The Palestinian Kosher Place
by Gilad Atzmon
Friday, June 15th, 2012
In the last two weeks we have learned that one of central London’s abandoned houses has been reclaimed and transformed into a “radical” centre for “discussion, action, and education around the issue of Palestine.” The Palestine Place promised to become a “squatted hub of activity from the 2nd-17th June running everything from film screenings, lectures, workshops and trainings to cultural, musical and culinary events”. But it didn’t take more than a week for the ‘radical’ place to become yet another crypto-Zionist gathering engaged primarily in gatekeeping and even expulsion of some distinguished activists and thinkers.
I have learned yesterday that Ken O’Keefe, one of London’s most prominent activists, a man who spent many months of his life in Gaza, a man who is married to a Palestinian woman and is father to two Palestinian kids, a man who posses a Palestinian passport and a key to Gaza, given to him personally by Ismail Haniya – two days ago this man was rudely expelled from Palestine Place. Clearly a Palestinian Passport and a ‘key to Gaza’ were not sufficient for London’s Palestine Place’s radical committee.
As soon as Ken told me about his expulsion I spoke with two Palestinian grassroots activists, both of whom had participated in missions alongside Ken. They both repeated the same shocking line -
Palestine Place, forget about them, it is taken over by the PSC and the BDS gang.
The news about PSC and the ‘BDS gang’ being dominated by AZZ are now widely accepted amongst most commentators on Palestine but still, I was intrigued to know what happened there in this ‘radical’ Palestine Place that led to these ‘pro’ Palestinian squatters to behave like Israelis and evict KenO’Keefe.
Palestinian solidarity activist and writer Martin Iqbal was in Palestine Place when it all happened, he wrote about it yesterday.
“During an open discussion at Palestine Place in June 2012, one attendee brought up the subject of Gilad Atzmon’s alleged anti-Semitism. The gentleman proceeded to misrepresent Atzmon’s words in order to paint him as a racist who merely seeks to attack Judaism.
During this discussion the subject of holocaust denial and holocaust revisionism came up. At no point was the holocaust denied by anybody present, however this writer did make the point that we must make a distinction between ‘revisionism’ and ‘denial’. All historical events must be open to investigation and questioning; the very concept of history is based on revisionism. What legitimate reason could we possibly have for shielding any historical event from examination? We are constantly reminded that we must learn from history lest it repeat itself (reminiscent of the ‘never again’ mantra), yet we are prevented from examining these very elements of history!”
So it seems the people who run ‘Palestine Place’ are very concerned with the commemoration of the Shoa, and I wonder why didn’t they just call the house the Yad Vashem-London Branch. And we also might wonder, why are Palestinian solidarity activists so concerned with the protection of the Zionist Holocaust narrative? Don’t they know in the PSC and in the BDS that the Palestinaians are actually the last victims of Hitler?
Iqbal continues, “This particular discussion at Palestine Place continued for ten or fifteen minutes before the next scheduled discussion was due to begin. During this time, dedicated pro-Palestinian activist Ken O’Keefe came to Gilad Atzmon’s defence, drawing attention to Atzmon’s idea that Jewishness and Jewish culture must be part of our investigation of Israeli and Zionist ideology. Are Israel’s tanks, gunships and warplanes not adorned with the Jewish Star of David? Is ‘Israel’ not a self-professed Jewish State? The gentleman who had chosen to accuse Atzmon of anti-Semitism had misrepresented Atzmon’s views and launched into a baseless ad hominem attack.”
So here we are. In spite of the obvious fact that Palestinians refer to Israelis and the IDF as Yahud, in the London “radical” centre for “discussion, action, and education around the issue of Palestine, the visitors are not even allowed to make the obvious point that the Palestinian plight has something to do with the Jewish State and the Jewish nature of Israel.
Iqbal stresses that “Immediately before the next scheduled speaker, a spokesman for Palestine Place made an announcement to the following effect: some people have decided to air their views on the holocaust, we must remind you that at Palestine Place we do not tolerate anti-Semitism and we will not be discussing the holocaust any further.”
It is far from being clear why airing one’s views about history in general or the Holocaust in particular makes anyone into an anti – Semite or, more precisely a Jew hater. In fact what we see here is a desperate crypto-Zionist attempt to dominate the discourse and divert attention from the real issues. Israel is the Jewish State, its tanks are decorated with Jewish symbols, its lobbies are dominating American and British foreign affairs and it seems that its AZZ allies are desperately trying to censor the discourse of Palestinian solidarity.
