Gilad Atzmon blames Grenfell Tower tragedy on ‘Jerusalemites following
mitzvot’ (regulations, rather than ethics)
Newsletter published on 2 November 2017
(1) Haaretz opinion piece
calls Gilad Atzmon "a Grotesque anti-Semite
and Holocaust Denier"
(2)
Labour’s Refusal to Shun Livingstone Normalizes anti-Semitism -
Haaretz
opinion
(3) Gilad Atzmon blames Grenfell Tower tragedy on ‘Jerusalemites
following mitzvot’ (regulations)
(4) Mazal Tov to the Jewish Chronicle -
Gilad Atzmon
(5) Harvey Weinstein, Sabbatai Zevi and Tikun Olam - Gilad
Atzmon
(1) Haaretz opinion piece calls Gilad Atzmon "a Grotesque
anti-Semite
and Holocaust Denier"
https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/1.819645/1.819645
Haaretz
- Israel News
November 01, 2017.
Cheshvan 12, 5778
Why Are U.K.
Progressives Still Celebrating a Grotesque anti-Semite and
Holocaust
Denier?
When a publicly-funded community center hosted the Jew-hating
Gilad
Atzmon, it blocked anti-racists on Twitter who challenged the
decision.
For many on the U.K. left, the denial of anti-Semitism has become
a reflex
Ben Gidley Oct 30, 2017 10:30 AM
Last weekend, the small
English city of Reading (population 156,000;
Jewish population 355) was the
site of a book promotion event by
Israeli-born jazz musician and longtime
anti-Semite Gilad Atzmon. After
the venue ignored complaints from the local
rabbi and local councillors,
the event was protested by Reading Labour
councillors and members of
Reading’s Jewish congregation.
The
protestors pointed out that Atzmon is a well-documented Holocaust
denier and
racist. The Community Security Trust (which monitors threats
to the U.K.’s
Jews) described his previous book as "quite probably the
most anti-Semitic
book published in this country in recent years." That
book argued that
Jewishness (and not Zionism) is pernicious and that
Hitler will be
vindicated by history.
At an event at Exeter University, Atzmon was
reported as saying "Hitler
was right" and "anti-Semitism doesn’t exist." On
his blog and Twitter
account, Atzmon recently blamed West London’s tragic
Grenfell Tower fire
on the Jews; his tweet was headed with the neo-Nazi
catchphrase, "The
Goyim Know". In an interview this summer, he declared "the
music
industry is largely an extended Jewish syndicate." His social media
accounts in recent weeks have seen him retweeting and chatting with
explicit Holocaust deniers. His most recent book, which he was promoting
in Reading, is an attack on the "tribal" nature of Jewish and
"Jerusalemite" thinking, and is based on the work of the (Nazi)
philosopher Heidegger.
It is no surprise, then, that his writings are
widely circulated on far
right websites, such Veterans Today or ex-KKK
leader David Duke’s site.
Or that he should be widely condemned by Jews and
anti-racists. A
socialist writer in The Guardian has described his writing
as "a wild
conspiracy argument, dripping with contempt for Jews". A group of
left-wing authors told their publisher, who also published one of
Atzmon’s books, that "The thrust of Atzmon’s work is to normalise and
legitimise anti-Semitism." The U.S. Palestinian Community Network has
published a letter signed by several Palestinian activists condemning
him for his Holocaust denial and antisemitism, while another letter by
several prominent anti-Zionist activists makes similar points. The UK's
Palestine Solidarity Campaign has disassociated itself from him.
No
surprise, either, that his speaking gigs would be picketed by Jews
and
anti-racists, or that venues where he's due to speak decline to host
him on
learning of his views.
In recent months, his appearance at the Vienna
jazz festival was
cancelled when the city council, the festival’s main
funder, saw that
his views were at odds with their charter against racism.
In May, arts
venues in Newcastle and Edinburgh pulled out of hosting
promotional
events for the book.
No blame should be attached to these
venues for taking bookings; his
reputation is not big enough for his racism
to be wide public knowledge.
They did the right thing, though, in swiftly
admitted their mistake on
learning about his views.
