Friday March 29, 2024
SNc Channels:

Search
About Salem-News.com

 

Mar-18-2012 21:20printcomments

Disavowal: '...a mental act that consists in rejecting the reality of a perception'

How can a critique of Zionism’s strategies “legitimize” what it claims to be?

Gilad Atzmon backstate
Gilad backstate, courtesy: deliberation.info/

(LAVERNE, CA) - “For me to be Jewish is, above all, to be preoccupied with overcoming injustice and thirsting for justice in the world, and that means being respectful toward other peoples regardless of their nationality or religion, and empathetic in the face of human suffering whoever and wherever victimization is encountered” (Gilad Atzmon, “On Jewish Identity,” 1/15/2011).

Strange that the US Palestinian Community Network, in an article titled “Granting No Quarter: a Call for the Disavowal of the Racism and Anti-Semitism of Gilad Atzmon,” by Ali Abunimah would seek to silence the voice of a man who, as the quote that opens this article attests to all the world in his new book The Wandering Who, that he stands for “justice, human dignity, equality and social and economic rights,” the very principles that the US PCN proclaims in that very article: “…we stand with all and any movements that call for justice, human dignity, equality, and social, economic, cultural and political rights.” Perhaps Mr. Abunimah failed to read Mr. Atzmon’s book. Perhaps he failed to see the contradiction he penned. Perhaps he felt forced to respond to outside pressures that necessitated he “reject the reality of the perception” expressed by Mr. Atzmon and propose “disavowal,” an action that Nahida suggests might be related “to the Talmudic concept of excommunication in which "the Talmud forbids coming within six feet of a person who has been excommunicated"? (from “Disavow with no mercy,” Nahida exiled).

Strange also, is it not, that this imposition of an action on the members of the PCN reflects a Medieval form of punishment or, perhaps, a tribalistic one, a concept (a perception perhaps) that Mr. Atzmon suggests is a tool of the Zionists’ strategy to control the masses, a perception that the PCN abhors in its condemnation of Atzmon.

Atzmon’s politics rest on one main overriding assertion that serves as springboard for vicious attacks on anyone who disagrees with his obsession with “Jewishness”. He claims that all Jewish politics is “tribal,” and essentially, Zionist. Zionism, to Atzmon, is not a settler-colonial project, but a trans-historical “Jewish” one, part and parcel of defining one’s self as a Jew. Therefore, he claims, one cannot self-describe as a Jew and also do work in solidarity with Palestine, because to identify as a Jew is to be a Zionist. We could not disagree more (PCN, Ali Abunimah).

Had Mr. Abunimah read Atzmon’s book he would have realized that this is not what Atzmon’s work claims. Atzmon begins by narrowing his subject:

Atzmon distinguishes among those who follow the Judaic religion; those who regard themselves as a human being who happens to be of Jewish origin; and those who put their Jewishness over and above all other traits. Chaim Weizman, the first Israeli President and a Zionist, identified being a Jew as a ‘primary quality’ above citizenship, occupation, head of household, indeed “Jewishness becomes the key element and fundamental characteristic of one’s being.” Vladimir Jabotinsky wrote “…the nucleus of his spiritual structure will always remain Jewish, because his blood, his body, his physical racial type are Jewish” (“A Letter on Autonomy,” 1904). It is this identifying principle that Atzmon sees as corrosive, not only to Judaism, but to the safety and security of the Jewish people, their friends and their neighbors. “…probably then and there I left Chosen-ness behind to become an ordinary human being” (6). (A Review of the Wandering Who, Cook).

Does Atzmon’s analysis that focuses on the Zionist strategies to enforce its goals translate now into anti-Semitism? When did Zionism become a synonym for Jew? Is it not an international political movement that originally supported the establishment of a homeland for the Jewish people in Palestine (Eretz-Yisra'el) and continues primarily in support for the modern state of Israel.” (New World Encyclopedia). When did it become anti-Semitic to analyze a political party? Indeed, Atzmon’s criticism of Zionism focuses on its corrosiveness to Judaism itself, a concern that has been present in Jewish history since the inception of Zionism:

Throughout its history the Zionist movement has faced hostility from both within and without as well as considerable (sic) ambivalence among Jews with regard to the centrality of the Jewish State. In the Jewish world, the ultra-Orthodox and the Reform movement have opposed Zionism as challenging tradition and assimilationism, respectively. In recent years the Reform movement joined the Zionist Organization and has actively endorsed immigration to Israel. In Israel itself, the term "post-Zionism" has become popular in certain circles seeking to suggest that the movement is obsolete and at the same time to "demythologize" its achievements. (Encyclopedia of Judaism).

