Revision 280258783 of "Gilad Atzmon" on enwiki

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{{Infobox Person
|name          = Gilad Atzmon<br />{{lang|he|גלעד עצמון}}
|image         = Gilad Atzmon.jpg
|image_size    = 180px
|caption       = Gilad Atzmon
|birth_name    = Gilad Atzmon
|birth_date    = {{Birth date and age|mf=yes|1963|6|9}}
|birth_place   = [[Tel Aviv]], [[Israel]]
|residence     = London
|nationality   = [[Israel]]i and British<ref name="St. Clair"/>
|known_for     = Musician, Israel-related political activism{{POV-statement|date=March 2009}}
|education     = [[Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance|Rubin Academy of Music]]
|occupation    = Musician
|website       = [http://www.gilad.co.uk/ www.gilad.co.uk]
}}

   Roland hey Roland Rancie

   How many times do I have to tell you to take your nose out of George Galloway's behind!?

   ---  Tony Greenstein, Stalinist Shoplifter


'''Gilad Atzmon''' ({{lang-he|גלעד עצמון}}, born June 9, 1963, [[Israel]]) is an Israeli-born British [[jazz musician]], and is known as an author and activist who is critical of both [[Zionism]] and [[Judaism]].<ref name="gilchrist222">{{cite news|url=http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/features/39I-thought-music-could-heal.3804991.jp?CommentPage=1&CommentPageLength=1000|title='I thought music could heal the wounds of the past. I may have got that wrong'|last=Gilchrist|first=Jim|date=22 February 2008|work=[[The Scotsman]]|accessdate=2009-03-21}}</ref> His album ''Exile'' was BBC jazz album of the year in 2003,<ref name="JazzHot"/> and he has been described as "one of London's finest saxophonists".<ref name=Lewis/> Playing over 100 dates a year,<ref name=Lewis/> he has been called "surely the hardest-gigging man in British jazz".<ref>''The Times'', 6 March 2009, [http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/cd_reviews/article5852689.ece Gilad Atzmon: In Loving Memory of America]</ref> His albums, of which he has recorded nine to date,<ref name=Lewis/> often explore political themes and the music of the Middle East. He has also written two novels, which have been translated into over 20 languages.<ref name="gibson">{{cite news|url=http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/Default.aspx?s=3&s1=2&id=8879|title=No choice but to speak out - Israeli musician ‘a proud self-hating Jew’|last=Gibson|first=Martin|date=23 January 2009|work=[[Gisborne Herald]]|accessdate=2009-03-21}}</ref> 

==Early life==

He was born a [[secular]] [[Israel]]i [[Jew]] in [[Tel Aviv]], and trained at the [[Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance|Rubin Academy of Music]] in [[Jerusalem]].<ref name = "GMF-GA">{{cite web
| url         = http://www.globalmusicfoundation.org/people.html#GA
| title       = Gilad Atzmon
| accessdate  = 2008-10-28
| work        = People
| publisher   = Global Music Foundation
}}
</ref> His service as a [[paramedic]] in the [[Israeli Defense Forces|Israeli military]] during [[1982 Lebanon War|the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon]] caused him reach the conclusion that "I was part of a colonial state, the result of plundering and ethnic cleansing."<ref name="St. Clair">{{cite web
| url         = http://www.counterpunch.org/stclair07192003.html
| title       = You Must Leave Home, Again: Gilad Atzmon's "A Guide to the Perplexed"
| accessdate  = 2008-10-28
| last        = St. Clair
| first       = Jeffery
| authorlink  = Jeffrey St. Clair
| date        = July 19, 2003
| publisher   = [[CounterPunch]]
}}
</ref><ref name="Lewis">[http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/mar/06/gilad-atzmon-israel-jazz-interview#history-byline "Manic beat preacher" interview with John Lewis], [[The Guardian]], March 6, 2009.</ref>

Atzmon first became interested in British [[jazz]] when he discovered some in a British record shop in Jerusalem in the 1970s. He initially was inspired by the work of [[Ronnie Scott]] and [[Tubby Hayes]] and regarded London as “the Mecca of Jazz.”<ref name="JazzHot"/> He was inspired to become a jazz musician by the work of [[Charlie Parker]], in particular ''[[Charlie Parker with Strings]]'', recorded with a string section in 1949. Atzmon said of the album that he "loved the way the music is both beautiful and subversive - they way he basks in the strings but also fights against them."<ref name=Lewis/> 