But Reading RISC,
the publicly-funded solidarity centre which hosted his
most recent event,
and Albion Beatnik Books in Oxford, which hosted one
of his summer speaking
engagements, took the opposite approach: refusing
to respond to critics,
they doubled down and defended their decisions.
They can't use a defense
of ignorance. A simple Google search provides
more than enough background on
their speaker. And when the venues were
directly confronted on Twitter by
anti-racist campaigners, RISC
responded by blocking and Albion Beatnik by
mocking them.
Are these venues run by rabid Holocaust deniers? That seems
unlikely. So
why do apparently progressive people ignore Jews’ and
anti-racists’
complaints about Atzmon’s anti-Semitism?
It seems to me
that the explanation lies in a culture of ignoring
anti-Semitism which has
built up among many left-leaning people in Britain.
Since the start of
the Second Intifada, which trigged a spike in
anti-Semitic incidents in the
U.K., debates over anti-Jewish racism have
been overdetermined by the tense
politics of Israel/Palestine, and
overwhelmed by the difficulty of drawing
clear lines between
anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism.
The intensity of
feeling generated by the conflict – for most British
Jews, to whom Israel is
central to their Jewish identity, however
critical they may be of Israeli
government policy; and for many on the
left, to whom Israel has become the
moral cause of our time, akin to
apartheid in the 1980s or the Spanish Civil
War in the 1930s – means
talking about anti-Semitism rapidly escalates into
re-enacting the
Israel/Palestine conflict.
Supporters of Israel are
quick to see anti-Semitism behind every
criticism of the Jewish state, but
anti-Zionists feel free to ignore any
charge of anti-Semitism as being made
in bad faith in order to prevent
legitimate criticism. Instead of the reflex
to believe the victim with
which the left rightly responds to allegations of
other forms of racism
and oppression, many on the left have built up a
reflex of denial when
it comes to anti-Semitism.
Since 2015, under
veteran Palestine solidarity campaigner Jeremy
Corbyn’s leadership of the
Labour Party, which has created a sharp
divide on the left, these arguments
have become even harder, as many of
Corbyn’s acolytes see accusations of
anti-Semitism on the left as being
"weaponized" by Corbyn’s opponents. While
the right has indeed eagerly
seized on every instance of left-wing
Judeophobia to demonize the entire
left, too many on the left take this as
licence to dismiss Jewish
concerns as "smears".
For too many, no
amount of evidence is enough to count when
anti-Semitism is found, as with
Gilad Atzmon, in the most flimsy of
guises of anti-Zionism.
Atzmon
has long since stopped regarding himself as Jewish. He infamously
tweeted:
"I am not a Jew anymore. I indeed despise the Jew in me
(whatever is left)."
But his Jewish background makes it easier to
dismiss charges against him.
And this is useful for white supremacists
such as David Duke, who use the
likes of Atzmon as both alibi for and
gateway drug to their hardcore
racism.
As New York-based writer Arwa Mahdawi noted recently, "Far-right
parties
have realized that strategically dangling a few gay people acts as a
sort of fundamentalist Febreze that dilutes the stench of their hatred."
Similarly, apparently Jewish anti-Semites such as Atzmon – even if they
are on record as despising their own Jewishness – serve to throw
progressives off the scent when it comes to Jew-hate and Holocaust
denial.
Ben Gidley is a Senior Lecturer at Birkbeck, University of
London, and
author (with Keith Kahn-Harris) of Turbulent Times: The British
Jewish
Community Today and editor (with James Renton) of Antisemitism and
Islamophobia in Europe: A Shared Story? Twitter: @bengidley
(2)
Labour’s Refusal to Shun Livingstone Normalizes anti-Semitism -
Haaretz
opinion
https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.781684
Opinion
Labour’s Refusal to Shun Livingstone Normalizes anti-Semitism
The former
London mayor’s claims go well beyond lazy moral equations of
Israel with
Nazi Germany ubiquitous in anti-Israel circles. They have
more in common
with Holocaust denial. [...]
