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German protestors dare to compare Israelis to Nazis
European guilt about the Holocaust is receding in the face of Israeli aggresssion – and there’s nothing anti-semitic about it
As a Jew, it's very moving to see so many people who are so outraged at Israel's actions," said the comedian Alexei Sayle after Saturday's 10,000-strong anti-war protest in London. He would certainly be moved by the reaction of the people of Europe to Israel's military aggression.
Last weekend thousands of Europeans took part in anti-Israel demonstrations. In Paris, around 25,0000 demonstrators, many wearing Palestinian headscarves, marched through the city chanting slogans such as "Israel killers" and "We are all Palestinians". In the Netherlands, thousands marched through Amsterdam, criticising the Israeli attacks and the Dutch government's failure to condemn them. One banner declared: "Anne Frank is turning in her grave. Oh Israel!"
Protestors have not been afraid to compare Israel's treatment of the Palestinians to the Nazis' treatment of the Jews. In Stockholm, protestors set fire to an Israeli flag painted with a swastika. In Madrid more than 1,000 people marched, many carrying banners equating Zionism with Nazism. One banner declared: "This is not a war but a genocide".
Some of the biggest demonstrations were in countries where for historical reasons, people have previously felt particularly inhibited about expressing criticism of the Jewish state. In Salzburg in Austria around 2,500 people took to the streets. In Germany there were sizeable demonstrations in several cities: around 10,000 people protested in Frankfurt, a further 7,000 in Berlin. In Dusseldorf protestors held up a doll representing a bleeding baby with the placard "Made in Israel".
The significance of these protests cannot be underestimated. For most of the first 60 years of its existence, Israel got an easy ride from Europeans due to European guilt over the Holocaust. But as revulsion over Israel's treatment of the Palestinians grows, the 'Holocaust card' - long used by Zionists in order to stifle legitimate debate over Israel's actions - no longer has the same impact.
Zionists will, of course, claim that the growing European opposition to Israel is a sign that the continent is reverting to anti-semitism; the staunchly pro-Israel commentator Melanie Phillips has already dismissed the anti-Israel protestors as "leftists, Jew-haters, Muslims and useful idiots".
But the most striking thing about the demonstrations to date has been the absence of anti-semitism. Anger is rising across Europe, but it is anger directed against the state of Israel - not Jews in general; in fact in some demonstrations, such as the one in London, Jewish groups themselves took part.
"Everybody is somebody's Jew. And the Palestinians are the Jews of the Israelis", the Jewish writer and holocaust survivor Primo Levi once famously remarked. It seems an increasing number of people across Europe are coming to the same conclusion. ·
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From the beginning, the Israel occupation in Palestine on 1948 is a big mistake because they do that by killing thousand of Palestinians on 1948 and continued on 1982 in Lebanon. And now, Israel invading Gaza.Israel in invading Gaza not only destroy UN school and warehouses, but they also use white phosporus in their invasion.Human Rights Watch said that White phosphorus has a significant, incidental, incendiary effect that can severely burn people and set structures, fields, and other civilian objects in the vicinity on fire. Human Right Watch statement proves to the world that what the israel do in Gaza is not a self defence but a form of GENOCIDE to the moslem and christian who live in Gaza. In that case, we must put an end to this war crime by unite to put the israel politician who command this GENOCIDE to the international trial.
Peter, we all see what we want to see. You choose to see Israel as the enemy of the world and nothing i say will change that.
I had family die in the holocaust and for me comparing Israeli sodiers protecting their countrys civilians from excessive rocket fire to Nazi soldiers taking men, women and children and gassing and burning them alive or Josef Mengele, the Nazi doctor, who performed terrible experiments on jewish pregnant women and babies does not seem to compare.
Why do you think no other Arab countries will open their borders to the palestinians or Hamas followers? Because they dont want a terrorist organization or the views of a terrorist organization seeping into the minds of their people. If their own people see the truth, why dont you? The reality is there has to be some outside supporters that have enough hate for the jewish people and state to support these terrorist acts, such as yourself.
