Hannah Arendt and Jewish Intolerance

A film review by Gilad Atzmon

In  1961, German-Jewish philosopher and political theorist Hannah Arendt travelled to Jerusalem to cover the trial of Adolf Eichmann for The New Yorker. Margarethe von Trotta’s  new docudrama 'Hannah Arendt' tells the story of her journey and the controversy following her report.

What Arendt (Barbara Sukowa) saw in Eichmann was not stupidity, but actually a thoughtlessness – a complete incapacity for independent critical thought. Arendt understood that it was within this thoughtlessness that the evil becomes banal as opposed to being a sinister premeditated crime.  The ‘banality of evil’, as such, is the structure that allows the ethical to fade away and blind compliance to take over. To a certain extent, the banality of evil is that crude obedience that actually removes responsibility from the perpetrator and turns genocide into a mechanical operation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTQNWgZVctM

The Jewish community was outraged by Arendt’s reading of both the Holocaust and the Eichmann trial, and objected to the portrayal of Eichmann as an obedient officer within a state bureaucratic apparatus. They protested against the instrumental notion of the ‘Banality of Evil.’ They wanted revenge and wanted to see Eichmann as the arch exemplary case of a ‘hatemonger antisemite’. But Arendt suggested he wasn’t that at all. According to Arendt, Eichmann's appearance in Jerusalem proved that he was just a minor cog in a big machine.

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NYC is my Mecca

By Gilad Atzmon

As an Israeli boy of a patriotic background, I was destined to become a military man.  But then, at seventeen, as I was getting myself ready for my  IDF compulsory service, the unexpected happened. On a late night jazz radio programme, I heard Charlie Park first time. 

I was knocked down. The music was more organic, poetic, sentimental and wilder than anything I had ever heard before. Parker’s music was intense but it was as well romantic and even melancholic at times.

It was then and there that I realised,  my upbringing, Zion, and the IDF notwithstanding, that  NYC  was my Mecca and Jazz was my Jihad – a spiritual struggle aiming at beauty.

As I grew older, I realised that America was far from being perfect, and it wasn’t necessarily as brilliant as the music of Bird, Ellington or Coltrane’s. Nevertheless it was clear to me that  there was something in America and NYC that brought about jazz, that unique  combustible mixture of imaginary freedom confronted with harsh oppressive capitalism, urban complexity, all sparked by a lot of talent.

Yesterday I was listening to the legendary Jimmy Cobb playing at Fat Cat. Jimmy is not young, he played with Miles Davis and John Coltrane back in the 1950’s.  But his spirit is still very young. And he was surrounded by young musicians who keep jazz alive against all odds.  

This weekend I will record in Manhattan with Ben Meigners on upright bass, and Jason Brown on the drums. I am very excited about it. I rarely record in America, but when I do, it is a special event in my career. The recording sessions are open to the public but the number of seats is obviously limited. This would be the first ever recording of this trio.  But you could also be a part of it! To book a place: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/455960

Come and meet me in NYC this Weekend

Hello everybody

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/455960

On October 5th & 6th, 2013

Gilad Atzmon is coming from London to NYC for a unique studio recording at Zeb's wonderful studio.

The recording sessions are open to the public but the number of seats are limited. You will be experiencing Gilad's collaboration with two of NYC's finest musicians, Ben Meigners on upright bass, and Jason Brown on the drums.

This would be the first ever recording of this trio, and you can be a part of it!
It includes wine and snacks (suggested donation) and discounts on Gilad's CD's and book ("the wandering who?")

to book a place: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/455960

On Blood Rituals

By Gilad Atzmon

Haaretz reported today that a couple of weeks ago, New York City Councilman David G. Greenfield introduced a bill that would bar the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene from requiring informed consent for metzitzah b'peh. 

Metzitzah b'peh (blood sucking) is a Jewish blood ritual where a circumciser (mohel), “sucks out blood from a baby’s penis after circumcision.”

The N.Y. health department has linked several infant deaths to Metzitzah b'peh. Needless to say that the American health authorities’ concerns are more than reasonable. However, not many people are familiar with the history of the political and medical discussion over that particular Jewish blood ritual.

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THE LIFE OF AN AMERICAN JEW IN RACIST MARXIST ISRAEL (Part 1)

Jack Bernstein

This article appeared on The People's Voice back in 2006. It is a must read...

I learned about it from Ragnar B. Johannessen who was the editor of the site at the time.

This honest and courageous Jew
was assassinated some years ago,
by MOSSAD.

"...Judaism is a religion; but Zionism is a political movement started mainly by East European (Ashkenazi) Jews who for centuries have been the main force behind communism/socialism. The ultimate goal of the Zionists is one-world government under the control of the Zionists and the Zionist-oriented Jewish international bankers." ― Jack Bernstein

"In Germany, the average Jews were victims of the Zionist elite who worked hand in hand with the Nazis. Many of those same Zionist Jews who, in Germany, had worked with the Nazis, came to Israel and joined hands with the Zionist/Communist Jews from Poland and Russia. It is the two faces of communism and Nazi-style fascism that rule Israel. Democracy is merely an illusion." ― Jack Bernstein

The late Jack Bernstein was a rarity—an American Zionist who actually "returned" to Israel, not for a vacation or to summer on a kibbutz, but to live and die in Israel building a Jewish nation. What makes him almost one of a kind, though, was his ability to see through the sham and hype to the oppressive, racist, parasitic character of Zionism as practiced in modern Israel, and his courage to denounce it with the force and fervor of an Old Testament prophet.

