when answering door in Netanya; attack leaves him traumatized
    By Justin Jalil
    THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
    March 20, 2015, 9:55 pm
    Famed writer and artist Yonatan Geffen was attacked in his home in central Israel by an unknown individual, two days after he had called the prime minister a racist and commented bitterly on the election result.
    Yonatan Geffen, father of renowned rock musician Aviv Geffen and actress/filmmaker Shira Geffen, answered the door to his Netanya residence on Friday afternoon to an unknown person who immediately began punching the 68-year-old, throwing eggs at him and calling him a “traitor,” Geffen told police.
    #####
    Lastly, the one act that most causes me to question your assertion that “(e)ven among the most extreme right-wing Jewish rants, this seemed beyond the pale.”
    Six Jewish extremists arrested in killing of Jerusalem teen
    Suspects, from Beit Shemesh, Jerusalem and Adam, belong to extremist cell, police say; Muhammed Abu Khdeir’s mother calls for demolishing their homes
    BY ADIV STERMAN
    The Times of Israel
    Posted: July 6, 2014, 1:55 pm
    Updated: July 6, 2014, 2:43 pm
    Six people were arrested Sunday in connection with the murder of 16-year-old Muhammed Abu Khdeir, whose burned body was found in the Jerusalem forest on Wednesday morning, officials said Sunday.
    The suspects are members of a Jewish extremist cell, the Shin Bet security agency said.
    Officials suspect the killing was most likely carried out by Jewish extremists in revenge for the killing of three Israeli teenagers earlier in June. …
    (NOTE: One must scroll down to the 15th paragraph in the TOI story for the details as to how the murder took place.)
    On Saturday, the Palestinian Authority attorney-general, Dr. Muhammed Abed al-Ghani al-Aweiwi, said that Abu Khdeir was burned alive, according to the preliminary findings of the autopsy.
    Aweiwi told Palestinian news agency Ma’an that Abu Khdeir had sustained severe burns across 90 percent of his body, including his head, where he was also beaten.
    He said flammable material was found in Abu Khdeir’s lungs and breathing passages, indicating he was still alive when he was set on fire. Aweiwi added that additional lab tests were needed and that the final autopsy report would be issued only after those tests were completed.
    #####
    With a Neoconservative response/justification from the American shop of John P. Normanson (google the term if you are unfamiliar with it).
    Will the Jewish Terrorists Be Released for Peace?
    By Eugene Kontorovich
    Contentions blog
    Commentary
    07.06.2014 – 11:00 AM
    The arrest of Israeli Jews for the murder of an Arab teenager in Jerusalem has unleashed a wave of cheap moral equivalency. Some of it is obviously pure demagoguery: those who call for the destruction of the houses of these suspects will not ask that for the house of the Israeli Arab arraigned yesterday for the terrorist murder of a 19-year old Israeli girl, Shelly Dadon, three months ago.
    Several points should be borne in mind in considering Israel’s treatment of the accursed murders. To be clear, the accused deserve, and are receiving, broad and unconditional condemnation – not because they do not help Israel, but because they are evil.
    1) Prisoner swaps. We know Israel will never ask for these Jewish killers to be released as part of a peace deal. …
    2) Pensions. Israel will never pay pensions to the killers. …
    3) Finding the killers. The fact that during a massive three-week hunt for killers of the three Jewish boys, the authorities also managed to hunt down the killers of the Arab boy proves how seriously Israel takes crime against anyone, Jew or Arab. …
    4) Community support. The fact that the killers of three Jewish boys have hid out for three weeks shows they have a base of support, an organization: people to keep their secret, feed them, etc.
    #####
    In closing, Mr. Sieradski, you seem like a decent man, one who values democracy as much as he values the nation of Israel, one who prizes, and rightly so, his Judaism as much as he respects the rights of others – all others. With the exception of two (one from +972 and one from Ha’aretz), the above examples come from the center-right, right, and far right publications in your land: Ynet, The Jerusalem Post, and The Times of Israel, and one of their sisters, Commentary, in the United States. While each publication has been criticized more than once for its failure to blindly support Zionism and the Diaspora, Judea and Samaria, Israel and Judaism, and do so at whatever the cost, each firmly sides with Bibi, Bennett, and Lieberman.
    In short, these examples are Israel: each and every one of them. Not all of Israel, not even a majority – but each is Israel, of Israel, and involves actions perpetuated by Israelis. You know, the “good guys”. Yes, I maintain that Israelis and Jews are the “good guys”.
    I believe Israel is a fine nation and Judaism a fine religion. I also believe that Israelis did each and every one of the things listed above. And, sadly, I believe that while white supremacists most likely crafted that vile piece attributed to Mr. Bornstein, that very same piece could have been written by the likes of one Caroline Glick or a number of other Israelis (and/or Americans such as John P. Normanson) who share Ms. Glick’s views and tactics. I take no pleasure – none, nada, zip, zero – in typing those words, and I have had no direct or indirect personal interactions (nor do I want any personal interactions) with Ms. Glick and/or John P. Normanson.
    I respectfully submit, though, that I no longer believe “(e)ven among the most extreme right-wing Jewish rants, this (most recent TOI piece attributed to Mr. Bornstein) seemed beyond the pale.” The actions of Israelis in the past couple of years, as shown above, simply do not support such a sentence any longer.
    Israelis, those who believe in democracy, do not immolate teenagers. At least, Israelis didn’t used to do such things.
    Sorry for all the typing and the bother.

