So let me get this straight - after months of taunting you because you didn't have comments at all, Neil Clark is now complaining because you now have a policy of freedom of speech without pre-publication vetting?

I always thought that Clark's biggest problem was his total lack of consistency, and this clinches it.

Come to think of it, he's also demonstrated his second biggest problem: his eager willingness to dish out all kinds of personal abuse allied to a complete inability to accept that others might reasonably wish to respond in kind.

(He is right about one thing, though: Joshua is a very worrying individual indeed.)

Neil Clark writes:

"Previous commenters to Pollard's blog have accused 'Joshua' of being Pollard himself, pointing to the fact that 'Joshua' only ever turns up to comment on Pollard's site"

Lemme see, off the top of my head, I have attacked Pollard for his comments about: religious Jews, veils, taxation, government subsidies, Blackpool, the bombing of Serbia, the current conflict in Iraq. I am also of the firm opinion that one of his very best friends is rather a pompous ass. About the only thing we have in common is that we are both Zionist Jews. Even there we almost certainly come from very different wings of the Zionist movement. Indeed, if this were June 1948 and we were both in Israel, Pollard in all likelihood would be trying to shoot me or at least sink my ship.

Besides, the inelegance of my prose should give the lie to the absurd notion that I am Stephen Pollard, an award-winning writer and one of the UK's leading journalists.

Neil Clark writes:

"he once showed up to counter a comment I had made on The Times 'Comment Central' to accuse me of anti-semitism"

I did? This is what I actually wrote:

"Whilst I would never accuse a man of such high principles as Neil Clark of engaging in anything as tawdry as anti-Semitism, I do find it rather strange that the governments he so strongly supports are either actively engaged in attempting to wipe out the Jewish State, or, alternatively, are promoting the vilest form of anti-Semitism."

Neil Clark writes:

"But for Pollard to allow such a sick comment to be published on his sit"

This is what Clark wrote on December 22 by way of a Christmas greeting:

"I would like to take this opportunity to wish readers of this blog a very Merry Christmas. But for neo-conservatives and their war-mongering 'liberal' allies, I can only wish unto you the misery and fear you have brought to millions of innocent people."

So it's OK for Clark to wish that "neo-conservatives" (and his definition of neo-conservatives is so incredibly broad that this almost certainly includes everyone who supports/supported the war in Iraq) are killed by a whole stream of suicide bombers but not for me to recount a little dream I had the other night (He really shouldn't worry about this as Joshie's track record is not too good. He once dreamed that Matthew Parris married Edward Heath and Melanie Phillips and Claire Short were the bridesmaids)? And it's also just fine and dandy for Clark to give the thumbs up to Hamas, a terrorist group which has engaged in mass-murder, and Ahmadinejad, a man who has threatened on numerous occasions to wipe a member state of the UN off the map, and not for me to recount my little dream?

Clark's hypocrisy is truly breathtaking. Misery and death for Kamm, Pollard and Blair = very good. Crush injuries for Clark = very bad.

Contrary to public perception, at least here, I am a very gentle and understanding soul. I loathe violence of any sort, and although I am an ardent Zionist, I have many Muslim friends and acquaintances. Indeed, I am the only Jew I know from the Jabotinsky wing of the movement who regularly drinks coffee and shoots the breeze with Palestinians, men who may very well kill me in other circumstances. I always wish them well and frequently give them little presents for their children. I suppose it comes down to the fact that deep down I know very well that the Jewish/Muslim conflict is mainly political and long after we have made peace the gentiles of Europe will remain our most bitter and eternal enemy. And I suppose that is exactly why I can embrace my friend from Jenin with great warmth and yet hate individuals like Clark with such passion. It really does stick in my craw that just over sixty years after most of Europe either actively collaborated in the Holocaust or remained supremely indifferent to it, gentiles like Clark have their pom-poms out for Hamas and Ahmadinejad.

"(He is right about one thing, though: Joshua is a very worrying individual indeed.)"

We have crossed swords before and this is your way of gaining revenge. That's OK, I fully understand. Britain has not been called Perfidious Albion for centuries for no reason. You are a worthy son and fine representative of your nation.

I can assure you that behind closed doors most British Jews agree with much of what I have to say. This is even more true about the Jews in the wider Diaspora, especially in Israel and the United States where you will find they are much more open about their views. Most Jews are far more worried about the gentiles of Britain that you are about me.

We have crossed swords before and this is your way of gaining revenge.

No, not at all: it's a simple statement of fact.

Just to remind readers about the nature of the sword-crossing, Joshua's response to my entirely reasonable complaint that his luridly detailed account of Nazi rapes and other atrocities had no place whatsoever in a Milton Friedman obituary thread was to label me an anti-Semite.

That's two pieces of evidence in support of my contention that he's a deeply worrying individual. I suspect Neil Clark can add at least one more - and for once, he wouldn't be far wrong.

"Just to remind readers about the nature of the sword-crossing, Joshua's response to my entirely reasonable complaint that his luridly detailed account of Nazi rapes and other atrocities had no place whatsoever in a Milton Friedman obituary thread was to label me an anti-Semite."

Friedman's parents were from Hungary, a nation where many hundreds of thousands of Jews were murdered by the Nazis with the almost total and willing collaboration of a viciously anti-Semitic gentile population. Like many Jews when great men like Friedman dies I simply examined what would have happened if Friedman and his parents had not emigrated. I also pointed out that given the brilliance of the Jewish community in Hungary many men like Friedman must have been murdered in the Holocaust.