Bernstein tells how it was, how it is, and how it will be—as long as American taxpayers tolerate their leaders’ bowing to every wish and whim of the Ashkenazic (Eastern European) elite which rules Israel. He takes the reader on a guided tour through Israel’s history, institutions and values, demonstrating how the best traditions of Biblical Judaism have been obscured, corrupted, or cast out to make way for the totalitarian, militaristic, chauvinist monster that is the Israel of today.

Bernstein tells how it was, how it is, and how it will be—as long as American taxpayers tolerate their leaders’ bowing to every wish and whim of the Ashkenazic (Eastern European) elite which rules Israel. He takes the reader on a guided tour through Israel’s history, institutions and values, demonstrating how the best traditions of Biblical Judaism have been obscured, corrupted, or cast out to make way for the totalitarian, militaristic, chauvinist monster that is the Israel of today.

In Racist Marxist Israel is an irrefutable demonstration that Israeli Jews—and their Zionist kindred around the world—maintain a double standard on political morality and ethics, and that they support themselves, indeed wax fat on, the sweat and tears and toil and money of non-Jews.

Many Jews—and many more non-Jews—won’t like this book. Its author’s insistence that what’s sauce for the Gentile goose must also be sauce for the Zionist gander will leave a bitter taste in the mouths of large segments of America’s self-hating, sackcloth-and-ashes set. All readers of good will, however, will hail Jack Bernstein for his long and arduous march, from dual-loyalist to practicing Zionist to true-red-white-and-blue American patriot, a twentieth-century Paul Revere for all real Americans, Jews and Gentiles alike.

Introduction

http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/
Jack Bernstein

Before Israel became a state in 1948, Jews worldwide were filled with Zionist propaganda that Israel would be a homeland for all Jews, a refuge for persecuted Jews, a democratic country and the fulfillment of biblical prophecy.

I am an Ashkenazi Jew who spent the first 25 years of my life in the United States, the country that has given ALL Jews freedom and the opportunity to prosper -- and prosper we Jews did, to the point that one portion of the Jews (the Zionists) have gained a position of political and economic dominance in the U.S.

To fully understand the story I am about to tell, it is important that you understand what Zionism really is. Zionist propaganda has led the American people to believe that Zionism and Judaism are one and the same and that they are religious in nature. This is a blatant lie.

Judaism is a religion; but Zionism is a political movement started mainly by East European (Ashkenazi) Jews who for centuries have been the main force behind communism/socialism. The ultimate goal of the Zionists is one-world government under the control of the Zionists and the Zionist-oriented Jewish international bankers. Communism/socialism are merely tools to help them accomplish their goal.

I was a Victim of Zionist Propaganda

After the 1967 War, we Jews were filled with pride that 'our homeland' had become so powerful and successful. Then too, we had been filled with the false propaganda that Jews in America were being persecuted. So, between 1967 and 1970 approximately 50.000 American Jews fell for this Zionist propaganda and migrated to Israel. I was one of those suckers.

After being filled with all this false Zionist propaganda, I felt that I would have a better chance to succeed in the new Jewish state. There was an added enticement, the spirit and challenge of pioneering and of helping my fellow Jews.

Dual Citizenship

I had no emotional conflict with leaving the U.S. because I was still able to keep my U.S. citizenship and could return to the U.S. at any time. You see, Jews are allowed to be citizens of both Israel and some countries -- U.S. is one of those countries. The U.S. government allows a Jew to be a citizen of both U.S. and Israel.

German Americans cannot be citizens of both the U.S. and Germany. Italian Americans cannot be citizen of both U.S. and Italy. Egyptian-Americans cannot be citizens of both the U.S. and Egypt . . . BUT, a Jewish American can be a citizen of both Israel and the U.S. THIS IS A GOOD EXAMPLE OF THE POWER THE ZIONIST JEWS HAVE OVER THE U.S. GOVERNMENT.

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Avigdor Lieberman: Israel Should Attack Iran Alone

In a post on his Facebook page, Avigdor Lieberman, the former Israeli foreign minister projects his deceitful symptoms upon the Iranian president: "Now, when the world's attention is focused on the new Iranian president's attempts to appear moderate and conciliatory, it is worth noting that the Iranians have long employed a pattern of deceit: various promise tactics, stalling and feeding the international community with false information time and time again, all the while pursuing their goal of obtaining a nuclear weapon, meant to threaten world peace." 

Addressing Israel's attack on Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981, he said: "We should also bear in mind that in the case of the Iraqi reactor, Israel was the only one who made a warning and in retrospect we were right, as in other cases." 