In 1994,<ref name = "RainLore bio">{{cite web
| url         = http://www.rainloresworldofmusic.net/Artists/Artists_A-D/Atzmon_Gilad.html
| title       = Profile - Gilad Atzmon
| accessdate  = 2008-10-28
| date        = March 21, 2003
| publisher   = Rainlore's World of Music
}}
</ref> Atzmon emigrated from Israel to London, where he studied philosophy,<ref name="JazzHot">Gilad Atzmon, [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandjazzmusic/3647173/How-jazz-got-hot-again.html How jazz got hot again], [[The Telegraph]], October 13, 2005.</ref><ref name = "GMF-GA" /> and has lived there since,<ref name=gilchrist222/> becoming a British citizen in 2002.<ref name="St. Clair"/>

==Music==
While Atzmon's main instrument is the alto [[saxophone]], he also plays soprano, tenor and baritone saxophones and [[clarinet]], [[sol]], [[zurna]] and [[flute]].<ref name = "GMF-GA" /> Atzmon's jazz style has been described as [[bebop]]/[[hard bop]], with forays into [[free jazz]] and [[swing]], and seemingly inspired by [[John Coltrane]] and [[Miles Davis]].<ref name = "RainLore bio" /> Atzmon sometimes plays the alto and soprano sax simultaneously.<ref name = "RainLore bio" />

Atzmon's works have also explored the music of the Middle East, [[North Africa]], and [[Eastern Europe]].<ref name="Atzmonhomepage">{{cite web
| url         = http://www.gilad.co.uk/index.html
| title       = GILAD ATZMON - MUSICIAN, COMPOSER, PRODUCER, EDUCATOR, WRITER 
| accessdate  = 2008-10-28
| last        = Atzmon
| first       = Gilad
| year        = 2007
| publisher   = Gilad Atzmon
}}
</ref> He draws on [[Arabic music]] (which unlike Western music needs to be internalised - "there is no way to write Arabic music"<ref name=Lewis/>) to emphasise "reverting to the primacy of the ear",<ref name=Lewis/> encouraging students to sing jazz and bebop lines before picking up their instruments.<ref name=Lewis/> "Atzmon's musical method has been to play with notions of cultural identity, flirting with genres such as tango and klezmer as well as various Arabic, Balkan, Gypsy and Ladino folk forms."<ref name=Lewis/> Atzmon's recordings differ from his live shows. Atzom told ''The Guardian'' that this is "very deliberate. I don't think that anyone can sit in a house, at home, and listen to me play a full-on bebop solo. It's too intense. My albums need to be less manic."<ref name=Lewis/>

Atzmon has created the "Benny Hill-like alter ego - a fanatical Zionist" Artie Fishel, on the album ''Artie Fishel & the Promised Band'', which has been described as "musical anarchy."<ref name = "BBC-AF">{{cite web
| url         = http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/release/grp2/
| title       = Gilad Atzmon: Artie Fishel And The Promised Band
| accessdate  = 2008-10-28
| last        = Shackleton
| first       = Kathryn 
| date        = October 16, 2006
| publisher   = [[BBC]]
}}
</ref> With traditional [[klezmer music]], dialogue, and jokes, the album features Atzmon on saxophone, [[John Turville]] on keys and electronics, [[Yaron Stavi]] on bass, and [[Asaf Sirkis]] on drums.<ref name = "GA-AF">{{cite web
| url         = http://www.gilad.co.uk/html%20files/artiefishel.htm
| title       = ARTIE FISHEL & THE PROMISED BAND
| accessdate  = 2008-10-28
| last        = Atzmon
| first       = Gilad
| year        = 2007
| publisher   = Gilad Atzmon
}}
</ref><ref>[http://www.jazzwisemagazine.com/index.php/Magazine-Features/Features/Gilad-Atzmon-Not-strictly-kosher.html Gilad Atzmon, Not Strictly Kosher], [[Jazzwise]], January 17, 2007.</ref> Other artists include vocalist [[Guillermo Rozenthuler]], [[Koby Israelite]] on vocals and accordion, and [[Ovidiu Fratila]] on violin.<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/mixingit/pip/lpuxw/ Mixing it feature], [[BBC]] Radio, October 6, 2006.</ref>

