A Guide to the Sayings of Gilad Atzmon, the anti-Semitic jazzman

Introduction

Why, you might ask, devote time, space and an article to Gilad Atzmon, the ex-Israeli jazz player? The answer is simple. It is because of the Zionist canard that anti-Semitism equals anti-Zionism. Atzmon is determined to prove the Zionists are correct.

There are many people who find it difficult to believe that Atzmon is anti-Semitic as opposed to anti-Zionist. One of the reasons for this, as I wrote in Vetting in Practice (31.5.07.) is that ‘If you cry wolf long and loud enough, when anti-semitism does raise its head no one will bat an eyelid.’

Last week there was a taster in the Weekly Worker. But I can’t post a link because the site has been hacked! However the following article, which is without commentary, lets Atzmon speak for himself. is more comprehensive and if you click here then you can have the unexpurgated version, including an introduction.

Tony Greenstein

I have been told by people that the links to the longer article weren'tt working. I think I've solved it now!

Atzmon’s Number 1 Target - Jewish anti-Zionists

And What About The Palestinian Cause?

‘Eventually, the prominent independent Jews spit it out. They are really against anti-Semitism.’

A Time to Speak Out: Independent Jewish Voices

'NOT IN MY NAME’ – An analysis of Jewish righteousness

‘ultimate self-hater’ is ‘a secular, cosmopolitan, peace lover, inspired by humanistic views, in a mixed married, living in the Diaspora… who makes Zionism into a dynamic movement… who serves as an inside enemy’.

Jewish anti-Zionists are a fifth column ‘who will convert (to Zionism) in the next anti-Semitic wave… who makes Zionism into an eternal struggle for ‘Jewish salvation’.

‘Bizarrely enough, it is the Jewish Left which turns Zionism into the official voice of the Jewish people.’

‘By declaring ‘not in my name’, one affirms the totality of that which one tries to oppose.‘

Atzmon has ‘never come across a German dove who defines himself as an ‘Aryan for peace’. [most German doves don't call themselves Aryans either! - TG]

‘Accordingly, if we regard Jewish identity as a national definition then … by doing so we accept the notion of Jewish nationalism.' In other words, we become devoted Zionists.

Gilad Atzmon – Anthony Julius and a journey to the dark Zionist world - Jewish Anti-Zionism Unravelled [28.4.08.]

Part 1 - The Morality of Vanity Part 2 - Questioning anti-Semitism

When leading Zionist and anti-boycott campaigner, solicitor Anthony Julius wrote a 2 part article ‘Jewish Anti-Zionism Unravelled’ Atzmon was effusive in welcoming it. It confirmed everything he had ever written or spoke about concerning the enemy within, anti-Zionist Jews.

‘Julius correctly suggests that anti-Zionist Jews fall into contradiction when they hold that while dispersion is good for the Jews, it is bad for the Palestinians, and when they demand of the Jews that they disavow ‘nationalism,’ while valuing the Palestinians’ "continuing struggle for justice;" Julius obviously hit here on some severe level of lack of integrity within the Jewish left discourse.’

‘Julius succeeds in exposing some serious inconsistency as well as a fundamental lack of integrity [Atzmon loves this word and ‘ethics’ – TG] within the Jewish left discourse…. his deconstruction of some large sectors of the Jewish political and ideological left is more than valid.'

‘When a so-called ‘better’ Jew refers to himself as a ‘Jew’, what is it that he refers to? Is it his racial belonging? Is it biological determinism in play? Is it the ethnic identity…’

‘It is rather shocking to admit that Zionist and Palestinian criticism of Jewish anti-Zionism is almost similar.’

When Julius complains that Jewish anti-Zionists are ‘moralisers’ Atzmon agrees:

'Moralising provides the moraliser with recognition of his own existence and confirmation of his own value…. a moraliser has a good conscience and is satisfied by his own self righteousness. He is not a self-hater; he is enfolded in self-admiration.’

Atzmon responds thus:

‘The real meaning of secularism within the Jewish tribal left discourse means the replacement of ‘God-loving’ with ‘self-loving.’

‘According to Julius, the Jewish anti-Zionist “wrongly assumes that group loyalty is inconsistent with the ethical life, and that universalist moral foundations cannot sustain a version of nationalism…. Seemingly, the man learned a lot from the revisionist historian he managed to defeat in court. [David Irving - TG] However, the truth must be said. Julius is absolutely correct here. There is NO contradiction between group loyalty and the ethical life.’ (my emphasis)

‘Julius manages to establish a profound criticism of Jewish anti-Zionism. Seemingly, Jewish anti-Zionism is inconsistent to the bone. Due to the impossibility to bridge the gap between the tribal and the universal, Jewish anti-Zionism is doomed to fall either into inconsistency or lack of integrity.’

‘Bearing in mind that Julius is a Zionist who calls the anti-Zionists to fight anti-Semitism, it is impossible not to see JAZ [Jews Against Zionism] as an integral part of the Zionist plot on the verge of Sayanim.’

‘Since Zionism is a monolithic voice of the Jewish people… I tend to agree with many points raised by him [Julius]. Jewish anti-Zionism is a futile project. It leads nowhere,… If secular Jews intend to resist Zionism genuinely… then the only way to do it is to join the human family and to act as ordinary people.’

‘Jewish universalism appears to operate as a maintenance project of Jewish chauvinism and tribalism.’
The Politics of Anti-Semitism: Zionism, the Bund and Jewish Identity Politics

‘For me it is Palestine and the Palestinian people. If this makes me into an anti-Semite in the eyes of some confused Diaspora Jews (left, right and centre), I will have to learn to live with it. At the end of the day, I cannot make everyone happy.’

A telling remark because Atzmon believes that supporting the Palestinians and being anti-Semitic go hand in hand, whereas they are in counterposition.

Borrowing Jew Hatred from Zionism – Why Atzmon Remains a Zionist

Atzmon is, at root, not only an anti-Semite but a Zionist. All his tropes and caricatures of Jews, which most people would accept are anti-Semitic, come from Zionists. For example in Dialectic of the Negation he cites the ‘Marxist’ Zionist Hashomer Hatzair:

“The Jew is a caricature of a normal, natural human being, both physically and spiritually. As an individual in society he revolts and throws off the harness of social obligations, knows no order nor discipline.” (Our Shomer “Weltanschauung”, Hashomer Hatzair December 1936, p.26)

And Ben Frommer: “The fact is undeniable that the Jews collectively are unhealthy and neurotic.” (Ben Frommer, The Significance of a Jewish State, Jewish Call, Shanghai, May 1935, p.10.

Likewise he quotes the founder of Hashomer Hatzair, Ber Borochov, who was expelled from the Russian Social Democratic Party in 1903 and ended up in the USA supporting Britain and Czarist Russia in the first world war:

“The enterprising spirit of the Jew is irrepressible. He refuses to remain a proletarian. He will grab at the first opportunity to advance to a higher rung in the social ladder.” (The Economic Development of the Jewish People, Ber Borochov, 1916.

