[wvns] Saying NO to the hunters of Atzmon
An introduction by Gilad Atzmon: The following is another shocking
glimpse into the activity of the Zionist ADL within the Palestinian
solidarity movement. This article was written by FTP who acts as the
administrator of IM UK. After two weeks of non-stop harassment FTP
said enough is enough. He started a web page with the full catalogue
of tactics employed against him and his colleagues at the IM UK. He
probably believed that it is his duty to inform others. He thought
that it is important to make sure that the next time Moshe Machover or
Tony Greenstein call you a "racist" or a "fascist" you realise that
you are actually in very good company. FTP put it up just to make
sure that the next time Mark Elf (Jews Sans Frontieres) calls you a
"wanker" or a "fuckwit" that you shouldn't be intimidated, just keep
up with the good work. We are facing a cell of 5 racially orientated
subjects who for some reason call themselves anti-Zionists, but in
practice they operate as crypto-Zionists - defending deep "Jewish
Interests". They do whatever they can to silence any meaningful
criticism of Zionism and its vast support amongst world Jewry.
Visit gilad.co.uk
===
Saying NO to the hunters of Atzmon
by FTP, IM UK Administrator.
November 11, 2007
http://freethepeeps.wordpress.com/2007/11/11/hello-world/
There has been a long running war of attrition by a group who operate
under the banner of Jews against Zionism against Gilad Atzmon, who
describes himself as "an Israeli born, ex Israeli, Ex Jew, Hebrew
speaking Palestinian".The war began after Gilad wrote an article,
provocatively entitled The Protocols of the Elders Of London, which
railed against the way some JAZ members had treated Israel Shamir.
In the essay, Atzmon outlined the behaviours that some members the
group had employed against Shamir, and identified some of the leading
protagonists. Since then the protagonists appear to have been out to
get Atzmon, and those that they associate with him. They are using
exactly the same tactics that Atzmon described:
They demand the cleansing of Shamir. They insist upon ruining his
intellectual career or at the very least, his reputation. They would
use any possible manipulative strategy to have him thrown out of DYR,
which is the first step towards sending him beyond the pale.
In October 2007, I found myself inadvertantly involved in the
conflict, as a fairly long term admin of Indymedia uk, a site which
is part of the global Indymedia network, and is closely aligned to the
anarchist and anti-capitalism movements in the UK.
I spent about 6 months in Nablus, as an ISMer during 2002/3, and since
my return to London have had involvement with a number of groups who
form part of the spectrum that makes up the Palestinian solidarity
movement in the UK. I have met some of the protagonists, and have
heard others speak at public meetings. I have been involved in
campaigns with some. I have also tried to keep update with
developments in Palestine, and to read progressive articles on the
situation. In doing so, I became aware of the campaign being waged
against Atzmon by the protagonists, and following on from that began
reading articles by him.
I have never met Gilad, and it was only after the campaign came to
Indymedia uk that I have had an exchange of emails with him. I guess
that I didn't really understand the full implications of the
protagonists' campaign until Tony Greenstein contacted Indymedia to
demand that an article by Atzmon, which had been sitting on the
Indymedia uk site without any comments or complaints for about 2
months. Prior to this he had left comments under the article itself.
This contact turned out to be the first shots in a new battle in the
war of attrition that Tony Greenstein and his JAZ friends have been
conducting against Atzmon. I intend to use the blog to archive as
much relevant documentaion of this particular battle, so that it is
easily accessible. I have a feeling that it might be useful to the
next group or organisation that gets dragged into this war, and when
that happens I hope they find this, and make use of it. It also gives
me an opportunity to explain where I stand on matters, and to give my
side of the story. I believe that there is every likelihood that
Greenstein and his friends will seek to drag my name through the mud,
will label me an anti-semite, will suggest that I am a holocaust
denier, and many other horrible things.
At the end of the day, Tony Greenstein, like myself, Atzmon, and the
rest of the cast of characters that you will meet as you refight the
battle scene by scene, are all human, are all fallible, and all make
mistakes. Some of us are aware that we have shortcomings, and try to
reflect on our behaviour and to change it when we realise that we are
doing destructive and hurtful things. That's how I try to live to my
life, and I think Gilad attempts to do so to. We don't always get it
right. I've yet to see any signs that Tony Greenstein does anything
except rampage destructively and blindly through life, attacking
anything and everything that he does not agree with. I think it sad
that he does not realise how horrible the archive of efforts make him
look.
