German soldiers during the 1943 Warsaw ghetto uprising or Israeli troops in Gaza City streets, 2009? Of course the uniforms and the b/w image give them away, but apart from that, wherein lies the difference?
You have to admit that the Third Reich had every right to defend itself from Jewish resistance terrorist attacks. Surely, incarceration in KZ Gaza a ghetto is no reason for them to act aggressively against Germany?
Then again, the Jewish resistance’s charter (if they had any) clearly stated that annihilation of the Third Reich was an ultimate goal. There’s every proof you need!
Well, who wouldn’t want to annihilate a nation set out to oust or exterminate an entire people – and then some? At the very least you can understand the underlying mechanisms driving a discouraged, starving and impoverished people to desperate measures.
Come on… If you kept an entire ethnic group in ghettos and concentration camps, like the Israeli do (and like the Germans once did to them) wouldn’t you expect some sort of retaliation – or, at least attempts at breaking loose?
The Israeli government isn’t stupid, you know. They have to see the apparent similarities, and have to understand the Palestinian reaction to their own treatment (of them).
So… Do they expect the Palestinians to respond any different from the WW2 Jewish resistance? Of course not! Is it simply that, unlike wartime Germany, Israel is supported by America, and hence finds itself untouchable, free to act as it pleases, even if it means a Holocaust 2.0?
Yes, the ongoing pandemonium very much resembles Nazi Germany’s Endlösung. Let’s include that term in the discussions, shall we? Along with KZ Gaza. Both expressions very well known to the Jewish community, I would imagine.
You have to hand it to the Israelis, though, who, unlike the Nazis, express regret over killing innocent people.
It may perhaps look a little better in the eyes of some:
“Hey, they don’t mean to be the way they are!”
Edit: Let me just recommend an article by The Independent’s Robert Fisk today: Why do they hate the West so much, we will ask.
Top photo: German soldiers during the 1943 Warsaw uprising (from Wikipedia)
Yeah, we should all support israel and sing hallelujah.
I think your comparison is quite valid. I’ve used it myself. Israel is doing slow genocide of the Palestinian people, and everyone not seeing that is either blind or deliberately blind.
Morten Høglund (of the Norwegian populist party) did actually use the word Endlösung (though in Norwegian – “Endelig løsning”) when discussing the war on radio (Her og Nå). The difference? He called Hamas’s strategy of Qassem rockets against Israel “their Endlösung” to the conflict. That’s peculiar use of historical analogies for you.
Sorry, Jarle, for dragging Norway into your international section.
Amos Keppler: In light of certain countries’ zest to interfere in foreign countries’ internal affairs, I find the patent lack of intervention — or any other kind of international action — completely inconceivable, even though the nature of Israel’s actions’ comparability to that of the Third Reich is obvious to all.
indregard: Yes, ascribing oppressive qualities to the oppressed is somewhat peculiar, which is as it should be, whenever the Progress Party is involved, I suppose.
On the contrary, I’m glad you brought this up. Conveying Norwegian views on international affairs — however peculiar — is something of a mission, which I’ve failed to deliver for quite some time.
We can only hope that the truce negotiated by Sarkozy and Mubarak puts an end to the immediate problem, but in the long term, Israel isn’t very likely to acknowledge the Palestinians’ right to their own sovereignty. With all likelihood Palestinians will have to carry their imaginary half-moons on their chests (after all, they just about are, already).
yalla ya nasrallah
If this video clip is considered a legitimate expression in Israel, Piirka, I fear I’m right in assuming that the conflict will last — indefinitely.
I can’t believe it is, though.
Dear Jarle Petterson
The Gaza strip has experienced a population explosion over the last decades, with a 40% increase from 1997 to 2007 – read more on http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7891434.stm. Prior to the Hamas takeover, GDP (mostly aid) pr.capita was higher in Gaza than in Egypt and Syria.
I am appalled to see that you are making this comparison between the Warsaw ghetto and the Gaza strip. Please reconsider your views!
Best regards
Sophie
Dear Sophie,
As you will see from the post’s dating, I wrote this in utter disgust of the IDF’s conduct in the Gaza strip at the time (i.e. exactly one week into the year — or two weeks into the Israeli offensive), but on the whole I have to admit that, even though Palestinians are not transported to “designated areas” by rail-bound cattle cars or executed SS-style, there’s precious little difference.
War-time Jews’ ability to breed during their intolerable ghetto existence serves as no excuse for the Nazi regime’s atrocities against them. Highlighting the same “talent” among incarcerated Palestinians does not render the Gaza strip less of a ghetto.
But please don’t confuse system criticism with anti-Semitism. The twain should be kept separate, in my humble opinion.