BBC Airbrushes Atzmon’s Anti-Semitism
October 15, 2012 15:50 by Simon Plosker
Why did the BBC give a platform to an anti-Semite? On 14 October, the BBC World Service, in a discussion on the links between music and politics, interviewed Gilad Atzmon, a studio guest described as an
acclaimed and controversial jazz saxophonist… a London-based Israeli jazz man… whose political criticism of Zionism and the Israeli state has made him many enemies.
But as is so often the case with the BBC, a piece of vital context has been omitted – Gilad Atzmon is a dye-in-the-wool anti-Semite.
And, in this case, the BBC has no excuse whatsoever for confusing criticism of Zionism or Israel with actual Jew-hatred. For Gilad Atzmon’s Holocaust denial and support for anti-Semitic conspiracy theories have been well-documented. Indeed, some of his “many enemies” include some of the most rabid anti-Israel agitators on the fringe left who have found Atzmon’s beliefs to be beyond the pale even for them.
Here are some of Atzmon’s views, which can be viewed in more detail here:
- Jews were responsible for their persecution by the Nazis
- Burning synagogues is a “rational act”
- Jews try to control the world, as predicted by the Protocols of the Elders of Zion
- Jews are inhuman and they are destroying the planet
- Jews caused the Credit Crunch
- The history of the Holocaust is questionable and is used to conceal plots by Zionists and Neocons
- Israel is worse than the Nazis
It’s one thing to broadcast Atzmon’s music. It’s quite another to give him a platform to legitimize his appalling views. In a discussion concerning the links between music and politics, surely the BBC presenter Julian Woricker could have challenged Atzmon?
(Click below to listen to the full interview.)
As one blogger at Harry’s Place put it:
What was really unpleasant about this interview, and the conversation with other guests which followed, was the apparent complete unconcern felt about Atzmon’s foul views. Woricker claimed to have read a good deal about him, but seemed unperturbed by what he had learnt; he made approving noises when Atzmon claimed that no one could say he had got his facts wrong, and expressed apparent incredulous disbelief at the thought anyone could think his guest a racist or anti-Semite.
The BBC is prepared to fete a man who has been disowned by even the most vicious anti-Zionist activists who see his anti-Semitism as discrediting the Palestinian cause.
Just how far is the BBC prepared to go to promote its institutional bias and hatred towards Israel?
Image: CC BY-SA HonestReporting.com, flickr/Richard Kaby, flickr/Ally Mauro
BBC Airbrushes Atzmon’s Anti-Semitism | Blogs about Israel aggregation
4:23 pm
Oct 15, 2012
[...] article can be viewed at BBC Airbrushes Atzmon’s Anti-Semitism on [...]
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Deacon
5:57 pm
Oct 15, 2012
What do you expect from the BBC they thrive on anti Israeli propaganda, the BBC is ridled with lefties and homo sexuals, they have a lot to answer, the cover ups of sexual harasment by their stars has gone on for years, They could easely be the mouth piece for Hamas, and the Gardian news paper.
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juditrh cummings
8:16 pm
Oct 15, 2012
sadly, you let your true views be known by the totally irrelevant reference to homosexuals.
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Henry Droznin
8:07 pm
Oct 15, 2012
She is very sensitive lady …she cry because INVENTOR , Terrorism Inventor was seek… !!!
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J Burns
12:10 am
Oct 16, 2012
WHat you omitted to mention was that the BBC is also substantially funded from Arab scources, as well as more than a few “Arab named” presenters
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shloime
5:31 pm
Oct 15, 2012
the fact that the bbc supplies arabic-language news feeds to arab broadcasters creates two powerful forces for anti-israel bias: first, the need to employ large numbers of arabic-speaking journalists inevitably has an influence on the rest of the workforce, as colleagues exchange views. indirectly, this introduces many representatives of the “arab narrative”, with no balancing counter-argument.
and second, and much more insidious, is the fact that the bbc now derives considerable revenue from those arab countries, and has a real financial interest in not offending its clients. he who pays the piper calls the tune.
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
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emes
11:04 pm
Oct 15, 2012
Shloime was right about arab backing the bbc but this is not from today, I remember going to the bbc offices in the early 90′s to attend a debate and seeing a huge arab weaving hanging on their wall – there has been an affiliation with arabs for so long, probably a left-over from the time of Hitler, Edward and Mrs Simpson. By the way, I always consider Mrs Simpson to have been an unwitting saviour of Jews as if it wasn’t for the fact that Edward gave up the throne for her, he would have sat on Hitler’s lap with his strings being pulled – to our detriment!
