Let’s Not Politicize the Holocaust (This Time)

An article this weekend from the Washington Post details the growing internal outrage within Israel against members of their Ultra Orthodox community, centered around the Ultra Orthodox’s use of Holocaust imagery in a protest against opposition to their calls to persecute women.

Indeed, the protest didn’t just use the imagery but explicit references, with the rabbi leading the group saying “The Israeli media’s incitement is reminiscent of the German media’s before World War II” and referring to secular criticism as a “spiritual Holocaust.”

The backlash has been significant, with Israeli leaders and Holocaust survivors alike condemning the protesters for wearing concentration camp outfits and insisting that “We must leave the Holocaust and its symbols outside the arguments in Israeli society.”

Which is certainly a noble sentiment, but at the risk of stating the obvious Israeli leaders have been doing materially the same thing for years. Indeed, I cannot recall the last time a prominent Israeli government official spoke at a Holocaust commemoration event and didn’t use it to shill the international community for some war (usually against Iran).

If internal protests that most of the world are never going to see “harm the memory” of the Holocaust by exploiting it for political gain, surely high profile international speeches by top Israeli leaders using comparable tactics must be doing exponentially more harm.

22 thoughts on “Let’s Not Politicize the Holocaust (This Time)”

  1. Yes but an objective of the Arab side in the Arab-Israeli wars is to clear the Holy Land of Jews either by exile or extermination just as Hitler sought to clear Europe of Jews either by exile or extermination so the analogy is valid. Just look up the bombastic quotes of Arab leaders or note how Arab tactics allow for the killing of women and children not positioned near weaponry (as is usually the case with dead Arab civilians killed by Israel). On the other hand, can you provide evidence that the seculars want to expel or exterminate the Haredim?

    1. I'm aware of the Israeli political leadership's argument for the Arabs as a "special case" of evil (and indeed virtually every nation in every war in the history of mankind's similar argument that their current enemy is a unique case), but since most of the recent Holocaust Day speeches have centered around civilian nuclear program in the non-Arab state of Iran, it seems totally irrelevant to the point.

      1. "Argument"? Forget what the Israel leadership's position is and look to what the Arabs say and do! Have you read what Arab leaders have said about their objectives? Do you notice what Arab tactics reveal about their attitude towards Jewish women and children? Every antiwar person likes to say that Khomeini was misinterpreted about wiping Israel off the map but that is how Khomeini's words were interpreted by the propaganda apparatus of the Islamic Republic itself. That and Rafsanjani's words about how destroying Iran is much harder than destroying Israel because one nuke can destroy Israel gives the Israelis every right to suspect Iran's nuclear program.

        At any rate, the type of people who say that America shouldn't have fought WWII are probably not the type of people who will make the best judgments on what Jews should do in order to continue their survival in the midst of enemies!

        1. >>Every antiwar person likes to say that Khomeini was misinterpreted about wiping Israel off the map but that is how Khomeini's words were interpreted by the propaganda apparatus of the Islamic Republic itself.

          How would you know unless you were an Iranian?

          Rafsanjani's words are no reason to suspect whether Iran is making nukes or not. Anyone with any intelligence bases their understandings, not emotions or sentiment.

          1. Because there's pictures of events and rallies held by the Iranians where Khomeini is quoted in English as saying that Israel must be wiped off the map.

          2. >>Because there's pictures of events and rallies held by the Iranians where Khomeini is quoted in English as saying that Israel must be wiped off the map.

            No there isn't.

            Khomeni never said anything about Israel being wiped off the map.

            This lie was debunked 6 years ago. Time to update your talking points.

          3. I know you can't be persuaded to accept other viewpoints by argument since you have your own viewpoint but forget any argument posted and look at the PICTURES posted on this site: http://markhumphrys.com/iran.nuclear.html. If Khomeini was misinterpreted, then it was the Islamic Republic itself that did the misinterpreting!

          4. I don't believe you speak Farsi or really read that often misquoted line… the quote is that the regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time…. NOT wipe the country or ppl of Israel off the map….GEEZ! This is a good example of how repetition of a falsehood becomes "fact". And it is a big generalisation to say "look what the Arabs say and do"! btw, Iranians aren't Arabs. And don't waste time on that Mark Murphy site; I thought it was sarcastic. But it is scarily real! He wants to end tyranny everywhere….by enslaving, controlling and killing people. hmmm?

