Ahmadinejad, Netanyahu and the Holocaust: The ethics of memory

[LeftishBrit]

Ahmadinejad, Netanyahu and the Holocaust: The ethics of memory

By Carlo Strenger

When the German Foreign minister recently called Ahmadinejad a shame to his own country and people, he spoke the minds of many. Now that Ahmadinejad is not even recognized by many of his own countrymen and women as legitimate, and that the Iranian regime's legitimacy is questionable within Iran itself, it is time for the world to support the opposition by making clear what a miserable figure this fanatic ignoramus is....

...Netanayhu's latest installment was the speech at the UN. (Get the full text of Netanyahu's speech here). The part of the speech in which he attacks Ahmadinejad and the Holocaust denial is certainly justified. But then he moves on to defend operation Cast Lead by comparing it to the London Blitz. Netanyahu plays the Holocaust card to defend the indefensible. Even if Netanyahu thinks that the Gaza operation was justified, the constant harping on the Holocaust to justify Israel's policies in the West Bank and Gaza is both politically useless and ethically problematic.

Nobody in the world can see any connection between the Iranian threat and holding on to the West Bank and pandering to Israel's ideological right. Nobody can see how making the lives of Palestinians miserable will stop Iranian missiles. And while many believe that Israel had the right to defend itself against the Qassam attacks, they feel (and I agree) that the way Operation Cast Lead was conducted is indefensible.

In making use of the Holocaust to defend indefensible policies, Netanyahu harms the very ethics of memory that Ahmadinejad is incapable of endorsing. Remembering the Holocaust is a moral duty for Jews and non-Jews alike. Netanyahu's politicization of it does not fulfill this duty; it taints it. Instead of weakening Ahmadinejad, he enters the arena in which truthfulness about history is no longer a duty in its own right, but where history is used for the sake of political manipulation...


(More at link:)

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1119443.html

[Ken Burch]

1. The best response to people like Netanyahu and his allies here on DU

Are the words of the British Labour M.P. Gerald Kaufman,

"My parents came to Britain as refugees from Poland. Most of their families were subsequently murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust. My grandmother was ill in bed when the Nazis came to her home town of Staszow. A German soldier shot her dead in her bed.

My grandmother did not die to provide cover for Israeli soldiers murdering Palestinian grandmothers in Gaza".

and these words from Leon Rosselson's "Song Of Martin Fontasch":

"Though we resist oppression, still our dream is peace,
Theirs is the mask of hatred, ours the human face.
Then let not our sufferings turn our souls to ice
So that we do to strangers what was done to us.
It is not with conquering armies I belong
Their bloody retribution I disown
Their songs of triumph I will never sing
For the God they worship turns them into stone.
If any teach their children how to hate and hurt,
Though they are Jews they do not live inside my heart."

[oberliner]

4. Netanyahu has no allies here on DU

And Gerald Kaufman has more blood on his hands than Netayahu and Sharon combined.

http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/mp.php?mpid=1706&dmp=1049

Over 100,000 civilian deaths and counting.

[Ken Burch]

5. He was wrong on Iraq, but he's right on this.

Besides, the every Tory voted with New Labour for all Iraq war expenditures, so it's not as if Kaufman was ever the deciding vote on that. The man made a great and beautiful moral statement with that quote. If he came to that place later, he still got there, and should be praised for it. Also, there was never anybody at any anti-war demo in Britain who backed Israel on OCL.

And I wasn't saying YOU were an ally of Netanyahu. It's the usual suspects with the "the rockets justified EVERYTHING" line and the "the Occupation is for their own good" meme. You know the ones. The ones who still haven't given up on preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state and taking the whole West Bank. The ones who just post what AIPAC tells them to post.

[oberliner]

6. I really don't think they are posters here like that

If there are it is a extraordinarily tiny group.

In any case, you must confess that it is a bit strange for someone to be so critical of Israeli military action while at the same time being so consistently and steadfastly in favor of British military action in Iraq.