I totally agree with Iqbl’s observation that “it is incredibly sad and disheartening to see that the Palestine Solidarity Movement is utterly beholden to Zionism’s biggest rhetorical weapon: false charges of anti-Semitism coupled with a religious observance of and adherence to the dogma of ‘the holocaust’.
Apparently Ken O’Keefe and Martin Iqbal returned to the Palestine Place two days ago to find out that they were not welcome in the house of ‘radical and open discussion’.
Ken was told that revisionism is not allowed in the radical pro-Palestinian premises. I guess that he was surprised to find out that revisionist historian Ilan Pappe was speaking in the house only last week. I guess that in AZZ-dominated Palestinian Place, revisiting Palestinian history is allowed but only as long as one doesn’t not touch the Jewish past. This is the current Talmudic state of institutional Palestinian solidarity discourse in the Britain.
It reminds me an old Jewish joke.
Q: How many synagogues do you need in a village with just one Jew
A: two apparently, one for the Jew to go to, and one for him to boycott.
Sadly enough, the AZZ solidarity-controlled zone has become one extended synagogue. We are held back by endless futile internal wars that lead nowhere.
A few months back we learned about leading Palestinian activists such as Nahida Izzat and Sami Ibrahem, both pushed out by the PSC. Intoxicated by its destructive powers, the PSC then kicked out distinguished British solidarity activists such as Ex PSC chairman Francis Clark-Lowes and Camden PSC secretary Gill Kafash.
I guess that the only encouraging news here is deLiberation, the new British online magazine. This magazine was formed six months ago by activists and writers who were pushed out by the PSC. Within just a few weeks it has become one of the most popular internet journals in Britain. If anyone in the solidarity movement is interested in becoming ‘mass movement’, it seems as if we in deLiberation know how to do it.
Posted by Gilad Atzmon
on June 15, 2012. Filed under Activism,Palestine.
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18 Responses to The Palestinian Kosher Place
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Ariadna Theokopoulos
June 15, 2012 at 2:21 pm
“Ken O’Keefe, one of London’s most prominent activists” — once could without exaggeration say one of the world’ most prominent Palestinian activist.
So his expulsion must be saluted. It is one of the best self-unmasking act they could have done.
Gilad, you say: “…this ‘radical’ Palestine Place that led to these ‘pro’ Palestinian squatters to behave like Israelis and evict KenO’Keefe.”
“squatters”?!
This is an arresting thought that you absolutely must develop further and include in your next work:
The Typology of Jewish Identity Politics: alongside The Lobbyist (Esther), you must add the Settler.
Clearly the Palestinian Solidarity has gone from infiltration to settlements, to building ideological roads “for jews only,” and to mounting strong defenses against the thought ‘enemies’ who lobby rocket attacks (“The Wandering Jew”).
The PS and its branches, eaten away by ‘settlements,’ now looks like the map of Palestine (see the illustration in today’s article by Lasse Wilhelmson).
Gilad Atzmon
June 16, 2012 at 2:06 am
“Ken O’Keefe, one of London’s most prominent activists” — once could without exaggeration say one of the world’ most prominent Palestinian activist.
G: True!!!
So his expulsion must be saluted. It is one of the best self-unmasking act they could have done.
G: True, and they are too stupid to see it… they repeat the same mistake all the time…
searching
June 15, 2012 at 2:43 pm
Palestinian opposition with a Jewish stamp of approval.
“Opposition” that opposes only as far as those, who are targeted by “the opposition” permit.
the main goal of this “kosher opposition” is to keep the current status quo ,with the illusion that something actually is being done.
It is as effective as all those “peace talks, peace negotiations , UN resolutions” that acted as a smoke screen to cover up the expansion of Israel, more oppressions, more land stealing etc.
Accusations of anti-Semitism and holocasut denial are straigth from ADL-s booklets.
Is the “big” spirit of Abe Foxman a guiding spirit of the Palestinian Place??
Gilad Atzmon
June 16, 2012 at 2:07 am
It is clear, check out Daniel Mabsout,, he really digs into the Liberal Zionist network that funds it all..
searching
June 15, 2012 at 2:44 pm
guiding and guarding….
who_me
June 15, 2012 at 7:20 pm
got to love that jewish tribal solidarity. but look on the positive side. some sayanim exposed themselves for whe duplitious things they are and can now be easily discounted from the scene. had they not been so obvious about their chauvinism, their role as zionist/israeli co-opters wouldn’t have been so apparent. the ones who are clever enough to stay “hidden” are the most destructive to the palestinian movement.