As far as i am concerned Hamas could find places to store weapons, but they choose to place them in heavily populated areas to protect themselves from attack. Well, as you have witnessed, this will not stop the Israelis from fullfilling their mission. If civilians die in the process, because Hamas want to continue to target Israeli civilians then it is an unfortunate consequence that Hamas should take responsibility for.
My views are not from racial memory and i have also done extensive reading on the subject as it is alot closer to my heart than yours, but i would assume that we read different books. Again, we see what we want to see.
Already a soldier has died since the cease fire due to a roadside bomb. The only lies i hear is that of Hamas leaders and the Palestininan people and of course from your mouth.
There was a time when jews and arabs lived amongst each other and were peaceful. I have many arab friends and many share my views on the situation, that the Palistinians should have a state, but the process should not be one of young children training to martyrs, women and children blowing themselves up on buses or 65 kassam rockets flying into Israel on a daily basis. If you think this is the way to achieve peace then i suggest you start reading different books. I would like to see the day that Jews and Palestinians live side by side, but while Hamas threaten to "wipe Israel off the map" this will never be a possiblity. I think you will find that Israel is far more open to negotiations than Hamas will ever be and until there no longer exist in the minds of the Palestinian people peace is unlikely to materialize.
I have no racist feelings toward you or the Palistinians, but i will not stand by and let people like you defend the acts of terrorists killing my people.
And your response "you just have to be joking" is not quite the rebuke I was looking for. Maybe some proof that what i wrote is untrue. I think we both know that the Israelis make every effort to protect the lives of Palistinian civilians during a combat situation.
Well said Bron. Gerald Kaufman, a highly principled man and a critic of Israel's many excesses has spoken against this murder in very clear terms here http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=qMGuYjt6CP8.
Lou Davis: There are so many inaccuracies and lies in your diatribe that I don't know where to begin.
Oh so it's criminal to compare Israelis to Nazis is it, well I must be a criminal then, that's exactly what I see right down to the nazi leather jacket that one of the slime is sporting.
Your repetition of the lies is noted; Hamas uses human shields, sites weapons among civilians - where else would they site them, Gaza is crowded, they are it's resistance to the fascist onslaught that has continued for years. Of course it is poverty stricken [a mess] Israel makes sure of that, while settlers [immigrants with no claim whatsoever on any of the land] are funded by government handouts, and boy, aren't they a toxic bunch, seething with hate, right wing filth from America and Australia, threatening old Palestinian farmers. There are plenty of videos on youtube if you're interested in the truth. You get what you give, and Israel has been dishing out death and destruction for decades, think people are going to forget that?
Your racism is all too apparent, but 'never have the depth or the understanding to appreciate the immensity of this conflict' really beats it all, I understand perfectly what's going on, and I don't need to nurture fantasies about being chosen by god to do it, just a sharp mind, an understanding of history, and a great deal of reading on the subject. Your views come from where? Racial memory?
As for your fantasy 'the IDF are invariably putting their strategic military objectives at risk, due to the fact that they give ample warning to Palestinian civilians of intended military actions via text messaging and flyers' you just have to be joking, or you're too naive to live. What others lies do you have for us?
Lou Davis, you make me ashamed to be a Jew. Every time I hear someone use the term 'Goy', it makes me squirm. It's like any other term of abuse such as 'Wog' or even 'Nigger'. I know Jews like you who think that everyone who is not as Jew is below them and Muslims are not even human. Fortunately I know lots of Jews who care about humanity and believe that all people matter.
Certainly it is terrible that Palestinians have killed Jews, but from what I read, Jews have killed over a thousand Palestinians over the last few weeks and most of them were innocent civilians. They even bombed the UN and a school. Hamas may have been near these, I don't know, but even supporters of the Israeli attack have admitted that Hamas was not in these institutions. So why were they and the people within destroyed?
