From Aggression to Victimhood: David Aaronovitch (or How the Mighty Fall)
By Mary Rizzo • Apr 25th, 2009 at 9:35 • Category: Analysis, Counter-terrorism, No thanks!, Gilad Atzmon, Internet and Communication, Israel, Newswire, Religion, Resistance, War, ZionismWRITTEN BY MARY RIZZO Like anybody, we love to watch false idols crumble, and when rabid Zionist and war advocate Aaronovitch hit the floor with a crash, it was actually one of the most amusing moments in recent political public events. We got to hear, and in some cases, to see the man who considers himself to be an iconoclast living the role of the icon tossed to the floor. And he’s stomping-foot mad about it!
Aaronovitch isn’t what one might consider well known outside of the UK, his argument is actually quite provincial if one can wade through his less than captivating prose, but in his own eyes, he’s quite something. That's him in the photo, giving one of those Come Hither looks he must think the ladies 
find irresitible. To the unacquainted, this is a man who used to spread a tribalistic ideology and colonial war mongering that would sit well in any imperial war room, and he would wage his battle cries in particular through a moderately progressive UK paper, The Guardian and a more conservative one, the Times. Can we consider it a promotion to now find his lame writing in the really exclusive and excitingly hip London Shtetl weekly, namely the Jewish Chronicle?
It took Aaronovitch three weeks to assimilate his humiliating defeat in Oxford when he was one of the speakers on a panel that was about a topic that is considered to be “hot”, one about Antisemitism in the UK, and after that pause of reflection, it’s pretty disappointing to see the guy come up with such a weak piece. It is an attempt to soul search, but judging by the result, he maybe should have taken a few more weeks to get a few more ideas to rub together. Watching someone lick their wounds is never interesting, and self-pity at least should have a bit of self-irony to it. But the man takes himself far too seriously, but what would we come to expect from someone who shouts at people, “How DARE you applaud! YOU, Sir, are an antisemite!”
He bares what we can for expediency’s sake call a soul that he has been searching and in the subtitle tells his thousand or so readers: “I imagined this anti-Jewish Jew’s own words would show him up, but they were applauded”. He realises that in a Jewish paper, he has to appeal to the important matters first, namely, “who’s a Jew”. After getting that crucial matter out of the way, one is left with the realisation that if someone operates from some kind of judgment that is so utterly wrong about the need to drive the UK into an invasion against Iraq, making a value error about his own success in front of a paying public at a literary event in Oxford should be no surprise. Humiliation and failure always hurts, but what’s a bit of humiliation compared to being responsible for endorsing the upheaval of a foreign country that has cost the lives of one and a half million civilians?
He doesn’t seem to have that much of a sense of perspective either, if he is missing what matters to people. Let’s see what he wrote: “In essence,” says Aaronovitch, Atzmon’s argument is that Jews are responsible for their own historic misfortunes due to their tribalism and aggression.” Well, the man writing in the Jewish Chronicle about his own poorly managed public speaking event did bring that down on himself, and if he’s blamed for convincing others to get behind the Shock and Awe aggression stuff, this fatal responsibility should weigh on him too. It seems he has captured the essence of some points Gilad Atzmon was making about Jewish identity and its historical responsibilities. In other words, Atzmon suggests that Jews and those who write for Jewish papers, like our subject in question, might think twice and start to take responsibility for their own fate and glimpse into the mirror occasionally. Aaronovitch is very unhappy with such a suggestion. He prefers obviously to keep advocating wars forever, while being an Israeli Hasbara Committee author. With this kind of track record, how could he be stunned, upset or surprised that people are going to be intelligent or attentive enough to just connect the dots and hiss the man out of the premises?
But then the self-confessional begins as Aaronovitch admits why he took the fatal challenge in accepting to confront Atzmon in public. “I was too proud and arrogant not to believe I could show a roomful of British people that a line was in danger of being crossed.” Apparently as the audio link proves (click on the podcast), Aaronovitch was indeed silly not to realise that Atzmon possesses far more consistency and clarity, as well as having the not small benefit of being humanistic and a capable writer, all of this leading to popularity. Considering the extensive research he made of Atzmon’s writing – if we want to imagine for a moment he did it himself and not accept the suggestion made on Aaronovitch Watch that it was compiled for him from the other “look like a leftist and talk like a neocon” at Harry’s Place – Aaronovitch should have grasped that he just did not stand a chance. To win the applause of the public, one has to have something to offer.