And Max Nordau's address to the First Zionist Congress in 1897 is also grist to the mill:

“The emancipated Jew … becomes an inner cripple, and externally unreal, and thereby always ridiculous and hateful to all higher feeling men, as is everything that is unreal. All the better Jews in Western Europe groan under this, or seek for alleviation.” (Address at the First Zionist Congress, Max Nordau, 1897

Atzmon notes that “Seemingly, early Zionists were rather fearless when elaborating on the social conditions of their brothers. Yet, they were optimistic, they somehow believed that a ‘new beginning’ would cure the emancipated Jew of what seemed to some as an inevitable ‘disgraceful’ fate. They believed in a global Jewish ‘homecoming’, they were convinced that such an endeavour would heal the Jews of their symptoms.”

Which was no different from the Nazi belief that you need to put ‘national soil’ beneath people’s feet. Hence why Baron von Mildenstein of the SS and Jewish Desk at the Gestapo, whom Eichman succeeded, went on a 6 month tour of the Yishuv and Kibbutzim at the invitation of the Labour Zionists and when he came back wrote a gushingly approving 12 part series in Der Angriff, Goebbel's paper in 1934. [Jacob Boas, History Today, January 1980, pp. 33-38].

Atzmon therefore cites approvingly the belief of Weizmann, President of the World Zionist Organisation and First President of Israel that 'Jewishness is a primary quality. You may be a Jew who dwells in England, a Jew who plays the violin or even a Jew against Zionism. But above all else you are a Jew. And this is exactly the idea conveyed by the 3rd category. It is all about viewing Jewishness as the key element in one’s being. Any other quality is secondary.... For Weizmann, Jewishness is a unique quality that stops the Jew from assimilating within the nation he is a citizen of. He will always remain an alien.'

Again Atzmon cites his mentor, Vladimir Jabotinsky that:

"A Jew brought up among Germans may assume German customs, German words. He may be wholly imbued with that German fluid but the nucleus of his spiritual structure will always remain Jewish, because his blood, his body, his physical racial type are Jewish." (Vladimir Jabotinsky, 'A Letter on Autonomy', 1904).

In the 3rd Category and the Palestine Solidarity Movement Atzmon demonstrates that all his anti-Semitic views of Jews come directly from key Zionist leaders. He cites with approval Chaim Weizmann’s observation at the First Zionist Congress that “There are no English, French, German or American Jews, but only Jews living in England, France, Germany or America.”

Atzmon observes that according to Weizmann,

‘Jewishness is a primary quality. You may be a Jew who dwells in England, a Jew who plays the violin or even a Jew against Zionism. But above all else you are a Jew. And this is exactly the idea conveyed by the 3rd category. It is all about viewing Jewishness as the key element in one’s being. Any other quality is secondary.’

In other words, Atzmon’s whole anti-Semitic philosophy is borrowed from the writings of Zionists. We should not be too surprised. Atzmon was brought up in a Revisionist Zionist household. He may have recoiled against the consequences of what Zionism has done to the Palestinians, but he has never rejected the ideological and theoretical framework of Zionism.

Atzmon approves of Weizmann’s belief that ‘Jewishness is a unique quality that stops the Jew from assimilating within the nation he is a citizen of. He will always remain an alien.' Likewise Jabotinsky's remarks that "A Jew brought up among Germans may assume German customs, German words. He may be wholly imbued with that German fluid but the nucleus of his spiritual structure will always remain Jewish, because his blood, his body, his physical racial type are Jewish." ('A Letter on Autonomy', 1904).

Palestinian Solidarity Discourse and Zionist Hegemony

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

anti-Zionist Jews are comparable to ‘a dozen exiled German dissident intellectuals’ who criticised Churchill for insisting that it was Nazism not the German people who were responsible.

‘Britain would never allow a bunch of German exiles to control its rhetoric at the time of a war against Germany.’

'In spite of the fact that it is the ‘Jews Only State’ that we struggle against, we allow a bunch of self-appointed Jewish leaders and activists to become our gatekeepers.’

Atzmon complains about being subject to a ‘smear campaign’ because he ‘identifies the symptoms of Zionism with some fundamental or essential Jewish precepts’

ZIONISM DOESN’T EXIST

Gilad Atzmon Interviewed by Mary Rizzo

Zionism doesn’t mean a thing for the contemporary Jew born in Israel. Zionism is a Diaspora-orientated notion. Zionism is there to differentiate between Abe Foxman and Roland Rance. Both are Jews, both operate in racially segregated political cells, yet, one is a Zionist the other is a Jewish Anti-Zionist (big deal). When it comes to Israelis who were born in Israel, the idea of a Jewish State isn’t something to celebrate. For Israelis, a Jewish State it isn’t something you have to aim towards or ideologically endorse. Being an Israeli means being a Jew and living in a Jews-only State. When I joined the IDF 25 years ago, I did it because this was the only available interpretation of my Jewishness. I was a Jew living in the Jewish State and joining the Jews’ army was the natural outcome.

‘The word Zionism is almost meaningless in Israel and within the Israeli discourse it is actually non-existent. Zionism may mean something to the American settlers in the West Bank or the new wave of French immigrants to Israel, but not much more than that. … As much as Israelis do not regard themselves as Zionists, they are hardly affected by anti-Zionism.’ (my emphasis)

Between the Shtetl and the Big City - One Hundred Years of Jewish Solitude
‘Zionism was formed as a political practice aimed at confronting assimilation and the disintegration of the Jewish identity.’

The 3rd Category The 3rd Category and the Palestinian Solidarity Movement

‘acting politically under a Jewish banner is in fact the very definition of Zionism.’

The Politics of Anti-Semitism: Zionism, the Bund and Jewish Identity Politics

‘the Zionist project was there to make a change and it indeed succeeded in doing so. The first generation of Zionist ideologists was aiming at the formation of Jewish secular life..’

the anti-Zionist Bund is now ‘a half a dozen contemporary Bundists’ who ‘monitor the Palestinian solidarity discourse.’ and for whom ‘fighting anti-Semitism is a primary issue?’

the new Israeli ‘is born in a Jewish state, is not concerned at all with the Diaspora Judeo-centric query ‘who am I’. The Israeli subject regards himself as an ordinary citizen within a normal national society.’

“The emancipated Jew is insecure in his relations with his fellow-beings, timid with strangers,” ‘the Israeli isn’t timid or insecure, he is proud and to many people’s taste, he may even be ‘far too proud’.’

‘Zionism and Zionism alone has become the one and only symbol of Jewish secular identity.’
‘Zionism, at least in its early days, had more than just one face. German Jewish philosophers and thinkers who immigrated to Israel in the mid 1930’s such as Gershon Scholem, Martin Buber and Hugo Bergman felt an urge to establish a Zionist ethical value system.’

