Max Blumenthal (born December 18, 1977) is an American journalist, author and blogger who is the editor of ''
The Grayzone
''The Grayzone'' is a far-left news website and blog founded and edited by American journalist Max Blumenthal. The website, initially founded as ''The Grayzone Project'', was affiliated with AlterNet before becoming independent in early 2018 ...
'' website, which is known for spreading
conspiracy theories
A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources:
*
*
*
* The term has a nega ...
and engaging in
denial
Denial, in ordinary English usage, has at least three meanings: asserting that any particular statement or allegation is not true (which might be accurate or inaccurate); the refusal of a request; and asserting that a true statement is not true. ...
of atrocities committed by dictatorial regimes.
[. The source Ross cites is: ] He was a writer for ''
The Nation
''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...
'',
AlterNet
AlterNet is a left-leaning online news outlet. It was launched in 1997 by the Independent Media Institute. In 2018, the website was acquired by owners of '' Raw Story''.
Coverage
Coverage is divided into several special sections related to progr ...
,
''
The Daily Beast
''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008.
It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...
'', ''
Al Akhbar'', and
Media Matters for America
Media Matters for America (MMfA) is a politically left-leaning 501(c)(3), nonprofit organization and media watchdog group. MMfA was founded in 2004 by journalist and political activist David Brock as a counterweight to the conservative Media ...
,
and has contributed to
Al Jazeera English, ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' and the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
''.
He has been a writing fellow of the
Nation Institute
Type Media Center (formerly The Nation Institute) is a nonprofit media organization that was previously associated with ''The Nation'' magazine. It sponsors fellows, hosts forums, publishes books and investigative reporting, and awards several an ...
. He is a regular contributor to Russian state-owned
Sputnik and
RT, and has been accused of spreading
Russian propaganda
The propaganda of the Russian Federation promotes views, perceptions or agendas of the government of Russia. The media include state-run outlets and online technologies, and may involve using "Soviet-style 'active measures' as an element of m ...
.
Blumenthal has written four books. His first, ''Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement That Shattered the Party'' (2009), made the ''Los Angeles Times'' and
''New York Times'' bestsellers lists.
He was awarded the 2014
Lannan Foundation
The Lannan Literary Awards are a series of awards and literary fellowships given out in various fields by the Lannan Foundation. Established in 1989, the awards are meant "to honor both established and emerging writers whose work is of exceptional ...
Cultural Freedom Award for an Especially Notable Book for ''
Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel'', which was published in 2013.
Background and affiliations
Blumenthal was born on December 18, 1977, in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, Massachusetts, to Jacqueline (née Jordan) and
Sidney Blumenthal
Sidney Stone Blumenthal (born November 6, 1948) is an American journalist and political operative. A former aide to President Bill Clinton, he is a long-time confidant of Hillary Clinton and was formerly employed by the Clinton Foundation. As a ...
. His father is a journalist and writer who served as an aide to President
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
. Blumenthal graduated from the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
in 1999 with a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
degree in history.
In late 2011, Blumenthal joined Lebanon's ''
Al Akhbar'' newspaper primarily to write about the
Israeli–Palestinian conflict
The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is one of the world's most enduring conflicts, beginning in the mid-20th century. Various attempts have been made to resolve the conflict as part of the Israeli–Palestinian peace process, alongside other ef ...
and foreign-policy debates in Washington, DC. When he left the publication in June 2012 in protest at its coverage of the
Syrian Civil War, he considered the newspaper to have a pro-Assad editorial line followed by such individuals as
Amal Saad-Ghorayeb
Amal Abdo Saad-Ghorayeb ( ar, أمل سعد غريب) is a Lebanese writer and political analyst known for her writings on the Israeli–Lebanese conflict and Hezbollah.
Life
Saad-Ghorayeb was an assistant professor of political science at the Leb ...
. He wrote that it "gave me more latitude than any paper in the United States to write about ... Israel and Palestine", but he had ultimately tired of "jousting with Assad apologists". He added: "In the end, Assad will be remembered as an authoritarian tyrant."
The Real News
The Real News Network (TRNN) is an independent, nonprofit news organization based in Baltimore, MD that covers both national and international news.
History
TRNN was founded by documentary producer Paul Jay and Mishuk Munier in September 2 ...
, June 22, 2012
"Max Blumenthal Resigns Al Akhbar Over Syria Coverage"
/ref> Blumenthal formerly contributed weekly articles to the ''AlterNet
AlterNet is a left-leaning online news outlet. It was launched in 1997 by the Independent Media Institute. In 2018, the website was acquired by owners of '' Raw Story''.
Coverage
Coverage is divided into several special sections related to progr ...
'' website, serving as a senior writer from September 2014.
Blumenthal has contributed to broadcasts on RT (formerly known as Russia Today) on many occasions. In December 2015, during a visit to Moscow presumed by multiple sources to have been paid for by the Kremlin, Blumenthal was a guest at RT's ''10 Years On Air'' anniversary party attended by President Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
, then-Lieutenant General Michael Flynn of the United States and English politician Ken Livingstone. In an interview with Tucker Carlson
Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson (born May 16, 1969) is an American television host, conservative political commentator and writer who has hosted the nightly political talk show '' Tucker Carlson Tonight'' on Fox News since 2016.
Carlson began ...
on Fox News
The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
in November 2017, Blumenthal defended RT against "the charge that it’s Kremlin propaganda."
He has contributed on multiple occasions to ''Sputnik'' radio, as well as to Iran's Press TV
Press TV (stylised as PRESSTV) is an Iranian state-owned news network that broadcasts in the English and French languages owned by Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), the only organization legally able to transmit radio and TV broadc ...
and China's CGTN
China Global Television Network (CGTN) is the international division of state media outlet China Central Television (CCTV), headquartered in Beijing, China. CGTN broadcasts six news and general interest channels in five languages. CGTN is reg ...
. Blumenthal founded ''The Grayzone
''The Grayzone'' is a far-left news website and blog founded and edited by American journalist Max Blumenthal. The website, initially founded as ''The Grayzone Project'', was affiliated with AlterNet before becoming independent in early 2018 ...
'' website within a month after his visit to Moscow. In an October 2019 article for '' New Politics'' magazine, Gilbert Achcar wrote that Blumenthal's ''Grayzone'', along with the World Socialist Web Site
The World Socialist Web Site (WSWS) is the website of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI). It describes itself as an "online newspaper of the international Trotskyist movement". The WSWS publishes articles and analys ...
, has "the habit of demonizing all left-wing critics of Putin and the likes of Assad by describing them as 'agents of imperialism' or some equivalent".
Blumenthal's articles and video reports have been published by ''The Daily Beast
''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008.
It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...
'', ''The Nation
''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...
'', ''The Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'' (for which he contributed from 2009 to 2011), '' Al Jazeera English'', ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', the ''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'', ''Washington Monthly
''Washington Monthly'' is a bimonthly, nonprofit magazine of United States politics and government that is based in Washington, D.C. The magazine is known for its annual ranking of American colleges and universities, which serves as an alterna ...