===Collaborations and groups===
Atzmon is a member of the veteran [[punk rock]] band [[Ian Dury and the Blockheads|The Blockheads]], having joined when [[Ian Dury]] was still performing with them.<ref name = "GMF-GA" /> He has also recorded and performed with [[Shane McGowan]], [[Robbie Williams]], [[Sinéad O'Connor]], [[Robert Wyatt]] and [[Paul McCartney]].<ref name = "GMF-GA" /><ref name="Atzmonhomepage" /> He has recorded two albums with Robert Wyatt, who describes him as "one of the few musical geniuses I've ever met".<ref name=Lewis/>

Atzmon has collaborated, recorded and performed with musicians from all around the world, including the Palestinian singer, [[Reem Kelani]], Tunisian singer and [[oud]] player [[Dhafer Youssef]], violinist [[Marcel Mamaliga]], accordion player [[Romano Viazzani]], bassist [[Yaron Stavi]], violinist and trumpet-violin player, [[Dumitru Ovidiu Fratila]], and [[Guillermo Rozenthuler]] on vocals.<ref name = "RainLore bio" />

Atzmon founded the '''Orient House Ensemble''' band in London in the 1990s and is currently touring with them.<ref name="Atzmonhomepage" /> The band includes Asaf Sirkis on drums, Yaron Stavi on bass and [[Frank Harrison]] on keyboard.<ref name="Atzmonhomepage" />  It has produced five albums in eight years.<ref name=Shackleton>Kathryn Shackleton, [http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/release/5vp2/ Gilad Atzmon & The Orient House Ensemble, Refuge], [[BBC]], October 1, 2007.</ref>

Atzmon is on the creative panel of the ''Global Music Foundation'',<ref name = "GMF-GA" /> a non-profit organization formed in December 2004 which runs residential educational and performance workshops and events in different countries around the world.<ref name = "GMF">{{cite web
| url         = http://www.globalmusicfoundation.org/about.html
| title       = About GMF
| accessdate  = 2008-10-28
| publisher   = Global Music Foundation
}}
</ref>, and also offers personal workshops to students.<ref name = "Atzmon-Workshop">{{cite web
| url         = http://www.gilad.co.uk/education.htm
| title       = MUSIC EDUCATION 
| accessdate  = 2008-10-28
| last        = Atzmon
| first       = Gilad
| year        = 2007
| publisher   = Gilad Atzmon
}}
</ref>

===Reviews===

Atzmon and his ensemble have received favorable reviews from ''Hi-Fi World, [[Financial Times]], [[The Scotsman]], [[The Guardian]], [[Birmingham Post]], [[The Sunday Times]]'' and ''[[The Independent]]''.<ref>[http://www.gilad.co.uk/ Gilad Atzmon web site].</ref>  Reviews of his 2007 album ''Refuge'' included:
:''[[Manchester Evening News]]'': The individuality of the music is extraordinary. No one is more willing to serve his music with raw political passion, and that curious cantor-like tone on clarinet is immediately arresting, like Artie Shaw writhing in his death throes.<ref>Alan Brownlee, [http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/entertainment/music/world_music/s/1015/1015003_gilad_atzmon__the_orient_house_ensemble__refuge_enja.html Gilad Atzmon & The Orient House Ensemble - Refuge (Enja)], [[Manchester Evening News]], August 30, 2007.</ref>
:''EjazzNews'': "For sheer improvisational fireworks, quirky humour and genre-defying invention, one will be hard-pressed to find a bandleader as unique as Gilad Atzmon." ("EjazzNews," September 2008)<ref>John Stevenson, [http://www.ejazznews.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=9791&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0  Gilad Atzmon liberates the Americans: Orient House Ensemble, Ronnie Scott’s London, August 30th 2008], [http://ejazznews.com EJazzNews.com], September 01, 2008.</ref>
:[[BBC]]: "...the OHE is finding its voice in an increasingly subtle blend of East and West, that’s brutal and beautiful."<ref name=Shackleton/>

In November 2008 Chris Searle launched his book ''Forward Groove: Jazz and the Real World from Louis Armstrong to Gilad Atzmon'' at the [[London Jazz Festival]]. It "chronicles the development of jazz and its great exponents" alongside social developments and political protest movements. The reviewer noted that “the torch continues to be carried by contemporary musicians such as Israeli-born alto saxman Gilad Atzmon who dreams of a free and united Palestine.”<ref>Ian Soutar,  [http://www.sheffieldtelegraph.co.uk/arts/Former-head-chronicles-a-passion.4693307.jp Former head chronicles a passion for jazz and justice], [[Sheffield Telegraph]], November 14, 2008.</ref>

