IDF general in bombshell speech: Israel today shows signs of 1930s Germany

IDF general in bombshell speech: 

Israel today shows signs of 1930s

Germany

'It's scary to see horrifying developments that took place in Europe begin to unfold here,' Maj.-Gen. Yair Golan said during a Holocaust Remembrance speech.

By JPOST.COM STAFF

Wed, 04 May 2016, 10:44 PM

The Israeli army's deputy chief of staff ignited controversy late Wednesday evening with his remarks which seemed to suggest a parallel between present-day Israel and 1930s Germany.

Maj. Gen. Yair Golan made the comments during a Holocaust Remembrance Day address at Tel Yitzhak.

"It's scary to see horrifying developments that took place in Europe begin to unfold here," the officer said.

The comments unleashed a torrent of criticism against Golan on social media, with Twitter users accusing the deputy chief of staff of "forgetting the lessons of the Holocaust."

"The Holocaust should bring us to ponder our public lives and, furthermore, it must lead anyone who is capable of taking public responsibility to do so," Golan said. "Because if there is one thing that is scary in remembering the Holocaust, it is noticing horrific processes which developed in Europe – particularly in Germany – 70, 80, and 90 years ago, and finding remnants of that here among us in the year 2016."

Education Minister Naftali Bennett was in the audience during the remarks, according to Hebrew-language media.

"The Holocaust, in my view, must lead us to deep soul-searching about the nature of man," Golan said. "It must bring us to conduct some soul-searching as to the responsibility of leadership and the quality of our society. It must lead us to fundamentally rethink how we, here and now, behave towards the other."

"There is nothing easier and simpler than in changing the foreigner," the officer said. "There is nothing easier and simpler than fear-mongering and threatening. There is nothing easier and simpler than in behaving like beasts, becoming morally corrupt, and sanctimoniousness."

"On Holocaust Remembrance Day, it is worthwhile to ponder our capacity to uproot the first signs of intolerance, violence, and self-destruction that arise on the path to moral degradation," Golan said.

"For all intents and purposes, Holocaust Remembrance Day is an opportunity for soul-searching," he said. "If Yom Kippur is the day of individual soul-searching, then it is imperative that Holocaust Remembrance Day be a day of national soul-searching, and this national soul-searching should include phenomena that are disruptive."

Golan made reference to the Hebron incident in which an IDF infantryman was filmed shooting dead a Palestinian assailant who was on the ground and subdued.

The soldier, Sgt. Elor Azaria, is being tried by a military tribunal on charges of manslaughter. The arrest and court martial have been met with fierce criticism from nationalist Jews who say that the soldier acted properly.

"Improper use of weapons and violating the sanctity of arms have taken place since the IDF's founding," Golan said. "The IDF should be proud that throughout its history it has had the ability to investigate severe incidents without hesitation. It should be proud that it has probed problematic behavior with courage and that it has taken responsibility not just for the good, but also for the bad and the inappropriate."

"We didn't try to justify ourselves, we didn't cover anything up, we didn't whitewash, we didn't make excuses, and we didn't equivocate," the officer said. "Our path was – and will be – one of truth and shouldering responsibility, even if the truth is difficult and the burden of responsibility is a heavy one."

"We very much believe in the justice of our cause, but not everything we do is just," Golan said. "We are certain of the high level of morality in the IDF as an organization, and we do not ignore exceptions by individuals. We demand from our soldiers the same that we demand of ourselves, and we insist that upstanding behavior and setting an example for everyone become second nature for every commander."

"On Holocaust Remembrance Day, as we remember the six million of our people who were slaughtered in Europe, it is incumbent upon us to remember the 6.5 million, those living now, and to ask ourselves what is the purpose of our return to our land, what is appropriate to sanctify and what is not, what is proper to praise and what is not," the officer said.

"Most of all, we should ask how it is that we are to realize our purpose as a light unto the nations and a model society," he said. "Only this kind of remembrance can serve as a living and breathing tombstone for our people – a worthy tombstone, a tombstone of truth."

http://m.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/IDF-general-in-bombshell-speech-Israel-today-shows-signs-of-1930s-Germany-453142#article=7783OUVCMTY0MkFGRDM3OUZFNUM1RDA1RTM1QUMyNzEzN0Y=

Jewish author whose Israel 'relocation' map was shared by Naz Shah condemns 'obscene' Labour antisemitism row

Jewish author whose Israel 'relocation' map was shared by Naz Shah condemns 'obscene' Labour antisemitism row

Norman G Finkelstein accused politicians of making 'sick' Holocaust comparisons for political gain

• Lizzie Dearden 
• @lizziedearden 
d.d. 04-05-2016  10:44

                                                                 Jeremy Corbyn has launched an independent inquiry into antisemitism in the party Reuters

The American political scientist who posted the diagram that triggered an antisemitism row in the Labour Party has dismissed the furore as “obscene”.

Norman G Finkelstein, a Jewish author whose parents survived concentration camps during the Holocaust, said he published the map shared by Naz Shah on his blog in 2014.

