Dear
Readers,
These columns began on my area of America Online, called: Judaism
Today: Where Do I Fit? People anonymously
sent me E-Mail, and I began to choose one for a public response
in my Jewish E-Mail of the Week column. The column has become
quite popular and is now syndicated internationally in many
Jewish papers and websites. I hope you find they help you
as you think about the Ethics, Spirituality and Peoplehood
components of the Jewish way of Life. I welcome your
comments... see the end of the column.
Gil
PS
Teachers and others, feel free to copy my columns and forward
them or use them as you see fit. Please see the friendly
copyright notice at the end. |
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ISRAELIS
ARE LIKE THE NAZIS!
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On
America Online, there is a
popular feature called Judaism Today:
Where Do I Fit? (keywords:
Judaism Today - Non-AOL members:
www.jewish.com/news/gilemail.shtml.)
People anonymously send in E-Mail to
the author of the feature, Gil Mann
and he selects one for a public
response in his Jewish E-Mail
column. This column is now syndicated
internationally in Jewish papers and
websites. Here is this week's
edited E-Mail and Gil’s response:
Dear
Gil:
Disdain, contempt, hatred. These
were the attitudes of the Nazi German
government toward us with all of the
manifestations, which they engendered,
that were carried out. This is
exactly as we are toward the
Palestinians.
The severity of the death camps so far
exceeds the present killing being
carried out by us against the
Palestinians, that the parallels in
principle are missed.
To the extent we go beyond a level of
prevention and punishment for the
attacks of individuals and attack the
whole Palestinian community, we are
expressing a degree of disdain,
contempt, and hatred such as the Nazi
Germans felt and practiced against us.
How like the Nazis do we want to be?
Should we be behaving as those we
detested?
K:
Dear K:
I appreciate your attempt to raise our
consciousness, but comparing Israelis
to the Nazis is dangerous and
blatantly untrue. Especially as
a Jew, you should realize the gravity
of your comparison. Calling
Israelis Nazis is a favorite tactic of
the Arab world…to be expected given
their record of viciously anti-Semitic
hate mongering.
Let's put things in perspective.
How did the Nazis treat the Jews and
why?
Nazis hated Jews for no reason except
to stay in power. Jews did
nothing to the Germans. Yet the
Nazis hunted down and slaughtered 6
million Jews -- among them 1.5 million
children. That is roughly equal to
murdering the 3000 innocent victims in
the World Trade Towers... each day,
365 days a year for 5 and a half
years!
Nobody can comprehend these numbers
and the magnitude of Nazi atrocities.
So let's talk about just one Nazi
atrocity. There are books filled
with similar horrible examples.
A Holocaust survivor that I know, told
me that when she was 9, she, her
mother and the other women in her camp
were marched outside one freezing
winter night. They were forced
to stand in the nude all night,
because 3 inmates had escaped.
By morning, the escapees had not been
found, so as a further punishment, the
Nazis grabbed one woman out of the
line and raped her in front of the
others with a broom.
The mother of the 9 year old covered
the child's eyes to protect her from
the sight. The guards then
grabbed her mother and beat her so
severely, she lost all her teeth.
Her mother died within the year of
starvation.
None of this can be compared to
Israeli treatment of Palestinians.
First, unlike the Jews of Europe,
Arafat has essentially declared war on
Israel!
He rejected peaceful negotiations and
an Israeli offer of: virtually
all the territories, dismantling most
of the settlements and even a capital
in Jerusalem. His counteroffer:
unleashing suicide bombers in
pizzerias, busses and malls --
purposefully targeting children,
families, Bar Mitzvah celebrations
etc.
In an attempt to protect her citizens,
Israel has closed down free movement
of the Palestinians. The
roadblocks and constant security
checks are stifling, humiliating and
terrible for the Palestinians.
Nazi-like? Hardly!
What about all the deaths, injuries,
uprooting of olive groves and blowing
up (empty!) buildings? To start, we
are not exactly speaking about
innocent victims. Still, all
this blood and destruction is indeed
tragic….this is what happens during
wars. However, next to what the
Nazis did to innocent civilians
throughout Europe (fire bombing London
for example) Israel's conduct is
incomparable!
Additionally, the Palestinians, from
day one until now, have had the
ability to stop this war.
Blaming Sharon or the settlements, is
nonsense. Thankfully, President
Bush has understood this and has been
resolute in insisting that Arafat shut
off the violence he started.
Do Israelis have disdain, contempt and
hatred of Palestinians? Toward
Palestinian leadership, the answer is
probably yes. And after so many
suicide bombings, after the smuggled
arms on the ship from Iran, after
Arafat's endless lies and negotiating
in bad faith, could anyone blame
Israelis? Towards Palestinian
people, fear and mistrust probably
more accurately describes Israeli
sentiments.
Yet remarkably, polls show, most
Israelis favor an independent
Palestinian State! I believe
almost all Israelis would like to live
in peace with their Palestinians
neighbors and see them prosper -- not
exactly a parallel to the Nazis!
You are correct "in
principle" to challenge our
ethics and attitudes toward
Palestinians. But to utter Nazi
in the same sentence is plain wrong
and a monstrous injustice to Israel
and the millions of victims of Nazi
tyranny.
Gil
A FRIENDLY COPYRIGHT NOTICE
© Copyright Gil Mann
These columns can be found at www.beingjewish.org. Not
only do I give you permissions to copy these Jewish Email
columns...I HOPE YOU WILL and that you share them with others!
All I ask is that you never charge anyone for them and that you
also include this little copyright notice. Thank You!
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