Gilad Atzmon
June 16, 2012 at 2:10 am
As far as I am aware, following the campaign against me, we are left with a pretty comprehensive list of the entire AZZ network,,,
who_me
June 16, 2012 at 2:35 am
“we are left with a pretty comprehensive list of the entire AZZ network,,,”
publishing that list, and keeping it up to date and easily accessable (like here in a spot on the front page), would be a useful resource for both activists and those interested in helping palestinians in general.
Gilad Atzmon
June 16, 2012 at 8:33 am
Here they are, Atheo published the list as a comment on Martin Iqbal’s blog. Bless them all..
The following names belong to those who have demanded that we shun Gilad Atzmon. Interestingly they have mostly self segregated. I noticed some names familiar from the Mondoweiss website:
As’ad AbuKhalil, The Angry Arab News Service, Turlock, CA
Suha Afyouni, solidarity activist, Beirut, LEBANON
Max Ajl, essayist, rabble-rouser, proprietor of Jewbonics blog site, Ithaca, NY
Haifaa Al-Moammar, activist, stay-at-home mom, and marathon walker, Los Angeles, CA
Electa Arenal, professor emerita, CUNY Graduate Center/Hispanic & Luso-Brazilian Literatures and Women’s Studies, New York, NY
Gabriel Ash, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, Geneva, SWITZERLAND
Joel Beinin, Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA
Dan Berger, Wild Poppies Collective, Philadelphia, PA
Chip Berlet, Boston, MA
Nazila Bettache, activist, Montréal, CANADA
Sam Bick, Tadamon!, Immigrant Workers Center, Montréal, Québec
Max Blumenthal, author; writing fellow, The Nation, New York, NY
Lenni Brenner, author, Zionism in the Age of the Dictators, New York, NY
Café Intifada
Paola Canarutto, Rete-ECO (Italian Network of Jews against the Occupation), Torino, ITALY
Paulette d’Auteuil, National Jericho Movement, Albuquerque, NM
Susie Day, Monthly Review, New York, NY
Ali Hocine Dimerdji, PhD student at The University of Nottingham, in Nottingham, UK
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, professor emerita, California State University
Todd Eaton, Park Slope Food Coop Members for Boycott/Divestment/Sanctions, Brooklyn, NY
Mark Elf, Jews sans frontieres
S. EtShalom, registered nurse, Philadelphia, PA
Benjamin Evans, solidarity activist, Chicago, IL
First of May Anarchist Alliance
Sherna Berger Gluck, professor emerita, California State University/Israel Divestment Campaign, CA
Neta Golan, International Solidarity Movement
Tony Greenstein, Secretary Brighton Unemployed Centre/UNISON, Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods, Brighton, UK
Andrew Griggs, Café Intifada, Los Angeles, CA
Jenny Grossbard, artist, designer, writer and fighter, New York, NY
Freda Guttman, activist, Montréal, CANADA
Adam Hanieh, lecturer, Department of Development Studies/SOAS, University of London, UK
Swaneagle Harijan, anti-racism, social justice activism, Seattle, WA
Sarah Hawas, researcher and solidarity activist, Cairo, EGYPT
Stanley Heller, “The Struggle” Video News, moderator “Jews Who Speak Out”
Mostafa Henaway, Tadamon!, Immigrant Workers Center, Montréal, CANADA
Elise Hendrick, Meldungen aus dem Exil/Noticias de una multipátrida, Cincinnati, OH
Doug Henwood, Left Business Observer, New York, NY
Ken Hiebert, activist, Ladysmith, CANADA
Elizabeth Horowitz, solidarity activist, New York, NY
Adam Hudson, writer/blogger, San Francisco Bay Area, CA
Dhruv Jain, Researcher at the Jan Van Eyck Academie and PhD student at York University, Paris, FRANCE
Tom Keefer, an editor of the journal Upping the Anti, Toronto, CANADA
Karl Kersplebedeb, Left Wing Books, Montréal, CANADA
Anne Key, Penrith, Cumbria, UK
Mark Klein, activist, Toronto, CANADA
Bill Koehnlein, Brecht Forum, New York, NY
L.A. Palestine Labor Solidarity Committee, Los Angeles, CA
Mark Lance, Georgetown University/Institute for Anarchist Studies, Washington, DC
David Landy, author, Jewish Identity and Palestinian Rights: Diaspora Jewish Opposition to Israel, Dublin, IRELAND
Bob Lederer, Pacifica/WBAI producer, Queers Against Israeli Apartheid, New York, NY
Matthew Lyons, Three Way Fight, Philadelphia, PA
Karen MacRae, solidarity activist, Toronto, CANADA
Heba Farouk Mahfouz, student activist, blogger, Cairo, EGYPT
Marvin Mandell and Betty Reid Mandell, co-editors, New Politics, West Roxbury, MA
Ruth Sarah Berman McConnell, retired teacher, DeLand, FL
Kathleen McLeod, poet, Brisbane, Australia
Karrie Melendres, Los Angeles, CA
Matt Meyer, Resistance in Brooklyn, New York, NY
