Protest Gilad Atzmon at the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists June 8, 2009

Vigil against Anti-Semitism in Berkeley
Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists
1924 Cedar Street at Bonita, Berkeley
Monday June 8, 6:30-7:30 PM

On Monday night, the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists is hosting a concert by a musician named Gilad Atzmon. Atzmon is an ex-Israeli who now resides in the UK; he has renounced not only being Israeli, but his membership in the Jewish people and now writes and promotes classically anti-Semitic remarks.

It sounds too bizarre to be true, but he has left a well documented trail of anti-Semitic remarks such as:

""Throughout the centuries, Jewish bankers bought for themselves some real reputations of backers and financers of wars, and even one communist revolution. Though rich Jews had been happily financing wars using their assets, Alan Greenspan, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve of the United States, found a far more sophisticated way to finance the wars perpetrated by his ideological brothers Libby and Wolfowitz."

" The 'Elders of Zion' syndrome: Zionists complain that Jews continue to be associated with a conspiracy to rule the world via political lobbies, media and money. Is the suggestion of conspiracy really an empty accusation?
The following list is presented with pride in several Jewish American websites.
Jews in Bush's Administration (a list of some 30 names follows…)
Let me assure you, in Clinton's administration the situation was even worse. Even though the Jews only make up 1.9 per cent of the country's population, an astounding 56 per cent of Clinton's appointees were Jews. A coincidence? I don't think so."

"I would suggest that perhaps we should face it once and for all: the Jews were responsible for the killing of Jesus who, by the way, was himself a Palestinian Jew. …..Why is it that the Jews who repeatedly demand that the Christian world should apologise for its involvement in previous persecutions, have never thought that it is about time that they apologised for killing Jesus?"

"I'm not going to say whether it is right or not to burn down a synagogue, I can see that it is a rational act.'"

As if that's not enough, Atzmon also boasts on his website of circulating an article denying the Holocaust written by an extremist in the UK named Paul Eisen, and supports the Swedish anti-Semitic fascist who writes under the pen name "Israel Shamir". Shamir has claimed that Jews have indeed slaughtered Christian children for their blood (the infamous "blood libel" now being vigorously promoted in some Arab countries), and claimed that "Auschwitz was an internment facility, attended by the Red Cross". Atzmon calls Shamir "a unique and advanced thinker".

The concert is co-sponsored by the church's Social Justice Committee and two anti-Israel groups: Bay Area Women in Black and International Solidarity Movement. The BFUU may not have been aware of Atzmon's promotion of hate speech when they agreed to host the event, but they were made aware of it last week and they have refused to cancel it.

San Francisco Voice for Israel will hold a vigil outside the church from 6:30-7:30. This is about more than their hosting an anti-Israel event; it's about their choice to proceed with this event despite knowing the hate speech that Atzmon both creates and promotes. So, for a change, we don't need Israeli flags or pro-Israel signs. If you want to create your own signs for this event, please do not refer to the BFUU members as anti-Semites, but feel free to criticize their decision to allow a genuine anti-Semite to appear in their church!

Suggested signs:

"Hate speech: not welcome here"
"Hate speech is unjust"
"Why does BFUU tolerate hate speech?"

Please invite your non-Jewish friends to this event. This is about hate speech in the Bay Area, and decent people of all religions and (almost) all political orientations should be justifiably concerned about this type of extremism being welcomed into our community.