In February 2009 ''[[The Guardian]]'' music critic John Fordham reviewed Atzmon's newest album ''In loving memory of America'' which Atzmon describes as "a memory of America I had cherished in my mind for many years".  It includes five standards and six originals "inspired by the sumptuous harmonies and impassioned sax-playing of [[Charlie Parker|(Charlie) Parker]]'s late-40s recordings with classical strings".<ref>John Fordham, [http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/feb/27/gilad-atzmon-loving-memory-america Gilad Atzmon: In Loving Memory of America], [[The Guardian]], February 27, 2009.</ref>

While John Lewis praises much of Atzmon's work, he notes that "trenchant politics often sit uneasily alongside music, particularly when that music is instrumental."<ref name=Lewis/>  "Only one of his albums has been truly bad&mdash;his 2006 comedy klezmer project, ''Artie Fishel and the Promised Band'', a clumsy satire on what he regards as the artificial nature of Jewish identity politics&mdash;but even his best albums have a slightly tame, homogenous feel that shares little with his blistering live performances."<ref name=Lewis/>

===Awards===
Atzmon was the recipient of the HMV Top Dog Award at the Birmingham International Jazz Festival in 1996–1998.<ref name = "RainLore bio" />  Gilad Atzmon's ''Exile'' was BBC jazz album of the year in 2003.<ref name="JazzHot"/>

==Novels==
Atzmon's novels have been published in 22 languages. His first novel ''[[A Guide to the Perplexed]]'', published in 2001, is set in a future where by 2052 Israel has been replaced by a Palestinian state for 40 years. The novel deals with the commercialization of the Holocaust - the central character's grandfather warns him "There no business like Shoah business" - and "argues that the Holocaust is invoked as a kind of reflexive propaganda designed to shield the Zionist state from responsibility for any transgression against Palestinians." The central character's "bizarre escapades through the tangled nature of political and military bureaucracies" have been called "worthy of [[Joseph Heller]]", the book as a whole has been described as a "vividly written satire, infused with a ribald sense of humor and an unsparing critique of the incendiary political cauldron of the Mideast."<ref name="St. Clair"/> Equally, it has been called "viciously black satire on Israeli life... grandiose, childish and nasty".<ref>Matthew Reisz, ''The Independent'', 7 Decmber 2002, [http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/a-guide-to-the-perplexed-by-gilad-atzmon-trans-philip-simpson-609999.html A crude - and rude - assault on Israel misfires]</ref> 

His second novel, ''My One and Only Love'' was published in 2005, and features as a protagonist a trumpeter who chooses to play only one note (extremely well) as well as a spy who uncovers Nazi war criminals and locks them inside double bass cases which then tour permanently in the protagonist's orchestra's luggage.<ref>Sholto Byrnes,, ''The Independent'', 25 March 2005, [http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/talking-jazz-529796.html Talking Jazz]</ref> The book also is comedic take on "Zionist espionage and intrigue" which explores "the personal conflict between being true to one’s heart and being loyal to The Jews'.<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/cambridgeshire/content/articles/2004/10/01/gilad_event_feature.shtml BBC book launch announcement], [[BBC]], Jun 3, 2005.</ref>

==Politics==
John Lewis, writing in [[The Guardian]], after noting the prime minister of [[Turkey]], [[Recep Tayyip Erdoğan]] had cited Atzmon during a debate with Israeli president [[Shimon Peres]], said "It is Atzmon's blunt anti-Zionism rather than his music that has given him an international profile, particularly in the Arab world, where his essays are widely read."<ref name=Lewis/> Whilst much of Atzmon's activism is directed specifically at the behaviour of Israel, some speaks more broadly to the role of Jews in the world and in supporting Israel, and he has often been accused of [[antisemitism]] and [[holocaust denial]]<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2006/nov/30/anewmenacingcurrentisappe The Guardian: 
David Hirsh, ''Openly embracing prejudice'']</ref>. Atzmon, noting that he is a secular Jew married to a Jewish woman and in a band with three Jews, rejects the charge. "Let's get some things very clear. I never attack Jews, I hardly criticise Judaism – I never criticise people for their beliefs. But I can criticise conduct."<ref name="gilchrist222"/>

