Israeli deputy minister threatens Gaza with ‘Shoah’

Israel’s deputy defense Minister, Matan Vilnai, yesterday threatened a new ‘Shoah’ (Holocaust) in Gaza, if Hamas and the other militant Palestinian forces there continue to send rockets against southern Israel.
This, in the midst of yet another round of escalation and counter-escalation that has occurred over recent days, causing the death of one Israeli civilian and of some twenty Palestinians in Gaza, including civilians and four (or perhaps more) children.
Haaretz’s Amos Harel describes the “dizzying” pace of events between Israel and Gaza in the past week:

    On Sunday, the media were busy with the IDF’s intensive preparations for the possibility that Hamas would march thousands of Gazan Palestinians into Israel. Furloughs were canceled, units were sent forward from training bases and senior commanders stayed in the field to supervise the preparations. By Monday, it became clear that Hamas had chosen to avoid a confrontation. Only a few thousand people attended the rally in Gaza and only a few dozen bothered showing up at the Erez crossing.
    Hamas made up for its disappointment with the poor turnout by firing rockets at Sderot, injuring Yossi Haimov, 10, in an incident that was chillingly televised. On Wednesday, the IDF and the Shin Bet security service killed five Hamas activists who had returned to the Gaza Strip from training in Iran and Syria. Hamas retaliated with almost 50 rockets, one of which killed Roni Yihye at Sapir College, adjacent to Sderot. Ashkelon was also hit.

It was this use of rockets against Ashkelon, population 120,000, that pushed the Israeli political elite into deciding whether to do something more “decisive” in response.
But as Harel notes, the options of what this “decisive” thing might be run from the radically de-escalatory (move into negotiating a ceasefire with Hamas) to the radically escalatory (a big ground operation into Gaza accompanied by, as Vilnai wants, some elements of “Shoah.”)
We should note that just a couple of days ago, a new poll in Israel found an unprecedentedly high number of Israelis (64%) had started to favor the option of negotiating with Hamas– even if only in the context of a prisoner exchange.
But in the present circumstances it is hard to see how a prisoner exchange could be negotiated without the other very immediate issues of (a) a ceasefire and (b) lifting Israel’s economic stranglehold over Gaza also being on the agenda.
Condi Rice is to be in Israel next week. Will she be promoting the cause of escalation or de-escalation? Up until now, she and the Bush administration have favored or perhaps even pushed for just about every escalatory move the Israeli government has ever made against its neighbors. But it would be great if this time around she could take a calm look round and see the dangers for all involved in the region– who now certainly include the US– if she gives the nod to an escalation against Gaza.
Inside Israel, there is considerable wariness about the wisdom of launching a big ground operation into Gaza. Two big questions immediately arise:

    1. What is the state of readiness of the Israeli ground forces to even undertake such an operation– since their operational readiness and capabilities were revealed to be so poor in the summer of 2006; and
    2. (The much bigger question.) If supposing the ground forces succeed in seizing and holding a big chunk of terrain inside Gaza– which is not really in doubt, though it could be a very bloody tactical “win”– then what?

We could note that it was the then what? question that the Bush administration had completely failed to address with regard to Iraq– just as, back in 1982, the Israelis themselves failed to address it with regard to Lebanon.
Finally, I can’t stop this post before commenting on the horror and the complete inappropriateness of deputy minister Vilnai using the term “Shoah” to refer to what he was threatening in Gaza. He later backtracked some and said all he meant was “a disaster” (which is bad enough, especially if threatened against a highly populated territory in which non-combatants far outnumber combatants.
But in Israel, is the term “Shoah” commonly used to refer to relatively banal events? I thought it was used, like the term capital-H Holocaust in English, to refer to a single, extremely horrific episode of evil.
Anyway, as I said, for Vilnai to openly threaten a “disaster” for Gaza is bad enough. Politicians around the world should be called on to express repugnance for his gross bellicosity.