Entitled “Solution for the Israel-Palestine conflict – relocate Israel to into United States”, it went up on his website on 4 August, the day before the future Bradford West MP shared it on her Facebook page.

Ms Shah has been suspended from Labour and quit two of her posts, while comments made by Ken Livingstone in her defence sparked a new row culminating in an independent review into antisemitism in the party.

Play

0:00

/

1:29

Fullscreen

Mute

Share

Corbyn slams 'obsessed' media

Mr Finkelstein said he posted the map because he found it funny, claiming that such “jokes are commonplace in the US”.

In an interview published by Open Democracy, he called comparisons to Eichmann and the Holocaust “sick”, comparing it to his parents’ experience of Nazi transportation.

READ MORE

“What are they doing? Don’t they have any respect for the dead?” 

Corbyn slams 'obsessed' media

Mr Finkelstein said he posted the map because he found it funny, claiming that such “jokes are commonplace in the US”.

In an interview published by Open Democracy, he called comparisons to Eichmann and the Holocaust “sick”, comparing it to his parents’ experience of Nazi transportation.

“What are they doing? Don’t they have any respect for the dead?” he said

“All these desiccated Labour apparatchiks, dragging the Nazi holocaust through the mud for the sake of their petty jostling for power and position. Have they no shame?”

Mr Finkelstein, whose work including a book called The Holocaust Industry has met with controversy, also said Mr Livingstone was “more or less accurate” with his subsequent claims about Adolf Hitler.

“Let’s remember when Hitler won his election in 1932, his policy then was that Jews should be moved to Israel,” said the former Mayor of London, who was also suspended from the Labour Party.

“He was supporting Zionism – this before he went mad and ended up killing six million Jews.”

Labour antisemitism row: What Ken Livingstone said

• 14show all

Analysts have said that although Hitler’s government explored various “transfer agreements” before the Final Solution, it did not amount to supporting Zionism because the Nazis opposed the self-determination at the heart of the movement.

Mr Finkelstein called comparisons between the Israeli government and Nazis “gratuitous and a distraction” but said politicians should not be “crucified” over the issue.

READ MORE

What actu

The Board of Deputies of British Jews said the divisive author, who was banned from entering Israel for 10 years in 2008, does not represent “mainstream” views in the UK.

“He might think the map was funny but most Jews in this country think the very opposite,” the group’s communications officer, Simon Round, told The Independent.

“It might have been treated as some kind of joke but there are sensitivities there and the context is vital…it’s not something that sits well.”

Mr Finkelstein was also sceptical of Labour’s antisemitism inquiry, arguing that finding a working definition of the term will be “impossible”.

The UK-based Campaign Against Antisemitism told The Independent that being “anti-Zionist” is antisemetic.

Mr Finkelstein said Naz Shah should not have been 'crucified' for her Facebook post

“Zionism is the Jewish people's right to self-determination in Israel,” a spokesperson said. “All people have the right to self-determination, so denying that right just to Jews is antisemitic.”

The group said it was not antisemitic to oppose Israeli policies but cited “examples of hatred directed at Jewish people…disguised as political discourse”.

But the Palestine Solidarity Campaign said there was a clear difference between antisemisim and anti-Zionism, calling the latter a “political ideology” that could be legitimately contested.

“While some seek to define Zionism as the right of Jewish people to self-determination, the Zionism of the Israeli state has resulted in the denial of basic human rights to Palestinians,” a spokesperson said.

“To confuse – whether deliberately or otherwise – legitimate criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism only serves to undermine the struggle against racism.”

Ms Shah stood down from her post on the Home Affairs Select Committee as the row continued on Tuesday.

The committee is conducting the inquiry into antisemitism, which could see David Cameron and Jeremy Corbyn among the prominent politicians giving evidence.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/labour-antisemitism-row-naz-shah-israel-map-norman-finkelstein-obscene-a7012461.html

VIEWS MY OWN

The Naz Shah Scandal Shows that the Right Has an Anti-Semitism Problem

By Sam Kriss

April 27, 201

La

Labour MP Naz Shah as she tells the House of Commons that she "wholeheartedly apologises" for words she used in a Facebook post about Israel. (Photo by PA)

It's hard being Jewish in Britain today. People give you strange looks and ask you stranger questions. They'll tell you without any shame exactly how you ought to feel about national and foreign politics. You can very easily get singled out and made to feel different, just because your ancestors practiced a slightly unusual faith. Strangers will start thundering at you from podiums and newspaper columns, seeming to address a general audience but really ranting directly at you, and it can make you feel afraid. But they want you to feel afraid. They keep on saying it: be afraid, Jewboy, bad things are coming for you. 

What's worse is that this isn't just coming from the general rabble; one of the country's main parties seems captive to Europe's oldest and most shameful hatred. Its public figures will swear up and down that they have nothing against Jews, they love Jews, they love British diversity, and what's more, they have full and unquestioning support for the state of Israel. 