Atzmon has made his political views known in a variety of ways, including talks and publications, and his own website. Publications in which Atzmon's political writings have appeared include ''[[CounterPunch]]'',<ref>Gilad Atzmon, 28 August 2003, [http://www.counterpunch.org/atzmon08282003.html Collective Self-Deception: The Most Common Mistakes of Israelis]</ref> [[Al Jazeera]], [[Uruknet]][http://www.uruknet.info], [[Middle East On Line]][http://www.middle-east-online.com], [[Dissident Voice]][http://dissidentvoice.org], and [[Atlantic Free Press]][http://www.atlanticfreepress.com]. Many of his published papers are available on his personal website.<ref>[http://www.gilad.co.uk/politiks.htm Politiks] at Gilad Atzmon web site.</ref>  He is a co-founder of and contributor to the web site [[Palestine Think Tank]],<ref name=Lewis/> established in May 2008, aiming "to educate those who don't know what Zionism is so that they are able to see how damaging it is and how it is a just cause to stop it".<ref name=PTTabout>[http://palestinethinktank.com/about/ About PalestineThinkTank.com page].</ref> 

Broadly, Atzmon is opposed to [[Zionism]], and supports the [[Palestinian Right of Return]] as well as the establishment of a [[One state solution|single state in Israel/Palestine]].<ref name="Rizzo">Mary Rizzo, [http://www.counterpunch.org/atzmon06172005.html The Gag Artists, Who's Afraid of Gilad Atzmon?], [[CounterPunch]], June 17, 2005</ref> 

===Views===

Much of Atzmon's writings are directed more broadly to the role of Jews in the world and in supporting Israel. Thus he has said that disputes about the veracity of the [[Protocols of the Elders of Zion]] are moot, because "American Jews do try to control the world, by proxy. So far they are doing pretty well for themselves at least."<ref name="kamm425">{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article708984.ece|title=Agreed, we shouldn't vote for the BNP – but its twin, Respect, is just as bad|last=[[Oliver Kamm|Kamm, Oliver]]|date=April 25, 2006|work=[[The Times]]|accessdate=2009-03-21}}</ref><ref name="aaron628"/><ref name="onanti">{{cite web|url=http://www.gilad.co.uk/html%20files/onanti.html|title=On Anti-Semitism|last=Atzmon|first=Gilad|accessdate=2009-03-21}}</ref> As a result of these beliefs on Jewish power, he has said that "whether it is right or not to burn down a synagogue, I can see that it is a rational act,"<ref name="paul1020">{{cite news|title=London pizzeria hosts allegedly anti-Semitic musician. Gilad Atzmon called burning down synagogues 'a rational act;' Board of Deputies of British Jews lodges complaint|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-130273822.html|last=Paul|first=Jonny|date=October 20, 2006|work=[[Jerusalem Post]]|accessdate=2009-03-21}}</ref><ref name="doward">{{cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2005/apr/17/highereducation.israel|title=Boycott threat to Israeli colleges|last=Doward|first=Jamie|coauthors=Nico Hines|date=17 April 2005|work=[[The Observer]]|accessdate=2009-03-21}}</ref> and that "the reasoning behind resentment towards Israel and Jews is rational."<ref name="kamm309">{{cite news|url=http://timesonline.typepad.com/oliver_kamm/2009/03/jazz-and-the-an.html|title=Jazz and the anti-Jew, redux|last=Kamm|first=Oliver|date=March 9, 2009|work=[[TimesOnline]]|accessdate=2009-03-21}}</ref><ref name=atzmon-resentment>http://palestinethinktank.com/2009/03/07/hatred-has-turned-him-into-a-jew-deconstructing-nick-cohen/</ref> Atzmon denied the comment about synagogues, saying he simply meant that "any form of anti-Jewish activity may be seen as political retaliation" for Israel's actions.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2005/apr/24/letters.theobserver|title=Letters to the Editor|last=Atzmon|first=Gilad|date=24 April 2005|work=[[The Observer]]|accessdate=2009-03-21}}</ref>