(3) Gilad Atzmon blames Grenfell Tower
tragedy on ‘Jerusalemites
following mitzvot’ (regulations)
https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/atzmon-blames-grenfell-tower-tragedy-on-jerusalemites-following-mitzvot-1.447012
Atzmon
blames Grenfell Tower tragedy on ‘Jerusalemites following mitzvot’
Lee
Harpin
The Jewish Chronicle
October 31, 2017
Notorious
author Gilad Atzmon insists Jews are 'doing way better than
anyone else' as
he speaks at Reading festival
Gilad Atzmon, the antisemitic author
and jazz musician, has
claimed that the Grenfell Tower tragedy was the
responsibility of
"Jerusalemites" who were "following
mitzvot".
Giving a talk at the Reading International Festival, he
attempted
to blame the tragedy, which killed at least 80 and left hundreds
more
injured, homeless and traumatised, on people who could be characterised
as those who followed "commandments".
Mr Atzmon discussed what
he described as a difference between
critical thinkers – who he labelled
Athenites – and the Jerusalemites
who followed "mitzvot".
He
said: "How is it related to Grenfell Tower? Very simple.
People who think
things through, who understand about responsibility and
morality and ethics
don’t clad buildings all over the country with
flammable
materials.
"But when it happens – it is we were following
regulations, we
were following mitzvot."
He continued: "Athens
and Jerusalem is not Jews versus goyim or
Jews versus
gentiles.
"Athens and Jerusalem is thinking things through as
opposed to
following regulations, mitvot, commandments, laws.
"The Ten Commandments is Jerusalem. I don’t need you to tell me
I should
not kill. Athens is ethics, Jerusalem is anti-ethics."
"Jerusalemites" were not necessarily Jews, Mr Atzmon said.
"It’s
not Jews and gentiles because Tony Blair is not a Jew and
he’s a
Jerusalemite."
As the 90-minute speech continued the Israeli-born
writer, who
has previously challenged Holocaust denial legislation, said:
"Even the
democratic process does not really matter. If you vote Labour, the
polices are shaped by Labour Friends of Israel., if you vote
Conservative it’s CFI (Conservative Friends of Israel).
"The
same thing happens in America, in France, and even Turkey is
pro-Israeli
now."
He blamed "the Jews" for the collapse of the traditional
left-wing politics that he said once appealed to him.
He said:
"The Jewish lobby is a cosmopolitan lobby. It has turned
every person in the
universe into a tribe who operates like a Jew.
"Look at it – the
gays are doing fine, the blacks are doing fine,
the women are doing fine -
but the Jews are doing really fine. They
have a state, hundreds of atomic
bombs, they have F16s, F35s [fighter
aircraft].
"How many gays
have a state, an atomic bomb, an army? How many
blacks have a lobby that
shapes American foreign policy so everyone is
tribal like a Jew? But the
Jews are doing way better than everyone else. "
Mr Atzmon said his
Athens and Jerusalemite talk was inspired by
the "very famous Jewish
philosopher Leo Strauss, who is considered to
be" the father of the neo-con
movement – so he’s not necessarily a nice
guy."
Mr Atzmon’s
talk took place on October 22 with congregants from
the Jewish Community of
Berkshire and members of Reading’s LGBT+
community holding a protest
outside the event. They were joined by
Rachel Eden, a Labour councillor, who
organised the demonstration, as
well as councillors Daya Pal Singh, Richard
Davies, and Sophia James.
Rabbi Zvi Solomons, of Jewish Community
of Berkshire, said the
Jewish community was "horrified" by Mr Atzmon’s
appearance and "gravely
disappointed that it went ahead despite attempts to
have it cancelled".
He described Mr Atzmon as "a notorious
antisemite. He has
promoted Holocaust denial, compared Israelis to the
Nazis.
"He is not the sort of person any liberal outfit should
want to
be connected to."
Mr Atzmon also played two shows at
the Pizza Express Jazz Club in
Soho, central London, on Saturday October
28.
Pizza Express told the JC that the views expressed by Mr
Atzmon
‘are not reflective’ of the company’s values.
A Pizza
Express spokeswoman said: "Gilad Atzmon is a musician who
has performed at
our venues for over 20 years, and his gigs have always
proven to be very
popular with our customers."
