Wayne Myers: Why I am no longer a Zionist


Atzmon writes on political matters, social issues, Jewish identity and culture. His papers are published on very many press outlets around the world. Here is just a short list of his recent publications: World News, Press Tv, Rebelion, The Daily Telegraph, Uprooted Palestinians, Veterans Today, Palestine Telegraph, Counterpunch, Dissident Voice, Aljazeera Magazine, Information Clearing House, Middle-East-Online, Palestine Chronicle, The People Voice, Redress, Shoa (The Palestinian Holocaust) , The Guardian, transcend and many more.
Jewish identity is tied up with some of the most difficult and contentious issues of today. The purpose in this book is to open many of these issues up for discussion. Since Israel defines itself openly as the ‘Jewish State’, we should ask what the notions of ’Judaism’, ‘Jewishness’, ‘Jewish culture’ and ‘Jewish ideology’ stand for. Gilad examines the tribal aspects embedded in Jewish secular discourse, both Zionist and anti Zionist; the ‘holocaust religion’; the meaning of ‘history’ and ‘time’ within the Jewish political discourse; the anti-Gentile ideologies entangled within different forms of secular Jewish political discourse and even within the Jewish left. He questions what it is that leads Diaspora Jews to identify themselves with Israel and affiliate with its politics. The devastating state of our world affairs raises an immediate demand for a conceptual shift in our intellectual and philosophical attitude towards politics, identity politics and history.
The book is available on Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk
Gilad Atzmon on HardTalk BBC Persia (english) from Gilad Atzmon on Vimeo.
GA: An interesting article by an ex-student of mine appeared on the Independent yesterday. Some people out there are moving rethinking and reevaluating their positions.
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http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/why-i-am-no-longer-a-zionist-8364214.html
Why I am no longer a Zionist
In this highly personal guest contribution, a British and Jewish blogger reflects on his youth membership of Zionist movements, the recent conflict in the Middle East between Israel and Hamas, and how his relationship with faith changes as he gets older
I'm a nice Jewish boy from North West London. I was brought up in a family that was never particularly religious – we belonged to a Reform synagogue, not an Orthodox one - but where my Jewish identity was considered extremely important, and where support for Israel was an absolute given. Not blanket, unquestioning support, but support nonetheless.
As a teenager I was heavily involved in RSY-Netzer, the Zionist Jewish youth movement affiliated with the Reform Synagogues of Great Britain. In 1987, at the age of 16, I spent a summer in Israel with RSY, and two years later took a gap-year there. Half that year was spent on Kibbutz Lotan, one of the two Reform Synagogue affiliated kibbutzim, and the other half was spent on a course known colloquially as 'Machon', at the Institute For Youth Leaders From Abroad in Jerusalem, run by an arm of the Israeli state known as the Jewish Agency.
On Machon, along with dozens of other young Jews of my own age from a range of different Zionist youth movements, I received training in youth leadership skills, Jewish history, and what is known in Hebrew as 'hasbarah'. Hasbarah literally means 'explaining', but it has another meaning, which is essentially 'propaganda'.
RSY-Netzer was at that point one of the three most left-wing Zionist youth movements - the other two are the explicitly socialist Habonim-Dror and HaShomer HaTzair. We were encouraged – and at the age of 18 or 19 we needed no encouragement – to spend much time discussing and arguing the fine points of Zionist ideology and Israeli politics both among ourselves and with members of the other movements.
At least we now know why Israel was so desperate for a ceasefire..
By Gilad Atzmon
The Guardian reported today that Britain is prepared to back a key vote recognising Palestinian statehood at the UN but only if Mahmoud Abbas pledges not to pursue Israel for war crimes and to resume peace talks.
“On Monday night, the government signalled it would change track and vote yes if the Palestinians modified their application. Whitehall officials said the Palestinians were now being asked to refrain from applying for membership of the International Criminal Court or the International Court of Justice, which could both be used to pursue war crimes charges or other legal claims against Israel.”