          5. vanishing from the earth is meant in the same sense that the Soviet Union vanished from the earth, that so many colonies ceased to be colonies, that Rhodesia or the South African white-ruled state ceased to exist.

    2. Do you think it was fair that the land and people of Palestine were basically wiped off the map at the end of WWII? Perhaps the people should have been asked if they wanted to donate their land and/or the land should have been paid for?
      Are you blaming Palestinians because Israelis have killed civilian Palestinian women and children? Perhaps you should ask yourself who is responsible when a trigger is pulled. Isn't it important to be absolutely 100% certain that you are killing a 'terrorist' rather than a child? Everyone has a choice at every moment. Why do so many of these 'mistakes' take place? If a government continues to accidentally 'exterminate' people, does that not create 'exile'? Perhaps there both some arabs and some jews that believe in this policy, but not everyone states what is on their mind.. I personally believe in freedom of speech at all times, so I don't see why people are not allowed to talk about the holocaust.. Everyone can make up their mind about what they believe – regardless of the rhetoric..

      1. You know the original Zionist plan was not to conquer the Holy Land. You agree that if the Zionists wanted it, they should have paid for it and yet when they tried, the Arabs got so offended that they used murder in an attempt to clear the Holy Land of Jews. Was this a reasonable reaction? Were the Zionist real estate offers so offensive that the Zionists forfeited the right to self-defense?

        1. Some Jews did purchase land from Arabs, but others were encouraged to leave with lies and propaganda (never to return), or just murdered. It begs the question of whether or not a property owner has the right to not sell their property? If I took over someone else's home, I would personally feel obliged to repay that person – even if my government did not expect it of me. Perhaps if they had stuck with the original Zionist plan – things would be better. I don't know. I think Jews living in present day Israel have made some great contributions – but they are not treating the Palestinians (or the Arabs living in Israel) the way that they themselves would like to be treated.

  2. Of course, an individual Arab can be very peaceful or even collaborate with Israel but the Arabs who dominate Middle Eastern politics through states, nationalist and fundamentalist movements are indeed very hostile to Israel.

    1. The leaders that our government supports at whim. At this current time, it is actually the nationalist and fundamentalist movements that we are supporting because they hate Iran. We are negotiating with the Taliban and the MEK and sending fighter jets to Saudi Arabia where the "infidel" language reigns supreme. Who cannot see the lunacy in this plan just because Iran might be dumb enough to make a nuclear weapon down the road really needs to figure it out quick.

      The way that things are going now as far as my personal opinion is concerned, may be a swift kick in the butt later on down the road. When you put all of the facts past and present on paper, it almost seems like we're setting ourselves up. The other explanation is that we're really really dumb, don't listen to intelligence officials, and can't remember anything beyond events pre-2008, let alone pre-2001.

      Conspiracy or stupidity, if the current strategy pulls through prepare for a heavily armed Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan by our own hands for more military adventurism that falls completely short of solving any problems at all and will ultimately be a waste of money.

  3. The key sentence of this article :“We must leave the Holocaust and its symbols outside the arguments in Israeli society.” It is not Ultra Orthodox community only which uses the Holocaust for their own benefits. Israeli government, Israeli lobby, and many Israeli supporters have "milked" the tragedy of Holocaust for their own aims making those who perished a chip in the game of sick politics. Any critic of Israel is automatically an anti-semitic monster, one of those who hope for another Holocaust or a self-hating Jew. Leave in peace the memory of those who were murdered in WWII, the Jews and non-Jews. And how deeply do you have to search your soul in honesty, if you can, to realize that you are really not against wiping out Arabs from that land? You will not admit this, of course, but this is one of the main reasons you will never get world's sympathy.

  4. Eventually the true nature of "Israel" will be exposed by this clash between the ultra orthodox and the secular Jews.Here is a hint……. read the chat backs when ever a clash occurs…. they are like the Emperors new clothes….

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