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Al Neuman
3:39 am
Oct 16, 2012
If this heavy Arab funding of BBC can be documented, it needs to be publicly “outed”, since indeed it’s always the “Golden Rule”–i.e., He who has the gold,make the rule.
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anna
5:50 pm
Oct 15, 2012
Who owns BBC?!?!!,
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Paardestaart
6:38 pm
Oct 15, 2012
Well? Who?
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EthanP
6:44 pm
Oct 15, 2012
I believe your answer is called “moral equivilency”. A dispicable part of PC liberalism. Must give holocaust denyers fair time, after all.
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
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Les
6:45 pm
Oct 15, 2012
Another self hating Jew. Reminds me of that other low life sob, Bobby Fischer.
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Martyman39
3:05 am
Oct 16, 2012
And you can also throw in that moron Norman Finkelstein.
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steve mann
6:46 pm
Oct 15, 2012
Dont be surprised- The BBC is a renound anti-Zionist organ.
How about this- The head of BBC Manchester who just happens to be a Muslim- is taken the Jewish programme off air- to save money-
Mind you everyone working their does it for free!
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Mark Feffer
6:56 pm
Oct 15, 2012
The BBC and Guardian etc etc are simply put, Accomplices to Murder of Jews and Westerners in general. It is worthwhile to read Robert Wistich’s From Ambivalence to Betrayal- The Left, The Jews, and Israel.
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BBC: c’è sempre posto per l’antisemita di turno « Bugie dalle gambe lunghe
7:23 pm
Oct 15, 2012
[...] QUI articolo originale Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:Mi piaceBe the first to like this. [...]
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ANDRE SIMON
7:38 pm
Oct 15, 2012
TO SUCH A MISERABLE AND DEPICTABLE MAN THE ISRAELI IDENDITY AND EVEN PASSPORT SHOULD BE TAKEN AWAY..HE HIS A DISHONNOR TO THE ISRAELI NAME
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La BBC facilita espacios para duras críticas hacia Israel y el judaísmo. « Unidos x Israel
7:42 pm
Oct 15, 2012
[...] del 15 de Octubre del 2012 Artículo traducido por ReporteHonesto de HonestReporting, escrito por Simon Plosker. ¿Por qué la BBC le da una [...]
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Gary Boivin
7:43 pm
Oct 15, 2012
The Stat of Israel is viewed as “the promised land” by thousands of Palestinians, as well as its millions of Jewish residents. The Palestinians who work in, or seek to work in, Israel do NOT want their ethnic group’s politicians to supplant the current power structure. They are trying to make a living and see Israel fro what it is: A successful blend of multi-party democracy and mixed economic systems, with the highest OVERALL standard of living in western Asia. This, the Israelis have achieved, despite being in one of the most natural resource poor areas of the planet.
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
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Al Neuman
8:59 pm
Oct 15, 2012
Well agree with Gary’s observations; nonetheless in spite of this reality, Israel continues to get pummeled by the global Leftist types, as well as their media acolytes. And I don’t think this constant drumbeat of anti Israel rhetoric, really now a widespread worldwide phenomenon, is without significant potential consequences for Israel and Jews everywhere.
Remember Goebbels?
So to me the big question is what from a practical standpoint, what to do about all the negative propaganda and hatespeech increasingly directed @ Israel as a thin cover for obvious underlying antiSemitism, given the remarkably blind eye that even the mainstream Christian world has turned toward it (or worse).
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andria switzer
10:50 pm
Oct 15, 2012
I agree that we should be very very very concerned about growing anti-semitism. I believe that the open window on Jew hatred, on anti-Israel rhetoric in the name of free speech is promulgating hate and it has usually led to violence in the past. We have significant history and studies that show undeterred hate speech leads to acts of hate. There does not seem to be an appetite in Western societies to challenge this crap.
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Al Neuman
3:43 am
Oct 16, 2012
Yes–and all this passivity (other than complaining) about it isn’t a method that his historically served Jews very well.
Where is the JDL when we need them?
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emes
7:50 pm
Oct 15, 2012
As I have written in the J Savile Saga comments section, the way I see it is that Gd works in mysterious ways to discredit such a major corporation as the BBC, a system who knows everything about anything world-wide, and yet they deny such “goings-on” under their own roof and within their own organisation. Jews don’t have to do much but to sit back and watch such an establishment try and squirm its way out of such an abhorrent situation; whatever they say against Jews and Israel in the future, we have a shield as bright as that in biblical times for the BBC to fall into an abyss.
