FresnoZionism.org — ציונות פרסנו

One of the most infuriating things found in antisemitic and anti-Israel propaganda is the comparison of Israel and Jews to Nazis. But it’s much more sinister than simply a way of raising my blood pressure:

The false accusation of Holocaust inversion-the portraying of Israel, Israelis, and Jews as Nazis-is a major distortion of history. This anti-Semitic concept claims that Israel behaves against the Palestinians as Germany did to the Jews in World War II. “The victims have become perpetrators,” is one major slogan of the inverters. By shifting the moral responsibility for genocide, Holocaust inversion also contains elements of Holocaust denial…

The core motif of classic anti-Semitism was that Jews embody the most extreme malevolence. During the postwar era, the Nazi regime has become the paradigm for absolute evil. Comparing Israel’s conduct to its actions is a new mutation of this ancient theme…

American historian Deborah Lipstadt has also pointed out this method of establishing a fraudulent proposition as a historical truth. She says about the historical writer and Holocaust-denier David Irving: “Irving realized that a pre-condition for Nazism’s resurrection was to strip and wash it of its worst elements. The first important tool to accomplish this was the creation of immoral equivalencies, essentially a balance of bad behavior”…

This malicious identification of Israelis as Nazis is intended to free Europeans of their remorse and shame for their centuries-long history of lethal anti-Semitism. Above all, it liberates Europeans from any residual guilt they might have experienced in the wake of the Shoah. If the Israelis-who are, after all, mostly Jews-can be depicted as Nazis, then not having helped them during World War II might not have been misbehavior. — Manfred Gerstenfeld, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs

Holocaust inversion is a potent part of the arsenal of propaganda weapons used by those who wish to delegitimize Israel preparatory to destroying her. Dr. Gerstenfeld, chairman of the Board of Fellows of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, has written a major article characterizing and explaining it, which I urge you to read.

Technorati Tags: Israel, antisemitism, Holocaust, Holocaust Inversion, Gerstenfeld

By Shalom Freedman

Shalom Freedman is a writer living in Jerusalem.

On March 6, 2007, the BBC published a survey taken in twenty-eight countries that rated Israel as one of the world’s most hated countries [specifically, the one most dangerous to world peace — ed.] along with Iran, North Korea and the US. Putting aside the fact that the generally hostile to Israel BBC did its survey during the Second Lebanon War, at a time when Israel’s popularity was at its lowest, it is still possible to give a certain credence to the results and ask why the Jewish State is so despised.

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News item:

A South Korean publisher agreed Thursday to withdraw a best-selling children’s book from stores after meeting with a prominent anti-Semitism watchdog group that accused the author of spreading messages echoing Nazi propaganda.

The series of comic books, titled “Meon Nara, Yiwoot Nara,” or “Far Countries, Near Countries” and authored by visual arts professor Rhie Won-bok, purports to teach children about the world and has sold more than ten million copies since the first volume was published in 1987.

One of three books on the US initially published in 2004 contains a chapter claiming Jews were the driving force for the hatred that led to the Sept. 11 attacks, that they exert control over all US media and also prevent Korean-Americans from succeeding in the United States…

[Rabbi Abraham] Cooper [of the Wiesenthal Center] said the author’s responses were inadequate and that he did not expect him to play a role in resolving the issue.

“The net effect of what he’s done here is a disaster and he just doesn’t get it,” Cooper said. “I hope he will someday, but in the meantime this book’s got to go.”

Rhie could not be immediately reached for comment. However, he had earlier maintained despite the criticism that his depiction of Jews in the book was accurate and insisted he was not anti-Semitic. — AP (YNet) (my emphasis)

What is so chilling to me is the way the antisemitic “memes” spread, become part of the collective conventional wisdom of human society, and become so deeply embedded that they are no longer recognized as hateful. Scotsmen are frugal, elephants never forget, Americans are loud and rich, and Jews are devils.

What turned the anti-Semitism that had its profane banal explanations, such as economics and social rivalry, into something lethal was precisely the fact that Jews had “assimilated” so intensely. They were like super-Germans, super-French, super-Englishmen, etc. Because of this, the traditional anti-Semitism that was based on religion no longer had the same effect or resonance. Recourse was made, then, to an argument against which there is no defense, namely race. You cannot change your race; even conversion can’t help you. A Jew remains a Jew under all circumstances, whether he is baptized, becomes totally assimilated or rejects any residual Jewish identity.

Ironically, the argument Jews always used in their apologies was that they were great contributors to their societies. They produced whole volumes about “the Jewish contribution to German culture.” But, of course, this further fed the very anti-Semitism they were trying to counter, because it completely confirmed the feeling that yes, indeed, they were contributing to society – they were totally Judaizing it. — Interview with Dr. Robert Wistrich

Wistrich explains the past and predicts the future in this remarkable piece. Assimilated American Jews in particular need to understand why they are not protected by their “Americanness”.

Technorati Tags: antisemitism, Wistrich