‘as much as Zionism is meaningful within the Diaspora Jewish context, it is totally meaningless within the Israeli reality.’

‘the Israeli Jew is an authentic genuine character, he regards Israeliness as a genuine national identifier, but he lives as well in peace with his singularity: with his unique traits, with his Hebrew language, with his culture and even with the crime his Jewish state is involved with. For the Israeli-born Jew, the Zionist aspiration is rather meaningless.’

Illusions in Zionism and Imperialism

God Blessed America

Atzmon wrote of how he was:

‘lucky to be in America this week, to watch a place being transformed, to smell the refreshing scent of restored liberty,… When I visited America two years ago it was a different place. … The gigantic American flags that were waving from every corner had a rather threatening impact on me. And now somehow, seeing exactly the same flags evokes sympathy and trust in me.’

‘I was blown away by President Obama. I wasn’t prepared for it and I simply couldn’t believe my ears…. After years of Western leaders dancing to Israeli cacophony composed and orchestrated by different types of repulsive Wolfowitzes, listening to Obama’s extended humanist cadenza was indeed music to my ears.’ The mood music must have been overpowering. ‘In spite of the credit crunch inflicted on America by the enemy within, [the Jews - TG] there is a scent of cheerfulness in the air.’

Obama ‘is a million years ahead of most Palestinian solidarity campaigners’ and ‘is now marching America towards humanism. He reclaims the American ideology of liberty. I salute the man, I salute the great intellect, I salute the humanist. Gladly I am to admit that God blessed America.’’

[Compare Obama – the Black Face of Imperialism’ – Tony Greenstein Blog

The Case of Amir Peretz - National Socialism As Opposed to Global Capitalism

In November 2005, Amir Peretz, an Oriental Jew, and former head of the Zionists' apartheid 'trade union' federation, Histadrut, was elected to lead the Israeli Labor Party.

‘The recent election of Amir Peretz as the Chairman of the Israeli Labor Party is far more significant than many commentators would seem to admit. For the first time, the Israeli Labor party is led by a real fiery working class leader…. He is a simple Israeli man who managed to take over the second biggest Israeli party, he did it on his own right and he is an Arab Jew.’

In July 2006 Peretz, as Defence Minister, launched a war on Lebanon killing over 1,000 civilians. Peretz has now left the Israeli Labor Party and joined its former leader Ehud Barak in a new party ‘Atzmut’ (Independence).

An insight into Israeli identity written in the middle of Israel’s attack on Gaza is more an insight into Atzmon’s identity. Like most people, he was appalled at Israel’s carnage but to suggest that ‘The Jewish state is the ultimate threat to humanity and our notion of humanism.’ is to lose all sense of proportion. At the very same time that Israel was bombing Gaza, Sri Lanka was laying siege to the Tamil populated areas in the north of the island. Thousands are reported to have died. No doubt Israel supplied some of the weaponry but to label Israel as the ‘ultimate threat to humanity’ is to exonerate the United States.

Captive Minds
Only Zionism, which to Atzmon means most Jews, is culpable. As he puts it

‘Christianity, Islam and humanism came along with an attempt to amend Jewish tribal fundamentalism and to replace it with universal ethics.’

One wonders whether Ahmedinajad is an example of these universal ethics or Mubarak? Or the Saudis and USA?

Zionism is Jewish Not Colonialist

Beyond Comparison

‘For years, politically correct liberals who present themselves as leftists have been insisting upon telling us that Israeli aggression should be understood in expansionist colonial terms…The reason is simple; as long as Israel is a colonialist state, then the archaic 19th century Marxist orthodox paradigm can be applied to the conflict. Moreover, if Israel is indeed an expansionist colonial regional force, then nothing is categorically wrong with the Israelis, they are just like the British were, but 150 years too late….’

the 3rd Category and the Palestinian Solidarity Movement

‘… Zionism shouldn’t be seen merely as a nationalist movement with a clear geographical aspiration. It isn’t exactly a colonial movement with an interest in Palestine. Zionism appears to be an international movement that is fuelled by the solidarity of 3rd category subjects. To be a Zionist means just to accept that more than anything else you are primarily a Jew.’

Between the Shtetl and the Big City - One Hundred Years of Jewish Solitude
January 20/21 2007

‘We should then regard the colonizing of Palestine as not more than just one single face of Zionism…. Jewish Socialism (is) … an integral part of the Zionist network…’

Silvia Cattori: An Interview with Gilad Atzmon

‘For if Israel is a “settler state” – then what exactly is its “motherland”? In British and French colonial eras, the settler states maintained a very apparent tie with their “motherland”. In some cases in history the settler state broke from its motherland. … the Boston Tea Party is a good example of that. But, as far as we are aware, there is no “Jewish motherland”..’

‘Zionism manifests some symptoms that are synonymous with colonialism — however that is not enough: Zionism is inherently a racially oriented “homecoming” project driven by spiritual enthusiasms that are actually phantasmic.’

Ilan Pappe doesn’t agree because

‘Our academics are suppressed, and scholarship is silenced’.

Why is Atzmon so opposed to ‘the colonial paradigm’? Because it

‘locates Zionism nicely within their ideology… we first equate Israel with South Africa, and then we implement a counter-colonial strategy, such as the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions).’

BDS has not worked.

‘it has led to further intensified radicalisation within the right in Israel. Why has the BDS not worked yet? The answer is simple: It is because Israel is not at all entirely a colonial entity… it needs to be understood that its power and ties with the West are maintained by the strongest lobbies around the world.’

‘Israel is also markedly different, for example, from earlier colonial states such as South Africa, because Israel implements genocidal tactics. South Africa was indeed brutal — but it stopped short of throwing white phosphorous on its indigenous population. South Africa was a settler state, and was exploiting its indigenous population: but it wanted to keep them alive and oppressed. The Jewish state, on the other hand — would much prefer to wake up one morning to find out that all the Palestinians had disappeared, because Israel is driven by a Talmudic racist ideology…. the colonial paradigm is simply incapable of fully addressing that.’

‘My approach is totally different, because I would argue that Israel and Zionism is a unique project in history, and the relationship between Israel and the operation of the Jewish Lobbies in the West is also totally unique in history…. the fact is that we are all subject to Zionist global politics. According to my model, the credit crunch is in fact a Zionist “punch”. The war in Iraq is a Zionist war…. it is Jewish power which we have to confront. And this is exactly what the “Jewish Left” and Jewish intelligentsia are there to prevent us from doing.’

Palestinian Solidarity Discourse and Zionist Hegemony

Atzmon agrees with Alan Dershowitz that if Israel is a colonial state, then whose mother country is it.
‘Fair enough, I say, he may be right. I myself do not regard Zionism as a colonial adventure.’

‘Our problem with Israel has nothing to do with its colonial characteristics. Our problems with the ‘Jews Only State’.’

