Gilad Atzmon is a racist and a promoter of Holocaust denial who is active in Palestinian solidarity politics. He has been the subject of a campaign by Britain’s leading anti-racist organisation, Hope Not Hate. Now, he has become a figurehead and rallying point for those within the Palestine Solidarity movement whose politics are motivated by hatred of Jews.
Last weekend, the executive of the National Palestine Solidarity Campaign hit back against the Atzmonites. In a move of great symbolic significance, it expelled Francis Clark-Lowes, the former Chair of the PSC. Francis Clark-Lowes is a man who says that he is “proud to call himself a Holocaust denier“. In support of his expulsion, the current chair of the PSC, Hugh Lanning called on the PSC members “not to let evil enter our hearts“. Four fifths of the meeting voted to expel Clark-Lowes.
The PSC now has a fight on its hands. Twenty percent of its activists attending its Annual General Meeting don’t think that Holocaust deniers and racists should be expelled. Those twenty percent will continue to ask, in the words of PSC activist Gill Kaffash, another supporter of Holocaust denial:
How long do you think it will be until the Jewish Chronicle demands that PSC unreservedly condemn Hamas? And how long before PSC complies? After all, Hamas is obviously ant-semitic – most of the people it attacks are Jewish.
What makes the situation more dangerous for the National PSC is that it has next to no control over its regional branches. The truth is that Atzmon, and many of his crew, are popular among the rank and file of the PSC. Therefore when the local branches invite these racists to their meetings, or even sponsors them, there is nothing that the National PSC can do.
Here is Bristol PSC advertising Atzmon’s next appearance, this coming weekend:
The Atzmonites are hopping mad. They absolutely refuse to be silenced. They have turned their guns on the leadership of the National PSC, who they surprisingly believe that this website “controls”. Here’s Atzmon:
On Saturday the Islamophobic blog Harry’s Place and the Zionist mouthpiece Jewish Chronicle completed their takeover of UK Palestinian Solidarity Campaign (PSC). In the last two years, the PSC EC has expelled and marginalised some of its leading intellectuals amongst them some prominent Palestinian and Muslim activists and now, at last, they are beginning to receive their just credit.
…
Judging by the scale of the celebration on Islamophobic Harry’s Place, you’d be forgiven for assuming that PSC – now firmly committed to the struggle against anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial – is now just one more Zionist outlet, whose prime interest is in promoting Jewish tribal interests. I’m sure that the Palestinians in besieged Gaza and in refugee camps all over the Middle East are over the moon.
Helpfully, the Atzmonites have a new outlet. They have established a website magazine: deLiberation. Atzmon’s supporters and friends are writing for it.
Here they are:
- Gilad Atzmon
- Francis Clarke Lowes
- Lauren Booth
- Craig Murray
- Ken O’Keefe
- Alan Hart
- Eric Wahlberg
- Paul Eisen
- Laura Stuart
- Daniel McGowan
- Stuart Littlewood
- Nahida Izzat
- Jonathan Blakeley
- Jonathan Azaziah
- Roy Bard
Most of Atzmon’s allies are precisely the people you’d expect.You can find loads about them by searching through the Harry’s Place archives.
Some of these names may be unfamiliar to readers. Daniel McGowan, for example, is a former professor a US liberal arts college and founder of “Deir Yasin Remembered” who got into trouble over “Holocaust revisionism” a few years back. Jonathan Blakeley is a Cornish web designer who believes that Nick Lowles of Hope not Hate is a “Hasabara troll“. Roy Bard is an Indymedia activist who has a history of defending Holocaust deniers. Nahida Izzat, by contrast, appears to be insane.
deLiberation is a helpful barometer. All those who have written for this website are people who have chosen to line up behind racism, extremism and Holocaust denial.
So, lets see which parts of the Palestinian Solidarity movement invites them to speak, or joins them on a platform.