You responded by calling me a "monomaniac". You did so for a whole variety of reasons: like most Europeans you can only cope with the expurgated version of European Jewish history, the one that removes the wickedness of the gentile; you have absolutely no feeling for the victims of the Holocaust; like most gentiles you can only cope with Jewish contribution when the Jewish part is removed; despite the fact that you are the citizen of a nation which openly collaborated in the Holocaust in a whole variety of ways, typically you have the impudence to try and dictate when it is approporiate to bring up that event. Does that make you an anti-Semite? Yes.

Oh, and "lurid". Given the account posted was by an actual Holocaust victim from Beregszász, the use of that word only confirms what I suggest above. In spades.

"That's two pieces of evidence in support of my contention that he's a deeply worrying individual. I suspect Neil Clark can add at least one more - and for once, he wouldn't be far wrong."

Not evidence at all, but merely the bigoted opinion of a sniffy British racist.

However much you may oppose each other in all kinds of other areas, there's nothing you people like more than ganging up on a troublesome Jew, a Jew who kicks against the pricks and tells it as it is. That is just one of the many reasons why I am so opposed to intermarriage in countries like Britain.

For you gentiles, Europe is a wonderful place. For Jews, it is for the most part a vast graveyard where the ghosts of our brothers and sisters still linger. They linger because their property was never restored, their murderers never brought to justice, and, most importantly, because the gentiles of Europe have learned no lessons at all in the last sixty years.

Take down your stars and replace them with Swastikas. They would be far more appropriate.

A note on the poster who goes by the name of Gojira

Just e-mailed to me. A post by Gojira, an individual who occasionally appears on this blog under that and one other name, at Neil Clark's blog:

'Incidentally, I don't for one second believe that Joshua is Stephen Pollard. Why on earth would anyone compose a heartfelt personal eulogy to Milton Friedman and then almost immediately hijack his own comments box to write a deranged rant about Nazis raping Jewish women and children, thus derailing the entire thread?"

The "deranged rant" he refers to was apart from a short extract from a bio, ten introductory words and a four word title, a direct quote (the link was provided) from a paper which was given by Laura Palosuo who is a Doctoral Candidate at The Uppsala Programme for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. According to the blurb: "She received her MA in History at the Uppsala University, Sweden, in 2002. She is currently working on her Ph.D. thesis, which deals with the Holocaust in Hungary from a gender perspective. Presently teaches a course on The Holocaust in European History and Historiography. She has recently co-edited Collaboration and Resistance during the Holocaust. Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, together with David Gaunt & Paul A. Levine (eds.), Bern: Peter Lang AG, 2004."

This was my actual post (I also refer you to my comments about this in a post above):

"Born in New York City to a working-class family of Jewish immigrants from Beregszász, Hungary (today Berehove, Ukraine), Friedman grew up in Rahway, New Jersey"

I wonder how many Friedmans were murdered in the Holocaust.

The Holocaust in Beregszász

Just before the Jews of Beregszász were deported, they were subjected to body searches. This is how Siegal remembers her friend Judi, her sister Ibolya and herself being harassed by the German soldiers:

The lines in front of us started to disintegrate, and we moved forward until we could see a group of German soldiers stop the line in front of the Gerbers and search the people, reaching in and under their clothing. Then the Gerbers were next. One of the soldiers grabbed Judi and put his hand inside her blouse. Mother pulled Joli down and clutched Ibolya and me to her sides.

"Nein! You will not touch my daughters!" she declared in German and repeated in Hungarian, her voice filled with anger and fear. They laughed at her, and as we came into the first line position, Ibolya, Mother, and I were pulled apart by three of the leering Germans. The back of my neck was suddenly in an iron grip, and a coarse, rough hand brushed down my chest and over each of my breasts, bursting the buttons of my blouse. Bending over me so close that I could smell his sausagy breath and see the tobacco stains on his teeth, the soldier reached into my bloomers and felt inside my private parts. I couldn't tell if the stinging in my eyes was more from hurt or shame.'

http://www.theverylongview.com/WATH/essays/palosuo.htm

My points were very simple: had Friedman's parents not moved to the United States, then that is the kind of fate they and members of their family would have suffered; we are duty bound to remember all the Milton Friedmans who did not make it out - as Friedman proved over and over again, the world has been irrevocably changed for the worse by the loss of all those men and women of genius; what better time to remember the unlucky ones than at the conclusion of Friedman's happy and successful life. And that certain British gentiles take such umbrage at being reminded of what would have happened to Friedman even at this remove from the Holocaust shows just how important are those reminders. I realise they can only cope when homage is paid in some neat little ceremony when all the gentiles get an opportunity to shed crocodile tears without having to dwell on the actual reality. That I managed to awaken them for once from their smug stupor is both a remarkable and a good thing.

Instead of coming here like a man, and accusing me face to face of this and other quite batty charges ("deeply strange", "sinister" etc. etc.), Gojira slithered off to Neil Clark's blog to inject his venom. Then again, I suppose that was most appropriate given Clark's past conduct. Ironic too, not only because of Gojira's relentless and obsessive pursuit of Clark in post after post at the latter's blog, but also due to the kind of tactics Gojira employed which are so reminiscent of the type also used against Jews by the authoritarian regimes praised by Clark.

"I trowe he were a geldyng or a mare," said Chaucer of the Pardoner. Had he know them no doubt he would have said something very similar about Gojira and Clark. Never have two opponents deserved each other more.