44 thoughts on “Israeli deputy minister threatens Gaza with ‘Shoah’”

  1. What sort of training did these five Hamas activists receive in Syria and Iran? Weapons training? If so, what kind? Tactical training? If so, for what type of operations?
    If true, this would suggest the introduction of new weaponry into Gaza. Or does suspected transit to or from these countries now provide just cause for arbitrarily inflicted death sentences, in an environment of continuous and escalating violence?

  2. Interesting that JES is more concerned about the minister’s ‘bad choice of words’ than his open threat to inflict death and destruction on a trapped civilian population.

  3. Well Murphy, I seemed to have missed the part of his statement where he said “We should inflict death and destruction on a trapped civilian population.”
    BTW, it’s interesting that you seemed more concerned with the Deputy Minister’s “threats” than you do with the major escalation raised by the use of GRAD rockets on a densly populated city.
    I would recommend reading this analysis by Amos Harel:
    http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/959398.html
    I know that most in this crowd find it difficult to even contemplate Hamas actually having responsibility for their actions, but Harel makes a good case that they are going to be held accountable by their own people in the not to distant future.

  4. Hi, I was reading over John Dugard’s last report and realized one point he made about international law under the Geneva Convention is very significant. And it has a strong and firm basis, because this statement he makes is based upon a provision in the Fourth Geneva Convention itself. He says, under
    IX. Peace Talks
    57. It must be recalled that article 47 of the Fourth Geneva Convention provides that persons in an occupied territory shall not be deprived of the benefits of the convention of any agreement concluded between the authorities of the occupied territory and the occupying Power, or by the annexation by the occupying Power of part of the occupied territory. This means that any agreement between the Palestinian authorities and the Israeli government that recognizes settlements within the occupied Palestinian territory, or accepts the annexation by Israel of Palestinian land within the wall, will violate the Fourth Geneva Convention.
    What this is saying is that the pre-1967 borders cannot be negotiated. Any agreement beween Israel and the Palestinian Authority that attempts to do that will be invalid under the Fourth Geneva Convention. The Fourth Geneva Convention makes all settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank illegal. This seems harsh and rigid, but remember legal counsel advised the Israeli government of this fact in 1967 before a single settlement was built by Israel in either East Jerusalem or the West Bank or Gaza. This is pointed out by Israeli Historian Tom Segev in his book 1967.
    What are the implications of this opinion to the issue of the right of return? Well, it definitely has application to refugees forced out since 1967.
    What he is trying to do is to get the UN to address the issues. The Security Council will not act to enforce rules of law against Israel. Of course, a large part of the problem is the US reluctance to enforce these laws, as well.
    The report is on UNISPAL website. A/HRC/7/17 1/21/08

  5. Bad choice of words on Vilnai’s part. I would venture that he will be forced to resign within the near future.
    Bad choice indeed. But maybe not so out of place as one would think. After all, what is the Gaza strip but a huge concentration camp, sealed by the heroic IDF (and on the other side by the Egyptians, who, like Israel, are on the payroll of the USA, and therefore do as they are told).

  6. Vilnai’s inhuman statement should be met with outrage all across Israel. That he should lose his job, even his whole career, goes without saying. I think there should be more; People in Israel outraged by his statement should organize protests, march in all the cities. Supposedly over 60% of the public want to resolve this situation through negotiations. This majority should see this as the last straw to mobilize and force the government to bring this about.

  7. The only difference is that Vilnai said it on behalf of his people .
    What is happening is a daily reenactment of the word by the Zionist party and not the Nazis.
    One third of the 33 dead Palestinians, not counting today’s atrocities were children. Their action surpass their predecessors, the Nazis.
    The ratio is one Israeli to every three hundred Palestinian. The one Israeli is a victim as much as the three hundred. They are all humans.
    Now a war is waged on Ahmadi Najed for questioning the Holocaust, it will be interesting to watch world stage reaction to this infamous anti-humanity personnel.