So, let me be clear. I am against fascism and Nazism. I am against all
forms of racism and discrimination. This includes any form of
Judeaphobia, which I prefer to the term anti-semitism, because it
seems to me that the charge of anti-semitism has been so abused that
it is no longer a useful term. Essentially it has become a term that
is used to attack opponents of "Zionism in practice," the
implementation of an ideology from a long ago era, which has resulted
in the dispossession, incarceration and deaths of many Palestinians.
Many Jewish people have died as a result of it as well.
In fact Greenstein himself noted in his first email:
On most occasions accusations of anti-Semitism, especially by Zionists
against those supporting the Palestinians are a form of defamation. In
this case they are unfortunately true.
I think the way in which Mr. Greenstein has conducted himself
throughout his war of attrition makes it impossible to accept him as a
neutral arbiter, and therefore I don't think his judgement can be
trusted. I think it is necessary for each individual who wishes to
pronounce on the alleged antisemitism of Gilad Atzmon to read his
arguments in their entirety and to make up their own minds.
I am aware that Atzmon is extremely provocative at times, and is quite
capable of being offensive. I suspect he has regrets about the way
that he has worded things, and I know of at leat one ocassion where he
has edited his text, when he realises that it might be misread. He has
also touched on some very sensitive subjects and not always in the
most sensitive way.
He has discussed the issue of the pro-Israel lobby in terms that have
caused some to accuse him of repetition of one of the canards of the
Protocols of the Elders of Zion. It is an issue that is impossible to
discuss without having that accusation thrown at you, as the rather
conservative academics Walt and Mearsheimer have come to discover.
However, W+Ms work has forced the issue into the open, and as I have
said in one of the emails relating to this discussion, I think that it
has to be possible to reflect on the power of the pro-Israel lobby. It
makes no sense to me to say that because some forgery from 1903
claimed that Jews were involved in a conspiracy to run the world (I
have to admit I've never read the damn thing), that there can never be
any study of the power structures of Zionism, which include
organisations like AIPAC, the ADL and the AJC.
However, here Atzmon can be seen as extremely provocative and offensive:
Let's review some current typical Zionist arguments:
a. The `Elders of Zion' syndrome: Zionists complain that Jews continue
to be associated with a conspiracy to rule the world via political
lobbies, media and money.
Is the suggestion of conspiracy really an empty accusation? The
following list is presented with pride in several Jewish American
websites.
Jews in Bush's Administration:
Ari Fleischer White House Press Secretary
Josh Bolten Deputy Chief of Staff
Ken Melman White House Political Director
David Frum Speechwriter
Brad Blakeman White House Director of Scheduling
Dov Zakheim Undersecretary of Defense (Controller)
Paul Wolfowitz Deputy Secretary of Defense
I. Lewis Libby Chief of Staff to the Vice President
Adam Goldman White House Liaison to the Jewish Community
Chris Gersten Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Administration for
Children and
Families at HHS Elliott Abrams
Director of the National Security Council's Office for Democracy,
Human Rights and International Operations
Mark D. Weinberg Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
for Public Affairs
Douglas Feith Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
Michael Chertoff Head of the Justice Department's criminal division
Daniel Kurtzer Ambassador to Israel
Cliff Sobel
Ambassador to the Netherlands
Stuart Bernstein Ambassador to Denmark
Nancy Brinker Ambassador to Hungary
Frank Lavin Ambassador to Singapore
Ron Weiser Ambassador to Slovakia
Mel Sembler Ambassador to Italy
Martin Silverstein Ambassador to Uruguay
Jay Lefkowitz Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the
Domestic Policy Council
Let me assure you, in Clinton's administration the situation was even
worse. Even though the Jews only make up 1.9 per cent of the country's
population, an astounding 56 per cent of Clinton's appointees were
Jews. A coincidence? I don't think so.