I think his rhetoric regarding Israel (using the term Nazi-like state, for instance) is far from helpful and grossly incongruous with his pro-Iraq war and "war on terror" positions.

[Ken Burch]

7. I think what happened in OCL hit him deep inside.

As I said, he was wrong on Iraq, but he's right on this. And he has a right to say what he's saying. I'll take political and moral growth wherever I see it.

[oberliner]

9. He's been comparing Israel to Nazi Germany since long before OCL

In April 2002 he ruthlessly condemned Israel for "Operation Defensive Sheild" while at the same time expressed his support for UK's involvement in the invasion of Iraq.

He was vigorously condemning Israel and voting in favor of Britain invading Iraq at the same time.

And I would note that Israel's operation was coming on the heels of the Passover Massacre where Hamas murdered numerous Israeli senior citizens who were peaceably celebrating that holiday.

I do not question his right to say whatever he likes, but there has been no moral or political growth. Have a look at his voting record.

[Ken Burch]

15. Well, the Israeli government has been on a truly dark path since at least 1973

The year Ariel Sharon invented the "settlers' movement".

It does go to far to actually like Israel to Hitler if you're gentile. I can accept that a person who is Jewish is entitled to use the comparison, if it is used as a warning of what CAN happen if the political culture there stays on the same path.

It's really beginning to look like it's been a horrific betrayal of that whole moral tradition to hitch the star to 19th Century-style nationalism. The world has done horrific things to Jews, but that was Europeans doing those things. What's happened in the end has been that Palestinian Arabs suffered for those European crimes.

Israel should continue to exist, but it has a lot of amends to make. The Palestinian leadership have made mistakes, but the ordinary Palestinian population has never deserved the collective punishment it has received for those decisions.

And yes, Americans treated Native Americans as the IDF and the settlers treat Palestinians, but has it occurred to anyone that perhaps one of the reason we speak out on this is that we recognize how horrible it was the WE did that and want to make sure it isn't repeated in a time when the world should know better?

And isn't it appropriate that we speak out more on this when its a situation that we, as Americans, subsidize in a way that we don't subsidize anyone else's immiseration?

[LeftishBrit]

11. I think it did.

I think he is sincere about Israel, and of course he has the right to say it - but it is sad that he did not show more 'moral and political growth' in a context where it might have made a real difference.

[Ken Burch]

13. I'm with you on that.

n/t.

[Violet_Crumble]

16. Yeah, defending and supporting everything Nutty says doesn't make someone an ally...

It makes them someone who defends and supports everything Nutty says, and there's one or two regulars in this forum who fall into that category...

[LeftishBrit]

12. He wasn't the casting vote; but still as a key Labour politician he could have had an influence

It's not even just that he cast that one vote for the war; he has consistently supported the hawkish policies of New Labour.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

17. I'm afraid I think that's simply not true.

I'm sure you can think of two or three names of DU posters who support Netanyahu without even trying.

[LeftishBrit]

10. A moving speech by Kaufmann; but it would be more convincing if he hadn't provided cover for

his (my) government sending British soldiers to murder and enable the murder of Iraqi grandmothers in Basra and elsewhere.

It's generally easier and less risky to criticize other countries' governments than your own party leadership.

[Ken Burch]

14. This is true. Perhaps the man will come around on other issues as well.

n/t.

[snagglepuss]

2. Good read. I also think that Isael has provided the playbook for idiots like Ahmadinejad.

Israel has over the years become deft at evasion and attacking critics. Reality can be staring them and everyone else in the face but they never acknowledge realities that don't suit their purpose. How is that different than Ahmadinejad tactics? Basically Ahmadinejad is using Israeli tactics of boldfacely denying factual truth.

[LeftishBrit]

3. Wouldn't you say that virtually all governments are deft at evasion and attacking critics?

[snagglepuss]

8. True but nothing like Israel denial of its abuse of Palestinians.

The only valid comparison is to Iran. What they are both doing is criminal.