'', and ''Columbia Journalism Review
The ''Columbia Journalism Review'' (''CJR'') is a biannual magazine for professional journalists that has been published by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961. Its contents include news and media industry trends, ana ...
''.
Reporting
Immigration (2002–2014)
Blumenthal won the Online News Association
The Online News Association (ONA), founded in 1999, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located in Washington D.C., United States. It is the world's largest association of digital journalists, with more than 2,000 members.
The majority of ONA ...
's Independent Feature Award for his 2002 ''Salon
Salon may refer to:
Common meanings
* Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments
* French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home
* Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment
Arts and entertainment
* Salon (P ...
'' article, "Day of the Dead". In the article, he concluded the homicides of hundreds of women in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua
Ciudad () is the Spanish Language, Spanish word for City
Ciudad may also refer to:
*La Ciudad (archaeological site), Hohokam ruins in Phoenix, Arizona
*La Ciudad, district of Durango City, Mexico
*''La ciudad'', novel by Mario Levrero 1970
*La Ciu ...
, Mexico were connected to the policies of corporate interests in the border city. Blumenthal wrote about the rise of the so-called "Minuteman
Minutemen were members of the organized New England colonial militia companies trained in weaponry, tactics, and military strategies during the American Revolutionary War. They were known for being ready at a minute's notice, hence the name. Mi ...
" movement for ''Salon'' in 2003, describing its members as "border vigilantes" who "have harassed and detained hundreds, perhaps thousands, of migrants suspected of entering the country illegally."
In 2010, Blumenthal covered the federal immigration enforcement program known as Operation Streamline
Operation Streamline is a joint initiative of the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice in the United States, started in 2005, that adopts a "zero-tolerance" approach to unauthorized border-crossing by criminally prosecuting tho ...
for ''Truthdig
Truthdig is an American news website that provides a mix of long-form articles, blog items, curated links, interviews, arts criticism and commentary on current events delivered from a politically progressive, left-leaning point of view. The site of ...
''. "The program represents the entrenchment of a parallel nonproductive economy promoting abuse behind the guise of law enforcement and crime deterrence", he wrote.
Blumenthal testified as a prosecution witness for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) is a national non-profit civil rights organization formed in 1968 by Jack Greenberg to protect the rights of Latinos in the United States."MALDEF" entry in ''Los Angeles A to Z: An ...
in their civil suit, known as ''Vicente v. Barnett'', against Arizona businessman Roger Barnett. Barnett was ordered to pay $73,000 in damages for assaulting a group of migrants near the US–Mexico border.
In 2014, Blumenthal covered hunger strikes by undocumented migrants held in the privatized
Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
Northwest Detention Center
Northwest Detention Center is a privately-run detention center located on the tide flats of the Port of Tacoma in Tacoma, Washington, USA. The detention center is operated by the GEO Group on behalf of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ...
for ''The Nation
''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...
''.
''Republican Gomorrah'' (2009)
Blumenthal's book, ''Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement That Shattered the Party'' (2009), was a bestseller on both the ''Los Angeles Times'' and ''New York Times'' bestsellers lists. The work was inspired by the psychologist Erich Fromm
Erich Seligmann Fromm (; ; March 23, 1900 – March 18, 1980) was a German social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, humanistic philosopher, and democratic socialist. He was a German Jew who fled the Nazi regime and settled in the U ...
who analyzed the personality of those "eager to surrender their freedom" via an identification with authoritarian causes and powerful leaders.
For Blumenthal, a "culture of personal crisis" has defined the American "radical right". In a 2009 interview with CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
, he commented: "The GOP has become subsumed by dysfunctional personalities with no capacity for restraining themselves, either from acting out hysterically or from their most devious urges. For these internally conflicted figures, who will continue to produce new and increasingly bizarre scandals, right-wing political crusading is simply a form of self-medication."
Israel and Palestine
''Feeling the Hate'' (2009 video)
In early June 2009, Blumenthal posted a 3-minute video on YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
, titled ''Feeling the Hate in Jerusalem on the Eve of Obama's Cairo Address''. The video, a photo montage of possibly drunk Jewish-American young people in Jerusalem, was recorded the day before President Barack Obama's Cairo address on June 4. Some youths used obscenities and racist rhetoric about President Obama and Arabs
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Wester ...
, referring to Obama as a "nigger
In the English language, the word ''nigger'' is an ethnic slur used against black people, especially African Americans. Starting in the late 1990s, references to ''nigger'' have been progressively replaced by the euphemism , notably in cases ...
" and "like a terrorist". According to ''The Jerusalem Post
''The Jerusalem Post'' is a broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''The Palestine Post''. In 1950, it changed its name to ''The Jerusalem Post''. In 2004, the paper w ...
'', the video "garnered massive exposure and caused a firestorm in the media and the Jewish world". A Bradley Burston op-ed in ''Haaretz
''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner f ...
'' described the video as "an overnight Internet sensation".[
Blumenthal's video gained 400,000 views before YouTube removed it for unspecified terms-of-use violations. '']The Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'' had refused to publish it, and its Tel Aviv sequel was briefly on that website, before it resurfaced on ''Mondoweiss
''Mondoweiss'' is a news website that began as a general-interest blog written by Philip Weiss on ''The New York Observer'' website. It subsequently developed into a broader collaborative venture after fellow journalist Adam Horowitz joined it ...
''. Referring to the Jerusalem video, the '' Jewish Telegraphic Agency'' quoted Blumenthal as stating: "I won't ascribe motives to YouTube I am unable to confirm, but it is clear there is an active campaign by right-wing Jewish elements to suppress the video by filing a flood of complaints with YouTube".
Referring to death threats he had received for publishing the video, he ascribed individuals "emotional need to stop this video by eliminating" him as "a feature of right-wing psychology around the world". Blumenthal saw his interviewees as part of the "indoctrination" of Taglit-Birthright tours intended for diaspora Jews
The Jewish diaspora ( he, תְּפוּצָה, təfūṣā) or exile (Hebrew: ; Yiddish: ) is the dispersion of Israelites or Jews out of their ancient ancestral homeland (the Land of Israel) and their subsequent settlement in other parts of th ...
, in which he had himself participated in 2002.[ Around 2009, he described himself as a "non-Zionist" liberal, and considered the identification of anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism as a "cynical ploy by the Israel lobby".]
Dispute with Karen J. Greenberg (2011)
In 2011, Blumenthal reported that Israeli occupation forces and Bahraini monarchy guards trained American police departments in anti-protester techniques, including torture, and quoted Fordham University
Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...
