Netanyahu must stop misusing the Holocaust (Carlos Strenger)

[Violet_Crumble]

Anti-Semitism must be condemned, exposed, and persecuted – but to keep warning that the next holocaust is around the corner is intellectually dishonest, morally problematic, and politically unwise.

The Holocaust is one of humanity’s most terrible historical episodes and the greatest horror that has befallen the Jewish people. It must be remembered and it must be studied.

Distinguished Holocaust historian Deborah Lipstadt has made it her life’s work to document, analyze and research the holocaust. She has condemned the ultra-Orthodox Jews who have called Israeli police Nazis, donned concentration camp clothing and the yellow star to protest simple law enforcement. She condemned settlers who have called Israeli soldiers Nazis, and she has also condemned Glenn Beck’s outrageous claim that George Soros collaborated with the Nazis during WWII.

The Holocaust must, by no means, be used for political purposes. Never, and by no one.
It is time for Benjamin Netanyahu to stop misusing the Holocaust. I want to make it very clear: I do not compare Netanyahu’s use of the Holocaust to either the obscene abuse of Holocaust paraphernalia by Haredi demonstrators, nor to Glenn Beck’s smearing of George Soros.

But in order to protect the memory of the holocaust, Netanyahu must stop using it as a trump card to score political points. Doing so cheapens the Holocaust; it clouds the mind, and it distorts historical and political judgment.


<snip>

Anti-Semitism in all its forms is to be condemned, exposed and persecuted. But to keep warning that the next holocaust is around the corner is intellectually dishonest, morally problematic and politically unwise.

It is intellectually dishonest, because there is no evidence for it. Yes, it is true that there are new forms of anti-Semitism, particularly in the Islamic world. But does that mean that Jews are in danger of extinction? Robert Wistrich is probably the world’s foremost scholar of anti-Semitism, and he keeps arguing that we must be vigilant in exposing all its manifestations. But even Wistrich does not think that Iran or Islamic anti-Semitism of today can or should be compared to the Holocaust.

http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/strenger-than-fiction/netanyahu-must-stop-misusing-the-holocaust-1.409191

[COLGATE4]

1. Manifestations of anti-Semitism in post WW I

in Germany were also muted as well and it's highly doubtful that any good German citizen queried at that time would have envisioned something even remotely like the Holocaust. Unfortunately the attitude at that time (as is the case now as well) was no predictor of what would happen when legal footing (Nuremberg Laws) for anti-Semitism came into being.

[ellisonz]

2. Agreed.

Man do I miss the days of a meaningful Israeli left...

[LeftishBrit]

5. +1000

[bemildred]

3. Fat chance. nt

[azurnoir]

4. +1 n/t

[Jefferson23]

6. Ahem, ONE WEEK after Holocaust Remembrance Day,

the carnival of hate known as the National Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Conference arrives at the University of Pennsylvania today, its clown car stocked with lies, half-lies, white lies and bald-faced lies, playing to the ignorant.

It gets no sympathy from Penn, which rejects its theme. Penn believes in free speech, as does Israel, the target of the hate fest. Free speech, and most human rights embedded in Western societies, are absent in Arab states.

That is the truth, which is poison to BDS, which immorally equates Israel with white-dominated South Africa, and even Nazi Germany. That's what follows when you ally yourself with those who deny the Holocaust.

in full: http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/stu_bykofsky/20120203_Stu_Bykofsky__Anti-Israel_BDS__Bigoted_Double_Standards.html

[bemildred]

7. Makes this place seem sedate. nt

[azurnoir]

8. Really I was wondering if Bykofsky reads this 'forum'

he arguments had such a familiar ring to them

[bemildred]

9. Did you read the comments?

There you got some real anti-semitism, and anti-muslimism, and lordy knows what else.

[azurnoir]

10. some of them usually once my limit as to how much anti this or that has been reached I quit

that one did it rather quickly

eta comments on yahoo do that to me too

[bemildred]

11. I suppose I'm naive, I rarely do that.

Pretty much for the reasons you state.

[Jefferson23]

12. Oh yea, too many of the reply's seem to reflect some kind of

freak show going on in their heads, and Bykofsky's OP...it seemed to be screaming
to be placed here, lol.

[cqo_000]

13. Lipstadt says Jews have an unhealthy neuroses

Top Holocaust scholar blasts 'Holocaust-abuse' by U.S., Israeli politicians

Published 13:03 16.12.11
By Chemi Shalev

Renowned Holocaust historian Deborah Lipstadt says that American and Israeli politicians who invoke the Holocaust for contemporary political purposes are engaging in “Holocaust abuse”, which is similar to “soft-core denial” of the Holocaust.

...

“When you take these terrible moments in our history, and you use it for contemporary purposes, in order to fulfill your political objectives, you mangle history, you trample on it,” she said.


...

Lipstadt decried the “hysteria” and “neuroses” of many Jews and Israelis who compare the current situation in Europe and in the Middle East to the Holocaust era. “People go nuts here, they go nuts. There’s no nuance, there’s no middle ground, it’s taking any shade of grey and stomping on it. There are no voices of calm, there are no voices of reason, not in this country, not in Israel. "

“This is the kind of thing that scares me,” she said. “Jews have always been neurotic – I mean everyone’s neurotic, we just recognize it more – but we’ve raised our neuroses to a level that’s not healthy. We should eschew hysteria, but we don’t. Hysteria is never useful."

http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/west-of-eden/top-holocaust-scholar-blasts-holocaust-abuse-by-u-s-israeli-politicians-1.401821

[Violet_Crumble]

14. Full interview with Deborah Lipstadt...

http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/full-interview-with-holocaust-historian-deborah-lipstadt-1.401823

[bemildred]

15. That's part of it, the failure to make proper distinctions.

To conflate things which are not at all the same. This results in poor strategy and tactics and makes enemies where one could have friends, or at least neutrality.

The other part of it is the fact that historical perceptions of legitimacy or entitlement - like the legitimacy the US enjoyed after WWII for example - are wasting assets, which when overexploited for the expedicencies of the day erode very quickly, as we see with the USA, and which in any case must be maintained by continued display of unselfish behavior.