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Gary Boivin
7:53 pm
Oct 15, 2012
These Palestinians see this, but Atzmon, perhaps because of a bad experience growing up, family issues, or a brain tumor, is given free rein to tell “the other side of the story”. A segment of European society has hated Jews forever. This segment deludes itself into thinking it, and it alone, is the Intelligentsia, Il Cognoscenti, L’Elite, Der Gebildete.
However, the fact remains that, in the end, “The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens”. This quote is from Baha’ullah, Founder of the Baha’i Faith, and was written in the late 1860′s. It is fear of progress, not intellectual prowess, that keeps these people from accepting those, like the Jews. who are successful.
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Mark Feffer
7:58 pm
Oct 15, 2012
Gary Boivin has it right. But he forgot to include Ubermench.
BBC are lowlife murderers in the end. And they KNOW it.
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Al Neuman
8:54 pm
Oct 15, 2012
Well Atzman is a well-known psychopath whose hatred of Israel and Jews is exceeded only by that for himself. A badly disturbed individual, he is beyond pathetic and deserves nothing but disgust and scorn from all fair-minded people, Jews and non-Jews.
But actually the BBC’s handling of this is much more concerning–why indeed would they give voice to such a well known bigot and hater? Would they similarly allow ANYONE with highly biased and hateful irrational criticisms of Islam speak their piece?
I think we all know the answer(s). The only practical question is how to call the BBC to account for sponsoring and promulgating naked hate speech-aren’t there any published standards for them?
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andria switzer
10:46 pm
Oct 15, 2012
This man is the worst Jewish or ex Jewish Jew-hater I have ever heard of and reading his despicable statements made me want to puke. He should definitely have his Israeli passport taken away if it has not been cancelled already. He should never be interviewed by leftist antiZionists, and he should be banned from any public performances. It is illegal to deny the holocaust in Germany and it should be elsewhere as it is to deny history itself. His hate on Jews is like a rabid dog. Why is he invited even to leftist BBC?
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Horace Pizzicata
10:53 pm
Oct 15, 2012
People, you can write one million words telling us what a rotten louse is Atzmon and of course they come no rottener, but why waste time bloviating about a deranged mind?
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Marilyn
11:39 pm
Oct 15, 2012
Because, Horace, all that is needed for evil to flourish is that good people do (or say) nothing. An old saying but a quick glance at history tells the truth of it.
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Al Neuman
3:36 am
Oct 16, 2012
Agree with Horace about paying too much attention to an obviously badly disturbed individual like Atzman.
But that only re-emphasizes the REAL question here, i.e., why would BBC supposedly a highly reputable and respected news source, ennable and tolerate this kind of hatespeech?
And not the 1st time the BBC has been very antiIsrael.
My feeling is that Jews shouldn’t just “accept” what seems to be a growing institutional antiSemitism @ many other media outlets too, e.g. Huff Post, Salon.com, TIME magazine, etc., etc.
Rather these Muslim-loving media types should be publicly challenged, called out on their outrageous bashing of Israe,l and forced to defend their disgusting hypocrisy.
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Horace Pizzicata
10:56 pm
Oct 15, 2012
Despite the s.o.b, I follow the BBC and like the British very much.
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Dan
4:26 am
Oct 17, 2012
Horace, Of course Britain is great and the British are basically fair-minded peace-loving, honest, democratic people. You are right and your feelings are well-placed. It is also true without a doubt that the BBC is the foremost broadcaster in the world, with an average daily audience of around a hundred and fifty million people in every country on earth. That global audience and global reputation is precisely why many Britons are revulsed by the continual, decades-long campaign by the BBC to discredit Israel and by extension Jews who support Israel. The objection is not to the anti-Israel position. The objection is to the unrelenting falsehoods promoted in support of that position.
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LR
12:05 am
Oct 16, 2012
What’s with the BBC? They used to be a reputable organization. Is it truly mirroring the bigotry that seems to be prevalent in British society these days. They seem to have no problem bending over for the Muslim immigrants, but bad mouth Jews. Double edged sword you people are swallowing over there.
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Rafi
3:53 am
Oct 16, 2012
Re Al Neuman’s comment: This is what can be done. The Board Of Deputies, or agroup of individuals in the UK should take the BBC to court for using public funds in violation of its own charter of incorporation, and in persuit of its own agenda. This is embezzlement and fraud. There is a clear and compelling case that can easily be won. The BBC is under a legal obligation to be fair and unbiased, to present context, and to be ballanced.
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