  8. One of the more interesting parts of this whole affair is how apocalyptic language becomes attractive to both sides–suddenly we have an Israeli deputy minister echoing the language of the Hamas Charter, Article 7. Clearly, Vilnai is pissed-off by the recognition that Hamas is not pursuing normal statecraft at all, and wants to reply in kind–discourse of obscene goals, pursued with obscene methods, with no thought to the cost to one’s own side, or any cost-benefit equation at all. While the restraints on Israel as a state with a “return address” are obvious to all, for some reason it was psychologically important to him to SAY what he did.

  9. Israel heralds the “Zionist Holocaust” (The Holocaust of the Gazans in Palestine) – so now its official. That Israelis are as depraved as any other of history’s monster nationalities is no surprise…. the Zionists should not be singled out as worse than the Nazis or Mongolian hordes. What is disheartening is that the US is now in for round three of its own perpetration of Holocausts (#1 the genocide Native Americans, #2 the 200 year enslavement of black-skinnned people, and now an accomplice to the Zionist Holocaust.).

  10. Hamas strategy is clear enough – to derail the PLA/Israel negotiations before there is the declaration of an independent Palestinian state.
    JES – way back when, during the second intifada, when Israel occupied the Gaza strip – was Hamas et al able to attack Israel with rockets then – and if not, why not?

  11. Yes, of course, the Warsaw ghetto of Gaza will be eliminated. That is inevitable, sooner or later. Perhaps not this time, but the next. The alternative is to make peace, and I see no desire for that in Israel.

  12. When two sides are shooting at each other and their citizens are being maimed and killed on both sides, it is the essence of stupidity for the only nation with the ability to move things to call on one side only to stop. This is not a time for deciding right or wrong. It is a time to stop the idiotic killing and responsive killing before it gets completely out of hand. The US has the power to do that. Even if it means talking to people we don’t want to talk to. Saving scores if not hundreds or thouosands of lives is far more important than preserving some silly Bush policy which doesn’t work in any case. Let’s stop the killing and then try to decide the issues.

  13. When Ahmadinejad made his offensive statements, people warned that neo-cons would try to manipulate his statements to prop up their own agendas, or that they would use the statements to demonize all Iranians. TimothyL and world-peace are doing the same with Vilnai’s outrageous statements. Trying to fit Vilnai’s words into their “genocide/ghetto” demagoguery and condemning the whole country for this man’s ugly speech.

  14. The saddest thing, and it is a very sad thing, about Vilnai’s statement is that is says very clearly that Shoah can be justified.

  15. It is quite clear, Inkan1969, that this speech is far too close to actuality to require the services of demagogues to add to its menace.
    This week’s news from Gaza is terrible evidence of brutality by Israel, breaking every canon of international law, defying all morality. The thing about holocausts is that, until they happen, or have happened, they consist of just a few old people beaten to death here, a few kids wiped out there, windows broken, men in uniform bullying others in the street, collective punishments…
    The record is there, study it.
    Israelis are doing to Palestinians what Germans did to Jews. Whether they will go any further rather depends upon whether they are stopped, or can stop themselves.
    We will get an idea of how soon that will be when we see some contrition for the sort of things that took place in Gaza during the past few days. And when we see the electricity, food and medical supplies restored to Gaza.
    Until then, people of my generation are going to be reminded of, inter alia, the Warsaw ghetto, where the population was whittled down, over years, by a variety of cruelties.
    For such actions there are no excuses, only the special pleas of the creatures of tyranny.

  16. Boy Bevin, talk about demagoguery – and a healthy dose of hyperbole.
    Population whittled down? Why don’t you look at the statistics? Warsaw ghetto? Close to 150 rockets, including GRADs were fired into civilian areas over the last week alone.

  17. It is not a bad choice of words but an actual slip of the tngue of what the Israeli government has in mind. Olmert and his ministry of war is planning a holocaust against the palestininans. And we should not be surprised at the extent the Israelis would go to or the amount of international humanitarian laws they would break to smash any and all resistance to its occupation. After alll, Israel has carried out ethnic cleansing. It has used cluster bombs in civilian areas, it was responsible for the massacres of innocent refugees, it even purposely chased a paraplegic with a helicopter to murder him in his wheelchair.
    So a holocaust would not be beyond it either.

  18. Approximately 70 Palestinians – one third of them children – have been murdered by Israel in the past few days alone. Since even the IOF acknowledge that military action cannot put an end to the Qassams, one is forced to the conclusion that there is something indeed rotten in the ‘heart’ of the Israeli people. A combination of sheer spite, with a pathetic desire to seem ‘tough’, while at the same time considering the death of one man an intolerable affront.
    That a nation like this cannot endure for long should, I think, go entirely without saying.

  19. Since even the IOF acknowledge that military action cannot put an end to the Qassams
    Qassams are homemade rockets with a range of 10km. Grads are military grade and have a range of 25km.
    Obviously their use on Israeli cities (without even the pretense of tactical need) won’t put a stop to Israeli air raids, so should we conclude that something rotten lies in the hearts – (er “hearts”) of Palestinians?

  20. If Hamas wants to engage Israeli troops, its Hamas wish to get killed. [Hezbollah evacuated civillian area in front of the areal bombimgs…]
    “something indeed rotten in the ‘heart’ of the Israeli people” – Murphy, if you have nothing else to do on a Saturday except of write antisemitical comments in blogs, … think of a trianer: “Go wash your car!” – “Go buy your wife flowers!” – “Go play with your kids!”
    And leave the world alone with your disease.

  21. The author af the Israeli Lobby, Meirsheimer, stated that a termination of the Palestinians is one of the options israel is contemplating, the other is an apartheid solution, that was a week ago in one of his tours.
    When I heard that, I thought it was far fetched, a people who had suffered on the hands of others will never cross their minds, especially when they claim, never again, till I heard this despicable deputy minister bragging and executing the termination of another people in the name of his people.
    Today more than 41 Palestinians are killed, children and women, as well as elderly.

  22. “Grads are military grade and have a range of 25km.”
    Wow!!! That must put them right up there with the state-of-the-art military technology the Israelis beg from the US taxpayer. Well, not really, but I do know that it’s human nature to try to invent the enemy you feel you deserve.
    “Obviously their use on Israeli cities (without even the pretense of tactical need) won’t put a stop to Israeli air raids,”
    The line of reasoning here is puzzling in the extreme, but of course nothing other than complete submission – and maybe not even that – will put an end to Israeli cruelty.
    “antisemitical”
    The attempt at a slur may not be original (so much so that sadly for the likes of shual, it has completely lost any effect) but the spelling certainly is.

  23. Shual,
    Sorry to convey the bad news, but your likes are the ones with a deadly disease called brutal occupation for the past 40 years.
    Your likes do not want to end the longest occupation in recent history, do not want a reciprocal cease fire and now they want to stop the rockets.
    Yes the Palestinians are rotting under the occupation you are defending. Why was a medical centre hit today ? why fishermen are deprived from their livelihood ? why do you keep on claiming that you are victims of anti semitism, you are your own victim, while choosing to lash on everyone and everything is no longer acceptable.
    Rather than an apology for the occupation, holocaust and apartheid you chose to attack the messengers rather than dealing with the problems.
    The Israel you envision is no longer sustainable.
    Rather than lashing at these honest commentators, work on ending the occupation.
    I pity the mentality of your likes, as well those who had instilled in you an unreachable dream.
    Like equal humans you have a right to live in dignity, but not on the expense of others, this myth a land for a people for a people without land must be replaced with, A LAND SHARED BY ITS PEOPLE

  24. “but your likes are the ones with a deadly disease”
    “sadly for the likes of shual”
    Boring posts of boring people.

