31 March 2011

Israel outlaws Palestinian memory of the Nakba


It is a sign of Israel’s political degeneration and how the mask of liberalism has slipped that a law has been passed which criminalises and denies funding to any organisation or group that commemorates the Nakba, the expulsion of some ¾ million Palestinian Arabs into neighbouring countries.

There was a time when Israel attempted to pretend that the Palestinians hadn’t been expelled, they’d merely run away on orders! Indeed the young Israeli state had done its best to get them to stay (always citing the solitary example of an appeal by Haifa’s Jewish mayor to the Arabs in the city, even as the Labour Zionist militia Hagannah and the Revisionist Irgun were doing their best to terrorist them to leave).

But we should also understand that this law is the product, not of strength but weakness. As the Palestinian solidarity movement has grown stronger internationally and as Israel’s Arab population has become more organised and politically conscious, the Israeli state feels its only course of action is to ban that which they cannot defeat ideologically.

The new law is a sign that Zionism no longer has confidence in its own message and has to seek to outlaw the thoughts and memories of its victims. Below is an excellent article on this from the Electronic Intifada.

Tony Greenstein

Israel criminalizes commemoration of the Nakba
Jillian Kestler-D'Amours, The Electronic Intifada, 29 March 2011

A bill was passed by the Israeli Knesset (parliament) last week which calls on the government to deny funding to any organization, institution or municipality that commemorates the founding of the Israeli state as a day of mourning. The bill has become known as the "Nakba bill," referring to the ethnic cleansing of historic Palestine during and before the establishment of the State of Israel in 1947-48.

"Law will not influence the way we commemorate the Nakba," Haneen Zoabi, Palestinian member of the Knesset, told The Electronic Intifada. "On the contrary, we must prove to our people and to the state that we will not be afraid from this law and that this will not succeed in oppressing our feeling or our identity. We will commemorate the Nakba in a much more impressive way this year than we ever did."

"This is a kind of law to control our memory, to control our collective memory. It's a very stupid law which punishes our feelings. It seems that the history of the victim is threatening the Zionist state," Zoabi said.
Elected in 2009, Zoabi represents the Balad party (National Democratic Alliance) and is the first woman to be elected on the list of an Arab party in Israel. She was one of 25 members of the Israeli Knesset (MKs) to vote against the bill on 22 March, compared to 37 MKs who voted in favor of it.

"The Nakba is not just part of the Palestinian history," Zoabi explained. "It's also part of the Jewish history of this land. Because you need two in order to make Nakba. You need the victim and you need the oppressor. It was the Israelis who expelled the Palestinians and destroyed their towns and their villages and stole their land."

"It's not a narrative. It is not a political attitude. It's a historical fact,"

she added. Initiated by MK Alex Miller of the ultra right-wing party Yisrael Beiteinu and officially called "Budget Principles Law (Amendment 39) - Reducing Budgetary Support for Activities Contrary to the Principles of the State," the bill would also allow the government fine groups it determines are working against the "Jewish and democratic" nature of Israel or who violate the symbols of the state, such as the Israeli flag.


The original version of the bill -- which was subsequently changed due to widespread condemnation -- called for putting any individual who publicly commemorates the Palestinian Nakba in jail for three years.

The purpose of the bill is to prevent members of the Arab minority in Israel from exercising their democratic right to commemorate a seminal event in their history. This legislation will cause harm to cultural and educational institutions that teach about the Nakba by cutting their funding and will further entrench inequality and discrimination. The bill is both anti-democratic and discriminatory
wrote Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, in a 14 March press release Adalah: Nakba Law Violates Rights of Arab Minority.

Adalah stated that it sent an urgent letter to the Chair of the Israeli Constitution, Law and Justice Committee and member of the Yisrael Beitenu party MK David Rotem, asking him to reject the bill before it was voted into law.

"The bill's approval would lead to major harm to the principle of equality and to the rights of Arab citizens to preserve their history and culture. Arab citizens of Israel are an indigenous minority living on its homeland, and their historical roots to this land run extremely deep, and thus their identity must be preserved," the Adalah press release stated.

Adalah had signaled its intention to petition the Israeli high court should the bill be approved in the Knesset. Now that it has been voted on, the only way the bill can now be overturned is through an Israeli high court ruling.

