Auschwitz survivor on Gaza

[magical thyme]

"Auschwitz existed within history, not outside of it. The main lesson I learned there is simple: We Jews should never, ever become like our tormentors -- not even to save our lives. Even at Auschwitz, I sensed that such a moral downfall would render my survival meaningless.

Like most German Jews, I was raised in a secular and humanist tradition that was more antagonistic than sympathetic towards the Zionist enterprise. Since 1967 it has become obvious that political Zionism has one monolithic aim: Maximum land in Palestine with a minimum of Palestinians on it. This aim is pursued with an inexcusable cruelty as demonstrated during the assault on Gaza. The cruelty is explicitly formulated in the Dahiye doctrine of the military and morally supported by the Holocaust religion.

I am pained by the parallels I observe between my experiences in Germany prior to 1939 and those suffered by Palestinians today. I cannot help but hear echoes of the Nazi mythos of "blood and soil" in the rhetoric of settler fundamentalism which claims a sacred right to all the lands of biblical Judea and Samaria. The various forms of collective punishment visited upon the Palestinian people -- coerced ghettoization behind a "security wall"; the bulldozing of homes and destruction of fields; the bombing of schools, mosques, and government buildings; an economic blockade that deprives people of the water, food, medicine, education and the basic necessities for dignified survival -- force me to recall the deprivations and humiliations that I experienced in my youth. This century-long process of oppression means unimaginable suffering for Palestinians."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hajo-meyer/an-ethical-tradition-betr_b_438660.html

[broiles]

1. Israel is essentially saying the Holocaust wasn't a war crime.

[zazen]

2. waiting for zealots to call this survivor a "self-hating Jew"

I'm the first to condemn those maniacs in Hamas, but Israel can find a better way to defend herself (in addition to not annexing all of their friggin' land).

Still, I can imagine some fanatics who won't even listen to a Holocaust survivor.

[Uncle Joe]

3. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, magical thyme.

[JNelson6563]

4. I am glad I am not alone.

I have long thought Israel behaves rather like their oppressors from the holocaust toward the Palestinians.

Julie

[closeupready]

5. The Palestinians will remember, centuries from now, the torture

to which they were subjected by warhawks in the Israeli government today. Just as other minorities everywhere remember their own oppression by their dominators. I hope they don't throw the US in with the blame game, but I fear they will.

The difference here, however, is that Palestinians are an exploding population, and thus, will be many times larger than the Israeli population in future times.

I don't know how this is going to end; I hope there is peace and reconciliation, but more often than not, the bloodshed never ends.

[Octafish]

6. An enlightened person.

We are blessed to live in a universe with such people.