Jewish Dialectic of Negation Breeds Polonophobia Atzmon

The Wandering Who? A Study of Jewish Identity Politics, by Gilad Atzmon. 2011

Dialectic of Negation: Jewish Polonophobia Cause? International Jewry and the Zydokomuna. Holocaust Supremacism Slights the Armenian Genocide

Far from being a self-hating Jew, as demonized by his detractors, Atzmon is measured and careful about his criticisms of Jewish conduct. He rejects conspiracy theories involving Jews (p. 76, 169).

UNDENIABLE JEWISH INFLUENCE

Atzmon, however, does focus on Jewish influence in world politics. For instance, in the UK, Jews are 0.46% of the population, and should therefore have 3 seats out of the 650-member House of Commons. Instead, they have 24, which is an 8-fold overrepresentation. (p. 169). He also mentions prominent American Jews (e. g., the neocons) by name, and how they led the USA into Middle East policies that, according to him, were failures.

ANTI-ZIONISM OR POST-ZIONISM?

A former Jewish nationalist himself (p. 7), Atzmon condemns those Jews to put their Jewish-ness over and above all their other traits. (p. 16). He views Zionism as a movement of Jewish tribal solidarity (p. 19), and one whose political goal (as it was from the beginning with Herzl) is to prevent Jews from disappearing through assimilation. (p. 40, 70). The author drifts into extreme invective when condemning Zionism. (e. g., p. 101, 123).

DIALECTIC OF NEGATION: A CLUE TO JEWISH ANTIPOLONISM?

Atzmon sees Zionism as part of the dialectic of negation. (p. 58-on). Jews define themselves not so much as who they are, but as who they are NOT (not Christians, not Muslims, etc.). However, the author does not explore this subject sufficiently. For instance, Jewish Polonophobia is probably a form of the dialectic of negation: Whatever a Jew is, he is, thankfully, not one of those dumb, primitive, hyper-Catholic Poles among whom most Jews had to live for so many centuries.

INTERNATIONAL JEWRY AND THE ZYDOKOMUNA

Author Atzmon touches on the role of past Jewish bankers and their influence on world politics. (p. 27, 194). In particular, Jacob Schiff of Kuhn, Loeb & Company gave 20 million dollars in support of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia.

ZYDOKOMUNA: ONETIME BROAD-BASED JEWISH SUPPORT

On another subject, and perhaps without intending to, Atzmon confirms the fact that Jewish sympathy for Communism had been much broader than formal CP membership, and that it infected much larger Jewish political parties. He comments: “Marxism also attempted to make people look equal…The idea was very appealing to a few West European and many East European Jews who even formed the Bund, a Jewish Socialist Party.” (p. 56). He confirms Polish nationalists as he also alludes to the Bund as a purveyor of Jewish particularism: “…the Bund would demand national and cultural self-determination within the Eastern European proletarian discourse…” (p. 104). Atzmon tacitly supports Dmowski’s suspicion that, for at least the first part of WWI, both Eastern European and western Jews were pro-German. (p. 194).

Atzmon believes that the declining Jewish support for socialism demonstrates that Jews have always been capitalists at heart. Could it not, instead, support the premise that Jews tend to support whomever they think is the more powerful, will be the winner, or is the wave of the future? Also, could not the virtual disappearance of left-wing Zionism (p. 117) been caused largely by the Soviet Union having turned against Israel, its erstwhile ally?

HOLOCAUST SUPREMACISM SLIGHTS THE ARMENIANS

The author discusses the Holocaust as a substitute religion for Jews. He notes how the ADL had at first accepted, and then rejected, the 1915-era Armenian genocide as a true genocide. (p. 173).