Gaza and the 1940's
I am more than a bit surprised by the many chareidi commentators comparing the Gaza withdrawal to The Holocaust, a horrible example of which you can read here and then here. I had never thought they would cross that particular barrier. But I suppose life is full of surprises.
Writing from England as I do, I shall focus my criticism on the long-time columnist of our own chareidi paper; Ben Yitzchok of the ‘Jewish Tribune’.
In last Friday’s edition Ben Yitzchok proclaimed Gaza as judenrein.
Ben Yitzchok has spent a lifetime on ‘Holocaust-Watch’. Any broadcaster, writer or commentator that mentions a holocaust related word out of its 1940’s context and Ben Yitzchok is on the attack, descending on them like a ton of bricks questioning their professionalism, branding them a closet Anti-Semite and calling for their resignation.
Although not as extreme as Ben Yitzchok, I broadly agree that the holocaust related terms should be kept sacred and should as far as possible be protected from dilution. It defines something specific and unique and should be kept so. It must continue to conjure-up images of skeletal faces and mass starvation, piles of rotting bodies and mass graves, gas chambers and crematoria. It must continue to refer to the pre-planned and organised murder of six million individual men woman and children. It must continue to remind us that a sophisticated nation is capable of breeding young men who will smash a baby’s skull against a wall and then watch as its brains ooze out.
But Ben Yitzchok has seen fit to waver his own rules for the Gaza- withdrawal. He sees fit to use holocaust jargon within the Gaza context and announces that Gaza is judenrein. He has done what so many others have done before him, becoming emotionally embroiled in an issue close to his heart, an issue that includes human suffering, and has reacted by comparing it to the holocaust. In this he has executed the very wrong that for decades he has been accusing other of committing.
Hang your head in shame Ben Yitzchok. How can you ever criticise again anybody who compares his or her own example of human suffering to The Holocaust? You have now given the green light for anybody to use holocaust terminology at will. Well done.
Writing from England as I do, I shall focus my criticism on the long-time columnist of our own chareidi paper; Ben Yitzchok of the ‘Jewish Tribune’.
In last Friday’s edition Ben Yitzchok proclaimed Gaza as judenrein.
Ben Yitzchok has spent a lifetime on ‘Holocaust-Watch’. Any broadcaster, writer or commentator that mentions a holocaust related word out of its 1940’s context and Ben Yitzchok is on the attack, descending on them like a ton of bricks questioning their professionalism, branding them a closet Anti-Semite and calling for their resignation.
Although not as extreme as Ben Yitzchok, I broadly agree that the holocaust related terms should be kept sacred and should as far as possible be protected from dilution. It defines something specific and unique and should be kept so. It must continue to conjure-up images of skeletal faces and mass starvation, piles of rotting bodies and mass graves, gas chambers and crematoria. It must continue to refer to the pre-planned and organised murder of six million individual men woman and children. It must continue to remind us that a sophisticated nation is capable of breeding young men who will smash a baby’s skull against a wall and then watch as its brains ooze out.
But Ben Yitzchok has seen fit to waver his own rules for the Gaza- withdrawal. He sees fit to use holocaust jargon within the Gaza context and announces that Gaza is judenrein. He has done what so many others have done before him, becoming emotionally embroiled in an issue close to his heart, an issue that includes human suffering, and has reacted by comparing it to the holocaust. In this he has executed the very wrong that for decades he has been accusing other of committing.
Hang your head in shame Ben Yitzchok. How can you ever criticise again anybody who compares his or her own example of human suffering to The Holocaust? You have now given the green light for anybody to use holocaust terminology at will. Well done.
posted by yoinoson schreiber at 12:30 AM
1 Comments:
Dear,
1.
my father was in the ghetto of Lodz
and Auschwitz a total of 5.5 years.
2.
I live in israel
3.
there is ideed a similarity about uprouting jews from their homes.
4.
other decor, same reason;
you can not live "here" becouse you are an "untermentch".
5.
sad
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