Law Professor Karen J. Greenberg. Contacted by Jeffrey Goldberg
Jeffrey Mark Goldberg (born September 22, 1965) is an American journalist and editor-in-chief of ''The Atlantic'' magazine. During his nine years at ''The Atlantic'' prior to becoming editor, Goldberg became known for his coverage of foreign affa ...
of ''The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'' and Adam Serwer
Adam Serwer (born 1982) is an American journalist and author. He is a staff writer at ''The Atlantic'' where his work focuses on politics, race, and justice. He previously worked at Buzzfeed News, ''The American Prospect'', and '' Mother Jones'' ...
of ''Mother Jones
Mary G. Harris Jones (1837 (baptized) – November 30, 1930), known as Mother Jones from 1897 onwards, was an Irish-born American schoolteacher and dressmaker who became a prominent union organizer, community organizer, and activist. She h ...
'', Greenberg told Goldberg that while she "never made such a statement", Blumenthal "was looking for corroboration but I told him I didn't have any." She told Serwer that "I did not intend to assert these allegations as fact ... the entire sense of the quote is inaccurate."
Blumenthal said that he had quoted Greenberg accurately, accused her of denying she had made the statement, and believed that she had since been "intimidated by Goldberg and the pro-Israel forces he represents." Greenberg had made the same comments to Adam Serwer of ''Mother Jones''.
''Goliath'' (2013)
Blumenthal has written two books based on the periods of time he spent in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied territories
Israeli-occupied territories are the lands that were captured and occupied by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967. While the term is currently applied to the Palestinian territories and the Golan Heights, it has also been used to refer to a ...
in the West Bank
The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
. He documented what he said were Israeli and Palestinian war crimes in two books: '' Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel'' (2013) and ''The 51 Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza'' (2015).
''Goliath'', published by Nation Books, outlines what Blumenthal characterizes as Israel's aggressive shift to the far-right, and its crackdown on local activism. In the preface, he writes: "Americans' tax dollars and political support hat
A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...
are crucial in sustaining the present state of affairs" in Israel. The book consists of 73 short chapters. Chapter titles include "To the Slaughter", "The Concentration Camp", "The Night of Broken Glass", "This Belongs to the White Man" and "How to Kill Goyim and Influence People".
The book received a positive review from Nancy Murray in ''Race & Class
''Race & Class'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal on contemporary racism and imperialism. It is published quarterly by Sage Publications on behalf of the Institute of Race Relations and is interdisciplinary, publishing material across the h ...
'', calling it "a work of unsettling but scrupulous and courageous truth-telling". It was also positively reviewed in the ''Journal of Palestine Studies
The ''Journal of Palestine Studies (JPS)'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal established in 1971. It is published by Taylor and Francis on behalf of the Institute for Palestine Studies, having previously been published by the University ...
'' by Steven Salaita
Steven Salaita (born 1975) is an American scholar, author and public speaker. He became the center of a controversy when the University of Illinois did not hire him as a professor of American Indian Studies following objections to a series of twe ...
, who called it "one of the most important titles published on the Israel-Palestine conflict in the past few years".
Eric Alterman
Eric Alterman (born January 14, 1960) is an American historian, journalist, author, media critic, blogger, and educator. He is a CUNY Distinguished Professor of English and Journalism at Brooklyn College and the author of eleven books. From 1 ...
, writing for ''The Nation'' wrote that its author "proves a profoundly unreliable narrator" and his book will "do nothing to advance the interests of the occupation’s victims." His article and an extract from Blumenthal's book in the same issue led to many letters being received by ''The Nation'', several of which were published in the next issue rebuking ''The Nation'' for publishing Alterman's article. Abdeen Jabara, past president of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) states that it is "the largest Arab American grassroots civil rights organization in the United States." According to its webpage it is open to people of all backgrounds, faiths and ethnicities ...
, wrote that he was troubled by ''The Nation'' presenting "two sides" by allowing Alterman to do a "hatchet job" on Blumenthal's work, because "there is no equivalency between whatever Palestinians have done or are doing and what Israel and Zionism have done to the Palestinians." Other correspondents, among them Charles H. Manekin, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Maryland and former Director of the Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Studies, challenged the accuracy of Alterman's article.
Alterman's statement in his original piece about the book being "technically accurate" was queried and he explained it was an issue of context, as Blumenthal "tells us only the facts he wishes us to know and withholds crucial ones that undermine his relentlessly anti-Israel narrative." Jonathan S. Tobin, writing in ''Commentary
Commentary or commentaries may refer to:
Publications
* ''Commentary'' (magazine), a U.S. public affairs journal, founded in 1945 and formerly published by the American Jewish Committee
* Caesar's Commentaries (disambiguation), a number of works ...
'' magazine, described the book as having a "complete lack of intellectual merit or integrity".
An event was held at the University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
on October 17, 2013, featuring Ian Lustick Ian Steven Lustick (born 1949) is an American political scientist and specialist on the modern history and politics of the Middle East. He currently holds the Bess W. Heyman Chair in the department of Political Sciences at the University of Pennsyl ...
and Blumenthal discussing ''Goliath''. Blumenthal objected to what he saw as "Israel's attempt to engineer and maintain a Jewish, non-indigenous majority." Blumenthal said: "there is absolutely no way for Jewish people in Israel/Palestine to become indigenized under the present order. And that's what really has to happen." Consequently, they should be "willing to be a part of the Arab world." A "choice needs to be placed to the Israeli Jewish population" (which he also referred to as the "settler-colonial population") "and it can only be placed to them through external pressure." "The maintenance and engineering of a non-indigenous demographic majority is non-negotiable", he said.
Philip Weiss
Philip Weiss is an American journalist who co-edits '' Mondoweiss'' ("a news website devoted to covering American foreign policy in the Middle East, chiefly from a progressive Jewish perspective") with journalist Adam Horowitz. Weiss describes h ...
of the ''Mondoweiss'' website responded to Blumenthal's comments saying that "similar attitudes about indigenous culture have been used in intolerant ways in our society. I see some intolerance in that answer." In the Acknowledgements to ''Goliath'', Blumenthal wrote that websites such as ''Electronic Intifada
''The Electronic Intifada'' (''EI'') is an online Chicago-based publication covering the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. It describes itself as not-for-profit, independent, and providing a Palestinian perspective.
History
''EI'' was founded in ...
'' and ''Mondoweiss'' had "provided essential outlets for much of the reporting" contained in the book. Petra Marquardt-Bigman wrote that the "single-minded effort in ''Goliath'' to portray Israel in an extremely biased way in order to promote comparisons to Nazi Germany that would justify political campaigns aimed at eliminating the Jewish state qualifies even under the most stringent criteria" as being antisemitic
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
.
In 2013, Rabbi Marvin Hier
Marvin (Moshe Chaim) Hier (born 1939 in New York City) is the dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, its Museum of Tolerance and of Moriah, the center's film division.
Early life
Hier was born in 1939 in New York City. His Jewish paren ...
, founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center
The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) is a Jewish human rights organization established in 1977 by Rabbi Marvin Hier. The center is known for Holocaust research and remembrance, hunting Nazi war criminals, combating anti-Semitism, tolerance educat ...