“It cannot be overemphasised that the Zionist Israeli project was not merely national but, crucially, settler-national.”
Gabriel Piterberg, The Returns of Zionism, Verso 2008, pp. 260, 278.

Swindler’s List - Zionist plunder and the Judaic Bible

[The description of the Old Testament as the Judaic of Jewish Bible has a long tradition, culminating in the Reich Church under Bishop Muller which attempted to dissociate Christianity from Judaism, by pretending that Jesus was not Jewish and that Christianity owed nothing to the Old Testament.]

Zionism is no more than ‘robbery of the indigenous Palestinians following a cultural and religious heritage that is overwhelmingly documented in the Judaic Bible.’

United States is a Colony of Israel

The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion (Verse 2)

‘The idea that Zionists have taken over America might sound bizarre in the first instance … Last month I heard Israel Shamir's observation [who else – TG] regarding this very issue…. "Some times […] great empires are taken over by very marginal groups". We might have to acknowledge that this is the case with America. American foreign policy is dictated by a very marginal group of Zionist activists, even by the state of Israel itself. …

How is it that the great American nation, the world's leading superpower, has become dominated by a narrow lobby from a miniature foreign state? Do the American and the Israelis really share the same interests? And if they do can someone enlighten us as to what those interests are?’

Anti-Communism and Hatred of the Left

Swindler’s List

‘Bundists believe that instead of robbing Palestinians we should all get together and rob who is considered to be the rich, the wealthy and the strong in the name of working class revolution.’

The Politics of Anti-Semitism: Zionism, the Bund and Jewish Identity Politics

'Zionism pointed towards a real metaphysical transition of the Jewish subject, his reality and his role in the universe. '

‘But the ‘early Zionists were clever enough to realise that the true meaning of nationalism can only be realised in terms of geographical orientation. For the Zionist, nationalism meant a bond between man and ‘his’ land.’

‘Being Askeno-centric, the Issue of Sephardic and Arabic Jews was totally ignored by the Jewish (national) socialists. I would assume that the Bund expected Moroccan Jews to learn Yiddish…’.

‘As far as the Jewish National project is concerned, the Bund had failed completely.’

‘early Zionists were honest enough to admit that on the eve of the 20th century, there was not much in Jewish secular life to be proud of (either culturally or spiritually). This was only natural, considering the fact that in 1898 (the First Zionist congress) [in fact it was 1897 – TG] Jewish emancipation was still in its early days.’
Silvia Cattori: An Interview with Gilad Atzmon - To Call A Spade A Spade

‘We do not need “working class politics” anymore. The old 19th century clichés can be dropped’.
‘from a Marxist point of view I am associated with the most reactionary forces: I support Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah, and I support Hamas. … I am the ultimate reactionary being.’ Who could disagree?

‘Jewish Marxism’
Tribal Marxism for Dummies’

‘While Marxism is a universal paradigm, … Jewish Marxism is basically a crude utilisation of ‘Marxist-like’ terminology for the sole purpose of the Jewish tribal cause. It is a Judeo-centric pseudo intellectual setting which aims at political power.’

“We are therefore entitled to assume that Machover’s ‘settler state’ is just another Judeo Marxist spin that is there to divert the attention from the clear fact that Israel is the Jewish state. In order to understand Israel’s unique condition we must ask, “who are the Jews? What is Judaism and what is Jewishness?”

Racial Remarks & Race
1001 Lies About Gilad Atzmon

‘There is not a single racist remark in any of my political writings or in my performances. I do not refer to any form of biological determinism. I have never written about race or referred to it whatsoever. …

‘Ostrovsky refers to racial solidarity, I call it 3rd category brotherhood and Weizmann calls it Zionism.’

Not in Our Name

‘the demarcation between racial identity and nationalist identity is very ambiguous’.

as far as Jews are concerned, the demarcation between racial identity and nationalist identity is very ambiguous. Jews cannot criticise Zionism in the name of their ethnic belonging because such an act is in itself an approval of Zionism. Practically speaking, Jews can’t really oppose Zionism unless they adopt an alternative view that questions the Zionist totality.’

Gilad Atzmon Interviewed by Mary Rizzo

‘When it comes to me, I am engaged in scrutiny of the complexity of the Jewish world. I aim towards understanding the notion of Jewish racial brotherhood.’

‘The first question is whether Jews form a race. The answer is NO, yet Jewish political activism is by definition racially orientated.’

‘Race may sound a bit abstract. Let’s call it racial brotherhood, cultural supremacist views, blood orientation and so on.’.

Gilad Atzmon - an open comment to JSF

‘I clearly identify a line of ugliness that is stretched between Zionism, Neocons, and the Bund, a line of racially orientated discourse that is stretched between Jaz… and ADL… And what is Jewish identity? To those who have read my articles, it is more than obvious that I believe it has nothing to do with racial category … but rather with racially-orientated politics….. For my readers and myself, it is absolutely clear that every form of Jewish secular politics… is based on racial orientation.’ Socialist Workers Party (SWP)

Statement on Gilad Atzmon and Marxism 2005 (21st June 2005)

There has been some controversy surrounding our invitation for the musician Gilad Atzmon to perform at Marxism 2005. One or two small groups are claiming that Gilad is an anti-Semite and Holocaust denier. We would like to state the following:

Gilad Atzmon is an Israeli born Jew who served in the Israeli Defence Force and who now lives in “self-exile” in Britain.

He is an internationally acclaimed jazz musician whose album Exile won BBC Best Jazz Album of 2003.

The SWP would also like to make it clear, that we would never give a platform to a racist or fascist. Our entire history has been one of fierce opposition to fascist organisations like the National Front and the British National Party. We played a prominent role in setting up the Anti Nazi League in the mid-1970s and Unite Against Fascism two years ago.

One of our members, Blair Peach, was killed on an anti-fascist demonstration in west London in 1979. Our founding member, Tony Cliff, was Jewish and, like many of his generation, lost many members of his family in the Holocaust. Nazis in the British National Party and National Front have targeted our members for attack. In the last three weeks we have helped initiate two vigils in response to anti-Semitic attacks on Jewish cemeteries in Manchester and east London. Across the country our members are involved in campaigns to defend asylum seekers, oppose police brutality and defend communities from scapegoating.

We have a record of opposing fascism, anti-Semitism and all forms of racism, that is second to none.

The SWP does not believe that Gilad Atzmon is a Holocaust denier or racist. However, while defending Gilad’s right to play and speak on public platforms that in no way means we endorse all of Gilad’s views. We think that some of the formulations on his website might encourage his readers to feel that he is blurring the distinction between anti-Semitism and anti Zionism. In fact we have publicly challenged and argued against those of his ideas we disagree with.

We do not believe that Gilad should be “banned” from performing or speaking. “No Platform” is a principle that the left has always reserved for fascists and organised racists. Where other disagreements occur, the left, with the same vigor, has defended the right to freedom of speech, debate and the clash of ideas.