A little further on in this vapid article Aaronovitch provides us with an explanation of his total failure. “A co-speaker, arranged at the last minute, was the journalist Nick Cohen. This was worrying, not because Nick is anything other than excellent,” Aaronovitch states, and a round of drinks or dinner shall be due for this hyperbolic comment, “but because British audiences hate ganging-up. If it was two beauteous elves against one hideous orc, they would side with the orc.” Man, if this is how he understood the dynamics, he should have left the research aside and just insisted that Azog be accompanied by the Phantom of the Opera, that way, it would be a fair discussion!
(at the left, how Aaronovitch fancies himself and Cohen). For those out of nursery school or who don’t accept the freaky math of our correspondent, the explanation was far simpler. Our hoity-toity Jewish Chronicler had nothing to say except to just read Atzmon extracts that were – shock – very convincing. Might just be something that explains Atzmon’s huge readership. Listening to the recordings for those who missed out on the other beauteous elf, Cohen had nothing to say in general except to pour poison on Islam. In an academic platform, the reality is that the two stood zero chance against Atzmon.
Interestingly enough, when addressing the Jewish reader, Aaronovitch employs some racial and physical categories to get his point across. Equating Atzmon with an orc was just one example. But here is far more revealing one: “Towards the back was the unmistakable Aryan presence of Michele Renouf, of the Number One Ladies.” Aaronovitch, who campaigns against antisemitism should know that referring to people by employing inflammatory racial references is nothing less than crude racism. However, as Atzmon said during the event, racism is a Jewish territory in the UK. Jewish Chronicle authors such as Aaronovitch get away with it, don’t they?
“From there it was downhill,” admits Aaronovitch as he watched the room drinking from Atzmon’s well. Aaronovitch and Cohen, the leading advocates of the Iraq war in the British press were confronted with Atzmon’s “diatribe about warmongers” when he was pointing at them again and again. “If you want to know what is the root cause of Antisemitism, here they are, sitting in front of you (Cohen/Aaronovitch)” was basically the recognition that the public was there making. If Jews want to save themselves, they better disassociate themselves from wars that are committed in their names or advocated by their Jewish Chronicle writers. It’s telling that Cohen and Aaronovitch can’t interpret this as one of those “I hope you’re happy now” moments. People actually DO resent their nation being dragged into wars while the journalists are sitting pretty when not actually shouting at them to stop showing their approval of someone else.
(at the left, how Aaronovitch thinks the public is required to view Atzmon) Towards the end of his confession, Aaronovitch admits being staggered by a Jew who supports Atzmon. Aaronovitch decided to act on this shocking scene. “Later on that evening, I emailed this man and asked how it could be that he was so interested in Jewish history and the early experience of British Jews, and could end up co-applauding the Judeophobia of an idiotic musician, alongside Renouf.” Seemingly, in spite of Jewish emancipation and 200 years of Jewish assimilation, Aaronovitch expects Jews to act as one people. Pretty astonishing to hear such an idea from a man who advocated the invasion of Iraq in the name of the ‘Western notion of liberty’. When it comes to Jews, Aaronovitch expects total intellectual and spiritual submission.
Writing for a Jewish paper, Aaronovitch must end with the tragic victim exposition talking about an iconic ‘Jewish student’ who came to him afterwards ‘in tears.’
Aaronovitch fails to tell us why exactly the Jewish student was crying. Was it because the war in Iraq didn’t work as had been promised by Aaronovitch? Or maybe was it because of the Madoff swindling affair that inflicted so much loss on so many Jewish charities. Perhaps it was just because the tag team bullying tactics of Cohen /Aaronovitch proved to be a complete disaster and the Jewish student doesn’t have any other devices left at his disposal. It would be great if Aaronovitch would be kind enough to tell us and to remove any form of speculation. When a Jew cries, we all are entitled to know why.
Podcast: Play in new window
Mary Rizzo is an art restorer, translator and writer living in Italy. Editor and co-founder of Palestine Think Tank, co-founder of Tlaxcala translations collective. Her personal blog is Peacepalestine.
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Mary
"Aaronovitch fails to tell us why exactly the Jewish student was crying."
Crying is a very Jewish thing. If you google "shooting and crying" you will get 20,000 entries all related to Israel, and 'good diaspora' Jews… who happen to collectively cry during and after…
However, i thought that it would be interesting to run a blog where we can all offer suggestions why the Jewish student was crying.
Here are some examples
He cried because Israel failed to kill more civilians in Gaza
He cried because in spite of the Israeli Genocidal attempt, Hamas is stronger than ever.
He cried because he realised that due to the rise of the price of Carp fish, no more Gefilthe fish in the
Jewish Studies' vending machine
He cried because he acknowledged the grave fact that In spite of all the money Lord Levy raised for the Labour , bagels are yet to be given for free in Hendon and beyond.
