I was sent a post yesterday by a French comrade who asked why it was that British left-winger John Rose of the SWP and Ghada Karmi were speaking alongside an open anti-Semite and holocaust denier, Gilad Atzmon. I must confess I didn’t know.
I therefore e-mailed a number of people making them aware of this and a group of us were planning to organise a picket of the meeting at Westminster University. It is unclear who is organising the meeting, although I understand that Hizbut Tahir is strong on the campus.
However both John Rose and Ghada Karmi have made it very clear that they will not be speaking at the meeting. John Rose sent a message to people that:
I have not agreed to speak at this event & I have told the organisers to withdraw my name immediately. I did agree to speak at an event ABOUT Atzmon! A very different event and clearly not this one. Best John
In fact I’ve been asked recently to do much the same and whilst there can be no disagreement with challenging Atzmon’s views, including debating him if necessary (though most Atzmonites like Paul Eisen who I also challenged some years ago, run a mile), there is a world of difference with eruditely examining a subject as if Atzmon were some kind of expert.
Likewise Ghada Karmi wrote that:
‘Thanks,Tony. I have been trying to pull out and am urgently trying to find an email contact for them. I’m in Jordan currently, and not back till next week.’ Ghada’
That leaves Alan Hart. It is to be hoped that he will also realise that speaking alongside an anti-Semite on what ‘Jewishness’ means is not a way to combat Zionism. If he does insist on doing so then he will discredit himself. It is to be hoped that he will recognise that speaking alongside genuine anti-Semites is not a good thing.
And I’m pleased to say that after their earlier refusal to disown Atzmon because of loss of face, the SWP have now clearly decided not to have anything more to do with him.
Unsurprisingly the Zionists have picked up on this meeting, including one Mira Vogel of Green Engage. Unfortunately, as a minor derivative academic, Mira is extremely dishonest. Her article is entitled Stop the War Coalition and Stormfront promote the same campus event. In fact the Stop the War Coalition is not promoting the event although the Berkshire StWC, apparently, has members who support him. And it has to be admitted that they are not the only StWC group to do so.
But it would be easier to take Mira seriously if she had, even once, condemned fellow Zionists for demonstrating alongside the fascist EDL. If it is wrong for the Stop the War Coalition and Stormfront to support the same thing, then why did she have nothing to say about the support of the Zionist Federation and the EDL for the murder of 9 human rights activists on the Mavi Marmara. Such hypocrisy is typical of Zionists and that is why we can never take them protestations about anti-Semitism seriously. After all, if they were seriously concerned about holocaust deniers and misuse of the holocaust, then they would condemn the Israeli government for keeping 60,000 holocaust surviviors in poverty because they have stolen their compensation.
One can only assume that Mira and Green Engage believe that demonstrating with fascists and neo-Nazis is better than sharing a platform with a single anti-Semite!
And given the lack of criticism of Atzmon by her fellow Zionists (some of whom have openly worked with him e.g. Michael Ezra) it is no surprise that Mira Vogel ends up quoting my article on Atzmon having become an open holocaust denier! I’m always happy to have my work quoted, but she might ask why Michael Ezra, a Harry’s Place Zionist, actually researched previous criminal convictions for Atzmon to use to deflect my criticisms of him and offered to do the same with Roland Rance!
Tony Greenstein
Von: “Gilad Atzmon”
Gilad Atzmon: The Israeli So-Called ‘Left’
Thursday, April 21, 2011
We learned today that some 300 prominent Israeli left-wingers, including some cultural leaders, gathered in Tel Aviv to call for the Jewish state to embrace the creation of a Palestinian state.
Among the petition’s signatories were 17 winners of the Israel Prize and other leding intellectuals and artists.
“We are here to welcome the expected announcement of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, according to the borders of our independence, fixed during the 1949 armistice,” the petition reads. The Israeli so-called ‘Leftists’ are welcoming the expected Palestinian State as long as the Palestinians stay behind the wall and do not exercise their right of return. The Israeli humanists basically endorse the Palestinian diplomatic initiative so they can keep dwelling on Palestinian land forever. I am not impressed at all.
Event: Zionism, Jewishness and Israel
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
A panel discussion examining Israeli Criminality in the wake of the Goldstone Retract.
Tuesday, May 3 · 6:30pm – 8:00pm
Location: University Of Westminster – Cavendish Campus
115 New Cavendish Street
London
W1W 6UW
Speakers include:
Ghada Karmi
John Rose
Gilad Atzmon
Alan Hart
Enquiries Contact: 07934 263 023
[email protected]
This message was sent to [email protected] from:
Gilad Atzmon XXX XXX London, XX 7 7 XX, United Kingdom
