Why do we hate them? by Gilad Atzmon

When I came over to Britain some thirteen years ago, I found a very tolerant place. I was amazed to see so many people of so many colours, not just living together in peace, but living in full harmony. At Essex University, the institute where I was doing my postgraduate studies, everyone was enthusiastic about post-colonialism. The Brits, so it seemed to me at the time, were repenting over their embarrassing colonial past. I was mildly impressed but not totally overwhelmed. At the end of the day, it isn’t that difficult to denounce your grandfather’s crimes.

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The Peace Envoy by Gilad Atzmon

What a great day for peace enthusiasts! A new envoy to the Middle East has been appointed for the Quartet, and it’s no other than the former British PM, Tony Blair. Blair, the man who gave the Israelis the green light to flatten Beirut. Blair, the man who started an illegal war in Iraq. Blair, a man who, according to the Geneva Conventions, is to be held personally responsible for more than 700,000 dead in Iraq for failing to ‘protect civilian populations against certain consequences of war’[1]. A man who is supposed to be charged for genocide at The Hague. That’s right, a man who should end his life behind bars is now becoming a peace envoy.

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THINK TRIBAL, SPEAK UNIVERSAL by Gilad Atzmon

14.12.06

I may as well be the King of The Jews. I have achieved the unachievable, accomplished the impossible. I have managed to unite them all: Right, Left and Centre. The entirety of the primarily-Jewish British political groups: the Zionists the anti-Zionists, Jewish Socialists, Tribal Marxists, The Board of Deputies, Jewish Trotskyites, Jews Sans Frontieres, Jews Avec Frontieres for the first time in history all speak in one single voice. They all repeat exactly the same misquotes. They all hate Gilad Atzmon.

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Here comes the flood by Gilad Atzmon

March 28, 2007

http://www.palestinechronicle.com/story-03280794707.htm

Tsunami in Gaza, Celebration of peace in Jerusalem

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced yesterday the decision of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman, Mahmoud Abbas to meet bi-weekly with the US mediating. Indeed ‘great news for the Palestinians and the Israelis’.

More or less at the same time at least five Palestinians drowned in a “sewageTsunami ” when a water treatment reservoir burst, flooding Umm Naser, a village in the northern Gaza Strip.

While in a peaceful news conference in Jerusalem Rice once again said NO to the democratically elected Hamas referring to the PA chairman as a “partner for peace”, a Bedouin village in Gaza was submerged in sewage.

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The politics of anti-Semitism by Gilad Atzmon

12.12.06

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/gilad_atzmon/2006/12/gilad_atzmon_responds_to_david.html

In an article published by the Guardian’s Comment is Free, David Hirsh an ultra-Zionist academic, accused me of being “anti-Semitic” and an “anti-Jewish racist”. Yet, even though the piece looks like it is fully researched, Hirsh fails to present one single argument that can support his accusations. On the occasions that he attempts to do so, when he seems to be getting close to substantiating his accusations, it is only because he takes my words completely out of context, crudely diverts their meaning and in doing so, deliberately misleads his readers. This is something you might expect from a politician but not from an academic.

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Jazz and Jihad: the discourse of solidarity by Gilad Atzmon

Speech given at Denver, 13 April 2007

Ladies and Gentlemen,

For many years I considered America as my promised land. As a young Jazz musician I was pretty convinced that sooner or later I would end up living in NYC. My Jerusalem was Downtown Manhattan and of course my holy scriptures were the old Blue Note vinyls. My Rabbis were named Coltrane, Bird, Miles, Duke, Dizzy, Bill Evans and naturally, there were many others.

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Ziotacticus Autisticus by Gilad Atzmon

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Hecklers

In the beginning they heckled me during my concerts. I can recall the first time, it was back in 2001, three days after 9/11. It was at the Hull Jazz festival in a sold out room. During the break, I was asked by a Palestinian Solidarity activist to announce a fundraising event for ‘Palestinian Medical Aid’. Just to be on the safe side, I approached the promoter and asked him whether or not I am allowed to mention the event. With his approval at my disposal I let myself go in between two tunes. It didn’t take seconds before a female Zionist heckler cut into my speech “and what about the Jews?” She shouted in a funny, high-pitch squeaky voice. I was bewildered. I didn’t expect it. Back in 2001 I was still very naïve. I realised that shouldn’t shout back, I had a microphone in my hands and I was backed by a massive PA system. Calmly, I addressed her query. “The Jews? I don’t really know. I assume that they are still consuming chicken soup in vast quantities.” The entire room burst into laughter. It was a kind of comic relief. The heckler lady wasn’t happy at all, she stood up in anger, dragging her obedient husband with her, and left the room with outrage. The audience were watching them make their public way out, giggling to themselves. I was rather shocked with myself.

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Brave New World War by Gilad Atzmon

Thursday, January 25, 2007 

The United States hopes that the United Nations General Assembly will vote by the end of this week on a resolution that condemns "any denial of the Holocaust". (CNSNews.com)

"We respectfully urge your country to co-sponsor and support the Resolution on Holocaust Denial that is to be voted on in the General Assembly this Friday."
(from a letter to UN ambassadors, Glen S. Lewy, ADL National Chair and Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director 23 January, 2007)

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Self-Haters Unite By Gilad Atzmon

26.4.06

More than two months ago, following the cartoon scandal and the outrage of the Muslim world that ensued, a group of Israelis announced their own anti-Jewish cartoons contest (http://www.boomka.org/). At the time, they received very wide coverage in the Israeli media and Jewish supportive press around the world. At the end of the day, the Israelis in particular, and Jews in general, insist on being ‘seen’ as open-minded beings, people who can easily handle self-mockery.

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The Hamas Victory Gilad Atzmon, Where to now, Palestine? Some reflections by Gilad Atzmon

The consequences of today’s Hamas victory aren’t yet clear, however the election results have revealed beyond doubt some fundamental information about Palestine and the Arab world:

*Democracy = Islam.
Once again the West and especially the Anglo-Americans must acknowledge the obvious fact: democracy in the Arab world means Islam. Unless one is severely Islamophobic this shouldn’t raise a problem. But apparently, we have too many Islam haters both in the left and in the right who happen to be horrified by the success of Islam among the masses. Anyhow, yesterday’s election in Palestine should serve as the last warning for those who now insist upon ‘democratising’ Syria.

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