A Dalston jazz club has defended hosting a musician accused of being an anti-Semite after a protest took place outside the venue.
Vortex Jazz Club bosses said it was “a matter of free speech” that saxophonist Gilad Atzmon, who has been branded a Holocaust denier, was allowed to play at the venue in Gillett Square.
Around 50 protestors from groups including the Jewish Labour Movement and Momentum gathered outside Vortex before the gig on Friday evening.
They said Atzmon was a “vicious anti-Semite” and that Vortex was facilitating his racist views by giving him a platform.
Atzmon, who is from an Israeli Jewish family but no longer identifies as such, has previously claimed that the Jewish ideology is “driving our planet into catastrophe”.
Barnaby Marder, who is the founder of Socialists Against Antisemitism and attended the protest, said: “Gilad is not just a musician. He frequently uses his gigs to shout anti-Semitic propaganda from the stage, using it as a political platform. He’s a vicious anti-Semite.
“We don’t wish musicians to be put out of work but he uses the platform to promote ultra-right, Nazi-sympathising propaganda. We don’t think it’s a suitable position.
“We’re not saying he should never play but he needs to cut out the racist stuff. If he wants to earn a living out of music he’s got to stop blaming Jews for their own suffering.”
The musician has been banned from many venues, including Islington Assembly Hall. It recently emerged that Islington Council spent £136,000 defending its ban on Atzmon.
There were heated exchanges outside the club between protestors and Oliver Weindling, one of the directors of Vortex.
Jonathan Hoffman, an advisor to Labour Against Antisemitism, said Weindling was “hosting an anti-Semite”. Weindling, who is Jewish, replied: “So it counts for nothing that my parents were Holocaust survivors?”
Defending the decision to have Atzmon play the gig, Colin Daly, the Chair of Vortex, said: “We’re not especially enthused about it [the protest]. Obviously we don’t support his political views in any way.
“He’s been gigging in London for 20 years. For me it’s a matter of free speech. It’s a civil liberties thing that somebody should be allowed to play if he doesn’t deny people’s rights in any way. He wouldn’t be playing here if he was.
“He doesn’t shout stuff out from the stage. He sometimes makes self-deprecating jokes. He doesn’t talk about politics.
“We would not tolerate anti-Semitism. Gilad’s not a dangerous figure, his views to some people may seem mad, but he’s not causing danger to people.”
