From Abe to Abby – The JVP’s Thought Police
By Gilad Atzmon
In the old good days when anti Zionism was still a universal ethos, it was Abe Foxman and the notorious ADL who crudely interfered with freedom of speech. Not anymore. Abe Foxman will retire soon and the ADL is busy restraining Pamela Geller but Abby Harms and the Front Range Jewish Voice for Peace, insist upon giving new life to the old tiresome ADL rhetoric.
In an effort to justify JVP’s failed attempt to cancel an A to Zion book signing event by me in Denver, Abby Harms and her JVP front resurrect all the old ADL tactics. She libels, she lies, she attempts to interfere with freedom of speech and the right to assemble and she labels Ken O’Keefe, one of the bravest friends of Palestine, as a ‘Neo Nazi’ no less. She admits she is acting ‘as a Jew’ and on behalf of JVP. If you are not yet disgusted, Abby reports that she has just started her master’s degree in “International Human Rights.” Talking about ‘rights’, maybe Abby and her cosmopolitan comrades at JVP, who claim to care about ‘international human rights’, should consider reading the American Constitution and familiarize themselves with the First Amendment rights to free speech and assembly.
Denver Talk JVP attempted to cancel https://youtu.be/XN9NUG5W7kI
“As a Jew”, Abby writes, “I am personally appalled by his (Atzmon’s) claims that Jewish culture and ‘Jewishness’ are inherently racist and the main problem behind Israel and the Diaspora.” I am inured to Jews being ‘personally appalled as Jews,’ yet I have yet to be confronted by any attempt to produce a counter argument. Is not Jewish culture inherently racist? I can produce plenty of evidence it is racist, but where is a shred of evidence it isn’t? Is not the Jewish State racist? Maybe Abby Harms should ask herself what drives her tribal political affiliation that connects her with JVP, a Jewish exclusive political cell? Can Ken O’Keefe, a father to Palestinian children, become JVP secretary once our Jewish ‘allies’ at JVP issue an apology for calling him a ‘neo Nazi’? Apparently not: Ken is not racially qualified for the position. Ken isn’t alone. Even Ali Abunimah and Omar Barghouti who work closely with JVP are not racially qualified. At the moment, the racist Jewish State is well ahead of JVP in terms of tolerance and diversity. At least in the Israeli Knesset the 3rd biggest party is an Arab Party.
Abby argues that, like Zionists, my position is that “Jews and Zionists are one and the same.” This is not true. What I claim is that Jewish ‘anti’ Zionists are, in practice, Zionists to the core (AZZ-Anti Zionist Zionists). Like ADL’s Abe, JVP’s Abby is primarily concerned with Jewish tribal interests. Abby might be wise to read a recent ADL report of a NYC conference featuring Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro and myself. If Abby can’t stomach reading my book “The Wandering Who,” she can learn from the ADL that I contend that Jews who follow the Torah and Jews who identify with Jewish ancestry form neutral categories. It is only those who identify politically as Jews (e.g. Zionists, JVP, ADL, Abe & Abby) whom I castigate as a problematic category of Jews who subscribe to racially oriented politics and ideologies.
The farce is endless. Can you imagine a Jewish political campaign devoid of Jewish victimhood? Abby, the Jewess ‘human rights’ enthusiast can’t bear responsibility for her own acts. Though Abby admits to launching a campaign to interfere with my Denver talk, she sees herself as the victim. Abby writes, “we got a huge amount of backlash on our Facebook page from Gilad himself and his following, mostly exposing themselves to be full of hate.”
If there were any truth to Abby’s claim, why did Abby and JVP immediately delete all comments? When hate is established, we expect ‘human rights’ activists to point it out and expose it to the wider public. But Abby/JVP concealed the truth. Apparently, Abby/JVP erased the comments because they reflected badly on JVP, the ‘Jews in the movement’.
If anti-Semitism is defined as goyim’s reaction to Jewish bad behaviour. Abby and JVP‘s bad behaviour has not helped their cause. I strongly urge Abby and the JVP to reassess their approach because this criticism that I have expressed for quite a while has become a tidal wave of defiance against their tribal operation in our midst.
In her desperate attempt to justify her futile campaign against me and the Colorado solidarity activists who were her allies until that point, Abby writes, “I think our Jewish voices are very important in this movement to make sure people know that actions of the Israeli government are not representative of all Jews. Gilad wants to destroy this.”
I have never issued a call for Jews or anyone else to be expelled from ‘this movement’ or any other ‘movement’! Quite the opposite, it is the ‘Jews in the movement’ who repeatedly explore the Talmudic herem and call for excommunication of some of the most profound voices associated with the solidarity movement. When Abby accuses me of trying to “destroy” the Jewish voices in the movement she clearly projects her own tribal symptoms. It is Abby/JVP who are repeatedly caught attempting to destroy people in this movement and beyond. We have had enough of this controlled opposition in our midst.
I would have loved to see Abby, JVP and other Jews drifting away from their clannish and racist tribalism, but as far as can tell, we have long way to go. As things stand Abby Harms and Abe Foxman are actually tribal twins.
Q&A in Denver: