Friends of Gilad Atzmon

Alan Dershowitz has blown the whistle on Friends Seminary, an elite Manhattan private school, for inviting notorious anti-Semite, Gilad Atzmon, to address its students. In a Daily News column (Jan 13), he cites a few of Atzmon’s bigoted ravings:

While the Holocaust “was not at all an historical narrative” and Auschwitz was not a “death camp,” the “accusations of Jews making matzo out of young Goyim’s blood,” may be true.
“The Jews” caused the recent credit crunch, which the author [Gilad Atzmon] calls “the Zio-punch.”

If Iran and Israel fight a nuclear war that kills millions of people, “some may be bold enough to argue that ‘Hitler might have been right after all.’”

The “new Jewish religion … could well be the most sinister religion known to man…”

The author of the book containing these statements has told students that he cannot “say whether it’s right or not to burn down a synagogue. I can say that it is a rational act.” He has also apologized to the Nazis for having earlier compared them to Israel: “Israel is in fact far worse than Nazi Germany.”

Robert “Bo” Lauder, principal of Friends, is now evidently embarrassed. Atzmon’s crude ranting doesn’t exactly square with the mission of Friends Seminary, which includes this uplifting definition of the wealthy institution’s pedagogical aims:

At Friends Seminary, education occurs within the context of the Quaker belief in the Inner Light – that of God in every person. “Guided by the ideals of integrity, peace, equality and simplicity, and by our commitment to diversity, we do more than prepare students for the world that is: we help them bring about the world that ought to be.”*

Mr. Lauder has issued “An Important Message from the Principal” on the controversy insisting the only discussions held with the Holocaust-denier concerned his musical activity, specifically “listening and ear training.”

Is everyone at Friends ok with this?

Is exposure to Gilad Atzmon helping foster an “Inner Light” in young students and aiding them in learning how to “bring about the world that ought to be”?

How about teaching Friends students that the world “ought” not to welcome anti-Semites.