"I love Socialist Worker. It is the only newspaper in Britain which campaigns against Israel."

Jewish People Should Oppose (or Shouldn’t Oppose) Zionism

On anti-Semitism

‘If Israel is the state of the Jewish people and the Jewish people themselves do not stand up collectively against the crimes that are committed on their behalf, then every Jewish person, Jewish symbol and Jewish object becomes an Israeli interest and a potential terrorist target. It is up to the Jewish people to take a stand against their Jewish state and to disassociate themselves from their zealous national movement.’

‘And What About The Palestinian Cause?’

It is indeed about time that Jewish people with influence in art, academia, business and the media raise their voices against Israel’s crimes and its supportive lobbies around the globe. It is rather crucial that Jewish people should openly succumb to true ethical and universal thinking rather than clannish monolithic discourse solely concerned with tribal maintenance.

Not in Our Name

‘I really do not understand those who fight Zionism in the name of their secular Jewish identity. I have never understood them. I have never really understood what secularism means for the Jewish people… To demand that Jews disapprove of Zionism in the name of their Jewish identity is to accept the Zionist philosophy. To resist Zionism as a secular Jew involves an acceptance of basic Zionist terminology, that is to say, a surrendering to Jewish racist and nationalist philosophy. To talk as a Jew is to surrender to Weizman’s Zionist philosophy…. ‘by fighting Zionism in the name of their Jewish identity they approve Zionism.’

Dialectic of the Negation

‘I have come across groups of people who call themselves ‘Jews for Peace’, ‘Jews for Justice in Palestine’, ‘Jews for this’ and ‘Jews for that’. I have recently heard about ‘Jews for Boycott of Israeli Goods’. Occasionally I end up asking myself what stands at the core of this racially orientated [Atzmon never mentions race!] separatist peace-loving endeavor…. negation of Zionism is a good enough reason to set a powerful Jewish political identity. Though this may explain why Jews are so involved in Palestinian solidarity, it may additionally explain why the Palestinian solidarity movement has never made it into a global mass movement. Apparently, not many people around are that keen to join a liberal synagogue.’
‘It is time for emancipated peace-loving Jews to follow the dog rather than their mothers, they should just let go. I would suggest that for a Jew to fight Zionism is to turn his back on Jewishness and to make peace with humanity.’

1001 Lies About Gilad Atzmon

‘3rd category Jews love the Holocaust, therefore, some of them spend a lot of time searching for its deniers. Greenstein is no doubt a Holocaust denier hunter.’
[not true: with Atzmon you don’t have to hunt, it stares you in the face - TG]…

Jews being Christ killers isn’t a myth. It is rather a historical and a theological narrative. Whether it is true or not isn’t my concern.’

Jewishness and anti-Semitism

Jews, Judaism & Jewishness
At the heart of Atzmon's anti-Semitic and reactionary argument is the idea of 'Jewishness'. The actions of Israel are not caused by Zionism, which barely exists, but by a Jewish ideology which he terms Jewishness. It is made of racial superiority, exclusiveness, exclusivity, lack of empathy for others etc.

Anyone with even an inkling of knowledge of other colonial situations will recognise that these aren't Jewish or Christian or any other religious or ethnic quality, but exactly the same type of behaviour displayed by all colonists, especially settler-colonial societies.

Were South African whites, almost all of whom were Christian (Jews were only taken into the laager after 1948, as part of support by South Africa for Israel and Zionism) any different to how Israelis behave? Did they not demonstrate all the above 'qualities'? Or the Irish Protestants? It is in the nature of colonisation.

In his essay Atzmon correctly describes how 'early Zionism presented itself as a promise to ‘resolve the Galut ’ (Diaspora) by ‘transforming’ the Diaspora Jew into an ‘authentic civilised’ human being.'

That is indeed true, indeed Zionists such as Pinhas Rosenberg even described Israel as an institute for the 'fumigation of Jewish vermin.' Journal of Israeli History no. 8, 1983. The problem is that Atzmon accepts wholesale the Zionist thesis. He accepts that the Diaspora Jew, unlike the national Zionist, was not a civilised human being. There lies the central core of Atzmon's racist and Zionist outlook.

Atzmon repeatedly argues that Israelis are not motivated by Zionism:

'it is important to remember that the last few generations of Israelis have been born in Zion (Palestine) and are, therefore, not entirely shaped by Zionist ideologies. ... I myself, amongst millions of other Israelis, joined the Israeli army because we were Jews -- not because we were Zionists.'

Of course the fact that there was an Israeli army or an Israeli state or the need to constantly be on guard against the native and dispossessed Palestinian is a product of Zionism. Indeed Israeli expansion and colonisation cannot be explained in any other way.

But to Atzmon Israelis 'follow what I define as Jewish ideology' and he gives a number of examples: They 'maintain Jewish exclusivity on the land. When 94% of Israeli Jews supported IDF's murderous tactics against Gazans at the time of Operation Cast Lead, it wasn’t Zionism that motivated them. It was the total lack of empathy with other human beings. .... It was supremacy and chauvinism; or, in other words, it was the ugliest homicidal manifestation of their choseness.'

It's difficult to find an example of settler colonisation - be it America, Australia, Canada or indeed any other white settlement where the above didn't equally apply. And then we see Atzmon's Zionism come to the surface as he reminds us that

'early Zionists such as Nordau and Borochov were also strong opponents of Jewish ideology and culture -- For them, Zionism was a necessary attempt to amend Jews. They believed that once dwelling on ‘their promised land,’ what had hitherto been perceived as 'Jewish tendencies', (such as 'non-productive inclinations'), would disappear. '

That of course is true also. Early Zionists did indeed reflect the stereotypes of Jews that anti-Semites perpetrated. They took them to heart and accepted that Jews were essentially an 'abnormal' people without a land of their own. The solution? Colonisation of Palestine. And that is why Atzmon ends up endorsing the Zionist solution even if he doesn't like what he sees.

On Anti-Semitism

‘Since America currently enjoys the status of the world's only super power and since all the Jews listed above declare themselves as devoted Zionists, [there is a list of Jews in the Bush White House - TG] we must begin to take the accusation that the Jewish people are trying to control the world very seriously.’

The text was later changed. ‘the Jewish people’ became ‘Zionists’.
‘American Jews do control the world.’ Became ‘American Jews (in fact Zionists) do control the world.’

In the Guardian’s Comment is Free, Atzmon admitted to having changed the wording of this article.

Oliver Kamm, a virulent anti-communist, banker and Times columnist has also documented the above changes.

‘a. The 'Elders of Zion' syndrome: Zionists complain that Jews continue to be associated with a conspiracy to rule the world via political lobbies, media and money. Is the suggestion of conspiracy really an empty accusation? 2. Why is it that the Jews who repeatedly demand that the Christian world should apologise for its involvement in previous persecutions, have never thought that it is about time that they apologised for killing Jesus? …. if a Jew feels offended when accused, this reveals attachment to the perpetrators.’