Impact of the bill already being felt

According to Israeli activist Eitan Bronstein, while the practical and legal implications of the Nakba law are impossible to foresee, the law is already making an impact.

"I would say that the main implication and influence is already there, is already in practice, and is already working. Anyone who wants to do something [to commemorate the Nakba], they immediately have a question about the Nakba law and whether or not they are under any risk," Bronstein, founder and spokesperson of Zochrot, an organization that works to raise awareness of the Nakba within Israeli society, told The Electronic Intifada.

"We analyze this law as part of a whole campaign to intimidate anyone who wishes to study, to remember, to mention, to have anything to do with the Nakba. In Israel, it mostly effects and it already effects, from what we see, Palestinian citizens from Israel," he added.

Bronstein explained that while many Israeli liberals have objected to the law because of civil liberties concerns, few have acknowledged how important it is to commemorate the Nakba itself.

"I think it's about time that there will be many more Israelis who participate in Nakba commemorations and not only because of freedom of speech, but to understand how important it is. We should take a clear stance in supporting and participating in commemorating it and struggling against the denial of the Nakba," Bronstein said.

"Without understanding the Nakba, you cannot of course understand the scale or the importance of this key issue of Palestinian refugees. If we don't address the Nakba, we cannot really address properly our future. Any solution for the future which is not based on addressing this issue of the Palestinian refugees, it will be useless."

"The fear of the victim"

The Nakba bill is just the latest piece of discriminatory legislation targeting the Palestinian minority in Israel, who constitute 20 percent of the overall population of the state.

More than twenty bills are presently being discussed in the Israeli Knesset that impact -- both directly and indirectly -- the rights of Palestinian citizens of Israel. Included among these bills is the controversial loyalty oath legislation, which would mandate new immigrants to pledge loyalty to Israel as a "Jewish and democratic state" and the "Acceptance to Communities Bill."

Passed same day as the Nakba law, the "Acceptance to Communities Bill" formalizes the establishment of admission committees to review potential residents to communities of up to 400 family units in the Negev and Galilee regions, where the Palestinian population in Israel is largely concentrated.

According to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), the bill would allow these committees to refuse admission to a wide variety of people, including Palestinians, single parents and same-sex couples, among others.

"The racist, anti-Arab rhetoric used by some of the promoters of this bill is shameful, but it's important for the public to understand that any one of us could be targeted by this bill. Israeli legislators are about to sacrifice equality and the right of every person to choose their place of residence -- in favor of the extra-rights of the residents of these wealthy communities, who wish to 'select' new residents on public lands," said ACRI Attorney Gil Gan-Mor in a 22 March press release ("Final Vote Today on Nakba Law and Acceptance to Communities Bill").

According to Haneen Zoabi, the wave of increasingly hostile legislation in the Knesset signals how extreme the Israeli state has become.

"Any racist law will succeed within this Zionist and right-wing Knesset. Any law which any fool or any crazy or any hysterical and racist person could imagine, anything, he can pass it within this racist Knesset," Zoabi said.

"I think that the message is that there is no place for the Palestinian or the Palestinian identity to be a part of this state. It is a kind of political strategy in order to change the laws of the political game. These laws have a political function. It is not a mere expression of Zionism."

She added that with the Nakba law in particular, the Israeli government is trying to delegitimize the Palestinian struggle within the country.

"They have a political function of delegitimizing our political struggle. When you delegitimize this struggle, this is the more dangerous thing. You are delegitimizing a political tool, a legitimate tool. This is more dangerous than a mere political or identity expression," Zoabi said.

"Behind this law is a fear, the fear of the victim. Behind this law is the ability of the memory of the victim to threaten the legitimacy of Zionism."

Originally from Montreal, Jillian Kestler-D'Amours is a reporter and documentary filmmaker based in occupied East Jerusalem. More of her work can be found at http://jilldamours.wordpress.com.

see also YNet's Arabs: Nakba bill means war

27 March 2011

MASSIVE TUC MARCH SHOWS ANGER AT ATTACKS ON WELFARE STATE AND MASS UNEMPLOYMENT





TUC Connives With Police to Lower Estimate of Numbers Attending

Brighton was typical of many places. All the coaches for miles around were booked for the March. We got to the Embankment yesterday at about 11.30 a.m. and went on a detour round East London in order to free up space. The march crawled the mile or so along the Embankment at such a slow pace that it led to many people giving up on going to Hyde Park, not least because of the physical strain of walking so slowly for 2 hours.