Amirah Mizrahi, poet and educator, New York, NY
mesha Monge-Irizarry, co-director of Education Not Incarceration; SF MOOC City commissioner, San Francisco, CA
Matthew Morgan-Brown, solidarity activist, Ottawa, CANADA
Michael Novick, People Against Racist Terror/Anti-Racist Action, Los Angeles, CA
Saffo Papantonopoulou, New School Students for Justice in Palestine, New York, NY
Susan Pashkoff, Jews Against Zionism, London, UK
Tom Pessah, UC Berkeley Students for Justice in Palestine, Berkeley, CA
Marie-Claire Picher, Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory (TOPLAB), New York, NY
Sylvia Posadas (Jinjirrie), Kadaitcha, Noosa, AUSTRALIA
Roland Rance, Jews Against Zionism, London, UK
Danielle Ratcliff, San Francisco, CA
Liz Roberts, War Resisters League, New York, NY
Emma Rosenthal, contributor, Shifting Sands: Jewish Women Confront the Israeli Occupation, Los Angeles, CA
Penny Rosenwasser, PhD, Oakland, CA
Suzanne Ross, Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition, The Riverside Church Prison Ministry, New York, NY
Gabriel San Roman, Orange County Weekly, Orange County, CA
Ian Saville, performer and lecturer, London, UK
Joel Schwartz, CSEA retiree/AFSCME, New York, NY
Tali Shapiro, Anarchists Against the Wall, Boycott From Within, Tel Aviv, OCCUPIED PALESTINE
Simona Sharoni, SUNY, author, Gender & the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Plattsburgh, NY
Jaggi Singh, No One Is Illegal-Montreal/Solidarity Across Borders, Montréal, CANADA
Michael S. Smith, board member, Center for Constitutional Rights, New York, NY
Pierre Stambul, Union juive française pour la paix (French Jewish Union for Peace), Paris, FRANCE
Muffy Sunde, Los Angeles, CA
Bhaskar Sunkara, editor of Jacobin, Bronx, NY
Tadamon! (http://www.tadamon.ca/), Montréal, CANADA
Ian Trujillo, atheist, Los Angeles, CA
Gabriella Turek, PhD, Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
Henry Walton, SEIU, retired, Los Angeles, CA
Bill Weinberg, New Jewish Resistance, New York, NY
Abraham Weizfeld, author, The End of Zionism and the liberation of the Jewish People, Montreal, CANADA
Ben White, author, Palestinians in Israel: Segregation, Discrimination, and Democracy, Cambridge, UK
Laura Whitehorn, former political prisoner, NYS Task Force on Political Prisoners, New York, NY
Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi, founding member, Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods (J-BIG)
Asa Winstanley, journalist for Electronic Intifada, Al-Akhbar and others, London, UK
Ziyaad Yousef, solidarity activist
and also:
Ali Abunimah
Naseer Aruri, Professor Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth
Omar Barghouti, human rights activist
Hatem Bazian, Chair, American Muslims for Palestine
Andrew Dalack, National Coordinating Committee, US Palestinian Community Network
Haidar Eid, Gaza
Nada Elia, US Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
Toufic Haddad
Kathryn Hamoudah
Adam Hanieh, Lecturer, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London
Mostafa Henaway, Tadamon! Canada
Monadel Herzallah, National Coordinating Committee, US Palestinian Community Network
Nadia Hijab, author and human rights advocate
Andrew Kadi
Abir Kobty, Palestinian blogger and activist
Joseph Massad, Professor, Columbia University, NY
Danya Mustafa, Israeli Apartheid Week US National Co-Coordinator & Students for Justice in Palestine- University of New Mexico
Dina Omar, Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine
Haitham Salawdeh, National Coordinating Committee, US Palestinian Community Network
Sobhi Samour, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London
Khaled Ziada, SOAS Palestine Society, London
Rafeef Ziadah, poet and human rights advocate
who_me
June 16, 2012 at 10:38 am
Gilad Atzmon
it looks like the top list has grown since i originally saw it mrzine (susie day apparently runs it now and it’s gone to hell). i don’t remember greenstain’s name on the top list then. he was obviously one of the main organisers of it, and i figured he didn’t sign it to hide that fact.
a funny thing i remember about dunbar-ortiz, who’s on the top list. mrzine shut down dissenting views 1.5-2 years ago that were critical of it’s disguised zionist agenda. so after dunbar-ortiz wrote some dribble covertly supporting israeli crimes that was posted at mrzine, somebody wrote a coded compliment thanking her, which said essentially “thanks for showing what you really are” and the sayanim failed to catch it.