  25. The truth IS boring!!
    Being polite is more boring, how many years did you serve in the IDF?

  26. The line of reasoning here is puzzling in the extreme,”
    Indeed it is! I found it equally puzzling when you applied it just now

    Since even the IOF acknowledge that military action cannot put an end to the Qassams, one is forced to the conclusion that there is something indeed rotten in the ‘heart’ of the Israeli people.
    A ridiculous non sequitur, we can both agree.
    Obviously something other than logic compels you to spew hateful (and entirely irrational) opinions like “Israelis are rotten hearted. You should be embarrassed to express them in a public forum. Who do you expect to convince? Rotten-hearted Israelis or their sympathizers? You’re talking to yourself.

  27. the Palestinians are rotting under the occupation…
    I’m curious…What exactly does Hamas have in mind when it speaks of “the occupation”?

  28. As some may recall; in the comments to Helena’s JWN posts about the lead up to Annapolis, there was a lot of confidence in their genuine significance to the peace process on one side, and on the other, there was absolute cynicism.
    My own view was, that given the enthusiastic and largely unqualified optimism of many Israeli comment contributors to JWN about Annapolis; and their often asserted closer knowledge of the situation compared to that of outsiders, we should take the process at face value, support it, hope for the best and see what happens.
    Well, now it’s later. What’s happening?

  29. I’m curious…What exactly does Hamas have in mind when it speaks of “the occupation”
    Is this a serious question?
    HAMAS believes that the land of Palestine has been an Islamic Waqf throughout the generations and until the Day of Resurrection, no one can renounce it or part of it, or abandon it or part of it. No Arab country nor the aggregate of all Arab countries, and no Arab King or President nor all of them in the aggregate, have the right, nor has that right any organization or the aggregate of all organizations , be they Palestinian or Arab, because Palestine is an Islamic Waqf throughout all generations and to the Day of Resurrection.
    I hope this answers your question.

  30. Silly comments Vadim.
    You know, and most Israelis know, that Hamas is very willing to talk to the government of Israel about the current and chronic crisis.
    With every passing day the madness gets worse for the very simple reason that Israel’s government of fanatics, opportunists and traitors has painted intself into a corner. It would sooner be seen to be slaughtering children than caught reconsidering its ludicrous and ill judged recreations of SS style collective punishments.
    It is not just the population which allows its government to act in this way which is “rotten hearted”, so are our populations in Canada and the USA, so are Obama and Clinton, so are all of those who, after the events of the past 24 hours do anything less than condemn these crimes, out of hand. They are inexcusable. Further they are far worse than the sanitised versions being transmitted by the media. Almost all the casualties are non combatants killed in terror attacks. And very many others, maimed for life or badly wounded, are uncounted.
    If you cannot see that these are criminal actions, condemned by all decent international opinion, then you will not understand the very grave danger into which the government of Israel is putting its citizens and its country’s chances of survival.
    The shame of this will live for generations.

  31. Further they are far worse than the sanitised versions being transmitted by the media. Almost all the casualties are non combatants killed in terror attacks.
    Yes, the “sanitised versions” you speak of (BBC, CCN) tend to downplay the fact that Israeli civilians are being targetted by rockets.
    The fact remains that Israel acts in a perfectly legitimate and legal manner when it responds to the source of fire on its civilians. Further, by putting soldiers on the ground – two of whom were killed yesterday – the IDF is taking the necessary steps to prevent civilians.
    All of your talk about “fanatics”, “opportunists” and “SS style collective punishment” is pure rhetoric with little basis in fact.

