Holocaust as alibi

[everythingsxen]

The curtain has dropped on the Theater of the Absurd directed by the Iranian regime last week - an event that convened figures from the margins of the Holocaust-denial scene and its "alternative" researchers. In Israel the conference was covered with an emphasis on the statements by the participants and the reactions of Israeli politicians. True, this was an international conference behind which was a country that declares its desire to bring about the fall of the "Zionist regime" - but beyond that hides a deeper factor, which is indicative of the connection between contemporary Israeli identity and the Holocaust.

"If the occurrence of the event (the Holocaust) is cast into doubt, the identity of the Zionist regime will also be cast into doubt." From these words, spoken at the opening session by Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, it emerges that the Iranian regime has correctly identified the connections that exist in Israel between the Holocaust and local politics. One of the formative historical events of the West today, whose significance is relevant to all of humanity, the Holocaust is continuing more than 60 years later to provide Israel with an alibi for the deviancy of its political choices.

An Israel with no real distinction between the establishment political left and the right with all its offshoots, continues to make use of the Holocaust in a way that combines cynicism and boorishness. Even though there is indeed a considerable and complex connection between the Holocaust and Israeli political culture, there isn't - nor has there ever been - any justification for harnessing its memory for the sake of preserving the continuing occupation project that Israel has been conducting for 40 years now in the territories.

Israel's attitude toward the Holocaust is not really derived from the way in which the leadership is responding to the incendiary declarations of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his propagandists, which above all testify to the speakers themselves. It is possible to learn about this attitude from, among other things, the way in which it relates to the tens of thousands of survivors in whose flesh and minds the Nazis' crimes are etched, who live here in disgraceful conditions and below the poverty line.

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[The Straight Story]

1. That guy is so full of shit I don't even know where to begin...(nt)

[Jim Sagle]

2. Whadda buncha shit.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[oberliner]

4. wow

Alternatively, the Holocaust demonstrated the horrific reality that the Jewish people were not indeed able to live in safety and equality in Europe as many believed they could, and thus made the desire for the creation of a Jewish homeland (Zionism) much more widely embraced as a necessity by Jewish people the world over.

[cali]

5. Yep,

Those lucky Jews, er, I mean Zionists. The Holocaust was the perfect cover for their pernicious plans.

[OneBlueSky]

6. my dad was a WWII vet who fought in the Battle of the Bulge . . .

as a young kid, I remember frequently looking through a book of war photos that he had, I think published by the Army . . . the back quarter of the book was photos of the concentration camps and what the Army found there . . . those photos have stayed with me to this day -- and I think the book may still be packed away somewhere in the attic . . .

anyone seeing those photos could not possibly deny the horror of the holocaust . . .

[demobrit]

7. What most people dont know

That most of the jews do not believe in the resurection of Jesus Christ and do not believe in Jesus Christ period.
As christians we are told that when Jesus returns only those who believe in God through Jesus Christ will be saved and the majority of the jews on judgement day will join the Gentiles in the belief of Jesus Christ

[Shaktimaan]

8. Of course,

The construction of the Jewish state and immigration to it far predate the Holocaust. As does the international community's support of the idea as outlined in the balfour declaration, the peace treaty with the ottomans following WWI and as upheld by the league of nations. What the Holocaust did was provide a huge amount of refugees with nowhere else to go but Israel. Sure the UN supported the idea, but the same folks supported it before also. Neither the UN nor the British saw a need to aid Israel in the Arab/Israel war of 48 so the idea that either "gave" Palestine to Israel rings a little hollow. They didn't seem to care who got it as long as they didn't have to do anything.

I have yet to see Israel refer to the Holocaust in any way regarding the Palestinian Occupied Territories.

[idontwantaname]

9. interesting first post

what is your position on the occupied territories?

[Shaktimaan]

10. Well, it depends,

whether you're talking about the original decision by Israel to build settlements 40 years ago when the territories were part of Jordan and Egypt, or whether you mean Israel's policy of settlement expansion since the land was relinquished in favor of a two state solution.

I think that the whole game changed once there became a viable possibility of a Palestinian state on the land that they were orignally supposed to have as part of the UN decision. There are a lot of reasons that this plan is running into trouble, not least of all Hamas' rejection of Oslo and the powerful juice that right wing religious Zionists hold in the Knesset.

In a nutshell, I think that some of Israel's policies are justifiable, such as the security wall and checkpoints. But others, namely the decision to build the wall in occupied territory instead of in Israel and continued expansion of the settlements, are not only unjustifiable and unethical but also severely detrimental to the peace process and Israel's ultimate security. The decisions to expand settlements and build new ones are especially heinous and I am in total opposition to them.

That said, it is a complex situation and no party is altogether altruous or evil. All are victims yet all also have blood on their hands. Assigning blame is just as hard as trying to achieve peace in regards to this particular conflict.

[idontwantaname]

11. welcome to the zoo. n/t