, said that the center ranked Blumenthal in ninth place in their "Top Ten 2013 Anti-Semitic, Anti-Israel Slurs". Hier said that "we judge him by what he wrote. He crossed the line into outright anti-Semitism" and that "he quotes approvingly characterizations of Israeli soldiers as 'Judeo-Nazis'". Blumenthal responded by saying the Wiesenthal Center's list associated him with such people as American writer Alice Walker
Alice Malsenior Tallulah-Kate Walker (born February 9, 1944) is an American novelist, short story writer, poet, and social activist. In 1982, she became the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, which she was aw ...
. He commented that he, Richard Falk
Richard Anderson Falk (born November 13, 1930) is an American professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University, and Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor's Chairman of the Board of Trustees. In 2004, he was listed as the autho ...
, and Roger Waters (who also appear on the list) "had stiff competition: Ayatollah Khomeini ic, Khameneiwas number one."
Responding on Twitter, Blumenthal posted a cartoon by Carlos Latuff
Carlos Latuff (born 30 November 1968) is a Brazilian political cartoonist. His work deals with themes such as anti-Western sentiment, anti-capitalism, and opposition to U.S. military intervention. He is best known for his images depicting the ...
, who had appeared on the list the previous year. Marquardt-Bigman reported that the cartoon depicted Hier as mad; Blumenthal has defended Latuff on Twitter. Gilad Atzmon
Gilad Atzmon ( he, גלעד עצמון, ; born 9 June 1963) is a British jazz saxophonist, novelist, political activist, and writer.
As a musician, he is best known as a saxophonist and bandleader. His instruments include the saxophone, acco ...
praised ''Goliath'' on the '' Veterans Today'' website: "I really want Blumenthal’s book to succeed and be read widely". He thought Blumenthal had "brilliantly though unwittingly managed to produce a pretty impressive journalistic account in support of my criticism of Jewish identity politics and tribal supremacy".
Russell Tribunal
Blumenthal appeared before the Russell Tribunal on Palestine on September 25, 2014, in Brussels, Belgium
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
, to testify on allegations of war crimes and genocide by Israel against residents of the Gaza Strip during Operation Protective Edge
The 2014 Gaza War, also known as Operation Protective Edge ( he, מִבְצָע צוּק אֵיתָן, translit=Miv'tza Tzuk Eitan, ),
was a military operation launched by Israel on 8 July 2014 in the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory that h ...
. Blumenthal was in Gaza during Protective Edge and, according to Richard Falk
Richard Anderson Falk (born November 13, 1930) is an American professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University, and Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor's Chairman of the Board of Trustees. In 2004, he was listed as the autho ...
in ''The Nation'', provided an analysis of the "political design that appeared to explain the civilian targeting patterns". During his appearance at the Russell Tribunal, Blumenthal made a comparison between Israel and ISIL
An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...
.
A few days later, Blumenthal and Rania Khalek created the Twitter hashtag #JSIL; "The Jewish State of Israel in the Levant", intended as a comparison between Israel and the Islamic State
An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...
terrorist organization.
2014 Berlin visit
Blumenthal and Canadian-Israeli journalist David Sheen were invited by Inge Höger and Annette Groth
Annette Groth (born 16 May 1954 in Bielefeld) is a German politician from Baden-Wuerttemberg.
Career
From 1974 to 1979, she studied at the Free University of Berlin, in development sociology, economics and business administration and interna ...
, members of The Left (Die Linke) party, to speak with them in the German parliament in Berlin, the Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...
, with the meeting being scheduled for November 12, 2014. Blumenthal and Steen stated that Höger and Groth's party colleague Gregor Gysi, tried to cancel the meetings, because Gysi wished to dissociate the Left Party from anti-Israel campaigns.
Before the cancellation, Volker Beck of the Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...
described Blumenthal as someone who sought to "invoke consistently anti-Semitic comparisons between Israel and Nazism", Weinthal had presented his evidence about Blumenthal's writings and activism to Gysi.
Later, Blumenthal and Sheen waited for Gysi to discuss his claim they were antisemites, an assertion Gysi denied making. Gysi, followed by the two other parliamentary members, left his office and crossed down a corridor to enter a restroom, where Sheen and Blumenthal followed him, but failed to force their entry. The two MPs held their meeting with Sheen and Blumenthal in a non-party room, but cut all links with them after hearing about the incident with Gysi. Blumenthal and Sheen were banned from setting foot in the Bundestag again. In an e-mail explaining the ban, Bundestag president Norbert Lammert
Norbert Lammert (born 16 November 1948) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He served as the 12th President of the Bundestag from 2005 to 2017.
Early life and education
The son of a baker, Lammert attended gymnasium ...
stated: "Every attempt to exert pressure on members of parliament, to physically threaten them and thus endanger the parliamentary process is intolerable and must be prevented".
''The 51 Day War'' (2015)
In ''The 51 Day War'' (2015), Blumenthal writes that he was in Gaza during and following Operation Protective Edge
The 2014 Gaza War, also known as Operation Protective Edge ( he, מִבְצָע צוּק אֵיתָן, translit=Miv'tza Tzuk Eitan, ),
was a military operation launched by Israel on 8 July 2014 in the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory that h ...
, the Israeli military offensive in Gaza during the summer of 2014. Blumenthal said that the catalyst for the military offensive was the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers by a Hamas
Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Bri ...
cell. He stated that the Israel's West Bank operation was not aimed at rescuing the teens, who were known to be dead, or capturing their killers, but destroying a political agreement between Hamas and the Palestinian National Authority by targeting the Palestinian Unity Government. The book is based on his own observations and interviews with citizens, physicians, and others. He writes that, during the operation, Israel targeted Palestinian civilians and media organisations, conducted execution-style killings and attacked refugee shelters.
According to Petra Marquardt-Bigman, Blumenthal testified at the Russell Tribunal that he arrived in Gaza "at the onset of a five-day humanitarian ceasefire on August 14". She said his interviews at the end of July indicated he was in Washington, DC which suggested he was probably elsewhere, rather than "on the ground", for the first few weeks of the war. She said a tweet by Blumenthal on August 22, indicated he had by then left the area. Marquardt-Bigman wrote that ''The 51 Day War'' was marketed as an "explosive work of reportage" and that Blumenthal "went to Gaza only some two weeks before the end of the fighting". Marquardt Bigman wrote that certain of his tweets show an "uncritical acceptance of the terror group’s propaganda", a reference to Hamas. She said Blumenthal returned to Gaza to cover the "victory rallies" around the time Hamas accepted an indeterminate ceasefire.
Of the Battle of Shujaiya in July 2014 in ''51 Days War'', Blumenthal wrote of the Al-Qassam Brigades (the military wing of Hamas) who ambushed IDF
IDF or idf may refer to:
Defence forces
* Irish Defence Forces
* Israel Defense Forces
*Iceland Defense Force, of the US Armed Forces, 1951-2006
* Indian Defence Force, a part-time force, 1917
Organizations
* Israeli Diving Federation
* Interac ...
soldiers, that although they "had not vanquished the vaunted Israeli Army", "they delivered a bloody nose to its most elite units." Sonali Kolhatkar wrote in the ''Los Angeles Review of Books
The ''Los Angeles Review of Books'' (''LARB'' is a literary review magazine covering the national and international book scenes. A preview version launched on Tumblr in April 2011, and the official website followed one year later in April 2012. ...