  32. Silly comments Vadim.
    Sorry bevin…. as you may or may not have realized I was simply quoting the HAMAS charter! (I hope they don’t get me for copyright!) If it helps I agree w/you that it’s a silly passage.
    Clearly the language of this document is more grossly bellicose than anything mentioned here by Vilnai. Yet I’ve never heard a peep of criticism from you or any of the other HAMAS cheerleaders here, certainly nothing resembling repugnance.
    I’ll believe that HAMAS has changed its mind on this issue when it renounces this document, not when well meaning Western ‘hasbaristas’ do so on its behalf. And I’ll believe that HAMAS is technically able to enforce its ‘unilateral’ cease fires when missiles are no longer fired from unoccupied Gaza and landing in Israeli civilian centers DURING such ‘cease fires.’
    Clearly occupation isn’t the root of all evil, since missiles continued to be fired at Israeli civilians long after the Israeli military left Gaza.
    Almost all the casualties are non combatants killed in terror attacks
    HAMAS shares blame for non-combatant deaths by placing military targets within population centers – a grave war crime. Missiles fired at Ashkelon from densely populated cities make targets of both Israeli and Palestinian non-combatants.

  33. The fact remains that Israel acts in a perfectly legitimate and legal manner when it responds to the source of fire on its civilians. Further, by putting soldiers on the ground – two of whom were killed yesterday – the IDF is taking the necessary steps to prevent civilians.
    Doesn’t that also mean that the leadership of Gaza act “in a perfectly legitimate and legal manner when it responds to the source of fire on its civilians”, because firing on Palestinian civilians is exactly what Israel is doing all the time, year after year, with rockets, grenades, tanks, airplanes, drones, the whole lot?
    “But Israel doesn’t target civilians!” is the standard reply of the average Israel apologist. True. You don’t target them, you just kill them, by the thousands. Men, women and children, shred to pieces by the Israeli army; never the primary goal, but killed none the less (and as dead as they would be if they would have been targeted directly), because their lives don’t matter much to Israeli’s, one has to conclude.
    When Palestinians kill an Israeli civilian it is considered in Israel as a crime that cries to heaven for revenge, but when Israel kills Palestinian civilians (which happens much more often) it is of no significance at all. Bad luck. Hamas is to blame. Or other Arabs. Any one but Israel. For Israel is always the victim, no matter how much it kills, no matter how much it destroys, no matter how much it oppresses.
    They’re to blame. Always. Never us.

  34. Doesn’t that also mean that the leadership of Gaza act “in a perfectly legitimate and legal manner when it responds to the source of fire on its civilians”, because firing on Palestinian civilians is exactly what Israel is doing all the time, year after year, with rockets, grenades, tanks, airplanes, drones, the whole lot?
    Last time I checked, neither Sapir Colleger, nor Sderot, nor Ashkelon, nor – today – Netivot is the source of the fire on Gaza.
    Revenge is not equivalent to supressing fire openly targeting civilians – even if the results for civilians are the same.
    The Israeli government has never called for revenge. And although many of those civilians targetted in Israel over the past five years have called for revenge, I don’t recall them celebrating when Palestinian civilians have been killed.

  35. The Israeli government has never called for revenge.
    Of course they don’t. Why should they? They occupy, oppress, imprison, destroy, maim, and kill. They are the perpetrators, not the victims. The perpetrators have no cause to call for revenge.
    And although many of those civilians targetted in Israel over the past five years have called for revenge, I don’t recall them celebrating when Palestinian civilians have been killed.
    Why should they? The point I was making was that many Israeli’s don’t give a damn about Palestinian lives. They can’t empathize with Palestinians. That’s the reason why Palestinians are killed so casually by the Israeli army, as insects, so to speak. Who cares? And that’s also the reason that you can’t understand that if any one has any cause for revenge, it are the Palestinians, not the Israeli’s.

  36. Menno,
    Perhaps you missed the first part of my post. The targeting of Israeli towns and cities with rockets is qualitatively different than the targeting the source of those rockets.
    There is no indication that the Israeli army kills Palestinians “casually” (and certainly not as “casually” as Hamas, IJ and al-Aksa Martyrs appear to launch rockets targetting Israeli civilians). If they did, then I doubt that Israel would go to the trouble of risking the lives of IDF soldiers to enter Gaza and confront Hamas “fighters”.
    Re. the issue of revenge, I fully understand that many Palestinians feel cause for revenge. However, revenge is not a ligitimate reason for applying military force.