“I noticed some names familiar from the Mondoweiss website”
ajl is one i recognise. the elizabeth horowitz listed i think is adam’s mum.
if you have not seen this, you might find it of interest:
http://www.israelshamir.net/News/Munich.htm
Shamir uninvited to Munich
the jewish censors are being very busy shutting everybody israel finds to be a threat out of every place they can.
these people are desperate.
Gilad Atzmon
June 16, 2012 at 1:13 pm
WM: it looks like the top list has grown since i originally saw it mrzine (susie day apparently runs it now and it’s gone to hell).
G: I welcome every person on this planet who wishes to join this list and I hope for those activists that one day they may even expand beyond the AZZ quarters and the marginal ghetto.
WM: i don’t remember greenstain’s name on the top list then. he was obviously one of the main organisers of it, and i figured he didn’t sign it to hide that fact.
G: Yes, they are not very sophisticated,,, I think Sarah Kershnar and Mitch levy also try to hide
they are really funny…
WM: a funny thing i remember about dunbar-ortiz, who’s on the top list. mrzine shut down dissenting views 1.5-2 years ago that were critical of it’s disguised zionist agenda. so after dunbar-ortiz wrote some dribble covertly supporting israeli crimes that was posted at mrzine, somebody wrote a coded compliment thanking her, which said essentially “thanks for showing what you really are” and the sayanim failed to catch it.
G: again sophistication isn’t really their trait.
“I noticed some names familiar from the Mondoweiss website”
WM: Shamir uninvited to Munich
G: I am not involved but I investigated and i am sure that will be taken care of… ODS is an open movement and should welcome everyone..
Deadbeat
June 16, 2012 at 11:21 am
I always thought Doug Henwood was a big phony. He’s spent years writing about economic issues and not once explained to his readers about money creation and the Fed. The sin of omission. Just one big Zionist sympathizer. Anyone whose name is on this list revealed themselves as upholders of a racist ideology and try to hide their racism by implanting themselves on the Left as “anti-capitalists”. What a group of phonies.
These pseudo-Leftist are in fear of Atzmon because he hold a mirror up to their phoney asses and the public sees their TRUE reflection as racist S.O.B’s.
The most important service IMO today is outing all these pseudo-Leftists who merely fool the public and try to control them with their B.S.
Gilad Atzmon
June 16, 2012 at 1:23 pm
since pseudo-Leftist=crypto Zionists=AZZ
pseudo-Leftist-AZZ=0
Roy Bard
June 16, 2012 at 9:17 am
Then theres the “Zero authors” list
Robin Carmody
Dominic Fox
Owen Hatherley
Douglas Murphy
Alex Niven
Mark Olden
Laurie Penny
Nina Power
Richard Seymour
Kit Withnail
who_me
June 16, 2012 at 11:03 am
lol, “lenin’s tomb”. those are the sort who shot him.
Gilad Atzmon
June 16, 2012 at 1:20 pm
In fact i really want to add all those names to my 4th edition.. It is so interesting.. talking about pre TSD,, these people, the Blumenthals and Abunimahs and the Seymours obviously knew all along that I was set to expose them (I wasn’t aware of it myself),,, they then pulled out their kosher pistols just to find out that they didn’t know how to use them… And here we are, looking at the entire AZZ network in our midst.
who_me
June 16, 2012 at 10:55 am
one gets the impression these covert zionist tribals behave much like this during their meetings:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mUVXI7SlhM
Hardly Working : Witch Hunt
Scott Free
June 17, 2012 at 4:45 pm
Sadly, the “Palestinian Kosher Place” is exactly the situation in Portland, Oregon. Another name to add to the “denunciation” list is Nora Barrows-Friedman who now reports for Al Jazeera and the Electronic Intifada. At a Portland State University conference on the “Arab Spring” in response to a question about supporting Israeli dissidents like Mordecai Vanunu, Roy Tov, and Gilad Atzmon. Nora responded only by looking over at the ‘angry Arab’ and declaring Atzmon as a ‘dangerous racist’ deserving only scorn. People in the audience were not really happy with her response, but typically no follow up was allowed.