The TUC March was a demonstration of the anger that people feel as they are called on to make sacrifices so that the bankers and the other ruling class pigs can continue to feed from the swill. That was why hundreds of young kids took to Oxford Street to demonstrate their hatred and anger at fat cat bosses like Philip Green who avoid their taxes whilst bleating about social security scroungers. And the Police, so eager to protect property, do nothing about the real criminals in society whose activities endanger the welfare of all.


It is scum like Green who pays next to no taxes but rely on the protection of the Metropolitan Police, who last year murdered Ian Tomlinson at the G7 Demonstrations despite not even having anything to do with the demonstration, thanks to 'kettling', who are the real criminals, not those who occupied Top Shop and the Queen’s grocers Fortnum & Mason.


It’s only a pity they didn’t manager to rampage around the Ritz too. And speaking of breaking the law, the Metropolitan Police is institutionally corrupt and bent, with the latest revelations of its senior brass having been wined and dined by News International to ensure a ‘light touch’ investigation of phone backing, that fingered no one are as corrupt as they come.


Brighton Unemployed Centre distributed 5,000 leaflets attacking the TUC General Council for having no spine. Backroom boy Brendan Barber, whose only job has been with the TUC selling out working class people, sought to turn the rally into a support march for New Labour. The same New Labour Government that began the attacks against the poor and disabled, which increased unemployment and at the same time forced people to take the first low paid job they were offered.


Because of this any radicals were kept firmly off theplatform. Bob Crow, General Secretary of the RMT (rail union), was kept off the platform, even though the march was his idea in the first place! Barber didn’t want Miliband embarrassed. The TUC’s idea of a campaign is waiting 4 years until there is a general election that Miliband can lose.


That is why those of us who were on the 2003 March Against the War and similar large demonstrations know that the original figures for the number of marchers were an underestimate. I would say between ½ and 1 million were on the demonstration. It is unprecedented for the Metropolitan Police and the organisers of a demonstration to agree on figures. The only occasion this has ever happened was when the Countryside Alliance exaggerated numbers and the Met was happy to agree with them – surprise, surprise! I notice that in today's news bulletins that the figure has been revised upwards for 400,000 but the report on the BBC site yesterday gave 1 /4 million which the TUC had estimated and with which the Metropolitan Police had agreed.


All in all a good day but it is time to begin the fight back against TUC and Labour Party scabs as well as the Tory/Lib Dem coalition government.


Tony Greenstein

22 March 2011

End the Imperialist Attack on Libya

Impose a No-Fly Zone on Gaza not Libya

Anyone who believes that the imperialist assault on Libya has anything to do with a justified sense of anger at Col. Ghadaffi’s murder and terrorisation of the opposition needs their head examined. It hasn’t escaped notice that the same ‘supporters’ of the Libyan Revolution have also supported the use of Saudi and Quatarian troops to bloodily put down demonstrations in Bahrain.

Ghadaffi, despite being a merciless thug and madman and despite his recent cuddling up to the same imperialist exploiters he is now denouncing, remember his embrace of Tony Blair, has not been forgiven for his earlier bouts of independence such as supplying the IRA with weaponry.

The ‘no fly zone’ is another of those military misnomers such as ‘collateral damage’. It means bombing cities, military installations, civilians and other ordinance. The idea that there is a ‘clean war’ should have been laid to rest with Iraq. Instead what is happening in Libya cannot but lead either to partition and more bloody sectarianism of imperialist troops on the ground. Given that there is little appetite for the latter then Libya is destined, in its own way, to emulate Iraq.

Because wherever imperialism goes, sectarianism and religious/racial strife follow it.

There is only one answer. The rebels have to capture power for themselves. If the West is so keen to support them then they should have supplied them with weaponry. It is no accident that the Arab League, full of all the worst dictators the Arab world and the USA can provide, has played a key part in the attack on Libya. These collaborators and cowards know loyalty to only one thing – their purse. It will be interesting to see whether that other collaborator, Mahmoud Abbas, allows his people to demonstrate against the imperialist attack on Libya.