Perhaps even more controversially, particularly in anti-Zionist UK circles, was his distribution of a [[Holocaust Revisionism|Holocaust revisionist]]/denialist paper by [[Paul Eisen]],<ref name=Rizzo/> leading to accusations of Holocaust denial.<ref name=Rizzo/><ref name=aaron628/><ref name="paul1112">{{cite news|url=http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1226404704925|title=Israeli ambassador speaks at UK university despite pressure to cancel |last=Paul|first=Jonny|date=November 12, 2008|work=[[Jerusalem Post]]|accessdate=2009-03-21}}</ref><ref>[http://www.aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20editorials/2006%20Opinion%20Editorials/August/12%20o/Beyond%20Comparison%20By%20Gilad%20Atzmon.htm Atzmon in Al Jazeera]</ref><ref name="reuters404">{{cite news|url=http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3764482|title=Trying on a new religion for size|date=April 4, 2007|publisher=[[Reuters]]|accessdate=2009-03-21}}</ref> According to the organizer of a German event where Atzmon spoke, Atzmon strongly rejects the accusation, noting that he only disputes the the figure of 6 million Jews killed.<ref>[http://www.uruknet.de/?p=40226 Atzmon in Uruknet]</ref>

===Allegations of antisemitism and responses===
Allegations of antisemitism due to Atzmon's views have come from a variety of quarters in the UK, ranging from commentators such as [[David Aaronovitch]] (in a June 2005 ''[[The Times]]'' opinion piece)<ref name="aaron628">{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/david_aaronovitch/article538076.ece|title=How did the far Left manage to slip into bed with the Jew-hating Right?|last=Aaronovitch|first=David|date=June 28, 2005|work=[[The Times]]|accessdate=2009-03-21}}</ref> and [[David Hirsh]] (in a November 2006 blog on ''The Guardian'''s [[Comment is Free]] website,<ref name=hirsh301106>David Hirsh, [http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/david_hirsh/2006/11/a_new_menacing_current_is_appe.html Openly embracing prejudice], ''[[The Guardian]]'', November 30, 2006.</ref> which allowed Atzmon a response<ref>''Gilad Atzmon'', ''The Guardian'' 12 December 2006, [http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2006/dec/12/giladatzmonrespondstodavid A response to David Hirsh]</ref>) to the [[Jews Against Zionism]], which asked for the [[Socialist Workers Party]] to withdraw an invitation to Atzmon to speak at the ''Marxism 2005'' conference.<ref name=Rizzo/>  Atzmon responded in a letter to ''[[The Observer]]'' that he did not "justify any form of violence against Jews, Jewish interests or any innocent people." He explained the context of his comment as "debating the question of rationality of anti-semitism. I claimed that since Israel presents itself as the 'state of the Jewish people', and bearing in mind the atrocities committed by the Jewish state against the Palestinians, any form of anti-Jewish activity may be seen as political retaliation. This does not make it right."<ref>[http://observer.guardian.co.uk/letters/story/0,,1468961,00.html Observer Letters to the Editor], ''[[The Guardian]]'', April 24, 2005.</ref> The Socialist Workers Party has since distanced itself from Atzmon.<ref name=Lewis/>

In 2005 Atzmon distributed to his email list a paper called "The Holocaust Wars" written by [[Paul Eisen]] which [[Jews Against Zionism]]<ref name=Rizzo/> and columnist [[David Aaronovitch]] labeled [[Holocaust Revisionism|Holocaust revisionist]]/denialist paper.<ref name=aaron628/> This accusation has been picked up by others.<ref name="paul1112">{{cite news|url=http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1226404704925|title=Israeli ambassador speaks at UK university despite pressure to cancel |last=Paul|first=Jonny|date=November 12, 2008|work=[[Jerusalem Post]]|accessdate=2009-03-21}}</ref><ref name="reuters404">{{cite news|url=http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3764482|title=Trying on a new religion for size|date=April 4, 2007|publisher=[[Reuters]]|accessdate=2009-03-21}}</ref> However, Atzmon replies that “my take on the subject is slightly different" than Eisen's.<ref name=aaron628/> He does not deny the Holocaust or the Nazi Judeocide but insists “that both the Holocaust and World War II should be treated as historical events rather than as religious myth.”<ref>Manuel Talens, [http://www.redress.btinternet.co.uk/gatzmon14.htm Beauty as a political weapon; Three in one: jazzman, writer and activist - A conversation with Gilad Atzmon], originally published in the Mexican monthly magazine Memoria, No. 202, December 2005.</ref> At a 2005 German book reading he noted that he questions the forensic proof of the figure of 6 million Jews killed.<ref>[http://www.westline.de/nachrichten/archiv/index_mono.php?file_name=20051128231021_630_001_2315688&jahrgang=2005&stichwort=atzmon&&start=0&order=datum&ort=bo Evening full of dissonance], [http://www.westline.de West-line], Source: Ruhr Nachrichten (Bochum), November 29, 2005.  See [http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_url?doit=done&tt=url&intl=1&fr=bf-res&trurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.westline.de%2Fnachrichten%2Farchiv%2Findex_mono.php%3Ffile_name%3D20051128231021_630_001_2315688%26jahrgang%3D2005%26stichwort%3Datzmon%26%26start%3D0%26order%3Ddatum%26ort%3Dbo&lp=de_en&btnTrUrl=Translate Yahoo Babel Fish translation here]; Also see [http://www.uruknet.de/?p=40226 Atzmon’s quotes from the German organizer of the event in Uruknet]</ref>

