GA: An interesting review of my yesterday's talk at CU Bouldr. Tom Mayer offers an interpretation of my work from an American Jewish secular perspective.   

Tom Mayer's comment:
The talk by ex-Israeli jazz musician and cultural critic Gilad Atzmon was ewas highly biographical, punctuated by brief saxophone solos, and not particularly systematic.  Gilad's talk was, however, studded with telling if controversial insights about Israel and Jews.

Gilad has been accused by some of antisemitism, and listening to his talk I tried to divine why such charges might be made.  Of course I am entirely aware of the cynical and dishonest use of antisemitism accusations to discredit critics of Israeli oppression.  Indeed, I have often been accused of being a self-hating Jew.

Gilad strongly criticizes Jewishness and the Jewish state.  His criticism, however, does not derive from hatred for Jews or a desire to end Jewish presence in the Middle East.  His criticism is rather a lament for deep self-destructiveness that he detects in Jewish and Israeli culture, and a forlorn effort to stimulate change before catastrophe strikes.