‘(The Protocols of the Elders of Zion) are based on a forgery, the Frankfurter Zeitung moans and screams once every week: the best proof that they are authentic.’ Adolf Hitler
The 3rd Category and the Palestinian Solidarity Movement

…. Jewishness is basically an international network operation. Ostrovsky refers to racial solidarity, I call it 3rd category brotherhood and Weizmann calls it Zionism. … Apparently, Zionism is not about Israel. Israel is just a colony, a territorial asset violently maintained by a mission force composed of 3rd category Jews. In fact, there is no geographical centre to the Zionist endeavor. … The Palestinians, for instance, aren’t just the victims of the Israeli occupation, they are rather the victims of 3rd category Jews who decided to transform Palestine into a Jewish national bunker. …. … I tend to believe that the 3rd category Jews are mutually acting together. But then whether they are fully aware of it or not is a big question. Throughout the years they have formed a network that operates as a global Zionist body shield. They simply act in harmony, they protect each other. Even when they fight against one another, they depict an image of pluralism.’
'The Zionists have no intention of living in a Jewish state in Palestine. ‘What they really are aiming at is to establish a central organization for their international swindling and cheating.’ A. Hitler, Mein Kampf. pp. 184-185, trans. James Murphy, April 1942.

The J word, the J people and the J spot
‘The J’s are the ultimate chameleons, they can be whatever they like as long as it serves as some expedient. As soon as you criticise their expansionist militant national beliefs (Zionism) you hurt them as a race (Semites),… When you condemn their racist tendencies, they are transformed immediately into an innocent cultural identity… when it was right to be a Socialist they were right there in the forefront of the Bolshevik revolution, now when it is hard capitalism that sets the tone, you read about them in the Wall Street Journal, they are the new prophets from Manhattan. Life is never boring for ‘J’ people.’ It’s one never ending (Jewish) conspiracy.

From Guilt to Responsibility Speech given in Stockholm 18 March 2007,

‘The impossible condition of being an ex-Israeli… leads towards a serious guilt complex…. for the crimes committed on one’s behalf by one’s brethren.’
if indeed the crimes against the Palestinians are committed by the 'Jewish State’ in the name of the 'Jewish’ people, before any progress can be made, we first must grasp what the word 'Jewish’ stands for. In other words, it is Jewishness which I am trying to contemplate…. if it is the Jewish State that is engaged in terrorising the Palestinians, we better understand once and for all what hides behind the notion of Jewishness.
Speech given in Stockholm 18 March 2007,
‘Jewish political pressure groups both in the left and in the right, both Zionists and anti-Zionists, … fight to keep the differentiation between Judaism, Jewishness and the Jews as blurred as possible. … (it) allows them to dismiss any possible criticism of Israel and its lobbies as being a racist assault.’ ‘Jewishness is an Ideology’.
‘Jewishness is actually a deeper concept than mere Zionism. How do I know that it is deeper than Zionism? I know because I look into myself and into my past.’
‘as a young lad, the word Zionism was foreign to my ears. My peers and myself were Israelis, we were the Jewish people, we were not Zionists. Zionism was a foreign abstract expression, it smelled of Galut (Diaspora).’

‘Jewish groups … have managed to block any meaningful debate having to do with Israel, the Jewish State, Palestine, world Jewry, the Israeli Lobby in America, etc..’

The responsibility of Atzmon

‘is to expose the real meaning of the Jewish idea in its full extent…. to expose the carriers and protagonists of this ideology. As an artist, my duty is to look into myself and to trace its origin in my own soul.’

Anatomy of a Conditionally Unresolved Conflict
‘once it is clear that a new country is becoming a leading world super power, it won’t take long before a wave of liberated assimilated Jews would try to infiltrate into its governing elite. If China ever became the world’s foremost super power,” he warned, “American Jews would migrate there to assimilate rather than in the US.”

Saying NO to the Hunters of Goliath 4.10.09.

‘Within the Judaic worldview, history and ethics are often reduced into a banal single binary opposition principle. For instance, the deadly battle between the ‘righteous’ David and the ‘evil’ Goliath personalises the struggle between the ‘good’ Israelites and the ‘bad’ Philistines.’
‘Jews are now more than welcome in Germany and in Europe, yet, the Jewish state and the sons of Israel are at least as unpopular in the Middle East as their grandparents were in Europe just six decades ago.’

Jews have been unable to ‘internalise the real meaning of the conditions and the events that led towards their destruction in the first place.’

1001 Lies About Gilad Atzmon

‘no one actually can be an Anti-Semite and this includes me of course.’

‘often I am accused by left Jews of being an Anti-Semite. … Once the Zionists had managed to establish their Jewish state, any form of anti Jewish sentiments should be comprehended either as a private case of xenophobia or as a political retaliation to Israeli/Zionist atrocities. In other words, the title Anti-Semite became an ‘empty signifier… no one actually can be an Anti-Semite and this includes me of course.’ ‘No one has ever dared challenge my philosophical ideas. Instead of doing that, they label me. They call me names, they misquote me, they lie and they are very quick to believe their own lies. In other words, based on their responses, they are Zionists and they behave like ones….

Atzmon demonstrates an extreme version of what some would call a narcissistic personality disorder. The best definition of Zionism is apparently criticising or opposing Atzmon!
Petty anti-Semitism

‘I agreed & wanted to be an ordinary human being, which is very unusual for a Jew (laughs) and it’s still not easy for me, I’m still practising.’ Talk in Brighton (32.51:6)

‘(Shraga) Elam the crypto-Zionist is acting as an ethnic campaigner Greenstein… Shell report them to the Jewnited Nation.’ (subsequently removed).

‘‘Mary i have seen this Goodwin on Socialist Jewnity… It is pretty funny, all those socialist crypto Zios are as well H scholars… they know what, how when and how many… But they never come up with an answer…their Job is to maintain the Zio H narrative in the left… somehow, it doesn’t work anymore.’ 11.1.08.

In order to maintain their existential rationality, Elam and Greenstein have to be despised, they are indeed doing very well on that front. Out of the box, they behave like gangsters, they then land in their Jewish Box, on of those very few Kosher cyber cell (Socialist Jewnity, Alef etc’)

Holocaust Denial

‘Holocaust politics in the service of Anglo-American hegemony’
28.1.07. accessed 5.3.11

'I am not a Holocaust scholar nor am I a historian. My primary interest is not the story of Auschwitz nor the destruction of European Jewry…. I do not wish to enter the debate regarding the truth of the Holocaust….’ (my emphasis)

‘Regardless of what the truth of the Holocaust is and what its denial may entail, to seal the past is to give away the vision of a better future.’ [my emphasis – TG]

‘Purim Special - From Esther to AIPAC’

‘The Scholars who are engaged in the study of the Holocaust religion…. happen to search for the theological dialectic (Marc Ellis), … the commandments (Adi Ofir),… its historical evolution (Lenni Brenner), … its financial infrastructure (Finkelstein). Interestingly enough, most scholars who are engaged in the subject of Holocaust religion are engaged with a list of events that happened between 1933-1945.