'' that "Blumenthal’s casting of the Al-Qassam Brigades as an army of resistance against a brutal aggressor is an essential transgression from the standard narrative of the Middle East conflict."
In a video recording of an event at the London School of Economics
, mottoeng = To understand the causes of things
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £240.8 million (2021)
, budget = £391.1 millio ...
in March 2016, Blumenthal described the Al-Qassam commandos as having "burst into the ahal OzIsraeli base and kill devery soldier they encountered in hand-to-hand combat. ..The message it sent to young Palestinians in the West Bank, in Jerusalem and abroad, was incredible ... You see your people in commando uniforms, bursting into a military base and showing up the occupier."
''Kirkus Reviews
''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...
'' described the book as being "Explosive, pull-no-punches reporting that is certain to stir controversy." ''The 51 Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza'' was awarded a Palestine Book Award that year by the ''Middle East Monitor
The Middle East Monitor (MEMO) is a not-for-profit press monitoring organisation and lobbying group that emerged in mid 2009. MEMO is largely focused on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, but writes about other issues in the Middle East as well ...
''. Avi Benlolo CEO of the Simon Wiesenthal Center told ''The Canadian Jewish News
The Canadian Jewish News is a non-profit, national, English-language digital-first media organization that serves Canada‘s Jewish community. A national edition of the newspaper was published for 60 years in Toronto. A weekly Montreal edition in ...
'' in 2016: "While shunned by conventional media outlets, the book is popular on major anti-Semitic, neo-Nazi and conspiracy theory websites such as Stormfront and David Duke
David Ernest Duke (born July 1, 1950) is an American white supremacist, antisemitic conspiracy theorist, far-right politician, convicted felon, and former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. From 1989 to 1992, he was a membe ...
's Rense, where his work is used to promote anti-Jewish hate."
Blumenthal, an advocate of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) is a Palestinian-led movement promoting boycotts, divestments, and economic sanctions against Israel. Its objective is to pressure Israel to meet what the BDS movement describes as Israel's obligations ...
(BDS) campaign, was invited to speak about ''The 51 Day War'' at a Toronto PEN Canada
PEN Canada is one of the 148 centres of PEN International. Founded in 1926, it has a membership of over 1,000 writers and supporters who campaign on behalf of writers around the world who are persecuted, imprisoned and exiled for exercising their ...
event in February 2016. Blumenthal said: "What certain groups — which are very partisan right-wing groups affiliated with the Republican Party in the US and the Conservative Party here — decided to do is to declare me an anti-Semite, that I actually hate Jews." He explained: "However I decide to observe Judaism is irrelevant, because in their view, you can disagree all you want with Moses, but you can’t disagree with King Bibi enjamin Netanyahu"
Hillary Clinton and Elie Wiesel
At the beginning of February 2016, it became known via a release of emails from the State Department that, during Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
's four years as Secretary of State, Sidney Blumenthal had sent her at least 19 articles by Max Blumenthal concerning Israel which she had distributed among her staff. In August 2010, Clinton emailed the elder Blumenthal to say: "Pls congratulate Max for another impressive piece. He’s so good." Alan Dershowitz
Alan Morton Dershowitz ( ; born September 1, 1938) is an American lawyer and former law professor known for his work in U.S. constitutional law and American criminal law. From 1964 to 2013, he taught at Harvard Law School, where he was appoin ...
, also an associate of the Clintons, warned of the potential for problems over the connection with someone so critical of Israel.
When author and Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
survivor Elie Wiesel died in July 2016, Max Blumenthal tweeted
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
that "Wiesel went from a victim of war crimes to a supporter of those who commit them", referring to Israel, and "did more harm than good and should not be honored". According to Blumenthal, Wiesel "repeatedly lauded Jewish settlers for ethnically cleansing Palestinians in East Jerusalem". Wiesel was criticized for supporting Elad
El'ad, also spelled Elad ( he, אלעד), is a city in the Central District of Israel. In the 1990s, it was built for a Haredi Jewish population and to a lesser extent, it was also built for a Religious Zionist Jewish population. Located about ...
, an Israeli group which encourages Jewish settlement in the area.
In a statement to ''The Jerusalem Post
''The Jerusalem Post'' is a broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''The Palestine Post''. In 1950, it changed its name to ''The Jerusalem Post''. In 2004, the paper w ...
'', Jake Sullivan
Jacob Jeremiah Sullivan (born November 28, 1976) is an American political advisor who currently serves as the National Security Advisor (United States), United States National Security Advisor to President Joe Biden. He was previously Director o ...
, then senior policy adviser for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, said: "Secretary Clinton emphatically rejects these offensive, hateful, and patently absurd statements about Elie Wiesel." He added: "She believes they are wrong in all senses of the term. She believes that Max Blumenthal and others should cease and desist in making them."
Syria
In September 2013, Blumenthal reported for ''The Nation
''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...
'' from the Zaatari refugee camp
The Zaatari refugee camp () is a refugee camp in Jordan, located east of Mafraq, which has gradually evolved into a permanent settlement;[Syrian refugees were living.] He wrote of being "staunchly against US strikes, mainly because I believe they could exacerbate an already horrific situation without altering the political reality in any meaningful way". The refugees in Zaatari deserved to be heard and commented in the article: "there was not one person I spoke to in Zaatari who did not demand US military intervention at the earliest possible moment."
After Blumenthal's visit to Moscow in December 2015, according to a 2018 article by Janine di Giovanni in ''The New York Review of Books
''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of i ...
'', he began to promote views supportive of Bashar al Assad
Bashar Hafez al-Assad, ', Levantine pronunciation: ; (, born 11 September 1965) is a Syrian politician who is the 19th president of Syria, since 17 July 2000. In addition, he is the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Armed Forces and the S ...
and the Syrian government's position. Blumenthal was, di Giovanni wrote, among a group of "Assad apologists." Following the December 2015 trip, he said the White Helmets were connected to Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...
and anti-Assad Syrians were members of the group. In his opinion, the group was "driven by a pro-interventionist agenda conceived by the Western governments and public relations groups that back them" and were being used as a Trojan horse, an excuse for the United States to propose having "70,000 American servicemen" invade Syria.
In an article for '' New Politics'', Charles Davis said that Blumenthal had implied in an October 2016 article that the White Helmets were involved in a "false flag conspiracy" to claim a UN convoy to rebel-held Aleppo had been bombed by the Syrian and Russian military. Davis wrote: "In fact, a White Helmets member was among the first civilians to appear on camera at the scene of the attack, declaring in English that 'the regime helicopters targeted this place with four barrel ombs." Blumenthal said the account provided by the White Helmets "remains unconfirmed by both the UN and SARC, and no evidence of barrel bombs has been produced". The UN later concluded their convoy had been hit by barrel bombs dropped by a Syrian regime helicopter.