In 2007 the [[Swedish Committee Against Anti-Semitism]] complained when Atzmon spoke at a 2007 seminar in Stockholm, at the invitation of the Christian Social Democrats: "It is of course legitimate to criticize Israel's politics, but democratic forces need to react when debate about the Middle East is used to legitimize the hatred of Jews."  The CSD responded by saying: "Gilad Atzmon is himself a Jew, and when the Swedish Committee Against Anti-Semitism starts calling Jews anti-Semites there is a risk that they undermine the term anti-Semite and do the fight against anti-Semitism a disservice."<ref name=local327>[http://www.thelocal.se/6777/20070323/ Social Democrats invited known anti-Semite to seminar], [http://www.thelocal.se/ The Local], March 23, 2007.</ref> Atzmon has also been criticized for saying that the Jews "were responsible for the killing of [[Jesus]]."<ref name="paul1112"/><ref name=onanti/>

Despite these allegations, Atzmon has been invited to debate Denis MacShane and David Aaronovitch on the topic of antisemitism at 2009 [[Sunday Times]] Oxford Literary Festival.<ref>[http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=31208 Anti-Semitism to be debated in Oxford], [http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/ Middle East on Line], March 27, 2009.</ref><ref>[http://www.sundaytimes-oxfordliteraryfestival.co.uk/ The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival 29 March-5 April 2009 announcement.</ref>

==Discography==
*''"In loving memory of America"'' - Label: Enja - January 2009
*''Refuge'' - Label: Enja - October 2007
*''Artie Fishel and the Promised Band'' - Label: WMD - September 2006
*''MusiK'' - Label: Enja - October 2004
*''Exile'' - Label: Enja - March 2004
*''Nostalgico'' - Label: Enja - January 2001
*''Gilad Atzmon &The Orient House Ensemble'' - Label: Enja - 2000
*''Juizz Muzic''- Label: FruitBeard - 1999
*''Take it or Leave It'' - Label: Face Jazz - 1999
*''Spiel- Both Sides''  - Label: MCI - 1995
*''Spiel Acid Jazz Band''- Label: MCI - 1995
*''Spiel''- Label: In Acoustic&H.M. Acoustica - 1993

==Books==
*''[[A guide to the perplexed]]'', English translation by Philip Simpson. London : Serpent's Tail, 2002. ISBN 1852428260
*''My one and only love''. London : Saqi, 2005. ISBN 0863565077 (pbk.). ISBN 9780863565076 (pbk.)

== References ==
{{reflist|2}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.gilad.co.uk/ Gilad Atzmon web site] 

<!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]] -->

{{Persondata
|NAME              = Atzmon, Gilad
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES = 
|SHORT DESCRIPTION = Israeli musician and political activist
|DATE OF BIRTH     = June 9, 1963
|PLACE OF BIRTH    = [[Tel Aviv]], [[Israel]]
|DATE OF DEATH     = 
|PLACE OF DEATH    = 
}}
<!-- Categories -->
[[Category:Jazz saxophonists]]
[[Category:Bebop saxophonists]]
[[Category:Hard-bop saxophonists]]
[[Category:Antisemitism]]
[[Category:Writers on Zionism]]
{{Lifetime|1963|LIVING|Atzmon, Gilad}}
<!-- Interwikis -->

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