I wonder why the British government is so keen to save Israeli war criminals? Could it be because 80% of the Conservative MPs are Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI)? I’d also like to know what is it that led the British Government to change its position on the Palestinian bid for statehood. Is it because our Tory politicians are trying to squeeze more money from their paymasters? After all, if Whitehall’s decision is driven by any ethical and humanist concerns, why then are they trying to save Israeli mass-murderers from being schlepped to the International Court of Justice where they belong.
Music by Rich Siegel, the people are the peope of Gaza..
The Daily Mail reported today:
"The Italian FA has confirmed the vicious attack on Tottenham fans in Rome was racially motivated.
Witnesses to the attack claimed there were shouts of ‘Jews’ and anti-Semitic chants when up 50 Italian hooligans descended on the Campo de Fiori square in Rome to confront their rivals."
I guess that opposition to Israeli militarism is now a mass movement.
to read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk
PUBLISHED: 12:53, 24 November 2012 | UPDATED: 14:22, 24 November 2012
The Italian FA has confirmed the vicious attack on Tottenham fans in Rome was racially motivated.
Witnesses to the attack claimed there were shouts of ‘Jews’ and anti-Semitic chants when up 50 Italian hooligans descended on the Campo de Fiori square in Rome to confront their rivals.
The Italian FA has confirmed the vicious attack on Tottenham fans in Rome was racially motivated.
Witnesses to the attack claimed there were shouts of ‘Jews’ and anti-Semitic chants when up 50 Italian hooligans descended on the Campo de Fiori square in Rome to confront their rivals.
Now the president of the Italian Football Association (FIGC) has sent a letter of apology to English FA chairman David Bernstein, confirming this was the case.
by Sarah Gillespie
It is a rather curious time for Hollywood to launch a blockbuster movie based on the worst US/Iranian diplomatic fallout in history. Currently Iran is threatened with attack from the West almost on a daily basis, and sanctions have devastated the rial, plunging millions into poverty for the crime of (allegedly) developing the same weapons that Iran’s agitators enjoy without reprisal. Meanwhile, in the fantasy emporiums of high street cinemas, millions of moviegoers across the world are invited to imagine the opposite scenario, a tale in which the innocent Western subject is faced with extinction at the whim of an Iranian aggressor.
Kevin Barret wrote today:
http://truthjihad.com/news/?p=195
Since Shakespeare suggested killing all the lawyers, I don’t see why killing all the journalists would be going too far.
Some will quibble, saying “an eye for an eye eventually leaves everyone blind.”
But a hundred eyes for an eye gets there a whole lot faster.
Too bad we don’t all think like Zionists; if we did, the world would have gone blind a long time ago, and we wouldn’t have to see all these horrors perpetrated on innocents.
By Gilad Atzmon
In the past week, the people of Gaza have been subject to some serious Israeli attacks. Some Hamas leaders and militants have been murdered and many more Palestinians - innocent civilians, babies, kids women and elders – have lost their live. Yet, Gaza is celebrating with the Hamas leadership never more popular.
So here is an interesting anecdote that deserves our attention. During the recent clashes Gazan militants launched more than 1500 rockets at Israel. These rockets caused rather limited damage with more than six Israeli fatalities. Militarily at least, this is far from a great achievement. And yet the Gazans are celebrating. Would Israelis be happy to learn that 1500 of their rockets had had such limited effect? Would any western army accept such a result at such a cost? The answer is a categorical NO. But the Palestinians are ecstatic, why, because they know they have won the battle and are now set to win the war. They won the battle, not because they killed six Israelis – actually they would have won it without hitting one single Israeli. They won it because they managed to deliver a message to Israel, world Jewry and the whole world.
For many years I have argued that the Palestinian war of the rockets should be seen as sending a message: Israelis! You are on stolen land! You took our houses, villages, cities, fields and orchards. You pushed us into the desert. You surrounded us with barbed wire. You starve us and you kill us simply to suit your political ambitions. So this rocket is a message to you all. Think about us and then look at yourself in the mirror. Enough is enough!’
For more than six decades the Israelis have dismissed this message. They surrounded themselves with ghetto walls and have sealed their skies with an Iron Dome. However, with Tel Aviv now under attack, Israel and Israelis have been confronted with their original sin.