The PCN attacks Atzmon because in their view he appears “to reaffirm and legitimize Zionism” by “adopting anti-Semitic or racist language.” That conclusion is based on a misreading of his views as we have established above. How can a critique of Zionism’s strategies “legitimize” what it claims to be? Does it not do the opposite? By elucidating the coercive strategies used by the Zionists to control those opposed to its goals, does he not add insight as to how Zionism helps maintain and further the “imperialism and colonialism” PCN finds as the causes of the destruction of the Palestinian homeland, “expelling its people, and sustaining the systems and ideologies of oppression, apartheid and occupation.” In short, shouldn’t PCN embrace Atzmon as a man willing to place his own life in danger in his effort to aid the Palestinian cause?

Atzmon’s analysis reveals strategies used by the Zionists to control their population. He points specifically to the Zionist lobbies that tell the assimilated Jew “You will never escape who you are so why not be proud of it and work with us.” Indeed, this very assertion undermines a moral foundation as it forces the American Jew to succumb to that “primary quality” of Jewish-ness above loyalty to his nation. “First they are Jews and only then are they humanists” (35). Zionism, as Atzmon notes, has used Jewish ‘separatism’ and its resulting ‘insecurity in relations with his fellow beings’ to coerce obedience and commitment. This tactic has been characteristic of the Zionist power since the Mandate period.

This is not anti-Semitism; it is historical analysis based on personal experience that unveils a political movement that has as its principle goal the creation of Greater Israel, the full colonization of the lands of Palestine bereft of its indigenous peoples, a perception that PCN should give serious thought to as should we all.

__________________________________________________________________

William A. Cook is Professor of English at the University of La Verne in southern California where he served for 13 years as Vice President for Academic Affairs before assuming his faculty position in 2001. Prior to coming to California, he served as a Dean of Faculty, Chair of Department of English and faculty member at institutions large and small, public and private in four eastern states. He is an activist and a writer for numerous Internet publications including Counterpunch, Salem-News.com, Pacific Free Press in British Columbia, Dissident Voice and Information Clearing House, serving as senior editor for MWC News out of Canada, and contributing editor at the Palestine Chronicle, the Atlantic Free Press in the Netherlands, and the World Prout Assembly, his polemics against the Bush administration and the atrocities caused by Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert in Israel, now our 51st state, have been spread around the Internet world and translated into French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, and Italian. Cook also serves on the Board of the People’s Media Project, interviews on radio and TV in South Africa, Canada, Iran and the United States and contributed for five years yearly predictions to the Hong Kong Economic News. This volume follows his Tracking Deception: Bush Mid-East Policy, Hope Destroyed, Justice Denied: The Rape of Palestine and continues his scourge against the hypocrisy, deceit, and destructive policies that have characterized American mid-east policy and its destructive alliance with the Zionist forces that have turned Israel into an apartheid state determined to destroy the Palestinian people.

In addition to his polemics, he writes plays (The Unreasoning Mask, co-authored with his wife, D’Arcy, and The Agony of Colin Powell), satires (see “Advancing the Civilized State: Inch by Bloody Inch” in The Rape), and poetry (Psalms for the 21st Century). His most recent fictional work creates a morality tale based upon real life figures that haunt our lives, The Chronicles of Nefaria He can be reached at wcook@laverne.edu or www.drwilliamacook.com..

