Posted on 10/19/2006 7:54:50 AM PDT by Alouette
A popular and well known pizzeria and jazz music venue is hosting an alleged racist and anti-Semite musician which will be filmed by Al Jazeera.
From Wednesday, and for four nights, the Pizza on the Park in Knightsbridge, part of the Pizza Express restaurant chain, is hosting Jerusalem-born Gilad Atzmon, who is accused of racist and anti-Semitic statements and Holocaust denial.
In an essay, The Open Society and its Enemies: The Story of Auschwitz, Atzmon says, "As it seems, without engaging ourselves with the many questions concerning the validity of the widely accepted Holocaust narrative, we can safely ask what the Auschwitz Narrative is there to serve.... Is it a result of highly sophisticated and orchestrated Jewish propaganda?"
An article entitled The J word, the J people and the J spot, he states that the Jewish people are responsible for Bolshevism and capitalism.
"The J's [Jews] are the ultimate chameleons, they can be whatever they like as long as it serves as some expedient.... They are always at the cool side of the game, when it was right to be a Socialist they were right there in the forefront of the Bolshevik revolution, now when it is hard capitalism that sets the tone, you read about them in the Wall Street Journal..."
He adds, "When you scrutinize their racist and supremacist religious law (Talmud) they remind you that most of them are, in fact, secular (true, by the way), but then, when you question their secular philosophy, they would immediately confess that, in fact, there is no such philosophy."
In a 2003 article on anti-Semitism, Atzmon said, "We must begin to take the accusation that Zionists are trying to control of the world very seriously...American Jewry makes any debate on whether the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion' [sic] are an authentic document or rather a forgery irrelevant. American Jews (in fact, Zionists) do control the world..."
The Board of Deputies of British Jews has lodged a complaint with the pizza chain. Jon Benjamin, chief executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said, "Atzmon has associated himself with the most extreme views about Jews, the Holocaust and Israel generally, and he makes no secret of the fact that his politics and his music are equally important to him.
"He frequently uses the platforms he is given as a musician to propagate his strident political views, and his website is complete with his musings on Jewish conspiracies and Israeli criminality. This is quite unacceptable, and we will be protesting to Pizza Express in the strongest terms," he added.
A spokesperson for Pizza on the Park said, "Gilad Atzmon has been hired for his musical talents as an internationally recognized, respected and award-winning saxophonist and composer and who has performed to audiences all over the world, as well as London's premiere jazz venues. His performances at Pizza on the Park have attracted great interest."
The Observer newspaper reported in an article in April 2005 that at a conference at London University's School of Oriental and African Studies, he said, "I'm not going to say whether it is right or not to burn down a synagogue - I can see that it is a rational act." He also repeatedly spoke of Jewish and Zionist influence around the world and referred to the US as the "Jew-nited States of Jew-merica."
Sue Blackwell, a Birmingham University academic who led the 2005 campaign to boycott Israeli academic institutions, has blacklisted Atzmon. On her website, in the aptly named section 'Nazi Alert', she has severed all ties to him, saying, "Some notorious far-right individuals and organisations are jumping onto the Palestinian bandwagon in an attempt to hijack the cause of the Palestinian people for their own anti-Semitic ends."
Prior to both this and last year's Marxist Conference, protestors called for Atzmon's exclusion, and an argument broke out between the organizers and prospective participants who called for Atzmon's invitation to be rescinded because of his racist views.
A statement released by Socialist Workers Party, who organise the conference, read, "The SWP does not believe that Gilad Atzmon is a Holocaust denier or racist. However, while defending Gilad's right to play and speak on public platforms, that in no way means we endorse all of Gilad's views."
Atzmon added, "This is to confirm that I'm not a Holocaust denier, I have never denied the Nazi Judeocide and I do not have any intentions to do so. For me, racism and Nazism are categorically wrong, and it is that very realisation that made me into a devoted opponent of Israel and Zionism.... For me, Zionism, being a racist expansionist movement, is no different from Nazi ideology."
Voicing her opinion on the argument, Guardian journalist Linda Grant said, "When Atzmon performs, he often riffs about his views on Jews and Israel. That's part of his performance. Atzmon should not be prevented from performing. What we should do is expose his ideas for what they are, so the audience is aware that what it's listening to is essentially race hate."
David Aaronovitch, a journalist with the Times, talked about Atzmon in an article, entitled "How did the far left manage to slip into bed with the Jew-hating right?", telling the story of a Palestinian musician who told him that she would no longer work with Atzmon because, in her opinion, he was "an anti-Semite" and had, somewhere, "crossed the line".
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
No different from Naomi Shemer who took a Basque tune and renamed it "Jerusalem of Gold." Or the composers of "Hatikvah" who ripped off the Czech composer Smetana. Or for that matter, Francis Scott Key who used a tune from an old barroom song.
Speaking of "Jerusalem of Gold" I'm reminded of how much I hate that syrupy, smarmy crappy ballad.
GAG! Pass the Pepto!
High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel.
also Keywords 2006israelwar or WOT [War on Terror]
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Karl Popper must be spinning in his grave.
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