But if they love me so much, why do they insist on shouting me down whenever I happen to disagree with them, or take a stance on the Middle East that differs from the party line? Why are they getting away with this? Why won't anyone come out and admit that the Conservative party has a problem with anti-Semitism?

If you read the papers, though, it looks like it's Labour that has the anti-Semitism problem. The story has been circulating for months now, faster and frothier with each rotation, as a detachment of journalistic shock troops ransack every inconsequential student group or constituency party, looking for someone, anyone, with negative things to say about the Jews. 

The latest victim is Naz Shah MP, the honourable member for Bradford West, who's been forced to resign from her post as parliamentary secretary to John McDonnell after a series of anti-Semitic facebook posts were revealed Guido Fawkes and the Jewish Chronicle. Most shocking was an image that suggested the State of Israel be removed to North America. But despite the censure, Ms Shah still retains the Labour whip. As a Telegraphleader put it, "that speaks volumes about Mr Corbyn's disgustingly inadequate response to anti-Semitism in his party." As a British Jew, I should be very afraid.

And I am. But I'm not afraid of Jeremy Corbyn or Naz Shah. I am afraid of the massed bien-pensants, those who claim to know what should be worrying me better than I do, who claim to be fighting my corner without my ever having asked for it. Naz Shah's "disgusting" Facebook posts were not about Jews; they were about the state of Israel. These are not the same thing.

It really shouldn't have to be repeated at this point, but anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism. Israel is a foreign country, halfway across the world, with a long history of carrying out some extremely unpleasant acts on its three and a half million captive Palestinians. While it may claim to be Jewish, that does not mean it can then use an entire global Jewish diaspora as one vast human shield.

The Jewish people have been around for much longer than Israel; most of us never asked for it, and many of us would like to have as little to do with it as possible. When opponents of Israel treat Jews in general and the government in Jerusalem as if they were the same thing, blaming one for the actions of the other, they are rightfully condemned. Why should it be any different when the same line's coming from people who claim to support us?

I doubt I'm the only British Jew who has encountered this phenomenon: being accosted by some smiling and well-meaning philosemite, so eager to tell you how much they love our people and how much they love Israel – and when you mention that, actually, you don't see much to love in murderous tinpot regime committing atrocities in your name, everything sours, and you're treated to the strange spectacle of someone who's never held a Torah in their life accusing you of being insufficiently Jewish, of being a self-hating Jew, of not understanding your own religion.

It's the same when I'm told by newspapers and politicians that as a Jew I'm required to feel threatened by any anti-Israel sentiment. It might be paternalistic and condescending rather than exterminationist, but there's a word for this attitude: it's anti-Semitism.

---

Watch: Walking Heavy – Britain's Most Notorious Reformed Criminal

Of course, anti-Zionist activism has its own anti-Semites – they might not be the same thing, but they can still coexist. In my experience, though, nobody is more invested in rooting out anti-Semitism within the Palestine solidarity movement than the Palestine solidarity movement itself. Unlike the Tory operatives, rooting around for pay-dirt with their snouts in the muck, the movement really does have a vested interest in denying a platform to Jew-haters.

The more insidious anti-Semites of the Zionist Right, meanwhile, want Palestine solidarity to be as full of neo-Nazis as possible (and, of course, to have no Jews whatsoever), the better to delegitimise it.

We're told that the Left is full of anti-Semites for whom anti-Zionism is just a convenient disguise, but if that's the case, then where are they? In almost every supposed scandal over left-wing anti-Semitism – from Corbyn himself, from Naz Shah, from NUS President Malia Bouattia – it turns out that the offending statement is just a strongly worded outcry against the violence of the Israeli state. Very little of it is victimising me. But, as all those who are shocked and furious on my behalf never stop reminding me, my opinion here doesn't really matter.

The Labour anti-Semitism scandal is a purely manufactured outrage, a cynical ploy to play on the fears of ordinary Jewish people. As the Tories plunge from one crisis to another, they're desperately flailing for something that might tarnish their opponents, and they don't mind cynically instrumentalising the British Jewish community in the process.

If you want to seek out the real anti-Semitism in British politics, you might need to look elsewhere. For most of our history, anti-Semitism hasn't come from the Left – which has always been, to a greater or lesser extent, pretty Jewish itself – but the Right.

All those taloned aristos, faces drained ashes-white at the thought of the grubby hirsute Jews joining their golf clubs or marrying their daughters; all those Eton boys marching with Mosley or deciding that if the Jews couldn't be wiped out, a temporary solution might be to ship them all to Palestine.

In 2015, Labour went to the polls led by Ed Miliband, a man who could have been Britain's first Jewish Prime Minister since 1880. The press crowed over his inability to eat a bacon sandwich; Jeremy Paxman dismissed him as a "north London geek". And it's true; the man was useless – skinny, indecisive, and strange. But it just so happens that these traits are the cornerstone of a well-worn anti-Semitic stereotype, one that's far more damaging to people like me than any outrage against a distant nation's crimes. I hope that conservatives will issue a full apology soon.

http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/sam-kriss-the-right-has-an-anti-semitism-problem