LONDON – Uproar has broken out since American academics John Mearsheimer and
Richard Falk have endorsed a new book by a London-based Israeli musician accused
of being an anti-Semite and Holocaust denier.
Chicago University
professor John Mearsheimer, author of the 2007 book
The Israel Lobby, and
Princeton professor Richard Falk, the UN rapporteur for the Palestinian
territories, gave promotional words for a book written by Gilad
Atzmon.
His book, titled
The Wandering Who, has been described as
contemporary cultural racism and as an attack on Jewish identity inspired by
Soviet anti- Semitism, by analysts and experts.
Renowned American law
professor Alan Dershowitz said the book has crossed the line from anti-Zionism
to anti-Semitism and said their endorsement was something he has not seen in
his lifetime.
“I challenge Mearsheimer and Falk to a debate on whether
they have endorsed an anti-Semitic book,” he told
The Jerusalem Post on Friday.
He said he plans to expose their action widely, both in the academy and
elsewhere.
“Atzmon has adopted all the classical definitions of anti-
Semitism, he uses the same tropes borrowed from Protocols of the Elders of Zion
and other Nazi publications – that Jews control the world, are responsible for
the credit crunch, believe Hitler was right,” he told the
Post.
“[Mearsheimer and Falk] have crossed a red line that has never been
crossed in my lifetime," Dershowitz said.
Abraham H. Foxman, National Director of the Anti-
Defamation League, said the endorsement reveals what he knew, that Mearsheimer
is an anti-Semite.
“With his glowing endorsement of a book by a known
Hitler apologist and Holocaust denier, John Mearsheimer has revealed himself to
be an anti- Semite,” he said. “For years, Mearsheimer paraded as an objective
analyst, professor and critic, and for years we were very careful not to label
him as an anti-Semite. Now he has clearly aligned himself with the worst kind of
anti-Semitism.
“Gilad Atzmon is a well-known anti-Semite and a promoter of
anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and perverse historical distortions of the
Holocaust.
He is a fringe character who has suddenly gained greater
attention because of the Mearsheimer endorsement of his book,” Foxman
added.
Mark Gardner, director of communications for the Community
Security Trust, a charity that monitors and records anti- Semitic incidents in
the UK, said the book represents utterly contemporary cultural
racism.
“Practically every page is adorned with disgusting quotes, as
reflected in a chapter titled ‘Swindler’s List,’” he said.
Gardner said
the promotional words from Falk and Mearsheimer “elevates a fanatical crank to
literary status.”
“Mearshemier’s quote is an especially repulsive, as it
accuses ‘Jewish leaders’ of Zionism, described as “blind loyalty to Israel,” and
scaremongering, described as “the threat of another Holocaust,” he
said.
“Atzmon’s hatred is one thing, but for a Chicago University
professor to echo it with such grotesque misrepresentations of Jewish behavior,
is something else entirely,” Gardner said. “The book advertiser wants all of the
profit and none of the moral responsibility.”
British but New York-based
journalist and blogger Ben Cohen said the book was clearly inspired by Soviet
anti-Semitism.
“When Atzmon traffics in anti-Semitic tropes – for
example describing the ‘credit crunch’ as a ‘Ziopunch,’ or declaring that The
Protocols of the Elders of Zion is an accurate reflection of the global power of
American Jews – he radiates the delight of someone liberated from a huge
emotional burden,” he said in an article in this week’s New YorkJewish
Week.
Responding to Mearsheimer, Cohen said it cannot be left for others
to determine what constitutes hatred of the Jews.
“The term
‘anti-Semitism’ was coined by anti-Semites in 19th century Germany. It’s a word
that’s never been owned by the Jewish community. That has to change – we
cannot allow Mearsheimer and those like him to determine what does and what does
not constitute hatred of Jews,” Cohen said.
Described by its publishers,
Zero Books, as “An investigation of Jewish identity politics and contemporary
Jewish ideology,” a note was placed on its website defending the backlash
against the book.
“[The book is] more articulate and far more
authoritative than anything I could say. I haven’t seen anything since to
persuade me that we are deluded or anti-Semitic in publishing this book. In the
light of this, I think it would be reprehensible to cancel publication because
authors were threatening to leave us. That would really make us guilty of what
we’re already being accused of by some; ‘you’re only publishing for the money,’”
the statement read.
“So we’ll take the heat, whether it’s [oddly enough]
from the far left or neo-con right.”