  2. Mr. Sieradski,
    My apologies for the gargantuan length of the post. I don’t, after writing this days, weeks, or months ago, go around pasting it on websites. Your piece lingered with me. I keep an archive of numerous (more than I’d care to mention) stories on a wide variety of topics. I dug up some of the stories and cranked out that very lengthy post just now.
    If it’s too long for your website, I understand.
    Wish you well.

  3. This apologia is contemptible. White supremacists, neo-Nazis? On the contrary, parody though the article is intended to be, every line of it exudes the spirit of Zionism, and while pious liberals like Mr. Sieradski go around acting all horrified, shocked and appalled, on the ground, back in Palestine the mass theft and genocide continue unabated.

  4. looks like it WAS in fact written by “any other jew”..
    It was – summarily put – a false flag effort by a zionist. Just about everything that Goldberg is now alleged to have written was designed to encourage, instigate or prompt violent attacks and sow false flag murders specifically so that the instigated violence could then be used to lead the general population of third party (not Israeli) states into warfare and counter attacks between their nations and muslims, using the attacks Goldberg sought to bring to fruition as a media tool.
    It was not ‘whites’ – it was your own tribal population hoping to get a fight started that would be born by a third party population against the population that his own ethnicity had a grievance against. Shame on you for being so wrong and failing to accurately call the responsibility in this case.
    The most important factor noted by me in this case is how utterly worthless and damaging the NSA is, and how valueless all of its domestic spying and corrupt, illegal, cowardly eavesdropping has been. While making the excuses of cowardly evil scum to spy on people using electronic means. Did they stop or intercept a guy using his parents Wifi that has for years openly posted from a static IP in the mainland USA???… NOPE. Just like they are their spying cowardly co-travellers did not stop the Boston Bombers entry to the USA, nor stop their marathon attack. These spying promoters and their Ziocon cabal in congress and the media dont intend or WANT to stop anything, or protect americans, they want to sit on their fat cowardly wide rears and spy on the private lives of people in violation of their basic rights, because they are the lowest grade of filth.
    They act out of only the lowest and most vile motives and goals, to no other real purposes than to revel in their own criminality and lack of moral decency, and to perpetuate this through creating a secret police NKVD/Stasi apparatus. These ziocon media/political cowards and spies did not care to catch Goldberg, despite the fact they harvested virtually everything passing through Google during the period Goldberg was actively using its services. It is childs play to have identified him and located him on a static IP, given that they are effortlessly now compromising individual machines using public wifi.
    It was, instead, the FBI using LEGAL means to actually do real police work and catch a piece of filth seeking to have random people murdered in the apparent hope that it would result in public outrage and be useful to his goal of sending other nations off to more wars occupations and invasions of a region that is problematic to his actual state of loyalty – Israel.
    I think its important not to allow coward, spying ziocons , their sayanim and media puppets to be identified with the general jewish population. The ziocons are the utter epitomy of the purest grade of coward. A coward that spies and invades privacy while expecting its own security to be protected, and coward that seeks to control, manipulate, create and INSTIGATE wars and violence to no other purpose than its own future gain; worthless cowards well capitalized for their verminous activity that makes Lord Haw Haw seem mild in comparison, spewed for profit .
    I think its time for the general Jewish population to admit when a rogue indvidual as a individual actor, as a AIPAC’er or as a puppet of Likud, is seeking to promote and agitate others into conflict, wars, or disputes that do not concern or directly relate to the interests of that 3rd party population or state, and to insist that Israel at this point serve its own interests using its own people and resources. Someone like Goldberg is unfortunately far from a a rare or uncommon rogue individual, and this tactic of seeking to induce other peoples or states to enter into conflicts or fights that are specific to his own tribal interests are not at all rare or uncommon in modern or historical times. I suggest that instead of witch hunts for nazis, you focus on policing the ziocon element that is brought so harshly to light in this instance.
    This was carried out by one of your own tribe, for his own tribal interests, and was wicked and vile in the highest degree, seeking to shed innocent blood and to cause death in order to profit from the aftermath. In 2015, its probably time to ensure that if you still carry a tribal allegiance, you are probably going to be a detriment to any other population because you share a different allegiance. You may seek to use and control others, but are not concerned with their welfare or communal interests.
    The USA, Europe, and western world are currently being torn apart by folks like Goldberg and his opponents, as alien tribalists who were granted charity a generation or two ago seek to punish their host population by attempting to hijack their societies into stripping their own peoples of sustenance, encouraging wars and conflict to benefit their own tribal allegiance and to remake the once functional society they fled to into the tribal thievery their own population collapsed under. Its time to seperate the tribal ziocons from those americans who may be Jewish or of whatever other origins or culture, but share a common and SOLE interest in our own communal benefit and advancement.

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