In full: By MJ Rosenberg
Media Matters
Edward Koch was mayor of New York (elected in 1977) and, although long retired, he still has a following in some circles.
That is why when he likens US pressure on Israel to the Holocaust - as absurd and obscene as his analogy is - Koch needs to be forcefully rebuked.
In a column written for Realclearpolitics.com and The Huffington Post, and excerpted in Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post, Koch accuses the American Jewish community and members of Congress of unspeakable evil for not speaking out against President Obama’s stance on Israeli settlements. Koch considers Obama’s criticism of the Israeli government as indicative of disrespect and hostility to the State of Israel and to Jews. (No matter that Obama’s highest ranking aides are Jews. Koch, like Prime Minister Netanyahu, sees them as “self-hating,” the all purpose label for Jews who deviate from the line.)
“President Obama’s abysmal attitude toward the State of Israel and his humiliating treatment of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is shocking….
“In the 1930s, the Jewish community and its leadership, with few exceptions, were silent when their coreligionists were being attacked, hunted down, incarcerated and slaughtered. Ultimately 6 million Jews were exterminated in the Holocaust….
“Where are our Senators, Schumer and Gillibrand? And, where are the voices, not only of the 31 members of the House and 14 Senators who are Jewish, but the Christian members of the House and Senate who support the State of Israel? Where are the peoples’ voices? Remember the words of Pastor Niemoller, so familiar that I will not recite them, except for the last line: ‘Then they came for me, and by that time, there was no one left to speak up.’”
Not too subtle. While most of those who defend any and all Israeli policies only hint at Holocaust analogies to smear their critics, Koch drops the H-bomb with shameless abandon.
And, of course, Koch is no foreign policy expert. His experience in global issues is limited to marching in the St. Patrick’s Day (and Pulaski Day, and Columbus day, etc) parades.
Nor does he know anything about Jewish history. Proudly uninterested in any aspect of Jewish history except its worst moment, he compares everything negative that happens to mass murder.
But, in his time and even now, he is one of those who has an audience when he screams “anti-Semitism” because he is a self-styled Jewish spokesman, who once held the position called “the second hardest job in America.”
But Koch, a Democrat, is first and foremost a neocon. He believes George W. Bush was a great President. In fact, he bolted the Democratic party in 2004 to support Bush over John Kerry because he was grateful that Bush and company took us into Iraq. Koch thought that the war would be good for Israel. It was, in fact, disastrous, eliminating Iraq as the counterweight to Iran.
But being wrong never deters the neocons. If it did, they would have gone out of business long ago. Instead, they hang out in their bunkers hoping for some disaster that will enable them one more “I told you so. Dialogue never works. ”
remainder in full:
http://www.sanfranciscosentinel.com/?p=67103
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