It is interesting to note the hypocrisy of the West. Where were the no-fly zones when Gaza was being mercilessly bombarded in 2008/9? 400 children were murdered and more burnt by phosphorous or otherwise injured. Not only was there no no-fly zone but the United States rushed to replenish Israel's stock of missiles and weapons, something dockers in Greece put a block on.

There is only one thing Obummah, Cameron and co. are interested in and it's not freedom for Libyans but the oil they possess.

And the attack on Libya is less popular than any similar war I can remember. People have begun to see through the lies of Cameron even earlier than they did with Blair. In the YouGov poll 45% support military action in Libya (45%) compared to 53% who supported the invasion of Iraq after the war had started.

33% think that little or no effort is being made to minimise civilian casualties compared to just 8% who thought the same about Iraq. 43% trust Cameron to tell the truth, compared to 62% who trusted Tony Blair (before his lies caught him out). And only 21% back sending ground troops into Libya, with 69% opposed.

A separate poll for ComRes found that only 35% supported the bombing, with 43% opposed.

Tony Greenstein

21 March 2011

Boycott Barnardos for Collaborating in the Imprisonment of Children

Unfortunately Barnardos weren’t able to provide ‘care’ and ‘support’ for those waiting in line to be gassed at Auschwitz
The ads are deliberately designed to appeal to your emotions (& your pocket). Three sad and forlorn white children with the strap line ‘Help Exploited Children’ and ‘Watch our TV Ad’ – and just in case you didn’t get the message it is spelt out repeatedly – ‘Donate Now’.

What they don’t tell you is that the search for funds is primarily motivated by the need to keep their staff employed and their organisation ticking over. Children, especially non-white and refugee children, take a low priority.

They also don't mention that there is a history of physical and sexual abuse in Barnardos homes. In particular the organisation was extremely anti-Catholic and children who were Catholic were brought up as Protestants.

13 years ago in Brighton we regularly picketed, every Saturday, the Barnardo’s shop in West Street because the organisation was using the last Tory government’s slave labour scheme Project Work to get young people to carry out work at their charity shop.

However nothing they did then compares to their latest money-grubbing crime. Participation in the detention up of children who are asylum seekers.

When the Tory Lib-Dems came into office, they were pledged to be rid of child imprisonment. At the moment children are detained indefinitely in prisons (detention centres) in order to ensure they don’t escape. These horrific practices were introduced by New Labour and we therefore welcomed their proposed abolition by the Tory-Dems. But we celebrated too soon.
At the AGM of the wonderful Greater Lewes Refugee & Asylum Group (most of its membership is elderly but it does a fantastic amount of work) Emma Ginn of the Medical Foundation spoke about how child detention was continuing under another name. And sure enough, a Family Detention Centre is now being proposed to be built at Pease Pottage in West Sussex.

It is maybe no accident that the Chief Executive of Barnardos up till January was Martin Narey, the former Head of Prisons at the Home Office. Narey openly called for the ending of universal child benefit last October, anticipating George Osborne's announcement.

When I learnt of Barnardos participation in the asylum process, I wrote to them last Tuesday, as did several others including Sue Blackwell of the Academic Boycott id Israel Campaign (see below). I also distributed the following message widely:

It may be a coincidence, but those familiar with the Old Testament will recall that Essau sold his birthright to Jacob for a message of pottage. Barnardos have gone one further. They are going to help run a new detention centre for families at Pease Pottage.

Over a decade ago unemployed activists picketted Barnardos shop in Brighton, forcing them to stop participating in Project Work, a cheap labour scheme with young people coerced into working under threat of loss of benefits. It seems, in their eagerness to lay their hands on ready cash, that Barnardos is up to their old tricks again. The Lib-Dems promised to end the practice of detaining child asylum seekers. Like the rats they are they have ratted out on this one too. Instead there are 'family detention centres' which is no different from what Yarl's Wood and Oakington were supposed to be when they were established. If the kids can't walk out, with their parents, when they want, then it is just a new label on the same old wine.