We have to ask ourselves what motivates American Jews to gain such
political power. Is it a genuine care for American interests? Soon,
following the growing number of American casualties in Iraq, American
people will start to ask themselves this very question. Since America
currently enjoys the status of the world's only super power and since
all the Jews listed above declare themselves as devoted Zionists, we
must begin to take the accusation that Zionists are trying to control
the world very seriously. It is beyond doubt that Zionists, the most
radical, racist and nationalistic Jews around, have already managed to
turn America into an Israeli mission force. The world's number one
super power is there to support the Jewish state's wealth and security
matters. The one-sided pro-Zionist take on the IsraeliPalestinian
conflict, the American veto against every `anti-Israeli' UN
resolution, the war against Iraq and now the militant intentions
against Syria, all prove beyond doubt that it is Zionist interests
that America is serving. American Jewry makes any debate on whether
the `Protocols of the elder of Zion' are an authentic document or
rather a forgery irrelevant. American Jews (in fact Zionists) do
control the world. So far they are doing pretty well for themselves at
least. Whether the Americans enjoy the deterioration of their state's
affairs will no doubt be revealed soon.
The bit that I have quoted in bold is the bit that is usually quoted.
Because that is one of the things that the protagonists do, they quote
partially and out of context, and then the thing looks pretty damn
rancid. In the context of the full article, I do not think it is
intentional anti-semitism - and this is what I find when I trace back
the more outrageous snippets that are constantly lumped together by
his attackers. The fact that the out of context snippet could then be
abused out of context by genuine anti-semites does not, in my view,
invalidate the article. I find that when I try to understand the whole
context the statements make some sort of sense. Sometimes the articles
require several readings before I feel I've come to understand them -
maybe I'm just really obtuse - and I haven't found a way of judging
Atzmon's writings without some effort.
Now, to be honest with you, I do not know enough about the realities
of American Lobbying (presumably only a very few lobbyists and
politicians know the real truth of their own actions), so I cannot say
that I agree with Atzmon's thesis that the pro-Israel lobby is running
the world by virtue of the power that they exert through powerful
organisations such as AIPAC, the AJC and the ADL exert in Washington.
I do know that the AJC ran an ad in the Financial Times:
The advert AJC posted in the FT showed a map of Europe, Africa and
Asia centered on a blacked-out Iran and indicated the current and
projected range of Iran's missile capacity. It asked the question:
"Suppose Iran one day gives nuclear devices to terrorists. Can anyone
within range of Iran's missiles feel safe?"
I can understand why Atzmon believes the Israel-Lobby is controlling
the USA, but I don't know if he is right or wrong. Perhaps now there
will be a fuller public debate of the issue, so that it is possible to
start deciding for oneself if Atzmon is close to correct, or way off
beam on this one. It also seems to me that the Lobby is starting to
target Europe for its activities, so we may discover more along the way.
I think that Atzmon should have the right to express his views on the
matter, and that those views should be judged within the full context
in which they are made.
In order to prevent this post becoming impossibly long, I'm not going
to go through any of Mr. Greenstein's long lists. Some of the other
allegations are discussed in emails to follow.
Many of the emails I post are from the Indymedia UK features list,
which is a publicly archived list where moderation decisions are made.
Some are emails between myself and Mr. Greenstein and his fellow
attackers. I actually don't care whether they want them published or
not. They weren't private except for one sent to me by the editor of
Jews sans frontieres and it is my view that it is indicative of the
tactics this group is willing to employ, and brings into question Tony
Greenstein's claim that his war of attrition is political and not
personal, and that "personal abuse is entirely Atzmon's forte.":
Its one thesis of his that is patently untrue.
Here is the email from Mark Elf - sent to me (Sat, 10 Nov 2007
00:45:17 +0000 (GMT) ):
You "presume from the cc's on Tony's email that you are working
together as a group on this one." Are you fucking mad? When you are
cc'd into an email promoting viagra or penis enlargement, do you
presume that you are working as a group with the sender?
You useless piece of shit. And you complain of bullying tactics whilst
betraying a woeful ignorance of racism.
What a wanker you are, whoever you are, ftp.