The Plight of the Palestinians: a Long History of Destruction is a collection of voices from around the world that establishes in both theoretical and graphic terms the slow, methodical genocide taking place in Palestine beginning in the 1940s, as revealed in the Introduction. From Dr. Francis A. Boyle’s detailed legal case against the state of Israel, to Uri Avnery’s “Slow Motion Ethnic Cleansing,” to Richard Falk’s “Slouching toward a Palestinian Holocaust,” to Ilan Pappe’s “Genocide in Gaza,” these voices decry in startling, vivid, and forceful language the calculated atrocities taking place, the inhumane conditions inflicted on the people, and the silence that exists despite the crimes, nothing short of state-sponsored genocide against the Palestinians.





Comments Leave a comment on this story.
Name:

All comments and messages are approved by people and self promotional links or unacceptable comments are denied.



Arturo March 21, 2012 9:54 am (Pacific time)

One has to wonder why these blokes are so obsessed with Jews.

Editor: Nobody is obsessed with Jews Arturo, this is about the Zionist government of  Israel which is a war crime regime.  The fact that Israelis happen to be Jewish has nothing to do with it, Judaism is a religion, Zionism is a militant apartheid front designed expressly to provide favor and safety to only one single culture.  I am an American, therefore I can't approve of Israel's war crimes and crimes against humanity.  Now you know a little more, obviously your education is highly lacking.


Greg March 20, 2012 2:47 pm (Pacific time)

Gonzaga
I think you are wasting you time, most of Atzmon writings are attacks on Judaism, that's his problem.
and this is why he is so atrractive to all Antisemites as this blog.

Tim King: Hey Greg and Gonzaga,  you guys are as full of shit as any racists ever are, you are stumbling around in the hall of truth and you are painfully disoriented, because you aren't honest and dig this, any more attacks on Gilad will be only leveled by people who use a real name, guess that tosses you two losers out of the wagon.  You're liars and if your sorry asses were getting kicked by Nazi's Gilad and I would come pull them off of your pathetic asses, because we fight racism and you and your beloved apartheid Israel ARE racism. Also, for others reading this, note that these Zionists posing as Palestinians can't remember from one minute to the next who they are even supposed to be, shitty actors, that is for sure, but what would we expect. 

GO GILAD!

FREE PALESTINE!

BAN ALL RACISM- especially Israel's!


Gonzaga March 19, 2012 9:39 pm (Pacific time)

Mr. Atzmon also says very odd things about the Book of Esther. Can you point out where in the book of Esther treachery is advocated? Mordechai and Esther saved the King from being assassinated and also saved the Jews from being murdered. All they got from the King was the right to defend themselvs. Not one dime was given to them from the treasury or requested from the treasury, unlike with Haman. Is that self-defense a form of genocide? Is that really appropriate given the wide array of peoples in Persia?


Gonzaga March 19, 2012 9:36 pm (Pacific time)

Can't seem to find our conversation, Mr. King, so let's continue it here. The definition of semantic: se·man·tic   /sɪˈmæntɪk/ Show Spelled[si-man-tik] Show IPA adjective 1. of, pertaining to, or arising from the different meanings of words or other symbols: semantic change; semantic confusion. 2. of or pertaining to semantics. Now, all that has been said is the fact that Mr. Atzmon says the Jewish God is evil. He does. You can find it said in the chapter called Swindler's list, wherein Mr. Atzmon discusses, among other things, the first five books of Moses. Say what you wish, but do show how saying the Jewish God is evil is not criticizing the Jewish religion. That is exactly what Mr. Atzmon claims he is not doing. Again you can look this up. Again, what if someone said Jesus was evil? Would that not be anti-Christian? To prove me wrong, you must prove Mr. Atzmon did NOT say the Jewish God was evil. After you examine that, evaluate what Mr. Atzmon says about the Bolshevik revolution in one of his footnotes (number 20, if memory serves). Do you believe, as did Ms. Dilling, that Jacob Schiff caused the Bolshevik revolution? That's what Mr. Atzmon implies, is it not? At least he seems to think that Jacob Schiff financed the Boshevik revolution.

[Return to Top]
©2024 Salem-News.com. All opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Salem-News.com.


Articles for March 17, 2012 | Articles for March 18, 2012 | Articles for March 19, 2012


Support
Salem-News.com:

The NAACP of the Willamette Valley

Special Section: Truth telling news about marijuana related issues and events.


googlec507860f6901db00.html