What’s The Difference Between Warsaw Ghetto & Gaza? 70 Years.
Now if I said those words I’d be (once again) labeled a Jew hating anti-Semite faster than a packet could make it from one of my home computers to another(1) – but I didn’t say it, some of the Jewish Diaspora did. Is it still Jew hating anti-Semitism?
Evidence of the turn against Israel by large parts of the Diaspora can be seen everywhere, from protests to comedy shows. In Toronto, a group of Jewish women briefly occupied the Israeli consulate in protest against the war. In Los Angeles, young Jews wearing keffiyehs marched outside the Israeli consulate carrying signs reading “Difference Between Warsaw Ghetto&Gaza? 70 Years.”
No TV personality has a better sense of the pulse of the young than Jon Stewart, himself Jewish and hitherto a staunch supporter of Israel. On the Daily Show when commenting on Gaza, Stewart mocked politicians like New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg for criticizing the Palestinians while failing to acknowledge their legitimate grievances. The show’s studio audience laughed in agreement at Stewart’s complaint that the American media and political elite were offering a one-sided pro-Israel perspective on the conflict.
I’d like to think that this may be the beginnings of a little balance in this issue — but I’m not hopeful.
1 If your interested that time is <1ms
I have seen the Warsaw and Terezin Ghettos. What was the Warsaw Ghetto is now a neighbourhood blended in with its surroundings. The Terezin Ghetto in the Czech Republic is an old multipointed star shaped town fortress where there was no chance to escape. One would have been shot trying to leave. People were unable to bring in resources other than what they carried on their first and last trip into the ghetto.
When the Israeli army left Gaza a couple of years ago, it tightened its control around Gaza by land and sea. It gained the tacit approval of Egypt to close Gaza on all sides. The purpose of the total blockade of Gaza wasn’t meant to protect Israel from armed militants coming from the Gaza strip. Israel imposed a blockade of depravity. The Israelis in power do not want a two-state solution. They want a Greater Israel to eventually include Gaza and the West Bank. They do not want a peace agreement with the Palestinians. They want total control over Eretz Palestine.
Why would the peoples of the ghettos recognize the legitimacy of the masters when the masters won’t recognize the existance of the peoples? Why would anyone want to recognize a master?
Well, I can think of a few differences.
a) Have the Israelis walled in Gaza? Are they denying exit to those seeking to flee?
b) Is the murder of the entire Palestinian population a primary, avowed, strategic goal of Israel?
c) Is the Israeli invasion of Gaza part of a long-term program of Middle Eastern conquest aimed at continental domination?
d) Were the Jews of Warsaw attacking German civilians?
I think Israel’s actions in Gaza are both self-defeating and excessive. But I think comparing Israel’s action to that of the Nazi occupiers of Poland is just not right.
They want a Greater Israel to eventually include Gaza and the West Bank.
In which case they have made some very puzzling strategic retreats in recent years.
Me thinks, b, that you may have missed the point.
@Peter – Do you play chess?
Not “missed” it, I don’t think. Your point is that many Jews, both inside and outside Israel, do not buy into the Israeli strategy. I agree with that observation, and with their persepctive, to which I add my own: that perpetuating the cycle of retribution simply will not work.
But I did think the silly hyperbole quoted in your title needed to be addressed.