Israel is in a state of panic over the growing popularity of Iran at the UN.  But it seems as if Israel is not alone, Haaretz reports today that over the past week conversations have taken place between senior Israeli diplomats and officials from the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and other Sunni Gulf states. An Israeli official who requested anonymity said there was a common message in these conversations and a shared sense of anxiety.

“All governments in the moderate Sunni states, especially in the Gulf, are very worried about the thaw in relations between the U.S. and Iran,” the senior Israeli official said. “They’re afraid that the American-Iranian deal will come at their expense. There’s pressure not only in Jerusalem, but in the Gulf as well. They’re really wetting their pants."

It may be possible that the penny has dropped. America and West finally gather that Israel and its Lobby are the biggest threat to world peace.

Jack Berenstein: Zionists and Their Lies

Jack Bernstein was a Jewish critic of Zionism. Here he exposes the Zionist tactics to silence criticism.

Me, Gilad Atzmon and the 'Truth'

Introduction by Gilad Atzmon: Roy Bard is a known figure within Britain’s far left, anti-war and the Palestinian Solidarity Movement. He is a member of the Indymedia UK collective, a leading British anti-capitalist media outlet. I first encountered Bard five years ago.  At the time the site was subjected to an international Jewish ‘anti’-Zionist campaign: a cabal of ethnic activists demanded that Indymedia deleted my articles.  Being a principled man, Bard didn’t bow to their pressure. Bard has been subjected to a malicious slanderous campaign ever since.
The article below is about sadness – if the personal is political, as some progressives insist, this article is an intimate insight into the medium in which such a transition takes place. It reveals the measures of brutality and intolerance that are unfortunately intrinsic to the Jewish Left. I was really moved when I read this article.

Me, Gilad Atzmon and the'Truth'

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/

By Freethepeeps aka Roy Bard

Roy Bard and Gilad Atzmon - London 25/9/13

“Were you tortured by your own thirst
In those pleasures that you seek
That made you Tom the curious
That makes you James the weak?”
Rodriguez (Searching for Sugarman)- Crucify Your Mind

Me:

I was born in Johannesburg, Apartheid South Africa in 1960. My mom was a trainee nurse and she met my dad while he was recovering from an accident in which he had lost a leg. She was 19, him 28 (I think). Before he left the hospital she was pregnant – with me. They tried to build a life together but it didn’t work out. When I was two and a half, he took a car out and put a hosepipe from the exhaust to the window. An aunt tells me she talked him out of taking me with him. It would have saved me much pain if she hadn't - conversely it would have caused others even more pain. Life is so complicated.

My dad's suicide led to me being put into the care system and being moved from pillar to post until shortly before I was 5 when I was adopted by a dysfunctional couple, as a substitute for the children they thought they couldn’t have. By this time, I was a very disturbed little boy and my adoptive father, who was an immigrant from the UK, thought he could beat the disturbance out of me. My mother egged him on – and I learnt to dislike her even more than I hated him...

The more he beat me, the more disturbed I became,
The more disturbed I became, the more he beat me
– how’s that for a vicious circle?

Here are two defining moments that spring out from the time I spent with them. (By the time I was 11 I was mainly back in institutions, and back to moving from pillar to post).

When I was around 8 or 9 I had cause to go to our maid’s room, which was about 15 yards from the adoptive folks' very comfortable and large suburban house outside of Durban. Her room was cramped, and blackened by candle smoke because she didn’t have electricity – it was furnished with cheap furniture and very little of it. I asked my adoptive Mother why our maid lived in such terrible conditions, and she replied:

“They have different needs to us.”

Even at that age I knew that was a blatant lie and thus I learned to question what was going on around me and came to an understanding that none of us should be treated as a lesser being, nor judged, nor subjected to abuse and poverty or even death because of who brought us into this world ………. Perhaps because of my own disturbance I was unable to muster the supremacist ego of the racists around me – and I was further marginalised for not being one of them…… It is one of the greatest tragedies of my life, that my birth brother, from whom I was separated in my toddler-hood, and only found again a quarter of a century later, did become one of them, and still is. I love him so dearly – but our political differences prevent us from enjoying each other.

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Now’s The Time To Strip Israel of its WMDs

By Gilad Atzmon

The Israelis are not very impressed with Hassan Rouhani, the new Iranian president. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu ordered Israel’s delegation to boycott his appearance at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday and later denounced Rouhani’s address there as “a cynical speech that was full of hypocrisy.”

But Israel seems to be alone this time.  Both the United States and other Western nations appeared to warmly welcome the new Iranian president at the UN.

But did Rouhani present any radical change? Did he deliver new promises? Not at all. Like his predecessor, he made it clear that Iran is not going to give up on its right to proceed and develop nuclear energy. Like Ahmadinejad, Rouhani contended that  "nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction have no place in Iran's security and defence doctrine, and contradict our fundamental religious and ethical convictions. Our national interests make it imperative that we remove any and all reasonable concerns about Iran's peaceful nuclear program."

The President also suggested that the world should recognise Iran's basic right to carry out all parts of its nuclear fuel cycle. In short, Iran is going ahead with its nuclear project. And this is indeed very good news.

So what changed really?  Only one thing, I guess. The nations seem to have changed their appetite. And they are somehow brave enough to admit it to themselves.

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