He cried Because he realised that Aarono/Cohen failed to follow the Shooting and Crying procedure once Iraq proved to be a disaster..
I am not very creative today, but i am sure that our readers can come with some enlightening ideas.
It is a very funny piece, well done.
Peace
G
thanks Gilad, and thanks for the delightful idea.
I actually did think about the Shooting and Crying thing, but since the person was indicated specifically as "Jewish", then I couldn't extend that to the nationality, although I am sure that he probably has had practice in shooting off his mouth.
Yet, why was he crying, and was he crying as a student or as a Jew? Did Aarono comfort him, or lead him to the wailing wall. So many mysteries here!
@Gilad -
Gilad,
Sometime back, last March I think, I attended a conference in Birmingham where there was a Jewish woman from the Synagogue and she began to cry to draw attention of all because she felt defeated! Crying as psychoanalysts tell us is a useful tool to express self-pity. I am not sure if that was why this particular student was crying!
I wonder if the student was a male for female? We have given him the male normative, but if the student (Jewish) was a female, that changes things! Perhaps she was enthralled by that come hither look and did come hither, but when she got close, he turned out to be not so beauteous, and this bothered her. Or perhaps, he whispered, "you're beauteous when you cry" and she came up with the goods…
But, I wonder how he knew the student was indeed Jewish. It's not like there is any real physical sign to it or anything. There must have been some kosher control radars beamed out, or perhaps he thought only a Jew could agree with whatever his thesis was, which was to simply read out Atzmon's words in his maudlin way…
I think Aaronovitch has to fess up. He told us about the email, now he should come clean on the Jewish Student.
@Zarina Bhatia –
Zarina my dear, sooner or later they will have to decide whether they want to be victims, aggressors or just ordinary human beings.
I stayed after the talk and I couldn't see anyone crying. Nick Cohen was there to to sell his new book and he did well, As interesting as it may sound, I was there not too far from him talking to a few Jews who came to thank me for telling the truth and for standing up against clear evil…The Jews i met didn't cry, they were very happy actually. I will also add that Aaronovitch wasn't there, he was very quick to disappear.
Maybe, when talking about a crying Jewish student he was just referring to himself. He had a good reason to sob that after noon.
@Gilad –
That's brilliant! Some Jewish from the audience saw sense as truly they are human beings. The poor defeated Jewish 'student' who might be crying if at all, really amused me during the debate when he said, "“How DARE you applaud! YOU, Sir, are an antisemite!”
His article in the Jewish Chronicle is very amusing, too. The way he describes you as merely a musician… poor man! I thank Mary for such a splendid account of that debate at University of Oxford.
Mary,
That was too funny! I especially enjoyed the descriptions of all pics as applicable to Aaaronavitch.. though the "come hither look" really got my vote. That one with the male(?) and female in full-"dress" was a bit too freaky for me, and the last was a bit obvious, but still made me laugh.
It's nice to read a "light" piece, especially when it pokes fun at someone as vile as 'that guy'. Ha.
Keep up the good work.
Still laughing,
Anne
Thanks Anne and Zarina! When you have material that is this comical, this easy to laugh at, it's a shame to not take advantage of that.
I know, that come hither look is so creepy if not just outright hysterical! It would be more appropriate if he were writing a column for Maxim on the proper way to handle your sex slaves… That's the "official" pic for the Guardian, would you believe it?
It is interesting how he seems to give all these Lord of the Rings type metaphores, and especially… can we think he really believes any of that about crowd dynamics? I can see lying to your public, but lying to yourself is going a bit far, but he did come clean at least that he got hissed out. It is his reasoning about it that is.. as we say here, climbing on mirrors.
But we heard rumours in his "camp" for weeks that he "won" the debate. People were saying "those audio clips didn't prove that he lost, au contraire!" Well, he himself had to settle it once and for all, and he chose to do it where he could not be challenged. It merited analysis. That he admits he's arrogant is another plus.
Those warm tents aren't what they used to be!
@Mary Rizzo – Feyerst of all of course it's a he, if it was a she, she would be "sobbing bitterly, her shoulders quietly trembling". seykendly, jews have a god given right to cry whenever and wherever they wish, and they don't have to give a reason to no goys.
@amos zukerman –
will you write the "analysis of Jewish weeping" for me Amos?! I think this will heighten our understanding and I for one need it! (please consider)
found this just now.. must be the soundtrack to the party… let me play with some titles in ( …):
Okay, let's try to get those tear jerkers out of the way…the songs with tears or crying or versions of those two words…know any ?
