Made it to the Wall Street Journal
Dennis
The Raelian Movement
for those who are not afraid of the future : http://www.rael.org
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/made-it-to-the-wall-street-journal.html
Made it to the Wall Street Journal
Wednesday, February 1, 2012 at 7:29AM Gilad Atzmon
Introduction by Gilad Atzmon: Ethnic cleanser Advocate Alan Dershowitz
cannot take a defeat. He simply cannot get over the fact that a concert of
my music at Friends School, NYC two weeks ago, was an outstanding success.
In spite of his relentless attempts, Zionist mouthpiece Dershowitz didn't
manage to cancel the fundraiser concert. In the last two weeks, he has been
mounting pressure on the school and NYC papers. By now I would expect
Dershowitz to acknowledge that growing familiarity with my writing doesn't
serve his cause, for my writing is humanist as opposed to his own tribal
supremacist materials.
Dershowitz was quoted saying "If that same orchestra invited David Duke to
play saxophone, it would never have happened." As usual I have to correct
the compulsive liar Dershowitz. At the NYC Friends Meeting House, I wasn't
just playing saxophone. The Meeting House Orchestra was playing my music.
They decided to play my music because of its harmonious and peaceful
message. They played my music because my art is an attempt to cross the
divide created by Zionists like Dershowitz. As far as I am aware, David Duke
is not a saxophonist. However, I really do not understand why Alan
Dershowitz believes himself to be morally superior to Duke. Dershowitz is a
Zionist Jewish supremacist, he is a world leading advocate of a racist and
expansionist ideology, namely Zionism. And yet, I wouldn't say no to an
invitation for a musical gathering along together with Dershowitz on tuba
and Duke playing the trumpet, just because I believe that music brings
people together.
According to The Wall Street Journal "Dershowitz threatened to stand outside
the school this week and distribute copies of an essay he wrote critiquing
Mr. Atzmon's work unless the school took action." I do believe that such an
action on behalf of Dershowitz would make a wonderful youtube clip. It would
be hilarious to see the kids drifting away from the scary Zionist elder.
But over the past two weeks, administrators and parents at the elite Quaker
private school in Lower Manhattan have become quick studies after Harvard
law professor Alan Dershowitz publicly criticized Friends Seminary for
inviting a musician he called a "notorious anti-Semite and Holocaust
denier"-accusations that Mr. Atzmon, who was born Jewish, staunchly denies.
The clash sparked days of discussion at a school that prides itself on
tolerance and inclusion and launched debates on parenting sites such as
UrbanBaby, where some posters vowed to pull their applications in protest.
In a statement provided to The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, school
officials expressed "regret" over any offense caused and announced they
would be establishing new procedures governing guest speakers and
performers.
Although the Jan. 12 concert was on the school campus and directed by a
teacher, the Meetinghouse Jazz Orchestra is an independent organization that
was using the concert to raise funds for the Friends Shelter, which is also
independent and housed on school grounds.
Mr. Atzmon, a saxophonist, played in the concert. But it was his words, not
his music, that drew criticism. In his book "The Wandering Who," he labels
the recent global credit crisis a "zio-punch" and argues that if Israel
starts a nuclear war with Iran, "some may be bold enough to argue that
Hitler might have been right after all."
"It is a reasonable thing to say," Mr. Atzmon said when reached by phone. He
added that he hoped this scenario would not come to pass.
He said he's not a Holocaust denier. "Members of my family perished in
[World War II]," he said, though he added that he was less interested in the
number of people killed during the war than in how "five years after the
liberations of Auschwitz, Israel, the Jewish state, established the law of
return that is racially driven and categorically not different from the
Nuremberg law."
Mr. Atzmon's performance was his second recent appearance at the school;
last year he visited a music class and distributed his book's foreword.
The essay describes his growing engagement with jazz and Arab music even as
he becomes increasingly disillusioned with Israel and its leaders. While
serving a mandatory stint in the Israeli army, "I knew our leaders were
lying," he writes. "Every Israeli solder realized this war was an Israeli
aggression."
Ultimately, he writes, he came to realize that Palestinians were victims of
a "brutal ethnic cleansing" and left the country because Israel was "bad
news." Only by overcoming Israel's "supremacist" culture did he come to
appreciate Arab music.
The essay "contains material irrelevant to a music class," Friends Seminary
said in the statement, adding that officials "regret" it was assigned.
"Friends Seminary is not anti-Semitic and in no way endorses the political
views of Gilad Atzmon," the statement reads. "We regret that we offended
anyone."
The teacher, who also leads the Meetinghouse Jazz Orchestra, couldn't be
reached for comment.
It was a beginning, said Mr. Dershowitz, who threatened to stand outside the
school this week and distribute copies of an essay he wrote critiquing Mr.
Atzmon's work unless the school took action.
"If that same orchestra invited David Duke to play saxophone, it would never
have happened," Mr. Dershowitz said. Still, he added, "It's moving forward
in the right direction."
Alyssa Sadoff, a co-president of the Friends Seminary Parents Association,
learned of Mr. Atzmon's participation in the concert the night before, when
a parent called her at home. "I didn't know anything about him so I looked
into it," she said. "I was certainly not happy."
After several parents approached her with similar concerns, she met with
Principal Robert "Bo" Lauder. "I basically questioned how this could
possibly have been an appropriate choice for our school community," she
said.
In the past two weeks, "many" parents have met privately with Mr. Lauder,
she said, and there have been small group meetings with parents and
students. "I really do feel like people have moved on from this," she said,
adding that she was satisfied with the resolution. "You don't usually have
policies until something bad happens and you have to make one."
Write to Sophia Hollander at sophia.h...@wsj.com
Gilad Atzmon's New Book: The Wandering Who? A Study Of Zionist's tactics.
interests and influence Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.
Print Article Email Article Share Article
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WARNING FROM RAEL: For those who don't use their intelligence at its
full capacity, the label "selected by RAEL" on some articles does not
mean that I agree with their content or support it. "Selected by RAEL"
means that I believe it is important for the people of this planet to
know about what people think or do, even when what they think or do is
completely stupid and against our philosophy. When I selected articles
in the past about stupid Christian fundamentalists in America praying
for rain, I am sure no Rael-Science reader was stupid enough to
believe that I was supporting praying to change the weather. So, when
I select articles which are in favor of drugs, anti-semitic,
anti-Jewish, racist, revisionist, or inciting hatred against any group
or religion, or any other stupid article, it does not mean that I
support them. It just means that it is important for all human beings
to know about them. Common sense, which is usually very good among our
readers, is good enough to understand that. When, like in the recent
articles on drug decriminalization, it is necessary to make it
clearer, I add a comment, which in this case was very clear: I support
decriminalizing all drugs, as it is stupid to throw depressed and sad
people (as only depressed and sad people use drugs) in prison and ruin
their life with a criminal record. That does not mean that there is
any change to the Message which says clearly that we must not use any
drug except for medical purposes. The same applies to the freedom of
expression which must be absolute. That does not mean again of course
that I agree with anti-Jews, antisemites, racists of any kind or
anti-Raelians. But by knowing your enemies or the enemies of your
values, you are better equipped to fight them. With love and respect
of course, and with the wonderful sentence of the French philosopher
Voltaire in mind: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to
the death your right to say it".