Clarifying the story: a statement from the Dean of Bradford

There have been a lot of claims and counter-claims about the position of the Dean of Bradford in the Atzmon affair so I thought it was best to ask the Dean himself to make the last word. This is a statement he sent me last night and I hope it clarifies his position and answers those people, for their own political reasons, who have accused me of lying and falsifying documents:

Statement from the Dean of Bradford 26 November 2011:

"Mr Gilad Atzmon has posted a statement of mine on his website (http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/hope-not-hate-is-caught-falsifying-documents-again.html) which he has used to accuse Mr Nick Lowles of falsifying documents and spreading lies. I do not support this accusation.

I want to make it clear that I do not regard Mr Lowles as a liar or someone who has falsified documents, and I apologise if in any way this impression has been given by me. I did not in my initial statement quoted on Mr Lowles' blog make a public call for Mr Atzmon's concert to be cancelled, and it was on this basis that I disagreed with the headline over my statement. However, I had indicated elsewhere in a mail seen by Mr Lowles that cancellation would be preferred, since (as I note in my statement quoted by Mr Atzmon) I would have had to have withdrawn the concert if it had been due to happen on church premises due to the controversy involved, and it is this indication which led Mr Lowles to write the headline as he did; although it did not represent my intention it was not an unreasonable action for him to take, and he was engaged in interpretation not falsification.

Mr Atzmon and his supporters believe in his sincerity, and those opposed to him do not. Assessing what Mr Atzmon actually believes is not easy owing to the contested nature of the evidence. What is uncontrovertible is the fact that a lot of people believe that he behaves in a way which is anti-Semitic, flirting with Holocaust denial, and racist: and this behaviour has caused a wide variety of groups to distance themselves from him. As a cathedral we believe in truth, peace and justice for Palestinians and Israelis, of whatever faith (or none); and we will continue to hold to that often uncomfortable position - a position which makes it impossible for us to offer a platform to Mr Atzmon."

Nick Lowles at Hope not hate

Thanks to NewsHound for the heads-up

Dean of Bradford calls for Atzmon's invite to be withdrawn

The Dean of Bradford has added his name to the growing chorus of outrage at the decision of Raise Your Banners to invite antisemite Gilad Atzmon to perform for them in Bradford on Friday. Atzmon flirts with Holocaust Denial, Holocaust Deniers and is an antisemite and as such should have no place on a progressive platform. This is not a question of Palestine and Israel, nor is it an attempt to stifle freedom of speech. It is simply us, as anti-racists, demanding that a racist and antisemite should not be given a platform. The fact that Atzmon, and his supporters in Raise Your Banners, use information obtained from the BNP to attack us should be reason enough to shun him.

Anyway, I will go into this in more detail later but for now I would like to post a comment sent to me by David Ison, the Dean of Bradford:

"The Cathedral authorities were completely unaware of the nature of this musician, and in any case did not invite him. Our premises were hired by Raise your Banners (who have been here before, uncontroversially) who booked for a concert but told us nothing of the nature of the concert of the performers. We were not aware of any issues with this until we were contacted a few weeks ago by the Council for Christians and Jews expressing concern about anti-Semitism in the Cathedral - a concern which we completely share, as the Cathedral is committed as a Christian organisation to truth, justice and equality.

"We do not countenance or give permission for any form of racism or fascism, including anti-Semitism, to be given hospitality at Bradford Cathedral. Having asked for more information about Gilad Atzmon, it has only been in the last few days that we have received clear evidence of the nature of his public statements. In the event, the concert in the Cathedral had already been cancelled due to poor ticket sales; but it seems to be taking place in a smaller venue in Kala Sangam which is not connected with the Cathedral and over which we have no control.

"I am writing to the authorities at Kala Sangam to ensure they are aware of the issues raised by hosting a concert with this musician."

David Ison

Dean of Bradford

Hope not Hate

Atzmon Quotes From BNP Website To Attack Hope Not Hate

Gilad Atzmon is a campaigning antisemite and a supporter and promulgator of Holocaust denial material. For this reason, Hope not Hate and Bradford TUC have said:

'We believe that Atzmon should be shunned by all decent people – just as we would shun David Irving and Nick Griffin.'

Atzmon is incensed.