Not all Palestinians are Muslim: many are Christian. I wonder how you would feel if The US or Australia or any other country with a Christian majority was told that it's rights were not legitimate because there are many other places where Christians can live.
I went To Israel 30 years ago and was disgusted at the way both Muslim and Christian Arabs were treated. There were large empty blocks of flats waiting for Russian Jews to come and occupy them. They were all lit up and were on made roads, but where the Arabs were allowed to live (and they were not allowed to live in Jewish areas) the roads were unmade and there was no electricity. Despite this, I spoke to a number of Israeli Arabs who said that they had nothing against Israeli Jews, but they wished that they could have better living conditions. One man I met was well off financially, but he was unable to but a decent house because he was an Arab - and he was Christian, not Muslim. Perhaps if Arabs had not been so discriminated against then, there would be less hat and less problems now. If you want to stop hate, show love.
Thats correct Peter, you are a GOY and therefore you will never have the depth or the understanding to appreciate the immensity of this conflict. You might as well side with the Taliban because siding with Hamas is the same.
Israel, like any other country would, is responding to acts of terrorism and a barrage of missiles targeting civilian neighborhoods and Israelis in general. Would Britain not react the same way if rockets were targeting London or the US if rockets were targeting Washington? I think the reaction would be far more immediate and aggressive.
It is of common occurrence to forget or rather choose to ignore the fact that the IDF are invariably putting their strategic military objectives at risk, due to the fact that they give ample warning to Palestinian civilians of intended military actions via text messaging and flyers. This will obviously give Hamas militants the upper hand and sufficient time to arm and prepare for an Israeli attack and as a result place the lives of Israeli soldiers in further danger. This obviously goes against every rule in the book, but contrary to the worlds conjecture, Israel is extremely concerned about civilian casualties. It is Hamas that is directly targeting civilians and the Israelis specifically targeting militants.
Just to correct you it was the Hamas that broke the ceasfire not Israel. Israel is responding to the rocket fire that was initiated a week before the ceasfire was no longer in affect.
Whether or not one lost family in the holocaust all jews share the same pain and persecution. Israel uses the holocaust because they are speaking on behalf of many survivors living in Israel and generations of people who have been affected by the holocaust. The holocaust is not an excuse, but a reality and to compare the Israeli treatment to any type of Nazi action is criminal. Once again a lack of understanding, it must be that goyish way of thinking. This conflict is a perfect excuse for people like yourself to bash Israel and the Jews (indirectly).
And to Dean Morgan, it was Israel that provided aid, food and medical supplies and not to forget huge funding to the PLO to help with the refugee situation in the West Bank and Gaza. Have you not heard palistinians saying that before the settlers were removed from the Gaza their lives were good. They had jobs and were able to provide for their families. Since The land was returned, the place has become a disgusting dump with no jobs and more poverty.
Ultimately they want Jerusalem, which is not going to happen. No matter how much land is given to them they well never be satisfied until they have all of Israel. The global community always fails to see that the Jews have never really had a place to call home, while the Muslim world has numerous countries that they can closely associate themselves with. Obviously they want to take our tiny peice of land as well.
The situation is very sad and nobody wants to see innocent people dying, but unfortunately when Hamas place their launching sites and weapon inventory in heavily populated areas, knowing full well that Israel will destroy these sites and in the process will likely cause civilian casualties, they are ultimately using its own people as human shields. As a result this will further enrage Palestinians to a point that support for Hamas will undoubtedly grow and the international image of Israel will continue to worsen, if this is even possible.
I think we all have to "cool our tubes" As one, not a Jew and not a Palestinian I was born on the "the Street of the Prophets" in Jerusalem and have a particular attachment to the place. In the early war years in Manchester (WW II) I sat and shivered in an Anderson Shelter while Hitler's minions did their best to kill me! I almost died of fright when a slimy snail, shaken loose by an errant bomb, landed on my face. I am sure a photographer, had one been present, would have had a picture as poignant as that of the child crying in Gaza. Killing was not as high tech back then but it was as effective. War was as ugly then as it is today. My point is neither side is right and it is up to us to petition our respective governments to work towards a fix. President Clinton almost made it. Perhaps President-elect Obama will be more successful.