Charles Davis stated that ''The Grayzone'' published an article by Blumenthal and Benjamin Norton which cast doubt on the Syrian government's responsibility for the 2017 Khan Shaykhun chemical attack
The Khan Shaykhun chemical attack took place on 4 April 2017 on the town of Khan Shaykhun in the Idlib Governorate of Syria. The town was reported to have been struck by an airstrike by government forces followed by massive civilian chemical ...
. Blumenthal and Norton cited a report by Seymour Hersh
Seymour Myron "Sy" Hersh (born April 8, 1937) is an American Investigative journalism, investigative journalist and political writer.
Hersh first gained recognition in 1969 for exposing the My Lai Massacre and its cover-up during the Vietnam Wa ...
which said sarin was not used in the attack. A week before their article was published, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is an intergovernmental organisation and the implementing body for the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which entered into force on 29 April 1997. The OPCW, with its 193 member ...
confirmed the presence of sarin and a United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
investigation later said the Syrian government was responsible.
Oz Katerji wrote in ''Haaretz
''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner f ...
'' in July 2017, that " rtually any group that speaks out on the Assad regime’s campaign of systematic slaughter have been targeted by this coterie", consisting of Blumenthal, Gareth Porter
Gareth Porter (born June 18, 1942) is an American historian, investigative journalist, author and policy analyst specializing in U.S. national security issues. He was an anti-war activist during the Vietnam War and has written about the potentia ...
, Ben Norton and Rania Khalek "with the express intention of defending a regime guilty of human extermination." Far from being anti-war, they are "acting as full-time advocates for Russian and Iranian military imperialism in Syria and to provide them immunity in the American public square from war crimes charges." Gershom Gorenberg
Gershom Gorenberg ( he, גרשום גורנברג) is an American-born Israeli journalist, and blogger,[The American Prospect
''The American Prospect'' is a daily online and bimonthly print American political and public policy magazine dedicated to American modern liberalism and progressivism. Based in Washington, D.C., ''The American Prospect'' says it "is devoted t ...]
'' that "Blumenthal's concern for Arab lives and rights seems to vanish once he locates the Assad regime as an opponent of American hegemony."
In separate articles, Charles Davis and Oz Katerji wrote that, in January 2017, following claims made by the Syrian government, Blumenthal blamed the contamination of the water supply for Damascus in the Wadi Barada valley on militants opposed to the government. A subsequent report by the UN found that “Syria’s air force deliberately bombed water sources in December 016 a war crime that cut off water o5.5 million people in and around the capital Damascus." He tweeted
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
in April 2018 that every time government forces "liberate" a rebel held area those opponents of Assad "allege a chemical attack."
Around the same time, Blumenthal told Sky News Australia
Sky News Australia is an Australian news channel owned by News Corp Australia. Originally launched on 19 February 1996, it broadcasts rolling news coverage throughout the day, while its prime time lineup is dedicated to opinion-based programs f ...
that it was quite probable the Syrian rebels were responsible for the Douma chemical attack
On 7 April 2018, a chemical warfare attack was carried out by forces of the government of Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian city of Douma. Medics and witnesses reported that it caused the deaths of between 40 and 50 people and injuries to possibl ...
. "I cannot think of one pundit on the national scene, in cable news or in any major newspaper who has questioned the drive for regime change in Syria", he told Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...
in an interview in June 2018. It is "left to a small group of journalists and online activists to really sift through what we believe is disinformation from our own governments aimed at stimulating a war of regime change."
In September 2019, Blumenthal was part of an American delegation which visited Damascus to participate in a Assad-backed trade union convention and to stand "against the economic blockade, imperialist interventions and terrorism." The Syrian government does not allow independent labor unions and strikes are illegal. Bellingcat
Bellingcat (stylised as bellngcat) is a Netherlands-based investigative journalism group that specialises in fact-checking and open-source intelligence (OSINT). It was founded by British journalist and former blogger Eliot Higgins in July 20 ...
wrote that recent visitors and a tour operator in Damascus had told it that Syria was not generally issuing travel visa to US citizens at the time Blumenthal visited. Muhammad Idrees Ahmad, writing for Al Jazeera, said the delegation included Rania Khalek, Paul Larudee
Paul Larudee (born April 25, 1946) is an Iranian-born American political activist who is a major figure in the pro-Palestinian movement. Based in the San Francisco Bay area, he is involved with the International Solidarity Movement and was a fou ...
of the Syrian Solidarity Movement, Ajamu Baraka, former RT producer Anya Parampil and "other pro-Assad conspiracy theorists". The delegation visited government-held areas and, according to Idrees Ahmad, were accompanied by a minder from the Assad government.
In 2019, Bellingcat wrote that Blumenthal was a recipient of the Serena Shim Award, a financial award for "uncompromised integrity in journalism" awarded by the Association for Investment in Popular Action Committees, which Bellingcat said was a non-profit group that supported Assad. Blumenthal, in a tweet, said he had not received money from "the 'Assad regime' or any lobbying group connected to it". Blumenthal challenged his critics assertions when he was interviewed by ''Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' in November 2019.
Nicaragua
In 2018, during the 2018–2022 Nicaraguan protests, Blumenthal wrote a "lengthy, insinuation-infused attack" on the journalist Carl David Goette-Luciak
Carl David Goette-Luciak is an Austrian-American journalist. Carl contributed to media outlets such as British daily ''The Guardian'' and ''The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is ...
, a freelance reporter for ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''. The article, which was published by '' MintPress News'' and '' The Canary'', stated that Goette-Luciak had links to the Nicaraguan opposition party Sandinista Renovation Movement
The Sandinista Renovation Movement (''Movimiento Renovador Sandinista'' or MRS, in Spanish) is a Nicaraguan political party founded on 21 May 1995. It defines itself as a democratic and progressive party, made of women and men, which promotes the ...
(MRS) and to US organizations that supposedly fund the MRS to destabilise the government. Following an online harassment campaign, Luciak went into hiding. When he returned to his home, immigration officials arrested him and deported to El Salvador
El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...
. Goette-Luciak said the officials threatened him with torture while he was in custody. A lawyer for Blumenthal told ''The Guardian'' "there was nothing to suggest lumenthals reporting contributed to the deportation of Goette-Luciak."[
]
Russia and Ukraine
In November 2017, Blumenthal discussed the decision of the United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...
to classify RT as a "foreign agent" in an interview with Tucker Carlson on Fox News. He told Carlson: "I go on RT fairly regularly, and the reason I do so is because, while the three major cable networks are promoting bombing and sanctioning half the world, at least the non-compliant nations, RT is questioning that." Charles Davis, in an article for ''New Politics'', stated in 2018 that Blumenthal is "found almost every week defending Russian foreign policy on platforms such as RT and ''Sputnik''", and has defended Russia's role in the Syrian Civil War.