FTP is a loyalist slogan by the way. It stands for Fuck the Provos.
Since you host sectarianism (at best) you might think it a happy
coincidence.
You useless wanker, honestly. I can't believe what you claim to
believe. I was going to copy all the other cc's on this list but,
since there are some on the list I don't know, it wouldn't be right.
It would look like bullying, you wanker! Sorry to be repetitive but
there's nothing worse than an idiot who thinks they're clever.
What a fuckwit. I'm trying to get my head around this. I blog but I
don't do much surfing. You run or speak for a site that claims to want
to "free the people." I take that to mean all people. You host an
article by Gilad Atzmon that states that Israel should have learned
from what it was that made Jews unpopular enough to get millions of
Jews killed by the nazis. Atzmon's beef used to be that non-religious
people who identify as Jews are zionists since they are asserting, not
an identity but, supremacy. But now apparently whatever it was that
Israelis have to learn was what it was that made Jews unpopular enough
for even those Jews who had converted to Christianity or other
religions or who never claimed that they were Jewish, to be killed. So
there you have a Christian sitting in church with his or her yellow
star. Suddenly they are yanked out of the church by the gestapo and
marched off to a concentration camp. They did something to make
themselves unpopular?
And the colonial settler State of Israel should learn something from that?
Maybe the last of the colonial settler states has learned that it's a
jolly good idea to have people like Atzmon compare it to the Jews who
perished in the holocaust no matter what they did, no matter how they
behaved, no matter what they claimed to be, because then they can say
that anti-zionism is antisemitism.
But then all that (not so) subtlety is going to be lost on a wanker
who believes that people cc'd into an email must be working as a group
with the sender.
There are two more specifics in your email that I would like to
address since you have written to me out of the blue to complain of my
bullying tactics.
You have pasted a copy of an email from a Steve Cohen. Cohen, you
might know, is a Jewish surname. Not all people with that surname are
Jews but it's a safe bet usually that someone with that name is
Jewish. That does not mean that other Jews are responsible for the
email he sent nor are people who are cc'd by someone that also has a
Jewish surname.
You quote Deborah Maccoby too. Another Jewish surname. You suggest
that Tony Greenstein and all of those he cc'd are responsible for her
email and are responsible for any hypocritical departure from what she
said regarding "silencing" or not. Individuals who are Jews can still
write as individuals.
I have to say that you are not only defending this "free the people"
site's duty to post antisemitic (arguably, you say) articles but you
have given vent to it on your own account, at least twice in yoru
ludicrous email.
I'm not seeking a reply from a useless piece of shit but just in case
you do reply, keep it "off list" you big bully.
And I say that this is unacceptable behaviour. I'm not prepared to
keep quite about Mark Elf's abuse, I don't respect it as a form of
political action, and I have already informed him it will be
published. Since I made it clear to them that I would publish what I
like, when I like, the emails have stopped rolling in, so presumably
they realise that this kind of action isn't actually acceptable.
I say that it is time Moshe Machover, Tony Greenstein, Deborah
Maccoby, Mark Elf and friends take a time for reflection, that they
think long and hard about whether their war of attrition is serving
any useful purpose, about whether it is in the best interests of the
Palestinian solidarity movement that they act in this manner, and that
they try and understand how it appears that the ideological mindset
they seem to have adopted, seems to allow them to justify using using
the exact same methods of intimidation that the zionist lobby uses to
attack those that do not agree with the implementation of `Zionism in
practice' and the horrors that entails for Palestinians.
I also say that anyone who is, like I was, dragged into the war of
attrition, should be aware that the group has used the same tactics as
are commonly used by the zionist lobby in the past, and should be on
the look-out for them happening again.
If the group cannot find a more reasonable way of dealing with groups
that they say they are supportive of, if they do not stop hounding and
attempting to banish and silence their political adversaries, then I
say they can FUCK OFF! I want nothing to do with them. Hopefully
others will take the same line.
Read on through the documents and make your own mind up about what is
going on here.
To comment you have to register. This is to prevent anonymous trolls
and to encourage everyone to take responsibility for what they say,
and how they say it.
http://freethepeeps.wordpress.com/2007/11/11/hello-world/
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