Stop playing on the holocaust in defense for the criminal behavior against those whose land was literally taken from them by force. Jews get compensation from Europe and have used the courts to get more and more for every little offense they can dream up. How hypocritical that the Palestinians will NEVER get one red cent from ANYONE for all they have lost in lives and property over the last 70 years. Even now, the Palestinians in Jerusalem are being squeezed by racists laws that prevent them from enjoying the same rights that Jewish immigrants get from day one upon entering the country. Palestinian babies have been born on borders (some die) due to the harsh restrictions that allow them to seek medical care often just down the road! This is not God's Will, people! This is pure politics... Moses & Abraham would be disgusted, and anyone with a conscience would admit that. Israel is a nation that USES religion to blackmail the Christian nations into a false fear... God will punish you... He loves us more than you!
Sidney Sands: Not too hot on history are you? Nor on Israel it seems.
The people running Israel are not the descendants of holocaust victims, they are Jews who did not experience WW2, but who have capitalised on it ever since.
I don't hate the truth, Phillips only spews opinion and my comments were on her extreme right wing views. There are plenty of Jews who feel the same, they are labelled by Phillips and other fascists as Self-hating Jews, in other words dismissed out of hand as having no credible point of view BECAUSE they are Jews. Israel has been creating Muslim terrorism since its creation and theft of Arab lands by terrorism. Hamas are popular because they look after the people, not because they have rockets. And your banging on about the rockets exposes the bankruptcy of your case; Hamas held to the ceasefire for SIX MONTHS while Isael tightened the screw on Gaza, cut off water and electricity, blocked exit, prevented medicines and aid getting in. This is all acknowledged except by Israel which lies constantly to everyone and claims it was Hamas rockets that had to be stopped just as you do, after all, we're all Goys aren't we, so don't matter. Are you Israeli? Or just an excuser?
Well, world domination is hardly a strictly Muslim trait now, is it?
If Europe thinks that the Jewish people in Israel who are the descendents and the family of the millions that Europe gassed and burnt , will allow the same thing to happen by the Muslims, who have rejected every peace approach, think again, in every corner of the world where there is conflict, its Muslim conflict, their wish is world domination, and preaching hate in their Mosques and schools and media. Peter Simmons in his comments about Melanie Phillips shows the same hate of the truth, and if the people of Hamas voted for them then they must take the conseqences, they voted for rockets, they reap the reply, if they vote for peace they would get peace, its a simple equasion peace for peace, rockets for rockets.
I'd love to know what these protesters' reaction would be if the Jews, instead of conveniently pushing off to another country (those that were still alive), were now sitting on the borders of Germany and Austria launching rocket attacks on the towns and demanding to have their property back.
Yes, at last the reticence to criticise Israel has gone, they have traded on it for far too long, in fact it may even have played a part in encouraging them to behave increasingly like Nazis, knowing that not only would they have uncritical support from the US, dominated by rich Israel-supporting Jews, but little criticism from Europe either. Those running Israel today didn't suffer from the holocaust, and many didn't have relatives who suffered either, which hasn't stopped them trading on it constantly. Gaza is a huge concentration camp, and the world looks on while the Nazis murder children. Thus evil begets evil. The toxic Melanie Phillips - who spews right wing hatred every time she opens her mouth, and is only kept in the public eye by the media as a dependable source of outrageous misogynistic utterances to liven up debates - is fast becoming the only person left defending these racist cowards who, despite overwhelming superiority in armaments, fear Hamas. They bang on about democracy all the time, but the people of Gaza voted for Hamas, which is why they are being punished by their overlords; the chosen people.