He has penned a lying, self serving attack on Hope not Hate and Bradford TUC:

'This weekend, Bradford TUC (Trade Union Council) joined the Israeli lobby’s attempt to silence me. This sort of thing is no surprise since my book ‘The Wandering Who’ exposes the devastating continuum between Israel, Diaspora Sayanim, Anti-Zionist Zionists (AZZ) and the influential and varied communities of Shabbos Goyim(1). So, is it a coincidence that last Shabbos (Sabbath) eve Paul Meszaros Bradford TUC’s secretary and some of his fellow unionists got very busy indeed doing the Zionists’ bidding?'

Here’s part of Atzmon’s attack on Hope not Hate’s Nick Lowles:

Here is an extract from a recent expose of Nick Lowles:

“Until recently, as editor of Searchlight, Nick Lowles was very camera shy. Over the years, he also attempted to generate various false trails with regards to his true identity posing, at various times, as a member of the Union of Jewish Students, a trotskyite activist for a Workers’ Revolutionary Party splinter group keen on infiltrating the Labour Party and a supporter of the violent anarchist Anti-Fascist Action, whose members later planted bombs for the IRA in London. For those reasons, and his close association with the mainstream media, Lowles is distrusted amongst anarchist and other far-left activists who regard him as a tout.”

The inaccurate “expose” to which Gilad Atzmon links is that of an organisation called Civil Liberty:

'The civil rights organisation Liberty refused to represent the British National Party in 2003 when Barclays Bank closed down their bank accounts. As a result of this failure to defend the right of the BNP as a democratic and lawful political party to hold bank accounts in Britain and to operate as a lawful political party and abide by the accounting rules of the Electoral Commission, other bank accounts of Palestinian charities supporting victims of the conflict in Israel were also closed down. From this we learn that a failure by the civil rights organisation Liberty to defend the principle of a right to a bank account for the BNP and all other lawful political and charitable organisations with bank accounts in Britain resulted in the denial of that right to a bank account not just to the BNP, but other organisations the banks wanted to close down as well.'

If that sounds like the sort of thing a BNP front organisation would write: that’s because it is. From The Guardian:

'An investigation by the Guardian has revealed that the fundraising group Civil Liberty, which claims to be independent of any political party, is run by key BNP activists with all the money donated through its website going to the BNP’s regional headquarters in the north-east.

It has raised concerns that the party appears to be attempting to profit from anti-Islamic sentiment in the United States since the attacks of September 11 2001, by presenting itself as being at the forefront of a campaign to save the UK from being “overwhelmed” by Muslims.

Since 2001 it has been illegal for any political party to accept overseas donations of more than £200, and party officials breaking the law face a year’s imprisonment or a £5,000 fine. Both Civil Liberty and the BNP deny they are trying to bypass UK election law, insisting they are entirely separate organisations .

However, the Guardian has established a series of links, including an audio tape of the BNP chairman, Nick Griffin, speaking at a US conference organised by a former member of the Ku Klux Klan, in which he calls on sympathisers to support BNP members by giving money to Civil Liberty.

“Please throw money at the BNP, actually don’t throw money at the BNP. Quite seriously it’s against the law, but you can as my colleague will be telling you tomorrow, throw money at a group called Civil Liberty which helps members of the BNP and that is within the law.”'

The Guardian also found that:

· Civil Liberty was set up and is run by Kevin Scott, who until September was the BNP’s north-east regional organiser.

· Its PO box address is registered to Tyneside BNP at the home of Jonathan Keys, a former party candidate.

· The site’s domain name is registered at the home in Stirling of Steve Blake, the BNP’s website editor.

· The BNP’s head of administration, Kenny Smith, is named on the BNP website as the national treasurer of Civil Liberty and responds to emails sent to CL.

It is not clear how much money Civil Liberty has raised as its accounts are secret, but the American Friends of the British National party was estimated to have raised £80,000 to £100,000 for the BNP between 1998 and 2001 when it folded – money Mr Griffin said made a “significant contribution to the BNP’s [2001] general election campaign”.

Yesterday the BNP and Civil Liberty strenuously denied the allegations.

“Civil Liberty is completely independent of the party,” said BNP spokesman Phil Edwards. “The BNP receives absolutely no money at all from Civil Liberty and any allegation that [money is being diverted] to the BNP in order to circumvent election laws will be met by a libel writ.”

…

Civil Liberty regularly advertises in BNP publications and has appealed for funds on the BNP website. Mark Collett, who was last year acquitted with Mr Griffin on charges of inciting racial hatred, is alleged to have handed out Civil Liberty flyers at a far right event in the US. And at the BNP’s annual conference in November, senior BNP figures accused the leadership of using Civil Liberty to build a fighting fund they said was not declared to the Electoral Commission or the wider membership.