Blumenthal was skeptical of accounts of President Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
and his administration colluding with Russia in the 2016 presidential election in an interview with Tucker Carlson. He said that establishment Republicans and progressive Democrats were using the Russia story to avoid "do nganything progressive". Petra Marquardt-Bigman wrote that, in a December 2017 interview with '' Sputnik'', Blumenthal had said "the Trump transition team colluded with a foreign power to subvert America's political system". She said he was referring to collusion with Israel, not Russia.
Peter Beinart
Peter Alexander Beinart (; born February 28, 1971) is an American liberal columnist, journalist, and political commentator. A former editor of ''The New Republic'', he has also written for ''Time'', ''The New York Times'', and ''The New York Revie ...
wrote in ''The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'' that while Blumenthal and Glenn Greenwald
Glenn Edward Greenwald (born March 6, 1967) is an American journalist, author and lawyer. In 2014, he cofounded ''The Intercept'', of which he was an editor until he resigned in October 2020. Greenwald subsequently started publishing on Substac ...
have a strong dislike of President Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
, they are more fundamentally against "hawkish" US foreign policy resulting in them minimizing "Russia's election meddling to oppose what they see as a new Cold War". Matt Taibbi
Matthew Colin Taibbi (; born March 2, 1970) is an American author, journalist, and podcaster. He has reported on finance, media, politics, and sports. A former contributing editor for ''Rolling Stone'', he is an author of several books, co-host o ...
in ''Rolling Stone'' cited Blumenthal among a group of journalists who had expressed what he described as "healthy" skepticism of Russiagate
The Russian government interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election with the goals of harming the campaign of Hillary Clinton, boosting the candidacy of Donald Trump, and increasing political and social discord in the United States. Acco ...
. Blumenthal described Russiagate, in an article for ''Truthdig'', as a "vicious backlash ... against Trump's moves toward detente" with Russia. A 2018 article in the Ukrainian fact-checking
Fact-checking is the process of verifying factual information, in order to promote the veracity and correctness of reporting.
Fact-checking can be conducted before (''ante hoc'') or after (''post hoc'') the text is published or otherwise dissem ...
organization StopFake described Blumenthal as a "pro-Russia American journalist" who "promotes Russian propaganda".
For his writing concerning Ukraine, Sławomir Sierakowski, the chief editor of the Polish left-wing magazine Krytyka Polityczna
''Krytyka Polityczna'' (; "The Political Critique") is a circle of Polish left-wing intellectuals gathered around a journal of the same title founded by Sławomir Sierakowski in 2002 but is open to voices from across the political spectrum. The ...
, included Blumenthal in a 2014 ''New York Times'' opinion piece entitled "Putin's Useful Idiots
In political jargon, a useful idiot is a term currently used to reference a person perceived as propagandizing for a cause—particularly a bad cause originating from a devious, ruthless source—without fully comprehending the cause's goals, a ...
". Sierakowski discussed Blumenthal's statement that the "openly pro-Nazi politics" of the Ukrainian political party Svoboda and its leader, Oleg Tyagnibok, "have not deterred Senator John McCain
John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...
from addressing a Euromaidan
Euromaidan (; uk, Євромайдан, translit=Yevromaidan, lit=Euro Square, ), or the Maidan Uprising, was a wave of Political demonstration, demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on 21 November 2013 with large protes ...
rally" and did not "prevent Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland
Victoria Jane Nuland (born July 1, 1961) is an American diplomat currently serving as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. Nuland, a former member of the foreign service, served as the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eur ...
from enjoying a friendly meeting with the Svoboda leader this February". He said that Blumenthal's statement "distorts how these things work. A whole range of Western political leaders traveled to Euromaidan, and virtually all of them were photographed with Mr. Tyagnibok."
During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
, Blumenthal falsely claimed the Mariupol theatre airstrike
On 16 March 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Armed Forces bombed the Donetsk Academic Regional Drama Theatre in Mariupol, Ukraine. It was used as an air raid shelter during the siege of Mariupol, sheltering a larg ...
was the responsibility of Ukraine's Azov Regiment
The Special Operations Detachment "Azov" (), also known as the Azov Regiment ( uk, Полк «Азов», translit=Polk "Azov") and formerly the Azov Battalion ( uk, батальйон «Азов», translit=Batalion "Azov"), is a unit of the ...
rather than Russian forces.
China
''The Grayzone'' and Blumenthal have denied the scale of the detention of Uyghurs
The Uyghurs; ; ; ; zh, s=, t=, p=Wéiwú'ěr, IPA: ( ), alternatively spelled Uighurs, Uygurs or Uigurs, are a Turkic ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central and East Asia. The Uyghur ...
in mass internment camps in Xinjiang. "I don't have reason to doubt that there's something going in Xinjiang, that there could even be repression", he told Afshin Rattansi
Afshin Rattansi (born 1968) is a British broadcaster, journalist and author who presents ''Going Underground'' broadcast around the world except in the UK and EU, on television stations including the RT network, formerly known as Russia Today. ...
on RT UK
RT UK, also known as Russia Today, was a free-to-air television news channel based in the United Kingdom. It was part of the RT network, a Russian state-controlled international television network funded by the federal tax budget of the Russia ...
's ''Going Underground'' in July 2020, adding "we haven't seen the evidence for these massive claims f a million people detained. He has asserted that the exaggeration or manufacture of crimes against humanity in Xinjiang are part of a United States government campaign to discredit China. In an email to ''Axios Axios commonly refers to:
* Axios (river), a river that runs through Greece and North Macedonia
* ''Axios'' (website), an American news and information website
Axios may also refer to:
Brands and enterprises
* Axios, a brand of suspension produ ...
'' (which they quoted in a August 2020 article), he accused "Cold War ideologues" like the website, of "a desperate campaign to suppress 'The Grayzone''sfactual journalism." Representatives of the Chinese Foreign Ministry have approvingly tweeted links to ''The Grayzone'' articles on this issue.
''The Management of Savagery'' (2019)
Blumenthal's book ''The Management of Savagery: How America's National Security State Fueled the Rise of Al Qaeda, ISIS, and Donald Trump'' was published in 2019 by Verso Books
Verso Books (formerly New Left Books) is a left-wing publishing house based in London and New York City, founded in 1970 by the staff of '' New Left Review''.
Renaming, new brand and logo
Verso Books was originally known as New Left Books. The ...
.
Lydia Wilson, in a review for ''The Times Literary Supplement
''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp.
History
The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication i ...
'', was critical of ''The Management of Savagery''. She wrote that Blumenthal overstates his case "with misleading or one-sided examples" in an account of the United States involvement in wars during the previous two decades which "tips sufficiently and with enough regularity into full-scale conspiracy to allow any careful reader to dismiss it." Wilson commented that Blumenthal "uses long-debunked myths", originating from Russian and Syrian sources, to explain the Ghouta chemical attack
The Ghouta chemical attack, was a chemical attack carried out by the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in the early hours of 21 August 2013 in Ghouta, Syria during the Syrian civil war. Two opposition-controlled areas in the su ...
in 2013.