Atzmon seems surprised that Holocaust historians concentrate on this period! - TG]

'Most of the scholars are themselves orthodox observants. Though they may be critical of different aspects of the exploitation of the Holocaust, they all accept the validity of the Nazi Judeocide and its mainstream interpretations and implications. Most of the scholars, if not all of them, do not challenge the Zionist narrative, namely Nazi Judeocide, yet, more than a few are critical of the way Jewish and Zionist institutes employ the Holocaust…. no one goes as far as revisionism, not a single Holocaust religion scholar dares engage in a dialogue with the so-called 'deniers' to discuss their vision of the events or any other revisionist scholarship’. [my emphasis – TG]

…. Holocaust religion was well established a long time before the Final Solution (1942)…. The Holocaust religion is probably as old as the Jews.’

Truth, History, and Integrity

‘If, for instance, the Nazis wanted the Jews out of their Reich (Judenrein - free of Jews), or even dead, as the Zionist narrative insists, how come they marched hundreds of thousands of them back into the Reich at the end of the war?’ [my emphasis – TG] ‘If the Nazis ran a death factory in Auschwitz-Birkenau, why would the Jewish prisoners join them at the end of the war? [my emphasis – TG] ‘We should ask for some conclusive historical evidence and arguments rather than follow a religious narrative...’ ‘Why were the Jews hated? Why did European people stand up against their next-door neighbours? Why are the Jews hated in the Middle East.’

1001 Lies About Gilad Atzmon

Saying that, I must admit that I have many doubts concerning the Zionist Holocaust narrative. Being familiar with many of the discrepancies within the forcefully imposed narrative, being fully familiar with the devastating tale of the extensive collaboration between the Nazis and the Zionists before and throughout the Second World War, I know pretty well that the official Holocaust narrative is there to conceal rather than to reveal any truth. …

[Here we have a good example of Atzmon’s hint that he is at one with holocaust deniers but for reasons such as his career, he can’t afford to come out and say so openly - TG]….

Zionism not Hitler is the Ultimate Evil
Beyond Comparison

‘To regard Hitler as the ultimate evil is nothing but surrendering to the Zio-centric discourse. To regard Hitler as the wickedest man and the Third Reich as the embodiment of evilness is to let Israel off the hook... Hitler has never flattened a country for no reason at all, and this is exactly what the Israelis have been doing in Lebanon for four weeks already and in Gaza for years and years….

If a comparison is to be made, then it is the Israelis who win the championship of ruthlessness and the reasons are obvious. Nazi Germany was a tyranny, Israel is a democracy led by a centre-left national unity government.’…

Nazis were indeed proper expansionists, they were trying to take towns and land intact. Carpet bombing and total erasure of populated areas that is so trendy amongst Israeli military and politicians (as well as Anglo-Americans) has never been a Nazi tactic or strategy.’

Note: For three days, in April 1941, German bombers raised Belgrade to the ground.
William Shirer, The Rise & Fall of the Third Reich, p.988, Pan Books, London, 1964.

Hitler’s plans for Russia included the mass starvation of 30 million Russian civilians and the complete razing to the ground of Moscow and Leningrad.
William Shirer, The Rise & Fall of the Third Reich, pp. 996-7, 1020

to say nothing of the wiping out of Lidice or mass murder in Oradour-sur-Glane.

David vs Goliath - the remix: An interview with Gilad Atzmon
Atzmon describes how, when he was 26:

'I received a formal letter from the Israeli ‘prime minister’s office’ inviting me to join the Israeli secret service (basically the Mossad). I hope that you realise that I didn’t go for that tempting career shift.’

To be fair to Atzmon, he is much more valuable to Israel without formal membership of Mossad. As the old saying goes, ‘You cannot hope to bribe or twist (thank God!) the British journalist. But, seeing what the man will do unbribed, there's no occasion to.’

Jews and The Economic Crisis

Credit Crunch or rather Zio Punch

Atzmon cited John Reynolds, Chair of the Ethical Investment Advisory Group that:
"Above all we need more individuals to make a stand. The Archbishops of Canterbury and York should go further and call for more Christians to work in the city." The Observer 28.9.08.

'One may wonder what Reynolds refers to when calling for more ‘Christians to work in the City’... By pleading the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to send more Christians to the City he may try to suggest to us that our financial world must be spiritually de-Judified. I must admit that it took me by complete surprise to read such a suggestion in the politically correct Guardian.’

It also came as a complete surprise to John Reynolds who, once he’d recovered, threatened to sue for libel. Atzmon therefore issued a ‘Clarification’ and fulsome apology.

‘Clarification: In the course of an article entitled "Credit Crunch or rather Zio Punch?" I recently made a comment about Mr John Reynolds, the Chief Executive of Reynolds Partners and chairman of the Ethical Investment Advisory Group. I suggested that some people may think that his call in The Observer to send more Christians to the City was a plea for the financial world to be "spiritually de-Judified". I want to make it clear that I did not intend to suggest that Mr Reynolds was anti-Semitic or in any way hostile to Jewish people or those of the Jewish faith and I am sorry if my comment was understood by anybody in that way. Mr Reynolds has asked me to clarify the position and I am happy to do so. I would like to apologise for any distress caused.’

Two Jewish Jokes (and a Hain in the Middle)

‘The Jewish press in Britain is panicking lately and they have good reason, too…. We have already learned about Lord ‘cash machine’ Levy who acted as ‘No 1 Labour fund raiser’. We have learned recently about David Abrahams who donated his money to the party by proxy…. David Abrahams already admitted in an interview to the Jewish Chronicle that he donated money by proxy to “to quell conspiracy fears”.…. Levy and Abrahams were prominent activists in the ‘Labour Friends of Israel’ and ‘Jewish Labour’. They both operate as Israeli lobbyists. It is more than possible that their interests as openly rabid Zionists do not exactly match the British interests.…. Yesterday, Peter Hain, a senior British Cabinet minister resigned. Once again following a row over political donations and guess what, once again it is Zionist donators who put money into his campaign by proxy.… Clearly, the British press avoids questioning the identity of the donators, and more crucially there is the disturbing question: what was it that they tried to buy?…. Mr Hain’s other benefactor is another prominent Zionist named Isaac Kaye. Mr Kaye is a South African-born multi-millionaire who was known for his support of the South African Apartheid regime. Mr Kaye is obviously a rabid Zionist and a major Israeli Lobbyist. … Interestingly enough, the Tories here do not do much to expose the identity of the Labour proxy donators. The reason is simple, they are backed by the very same people. We have read about Mr Nagel swinging between the two parties. … Mr Osborne allegedly received money from some of the wealthiest people in Britain, including banking heiress Lady Serena Rothschild, believed to have donated £190,000 to Mr Osborne.’