  37. Meanwhile in Darfur, a true genocide is taking place.
    But Arabs are entitled to special pleading and are exempt from criticism (Remember Helena’s nasty attacks on Ruth Messinger? It’s bad enough that Helena wont say anything to stop the genocide and to try and play down the scale of the event. It’s worse that she tries to attack and demean those that do try to do something. What a nasty, hateful woman).
    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/02/world/africa/02darfur.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

  38. Perhaps you missed the first part of my post. The targeting of Israeli towns and cities with rockets is qualitatively different than the targeting the source of those rockets.
    Well, since Israel has killed and maimed so many civilians in the Gaza Strip in the past, as it is doing at this moment, your own warped logic should dictate that the Gazans have every right to target the “source” of all those attacks, which happens to be Israel.
    Of course you disagree.
    So be it.

  39. Menno,
    My point – according to my “own warped logic” – is that the Gazans have not targetted the “source” of those attacks! The civilians of Sderot and Ashkelon are not the “source” of the attacks, and that is precisely the difference.

  40. My point – according to my “own warped logic” – is that the Gazans have not targetted the “source” of those attacks! The civilians of Sderot and Ashkelon are not the “source” of the attacks, and that is precisely the difference.
    Okay, you have the last word! Congratulations!

  41. Israel always attacks its enemies disproportionately and engages in indiscriminate attacks against civilians and direct attacks on civilian objects, like houses,businesses, and medical clinics. They always engage in actions that constitute a reckless disregard for the value of life of human life and the lives of civilians. They always violate the Geneva Convention and engage in war crimes. They are always criticized by Amnesty and HRW and Btselem for their war crimes, typically months later after investigations are completed.
    The truth is that Israel is intentionally killing civilians, as they know their practices, which they know are war crimes, predictably hurt and kill civilians. Hamas is targeting civilians as well, and their actions are also war crimes. But the difference is that Hamas rockets are unsophisticated and cause few deaths, while Israel’s war crimes cause substantial loss of life.

  42. “Being polite is more boring, how many years did you serve in the IDF?”
    Dear Mr. “World Peace”,
    1st] after visiting my blog you should understand [even if you can not read german] that the figth against militarization in politics is an integral part of my work.
    2nd] From time to time it seems to be appropriate for me to dissociate from the antisemitical hate-speeches of some that use the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis. [Integral part, too]
    3rd] IDF? Well, back in 1990 I was in the news here as a famous GERMAN “Conscientious objector”, cause after loosing some cases I smashed my knee into a wall and the GERMAN army was happy to get rid of me immidiately.
    Any other questions “World Peace”?

  43. Born a Jew destined to endure the catastrophe of Nazi Germany, Hannah Arendt experienced firsthand the despair inflicted on an entire civilization when the country of her birth consumed a continent in its determination to rule the known world. She saw, up close, something in the human condition writ large that shaped her intellectual talent for the rest of her life. The experience made Arendt a political thinker.

    In 1950 Hannah Arendt, who had spent so many years writing out of Jewish despair, wrote: “The Jews are convinced that the world owes them a righting of the wrongs of two thousand years and, more specifically, a compensation for the catastrophe of European Jewry which, in their opinion, was not simply a crime of Nazi Germany but of the whole civilized world. The Arabs, on the other hand, reply that two wrongs do not make a right and that no code of morals can justify the persecution of one people in an attempt to relieve the persecution of the other.” Throughout the war, speaking as a Jew among Jews, Arendt had consistently written “we Jews.” From now on, when writing about the Middle East, she would refer to both parties as “they.” She was still passionate about the Jews—“the wrong done by my own people grieves me more than wrong done by other peoples”—only now the passion, instead of glowing red hot, burned like dry ice. Many of the things Arendt said in the ’50s and ’60s she had, in fact, said before, but the way she now framed them seemed to leave the Jews themselves behind. And very shortly, many Jewish readers returned the compliment.

    All That is Given
    Hannah Arendt on being Jewish
    By Vivian Gornick

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