Quote:
Originally Posted by HPLovecraft
This propaganda we sometimes hear about the Palestinian/Israeli conflict being equal to or worse than the Holocaust is absolutely disgusting. It's said by people looking to minimize the evil the Holocaust actually was, turn its acute emotional impact against the Jews, and shape the tragedy into current political benefit.
The Jews suffered almost 6 million dead during the Holocaust. They suffered a systematic program intended to destroy their entire people, with major population centres spanning multiple countries targeted. Civilians were brought out en mass in some locations, like in the Ukraine, and executed due to the simple fact of them being Jews and the claim that Jews were inherently partisans. They were targeted for mass murder for the simple fact of who they were. Extermination camps were set up where hundreds of thousands of Jews were shipped to. They were put in unventilated train cars, separating child from mother, where many died along the way, only to be unloaded, used as slave labour in many cases until they collapsed, and then gassed. Jews were forced to wear arm bands so any non-Jew could identify them at a glance in order to facilitate easier discrimination.
Palestinian civilians dying is a bad thing. Israeli arms are responsible for the deaths of many Palestinians. However, Israel does not force Palestinian civilians to dig their own graves, then shoot them all. They do not have a bureaucratic system designed for the sole task of eliminating every last one of their people. They do not have death camps. There is no Sonderkommando 4a equivalent. Palestinian-Arabs live freely -- and quite well, might I add -- within the nation of Israel. Palestinians are not dehumanized to such a level that they are tormented in the streets by Israeli policemen just for the entertainment of seeing a Palestinian writhe in agony. The Jews of the Holocaust did not have the ability to elect their own government which could then arm itself.
To compare the Palestinian/Israeli conflict to the Holocaust, and claim it as "far worse" is not only completely wrong, it's also morally despicable. It's a political claim with a very sinister undertone: the attempted debasement of what the Holocaust actually was.
This was the Holocaust, and frankly anyone claiming the two are equivalent or that the Jews are doing the work of the Nazis should be ashamed of themselves:
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It goes so far beyond that, Russia had its own version of the Holocaust that was never effectively reported on.
When the Nazi's took other nations like Austria, France and the other European states people were willing to rise up and join the great hate against the Jews.
Refugee's that flooded to America and Canada in the face of Nazi Atrocities were turned back and sent home.
As much as we like to deny it, I don't know if there is a Religion or group of people that have been persecuted on such a high level with the intent of extermination then the Jews
Some people shout from the roof tops that they need to let it go, that its in the past, but even when they formed a Jewish State they were continually attacked by their neighbours.
Israel as a nation believes that the only way that their nation can be protected is by their own strong hands. The UN won't protect them, they don't really trust the U.S. to protect them when the bullets fly.
They have a history of passively allowing themselves to be weeded out and marched off to camps or killed, when they got their own state they mandated that they would aggressively protect themselves.
So when they strike back after rocket attacks it goes back to that bunker mentallity.
However, in a lot of ways they have become too aggressive in their zeal for safety. They don't trust diplomacy, they don't believe that if they give anything away that its going to be honored with greater safety and security .
Like I said the radical right in their nation can be just as bad as anyone out there, but I conclude that their aims are based around protecting themselves. On the other side you have radical groups that would be happy to see another holocaust, and I'm looking at you Hamas and Hezhollah.
The world would be a better place without the radical elements. But even if the radical elements went away, I don't think that you would change the Israeli pre-occupation with security and aggressive defense.