(4) Mazal Tov to the Jewish Chronicle -
Gilad Atzmon
http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/2017/10/31/mazal-tov-to-the-jewish-chronicle
Mazal
Tov to the Jewish Chronicle
October 31, 2017 / Gilad
Atzmon
Introduction by Gilad Atzmon: The following is today’s Jewish
Chronicle
article. It was written in a desperate attempt to portray me as
an‘antisemite,’ but I actually approve the text and the references to my
work.
For the first time in two decades, the rabid Zionist outlet has
managed
to quote me accurately. Not once before did anyone within the
Hasbara
league attempt to engage with my recent book Being in Time – a Post
Political Manifesto. In the book I argue that the dystopia in which we
live is the direct outcome of the victory of Jerusalem over Athens.
While Athens is the city of reason and philosophy, Jerusalem is the
capitol of revelation, obedience and adherence to mitzvoth
(regulations). I suggest in Being in Time that for Western civilisation
to survive, Athens and its values must be reinstated!
It is rather
obvious that the JC refrained from sharing the link to my
Reading talk with
its readers. I guess that they were tormented by the
thought that more Jews
may find my ideas appealing and flip, as I myself
did over a decade ago.
...
http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/2017/10/25/athens-and-jerusalem-gilad-atzmon-at-reading-international-festival-video
Athens
and Jerusalem - Gilad Atzmon at Reading International Festival
(video)
October 25, 2017 / Gilad Atzmon
In this talk
(22.10.2017), Gilad Atzmon delves into the crucial
dichotomy between Athens
and Jerusalem. Atzmon argues that the dystopia
in which we live is the
direct outcome of a Jerusalemite set of 'correct
ideas' over the Athenian
search for reason, essence and logos. Tyranny
of correctness, Identitarian
divisiveness, the battle against
historicity are symptoms of Jerusalemite
thinking, they did little but
derail the Western ethos. To rescue ourselves
and what we believe to be
our civilisation, Athens must be
reinstated.
Despite some relentless Zionist institutional efforts to
cancel the talk
(CAA, BOD, JC, local rabbi etc) both RISC and the Local
Council stood
firm and made sure freedom and tolerance were
sustained.
https://youtu.be/LfHVnhl_8Sk
(5)
Harvey Weinstein, Sabbatai Zevi and Tikun Olam - Gilad Atzmon
http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/2017/11/1/harvey-weinsteinsabbatai-zeviandtikun-olam
Harvey
Weinstein, Sabbatai Zevi and Tikun Olam
November 01, 2017 / Gilad
Atzmon
Short Comment by Gilad Atzmon
The Daily Mail reports that
"disgraced Harvey Weinstein believes he is
a saviour who was born to 'change
the world' by taking the fall for
sexual assaults."
Sources close to
the shamed producer said he has resigned himself to
being punished over the
allegations 'as a martyr for social change.’
Weinstein could be seen as a
follower of Rabbi Sabbatai Zevi, who
declared himself the Messiah in 1666.
Zevi proclaimed that redemption
was available through acts of sin and he
amassed a following of over one
million passionate believers, about half the
world's Jewish population
during the 17th century. The shift from total
sinner into the new
messiah figure was certainly rapid for serial predator
Weinstein. But
this shouldn’t take us by surprise. Weinstein's regard for
himself as a
‘martyr for social change’ is consistent with Tikun Olam – the
misguided
Jewish belief that it is down to the Jews to repair the
world.
I guess we are witnessing a radical shift in the world of criminal
defence. Jeffrey Epstein could just claim that in retrospective, he
helped to raise awareness of child prostitution. Israel can say in its
defence that its history of crimes against humanity made it into a
martyr for social justice proving how lethal choseness and chosenism
are. But, could Jimmy Saville do the same? What about Stalin? Let us
push it even further, could Hitler apply the same strategy in his
defence? Is he eligible to become an anti racism martyr? I’ll let you
ponder that one…
To grasp the dystopia in which we live read Being in
Time - A Post
Political Manifesto, Amazon.co.uk , Amazon.com and here
(gilad.co.uk).
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