Engaging Gilad Atzmon

Israeli-born Gilad Atzmon, one of Europe’s finest jazz musicians, was in Washington, DC for the first time at the end of a multi-city North American grassroots tour to discuss his recently published and highly controversial book, The Wandering Who? A Study of Jewish Identity Politics.
On March 14, Atzmon was interviewed by Prof. Norton Mezvinsky, Connecticut State University Professor of History Emeritus, at Washington’s Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church.
During the question-and-answer period following Professor Mezvinsky’s interview, noted Palestinian journalist Fouzi El-Asmar stood up to state his opposition to a letter circulated the previous day by Palestinian activists calling for “the disavowal of the racism and antisemitism of Gilad Atzmon.” El-Asmar, author of To Be an Arab in Israel, recalled that both he and his mother had been imprisoned in Israel for speaking out, and warned against treading down that same path.
The Washington Report believes that no writer or thinker should be shunned in the United States—or anywhere—and we stand by our decision to host his DC events.

The video of the entire event will be posted on the Washington Report’s Web site, www.wrmea.org, in the coming week.