But Barnardos puts itself about as a child friendly charity, all in favour of children asserting themselves and developing unhindered by authority. Quite how these hypocrites can square this with involvement in the practive of child detention (or maybe foreign children aren't really children?) escapes me. Of course Barnardos aren't alone in only having their child-friendly principles on display when money is being sought. The YMCA's behaviour in Glasgow re the accommodation they run, which led directly to the suicide of one young man recently is indicative of a wider trend in the voluntary sector of entering any contract regardless of what it involves if it means extra cash.


We would therefore ask people to write to info@barnardos.org.uk and to make a separate complaint to complaints@rednoseday.com, since the latter are funding Barnardos, who probably haven't advertised their involvement in the practice of child detention.


And if Barnardos doesn't back off with its involvement in the new detention centre in Pease Pottage we intend to picket the shops of these hypocrites until they understand the meaning of ethical behaviour.


In reponse one Sandra Littlebury of Barnardos wrote back . Ignoring the cheery little ‘good afternoon’ – people like Littlebury always like the personal touch – it sounds like a propoganda spiel for the Coalition. Barnardos ‘welcolmes the closure of the family unit at Yarl’s Wood.’ Unfortunately it’s not ending. And then we have a full blooded justification of the policy whose ending they have just welcomed.

Barnardo’s ‘recognises’ i.e. supports the use of ‘very short-term secure pre-departure accommodation’ as if the length of imprisonment mattered one jot.

Not the term ‘secure’ in other words you can’t leave. How is that compatible with ending child imprisonment?

And then of course there is ‘every other avenue’. And thus Littlebury demonstrates, beneath the weasel words of comfort, what a liar she is. What is this 'every other avenue'? Cutting off legal aid from all but the most desperate or lucky asylum seekers? Deporting those in risk of their lives back to their countries because they are unable to become lawyers in another language overnight? Demonising those who are here whilst waging war in their countries?

It is also interesting that there are no Black children in the Barnardo's adverts. Perhaps that's just as well.

Tony Greenstein

Good afternoon Mr Greenstein

Thank you for your e mail which has been passed to me for a reply

Barnardo’s supports the ending of detention of children for immigration purposes and welcomed the closure of the family unit at Yarl’s Wood.


We recognise, however, that when every other avenue has been explored, when a family has no right to remain in the UK and when an independent return panel deems it appropriate – very short-term secure pre-departure accommodation may, as a last resort, be necessary.
As announced Barnardo’s will be providing welfare and social care within the new pre-departure accommodation being established. Barnardo’s wants to ensure that these families are treated humanely with respect and dignity, and are given the correct support through access to welfare and social work services ahead of their departure

Kind regards

Sandra Littlebury
Supporter Care Team Leader

Tel: DDL 0208 498 7131
E-mail sandra.littlebury@barnardos.org.uk

Every year we help thousands of children turn their lives around. But we cannot do it without you. Visit www.barnardos.org.uk to find out how you can get involved and show you believe in children.
Barnardo's is a charity (216250 and SC037605) and a company limited by guarantee (61625 England) Registered Office: Tanners Lane, Barkingside, Ilford, Essex, IG6 1QG

To which I responded:

Ms Littlebury,

In other words you are collaborating in an inhumane asylum and deportation process which sends people back to repression and in some cases torture. Your suggestion that ‘when every other avenue is explored’ is both insulting and ignorant. You have no idea of what avenues are or have been explored because if you did you’d be aware of the fact that legal aid has now all but been ended for asylum and immigration purposes. In other words you are willing to act as a purveyor of others’ lies.

All you are doing is beautifying the system and lending your good name to this immoral process.

What you are also doing is getting the Lib Dems and Clegg off a political hook, viz. their promise to end child detention. You say that every year you help turn thousands of children’s lives around. Indeed you do, but perhaps not in the way you meant.

It’s a great pity that you didn’t exist in from 1933-39 when you’d have done a wonderful job explaining why Jewish families had really explored every avenue.

Just let’s hope you can sleep at night.