——————————————————————————–
Tears Of a Clown ~ Smokey Robinson & the Miracles – (Tears of A Clown at Durban II)
96 Tears ~ Question Mark and the Mysterians – (96 Tears in 61 years)
Crying In The Chapel ~ Elvis Presley – (Crying in the Shtetl)
Lonely Teardrops ~ Jackie Wilson
Baby Baby Don't Cry ~ Smokey Robinson
Cry Me A River ~ Justin Timberlake
The Tracks Of My Tears ~ Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
Crying–Roy Orbison
Cry–Johnnie Ray
When Doves Cry – Prince – (When Hawk and Doves Cry)
Cry – Godley & Creme
letter Full Of Tears ~ Gladys Knight & The Pips
All My Tears – Emmylou Harris
Tears On My Pillow – Little Anthony/Imperials
96 Tears – ? and the Mysterians
Crying in the Rain – Everly Brothers
Crying – Don McClean (Blow's Roy Orbison's original out of the 'water' ;o)
Crying in the rain – whitesnake
All Cried Out – Lisa Lisa
It's my party and I'll cry if I want to
Who's Crying Now – JOURNEY
Tears In Heaven – Eric Clapton
Tears on My Pillow ~ Little Anthony & the Imperials
No More Tears ~ Ozzy Osbourne
As Tears Go By – Rolling Stones
DON'T CRY FOR ME
Cry, Cry, Cry-Johnny Cash
Don't Cry Out Loud – Melissa Manchester
Teardrops on my guitar
all cried out – allure & 112
http://cahlsjukejoint.blogspot.com/2008/05/best-songs-about-crying.html
THIS GUY DOES HIS RESEARCH!!!
@Mary Rizzo – My dear Shikse, you fall in the trap. you think there is one kind of jewish crying, fhoy you make me laugh. there is orthodox crying, they say they have been crying for the last 2000 years. {thats way they dress in black, not because they are trying to hide a lokshen belly}. there's shtetel crying, sometime confused with the former but to the connoisseur totally distinct, from which we derive the iconic Aoy Vey. in modern time we have witnessed the evolution of a new hybrid, zionist crying. thats simple, lies, lies and more lies.
@amos zukerman –
OH Amos my dear! Thank you for helping me to understand the subtleties of Jewish Crying. I can tell you are a crying connoisseur, and I like that! We should put it to music (using 60 ways to leave your lover) with the Crying Variations.
but why do you think the Jewish Student was in tears? Maybe he doesn't like elves?
@Mary Rizzo – I don't give a f***k why he cried. this jew cries when he listens to w a m Lacrimoza watching "the FEEL" getting shot in Bilin . sorry about the twist, its getting near Naqba Day, this is not the happiest time of the year for us in Palestine.
@amos zukerman –
I go with your reading of J cry
thank my devil anytime i'm called an antisemite! Why? Because, i admire some qualities of the shemitic peoples which wld include canaanitic, phoenician, hebraic [israeli and judean], et al peoples.
so, i am definitely not antishemitic. Anytime a 'jew' wld call me antijudaist, antizionist i'd feel proud.
and if a zionist [land robber with murder in mind, appears a far better term] wld pin a medal on me with label "I am an antisemite", i'd welcome that too.
but i'd not be allowed in any store. But i cld still wear it when i go to a 'jewish' business.
they too wld probably tell me to leave but that wld be OK.
fortunately for me i feel little or no pangs when i am labeled an "antisemite". The reason i do not feel anything when that label is used is because we gather knowledge only thru our five senses.
A label such as "antisemite" [or what one means when one says that] cannot be smelled, heard, touched, tasted, or seen; thus doesn't bring on an image.
Like the words "milk", "rock", "my wife", et al.
When one utters these words, images crop up.
Such words are undefinable; there is no arguments about their meanings.
On the other hand, a label can be defined ad nauseam and forever. However, a label never evokes an image.
And that is why, clergy/pols use them while avoiding the words that cannot be further elucidated because they do engender an image; painful or joyous one in all their degrees.
it is not reality that damages a warrior's mind. images of killings/maimings do that.
One does wrong nature wld surely punish one.
And zionists know this; thus the denial of all of their crimes; hoping the nature wld delay its vengeance until they die or even not be vengeful at all. tnx
Hello. I found this website while googling the strange creature you are discussing, Aaronovitch, and I will stop back as this Rizzo can write well, the comments are funny, and the Palestinians have gotten an exceedingly bad break. My only other comment is that the raging debate we all have as to whether Don Maclean or Roy Orbison had a better version of crying is by no means settled in my soul. I can totally see the Maclean point, but Roy…. Anyway, sorry for going off topic, I really do have a great admiration for Palestine. The bell tolls for all of us when such injustice occurs.