Journalist Chris Hedges, in a positive review for Truthdig
Truthdig is an American news website that provides a mix of long-form articles, blog items, curated links, interviews, arts criticism and commentary on current events delivered from a politically progressive, left-leaning point of view. The site of ...
, described the book as "insightful". A review by Nasser Baston in the British newspaper '' Morning Star'' stated that it is a "useful antidote to the torrents of pro-empire bilge promoted by conservatives and liberals alike".
Venezuela (2019)
On February 24, 2019, Blumenthal posted an article on ''The Grayzone'' website about clashes on February 23 on the Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
–Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
border during the 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis and the shipping of humanitarian aid to Venezuela. The US government and media had stated that humanitarian aid trucks that were attempting to enter Venezuela from Colombia had been deliberately set on fire by Nicolas Maduro's forces. In his article, Blumenthal wrote that "the claim was absurd on its face". He said footage from ''Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg Televi ...
'' showed that opposition protesters on the Francisco de Paula Santander bridge in the border were preparing Molotov cocktail
A Molotov cocktail (among several other names – ''see other names'') is a hand thrown incendiary weapon constructed from a frangible container filled with flammable substances equipped with a fuse (typically a glass bottle filled with flamma ...
s, "which could easily set a truck cabin or its cargo alight". He referred to having seen similar situations during his reporting on the West Bank
The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
. According to Glenn Greenwald
Glenn Edward Greenwald (born March 6, 1967) is an American journalist, author and lawyer. In 2014, he cofounded ''The Intercept'', of which he was an editor until he resigned in October 2020. Greenwald subsequently started publishing on Substac ...
in ''The Intercept
''The Intercept'' is an American left-wing news website founded by Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill, Laura Poitras and funded by billionaire eBay co-founder Pierre Omidyar. Its current editor is Betsy Reed. The publication initially reporte ...
,'' " lumenthalcompiled substantial evidence strongly suggesting that the trucks were set ablaze by ''anti-Maduro'' protesters".
On July 30, Nicolás Maduro awarded Blumenthal with a replica of Simón Bolívar
Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios (24 July 1783 – 17 December 1830) was a Venezuelan military and political leader who led what are currently the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Panama and B ...
's sword for his role in the occupation of the Venezuelan embassy in Washington, D.C., along with other participants. In August, Blumenthal interviewed Maduro.
On October 25, 2019, Blumenthal was arrested and charged with assault of a woman in a case related to a May 7 incident at the embassy of Venezuela, Washington, D.C. The US Department of Justice dropped the case against Blumenthal in December 2019.
In May 2020, Blumenthal said on ''The Jimmy Dore Show'' that George Soros
George Soros ( name written in eastern order), (born György Schwartz, August 12, 1930) is a Hungarian-American businessman and philanthropist. , he had a net worth of US$8.6 billion, Note that this site is updated daily. having donated mo ...
is funding anti-government protesters in Venezuela, as well as in Hong Kong.
Twitter hacked materials warning label
In February 2021, tweets concerning a ''Grayzone'' article by Blumenthal were the first to receive a Twitter warning label stating: "These materials may have been obtained through hacking". The story was entitled "Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was estab ...
, BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, and Bellingcat
Bellingcat (stylised as bellngcat) is a Netherlands-based investigative journalism group that specialises in fact-checking and open-source intelligence (OSINT). It was founded by British journalist and former blogger Eliot Higgins in July 20 ...
participated in covert UK Foreign Office
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' ministries of foreign affairs, it was created on 2 September 2020 through the merger of the Foreig ...
-funded programs to 'weaken Russia', leaked docs reveal". The story referred to hacked and leaked documents which, it alleged, show a British Army unit has used "social media to help fight wars". Twitter's head of editorial in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa is a reservist for the same British Army Unit.
Other videos
In June 2007, Blumenthal attended the ''Take Back America Conference'' (sponsored by the Campaign for America's Future), where he interviewed both supporters of Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
(D-Illinois) and 9/11 conspiracy theorists
9/11 conspiracy theory, conspiracy theories attribute the preparation and execution of the September 11 attacks against the United States to parties other than, or in addition to, al-Qaeda. These include the theory that high-level government ...
. Blumenthal said that conference organizers were angered by the video, and refused to air it.
Blumenthal made a short video titled ''Generation Chickenhawk'' (2007). It featured interviews with attendees at the July 2007 College Republican
College Republicans are college and university students who support the Republican Party of the United States. Many members belong to the organization College Republican National Committee (CRNC), College Republicans United (CRU), or various ind ...
National Convention in Washington, D.C. Blumenthal asked why they, as Iraq War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish)
, partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
supporters, had not enlisted in the United States Armed Forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...
.
In August 2007, Blumenthal made a short video called ''Rapture Ready'', about American Christian fundamentalists
Christian fundamentalism, also known as fundamental Christianity or fundamentalist Christianity, is a religious movement emphasizing biblical literalism. In its modern form, it began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries among British an ...
' support for the State of Israel.
''Killing Gaza'', a feature-length documentary Blumenthal made with filmmaker Dan Cohen, was released in 2018. The work concerned the 2014 Gaza War, seen from the perspective of the residents of Gaza.
Bibliography
* (2009): ''Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party'' New York. Nation Books;
* (2013): '' Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel''. New York: Nation Books;
* (2015): ''The 51 Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza''. New York: Nation Books;
* (2019): ''The Management of Savagery: How America's National Security State Fueled the Rise of Al Qaeda, ISIS, and Donald Trump''. London/New York: Verso Books;
Awards
* Online News Association
The Online News Association (ONA), founded in 1999, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located in Washington D.C., United States. It is the world's largest association of digital journalists, with more than 2,000 members.
The majority of ONA ...
's Independent Feature Award for his 2002 article, "Day of the Dead", published in ''Salon''.
* 2014 Lannan Foundation
The Lannan Literary Awards are a series of awards and literary fellowships given out in various fields by the Lannan Foundation. Established in 1989, the awards are meant "to honor both established and emerging writers whose work is of exceptional ...
Cultural Freedom Award for An Especially Notable Book for '' Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel'' (2013).
* ''Palestine Book Award'' (2015) by the ''Middle East Monitor
The Middle East Monitor (MEMO) is a not-for-profit press monitoring organisation and lobbying group that emerged in mid 2009. MEMO is largely focused on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, but writes about other issues in the Middle East as well ...
'' for ''The 51 Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza'' (2015).
References
External links
Twitter
*
The Grayzone
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blumenthal, Max
1977 births
Living people
21st-century American journalists
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
American bloggers
American columnists
American conspiracy theorists
American documentary filmmakers
American foreign policy writers
American investigative journalists
American male bloggers
American male non-fiction writers
American online publication editors
American people of Jewish descent
American political journalists
American political writers
Jewish anti-Zionism in the United States
Non-interventionism
RT (TV network) people
The Nation (U.S. magazine) people
University of Pennsylvania alumni
Writers from Boston
Writers on the Middle East