Tony Greenstein
Secretary – Brighton & Hove TUC Unemployed Workers Centre

Sent: 16 March 2011 15:39

Dear Sir or Madam, I have just read that Barnardo's, one of the charities supported by Red Nose Day, has undertaken to provide services for the new "family detention centre" at Pease Pottage, Sussex. If this is true, I am shocked. Barnardo's should have nothing to do with the detention of children. It should be challenging government policies concerned with under-age asylum seekers, not seeking to profit from them. I have supported Barnardo's in the past, particularly their charity shops in Birmingham, but will not be doing so in the future if this is their idea of looking after children. I look forward to hearing from you. Yours sincerely, Dr. Susan Blackwell Birmingham

I have just read with dismay that Barnardo's will be acting as service provider for the new family detention centre at Pease Pottage, Sussex. It may have been repackaged as “pre-departure accommodation”, but however you try to spin this, it is effectively a prison for containing families. Families who will then be returned to countries from which they have fled, often in fear for their lives or having suffered violence & in some cases torture. Shame on you Barnado's for even considering taking part in this vile business. The way we treat refugees in this country is appalling, and now the government are buying the services of 'charities' to make it seem less brutal. I have donated to Barnardo's in the past, but I will never do so again.

Anon


Write to: info@barnardos.org.uk
cc: complaints@rednoseday.com

20 March 2011

Celebrating the Defeat of Cameron's Attempt to Privatise the Forests

The Triumph of the Collective Good over Private Interest

One of the few triumphs we have had since the Tory-Lib Dem Coalition took government in Britain in May 2010 has been the retreat over the privatisation of Britain’s woodland. When it was announced that our forests were going to be privatised there was uproar, even from the most conservative sections of the populace.

Most people know what happens when something is privatised. It becomes the plaything of the person(s) who bought it. The common good is sacrificed. Since the 1930’s there has been a continuous campaign to open up access to Britain’s beauty spots, much of which were in private lands, most of which the public were prevented access to. One of the few decent pieces of legislation of the New Labour Government was the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, often known as the Right to Roam Act.

On Sunday March 20th a rally was called, initially to protest at the Tory Lib privatisation plans, but it turned instead into a victory rally and we went on a 5+ mile hike through Friston Forest, which is in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty opposite the 7 Sisters Countryside Park.
Dave Bangs, an intrepid campaigner in Brighton for the right to roam and the organiser of many mass trespasses spoke at the rally of how Gerard Winstanley of the Diggers of the English Civil War spoke of how the Earth was given as a common treasury to all. Tory/New Labour politics of privatisation have the opposite belief, that a few individuals and companies are entitled, by virtue of their wealth, to keep out the mass of people from enjoying what should be their common inheritance.

He also noted how a number of NGOs and environmental charities had sought not to oppose but merely to ‘improve’ the Tory proposals, groups such as Natural England, and one of the speakers for another group spoke about how ownership wasn’t as important as control, as if you can separate the two.

But as was made clear, the Forestry Commission, which does excellent work, sees 10% of its estate privatised every 4 years. In other words, both under the Tories and New Labour there has been 'stealth privatisation'. What Cameron proposed was to quicken the pace.

There are a lot of lessons from the 1930’s which need to be relearnt, not least about how only collective action and experience trumps the private and selfish everytime.

Here are some pictures from our ramble today.

Tony Greenstein

17 March 2011

Anti-Semitic Attack on Jonathan Hoffman


Defend Jonathan Hoffman - The Jewish Churchill

We have had our disagreements outside the Israeli Embassy and Ahava over little things like the EDL lending their support to the Zionists and Israel. True we have occasionally exchanged unpleasantries outside Ahava as Michael Shanahan’s lilting tones wind up ‘Hoffie’ as he is affectionately known. True it is that I have on occasion suggested that he might even be autistic, not that I have anything against anyone with this conditon, as my son is autistic.

But never, never in all my years have I known such base ingratitude as the pompously styled ‘International Division’ of the Board of Deputies displayed yesterday. Quite why a British Jewish communal organisation needs an ‘international division’ anyway is or should be a matter of debate. Perhaps they think they are running an empire? Or perhaps they don’t understand that they are supposed to the cheer leaders for Israel, not the other way around.