Mr Edwards said: “Civil Liberty is an organisation which was set up to assist nationalists fight legal cases and employment tribunals and other civil cases … The fact that it is Kevin Scott [who set up Civil Liberty] … why shouldn’t it be?”

Atzmon is coated, head to toe, in fascist mire.

UPDATE

Oh dear. Stupid Gilad Atzmon is now trying to hide the fact that he takes his information on anti-fascist campaigners from the British National Party, by rewriting the paragraph and removing the link.

Unfortunately for Atzmon, his fascist fanboys have already republished his article, with the BNP quote and link intact.

Here it is on the “Truthseeker“.

Here it is on the Nazi website, “Shoah“.

Here it is on the Pacific Free Press website.

Too late, you thick Nazi.

PS – I see Atzmon is now being carried by David Icke. Just about his level, I reckon.

Harry's Place

Thanks to NewsHound for the heads-up

Pull the plug on Gilad Atzmon

Bradford TUC is joining up with the HOPE not hate campaign in calling on the Bradford-based Raise Your Banners organisation to withdraw its invitation to Gilad Atzmon who is due to perform at one of its events on 25 November.

Gilad Atzmon is an antisemite and flirts with Holocaust Denial and Holocaust Deniers. He was born in Israel but now lives in the UK and is a jazz musician.

This is just one of his many offensive comments about the Holocaust.

“When I was young and naïve I was also convinced that what they told us about our ‘collective’ Jewish past really happened. I believed it all, the Kingdom of David, Massada, and then the Holocaust: the soap, the lampshade, the death march, the six million.

As it happened, it took me many years to understand that the Holocaust, the core belief of the contemporary Jewish faith, was not at all an historical narrative for historical narratives do not need the protection of the law and politicians.”

“It took me many years to accept that the Holocaust narrative, in its current form, doesn’t make any historical sense. Here is just one little anecdote to elaborate on:

"If, for instance, the Nazis wanted the Jews out of their Reich (Judenrein - free of Jews), or even dead, as the Zionist narrative insists, how come they marched hundreds of thousands of them back into the Reich at the end of the war?”

“I am left puzzled here; if the Nazis ran a death factory in Auschwitz-Birkenau, why would the Jewish prisoners join them at the end of the war? Why didn’t the Jews wait for their Red liberators?”

Atzmon is also implicated in the distribution of the Holocaust denier Paul Eisen’s essay ‘The Holocaust Wars which he has described as a ‘great text’. This great text is notorious for its defence and espousal of amongst others Ernst Zundel, the convicted Holocaust denier. He has also been linked with Israel Shamir, another Holocaust denier, who has links to many white supremacist and Nazi groups. Indeed when Eisner’s document was originally posted it was on Shamir’s website, Atzmon described Shamir as a ‘unique and advanced thinker’.

We believe that Atzmon should be shunned by all decent people - just as we would shun David Irving and Nick Griffin. Just because Atzmon is Jewish does not mean that he cannot be either antisemitic or deny the Holocaust.

Bradford TUC voted unanimously to denounce Atzmon and his invitation to perform at the Raise Your Banners event. The TUC has written to the organisers in the hope that they will withdraw the invitation. Paul Meszaros, of Bradford TUC and HOPE not hate Yorkshire, said: "There is no way that Atzmon should play. The evidence against him is overwhelming.

"We are appalled at this decision and believe that this is a serious point of principle. Bradford TUC has long been at the fore of the anti-fascist movement in the area and it is in this tradition that we demand the withdrawal of Atzmon’s invitation."

Hope not Hate

Some extra info and contact number.

S

ome very important information regarding Holocaust denier Gilad Atzmon's so-called "radical jazz" concert which you might or might not be aware of. Almost all "Raise Your Banners Festival" events are happening at Kala Sangam, but this event happens at Bradford Cathedral (01274 777720). You need to speak to diocesan Bishop of Bradford Nick Baines, and if that doesn't work, make a direct appeal to the Church of England hierarchy. Giving a forthright anti-semite permission to play his concert at a cathedral would make disastrous headlines for the Church of England, if the media were to get hold of it.

http://www.visitbradford.com/thedms.asp?dms=13&feature=1256&venue=1570382