Anti-Zionists Denounce Anti-Zionist Jews

I wish that I didn't have to keep blogging about Gilad Atzmon. In a sane world, he'd be a marginal crackpot shouting his conspiracy theories on street corners and constantly readjusting the fit of his tinfoil hat.

But, it's not a sane world, and Atzmon remains a favorite among the anti-everything Left. As Bob from Brockley reports, Atzmon was invited to give a talk by the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, despite the protests of leftist, anti-Zionist Jewish organizations (such as the Jewish Socialist Group and Jews Sans Frontieres) who speak out against Atzmon's anti-semitism.

The Palestine Chronicle has just published an excerpt of Atzmon's speech before the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign. In Atzmon's view, not only is Zionism a fascist ideology, but anti-Zionist Jews are now also deemed fascists:

Now if you, Scottish activists stop for a second, ask yourselves why Dershowitz starts his book tackling the colonial aspect of Israel rather than facing its Fascist characteristics. My answer is simple. We are afraid to admit that Israel is indeed a Fascist State. It is predominantly the politically correct groups that furnish Dershowitz with a Zionist fig leaf. In fact, it is the Jewish gatekeepers on the left who have managed to reduce Zionism merely into a colonial adventure. Why did they do it? I can think of two reasons:

1. If Israel, the 'Jews Only State' is wrong for being a racially orientated adventure, then 'Jews for peace', 'Jews against Zionism', 'Jewish Socialists', 'Jews Sans Frontieres' etc. are all wrong for the very same reason (being a racially orientated adventure).

2. To regard the Israeli Palestinian conflict as a colonial dispute is to make sure it fits nicely into their notion of working class politics. May I suggest that a universal working class vision of Israel implies that the Jewish State is nothing but a Fascist experiment.

I would use this opportunity and appeal to our friends amongst the Jewish socialists and other Jewish solidarity groups. I would ask them to clear the stage willingly, and to re-join as ordinary human beings. The Palestinian Solidarity movement is craving for a change. It needs open gates rather than gatekeepers. It yearns for an open and dynamic discourse.

Re-join as ordinary human beings?!? Yes, it's gotten that ugly on the pro-Palestinian, far-Left: Even anti-Zionist Jews are deemed untermenschen for speaking out against anti-semitism.

Meanwhile, Marry Rizzo, the Atzmon apologist who published this defense of him in Counterpunch, is circulating an internet petition that is a thinly-veiled tirade against anti-Zionist Jews. The petition--titled "Palestinians are the Priority: An Open Statement of Commitment to the Palestinian Solidarity Cause"--currently has more than 600 signatories (including Jeffrey Blankfort). An excerpt:

To: Those in solidarity with the Palestinian People

There are individuals within the Palestinian solidarity movement seeking to create divisions by:

* imposing unilateral agendas by presenting both sides as victims;

* sabotaging service to the just cause of the Palestinian people;

* utilising the platform of the Palestinian discourse to argue about anti-Semitism, which is not a Palestinian problem and not created by Arabs. Our primary and single concern is solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Any attempts at censoring reasoned critique of Israel and Zionism must be refused a priori, as it is in conflict with the goal of seeking to protect and support the Palestinian people - as their empowerment is the only way to peaceful coexistence for all the populations of the Middle East. We demand free speech for sincere critics of Zionism and call for an end to campaigns created in order to ostracise its most vocal critics.

It just keeps getting creepier and creepier....