Nonetheless the decision to suspend Hoffie is nothing less than outrageous. When one thinks that come rain or shine Hoffie is there, doing his best to deter people going into Ahava, with we might suggest quite a bit of success., then we have to see the actions of the Board's Placemen for what it is - abject cowardice. Those who have never fought for anything more than a good seat in a restaurant have the temerity to ‘suspend’ Jonathan (yes we’re on first name terms) for being ‘offensive’.

With the greatest respect to the Boards International Division, if every time Hoffie was offensive he was suspended (from what they don’t say!) then we’d be running out of rope to hang him with (forgive the mixed metaphors!).

As Jonathan says quoting Churchill no less ‘if you made an enemy it shows you stood up for something” and whatever else you can say about Hoffie, no one can deny that he has made more enemies than most of us have had hot dinners. Once again, a man of principle is sacrificed on the altar of someone’s ego.

The plain fact of the matter is that this attack on Jonathan Hoffman is nothing less than anti-Semitic. Hoffie has been singled out, not because he is ‘offensive’ (that was why he was elected in the first place) nor because of the abusive e-mails he sends round (it’s like asking a rotweiller not to bark in the dark) but because he is Jewish, nay more, because he is assertively Jewish, unlike the establishment mouses with whom he has to work.

I should make it plain that as with the previous time the Zionist Establishment conspired to get rid of Hoffie, I won't hesitate to send another letter into the Jewish Chronicle in his defence.

Defend Jonathan Hoffman from Anti-Semitism – Reinstate the Hoffie

Tony Greenstein
Save Jonathan Hoffman

Statement regarding Board of Deputies International Division yesterday

Jonathan Hoffman March 15 2011

I have been called today by journalists from both the JC and the JN about what happened at yesterday's International Division of the Board. It seems that someone has breached confidentiality. i therefore consider that I have the right to set the record straight.

I hear from a journalist that I have been suspended for a week. I am horrified and disgusted that the Board sees fit to tell the Press about my suspension before they tell me.

What happened at yesterday’s International Division meeting is the following.

Unrelated to what had gone before (I am not prepared to breach confidentiality further than this) and without justification, the Chair (Paul Edlin) accused me of being offensive to him and others ("some of your exchanges of emails have been very vexating and upsetting"). One Deputy was so incensed at this unsubstantiated and unprompted slur that he walked out in protest. Another Deputy protested in the meeting at this attempt to smear and humiliate me. I then walked out but returned after a couple of minutes. As I entered the room I said to the Chair "one more time and you’ve had it” meaning “abuse me without ground and in public one more time and I will take it further and go public” - at which point I was thrown out by the Chair. Mine was a perfectly justified response to bullying and the abuse of power.

I challenge Edlin to produce the "vexating and upsetting" emails as a comment to this blog, so that people can make their own judgment.

I am getting used to being smeared by some communal leaders. In November 2009 Jerry Lewis accused me in the JC of “damaging both Israel’s case and beyond". (To this day, not a single member of the Board’s Executive has disassociated from this comment!). I take it as a badge of honour that they think I am worth smearing.

Certain communal leaders do not like my dedicated Israel activism, the fact that everything I do is done from a basis of knowledge and thought and the fact that I am not afraid to rock the boat where necessary. So be it. I believe that their response is partly due to the fact that I show up their ineffectiveness: they defend by attacking. As Churchill said "if you made an enemy it shows you stood up for something". My record stands for itself, eg being instrumental in the Bathurst-Norman case. (When as a result of my obtaining and analysing his summing–up in the EDO case in Brighton, the Office for Judicial Complaints censured Judge Bathurst-Norman for anti-Israel bias).

Let others be judged on their record too.

Let's look at the verdict of my effectiveness from the estimable veteran advocate Isi Leibler, formerly of Australia, now of Israel.

More than anyone else, he was responsible for turning around the standing of Israel in Australia.
Leibler wrote in the Jerusalem Post in 2009 lamenting the 'erosion and marginalisation of most Diaspora Zionist organisations, with a few notable exceptions.' I asked him if the UK ZF was one of his exceptions.

I quote Leibler's response with permission: "For many years the UK ZF was low profile and inconsequential. It is only in recent times since you and a few others stood up to the trembling Israelites purporting to lead the Jewish community that it became one of the exceptions I mentioned."

15 March 2011

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 ‘Huntersarticle (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