Historically rich Jews have made donations to the Labour Party, whereas non-Jews chose the Tories. In Harold Wilson’s days it was Lords Kagan and Grade who contributed. The reasons are not difficult to understand. Because of anti-Semitism, Jews gravitated towards the Labour Party. Likewise today Asian millionaires such as Lords Gulam Noon and Desai contribute to the Labour Party, though not with a Zionist agenda! But for Atzmon what is important is the Jewish origins of the donors. Atzmon’s purpose is to link political corruption and Jews - TG.

The Boycott of Israel

Gilad Atzmon Interview: Tangling with the Oppressor - What really matters is what Palestinians Do July 5, 2007.

‘interfering with academic freedom isn’t exactly something I can blindly advocate. … I am against any form of gatekeeping or book burning. But it goes further, I actually want to hear what Israelis and Zionists have to say. I want to read their books. I want to confront their academics.’ ‘to impose a boycott is to employ a boycotter. When it comes to an academic boycott I would expect the inquisitor in charge to be a scholar of great esteem…. Seemingly, it isn’t the leading minds in British academic life and ethical thinking who are leading the Boycott. In fact it is the other way around, the boycott is led by some minor academics with very little to say about ethics and even less to say about the specific conflict…. It has a lot to do with maintenance of some particular decaying old-school socialists within the fading progressive Western discourse. … When it comes to the current boycott we are unfortunately operating within a political mode rather than an ethical one. … Shouldn’t we ban as well any form of racially orientated activity? … I believe that the best way around it is to support freedom of speech categorically…’ [my emphasis - TG]

David vs Goliath - the remix An interview with Gilad Atzmon by Simon Jones
‘A while ago I decided not to communicate with the Hebraic people. I support any form of boycott on the Israeli society and people. I argue that Israeli academics and artist should be banned from any overseas activity unless they publicly denounce Zionism.’ [My emphasis - even the most brilliant Talmudic scholar would have difficulty reconciling this with 'I actually want to hear what Israelis and Zionists have to say. I want to read their books. I want to confront their academics. - TG]

The Old Testament and the genocide in Gaza - An insight into Israeli identity

‘The Jewish state is the ultimate threat to humanity and our notion of humanism.’ ‘Christianity, Islam and humanism came along with an attempt to amend Jewish tribal fundamentalism and to replace it with universal ethics.’

Harry’s Place Zionists Find Gilad Atzmon Congenial Company

It’s not only holocaust deniers and anti-Semites who idolise Atzmon. Zionists too find him good company. His attacks on Jewish anti-Zionists attract their admiration. Zionists from the rabidly racist Harry’s Place blog, including David Taube, who runs it are happy to socialise with him.

On March 19 2007 Taube described how fellow Zionist, Mikey Ezra

‘invited me for a drink with Gilad Atzmon.’ Taube was quite bowled over. Atzmon was ‘utterly charming and a delightful drinking companion’ entertaining them with his new album in the taxi home.

‘Is Gilad Atzmon a racist?’ Taube asks. He answers his own question thus:
‘Not in the narrow sense of being preoccupied by genetic differences between people, certainly. He is rather, I think, a ‘cultural essentialist’.

it goes without saying that Gilad Atzmon has a somewhat eccentric way of viewing the world. It owes something, as we know, to the writings of “Israel Shamir” and Paul Eisen, although he holds Heidegger in high regard.’

‘Eccentricity’ is a common way of describing the racist foibles of anti-Semites like G K Chesterton, TS Elliot, Ezra Pound and other literary figures. Atzmon drew the distinction, evidently with approval, ‘between those cultures which are grounded in the "soil", and which are "authentic", with those which are not.’

This may be one reason why Atzmon looks favourably on Zionism, if not all of its deeds. Attachment to the soil was also seen by the Nazis as an essential component of national identity, in particular by its Agriculture Minister Richard Darre.

But if Atzmon and the Harry’s Place Zionists make ‘charming and delightful’ drinking partners, the same is not true for those of us without authentic cultures grounded in the soil.

‘Elam and Greenstein have to be despised… Out of the box, they behave like gangsters, they then land in their Jewish Box, on of those very few Kosher cyber cell (Socialist Jewnity, Alef etc’)

But none of this should be any surprise since Mikey acted as the unpaid informer for Atzmon in his battles with Jewish anti-Zionists!

Atzmon & Indymedia

'I am suggesting that the only way to internalise the meaning of the Jewish Holocaust is to teach Jews how to start looking in the mirror, to teach Jews to ask themselves why conflicts with others happen to them time after time. Rather than blaming the Goyim, the Germans, the Muslims, the Arabs, it is about time the Jewish subject learns to ask the 6 million $ question: “why do they pick on me?”

https://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/world/2007/08/378213.html?c=on [since removed by IM Mediators after a very long struggle]

Birds of a Feather

One way of judging someone is by the company they keep. The Radical Press doesn’t step gingerly around the topic of anti-Semitism. You get the full-blooded thing. There are articles on:

the Jewish Banking Cartel (267) Jewish Holocaust Industry (278) Jewish Lobby (398) Jewish Media Monopoly (375) Jewish Porn Industry (229) Jewish Racism (5) Jewish Ritual Murder (1) Jewish Supremacism (1) Jews (400) Jews Behind Bolshevik Revolution (244) and JIMM-Jewish International Media Monopoly (1)

This didn’t however stop Atzmon supplying an article ‘The Primacy of the Ear’ which the owner of The Radical Free Press expresses his thanks for. And what could be more fitting than Atzmon sending them ‘my Christmas Present - Liberating the American People, a free ride with my quartet on youtube. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year – Gilad.

The Chair of DYR, Daniel McGowan, also contributes an article ‘What does the holocaust mean’. Which must have been difficult to write for someone who doesn't believe there was a holocaust!

Guilt by association is something we should all be wary of, given its association with McCarthyism. But Atzmon welcomes the support of neo-Nazis, fascists and anti-Semites. If Atzmon were seriously opposed to racism, including its anti-Jewish variety, he would react when someone like David Duke, a former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, paid him tribute.

Atzmon is perfectly happy with having a ‘preface commentary by Dr. David Duke’ to his ‘Hunters’ article (3.4.07). The only response was for Mary Rizzo to put up links to Duke’s site on her blog, before we embarrassed her into removing them. Duke urged his followers to read Atzmon’s ‘From Esther to Aipac’.

I’ve laid out a sample of Atzmon’s writings. Judge for yourself whether you can honestly say that Atzmon is not anti-Semitic and that his writings make any contribution whatsoever to the Palestinian cause.

And for the longer, more comprehensive article see

Tony Greenstein