We're not nearing a Holocaust

[Middle East News Service Comments: Iran’s hostility to Israel should not be compared to the Jewish Holocaust in Europe. The editors of Haaretz provide a succinct case of why Binyamin Netanyahu is wrong when he makes the comparison, as he did yesterday. One could add that the Jews Europe did not threaten Germany or any it allies. Not only has Israel been threatening Iran regularly, it has taken violent action as well has occupied an entire people. The arguments Haaretz makes are not new but they are worth reading – Sol Salbe.]

We're not nearing a Holocaust

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used the official ceremony for Holocaust Remembrance Day on Sunday to warn about the Iranian threat. "The world gradually accepts Iran's statements of destruction against Israel and we still do not see the necessary international determination to stop Iran from arming," Netanyahu said, calling on "all enlightened countries" to strongly condemn Iran and act with "genuine determination" to prevent it from building nuclear weapons.

This is not the first time Netanyahu has equated the Iranian threat with the Jewish Holocaust in Europe. The comparison is mistaken and damaging. Independent and sovereign Israel is not weak like the Jewish communities in Poland, Hungary or Germany, which could not defend themselves against the murderous Nazis and their collaborators. Israel can protect itself against those who threaten its existence and security, as it has done in the past when the international community played down the severity of a threat.

In his warnings about a pending Holocaust, Netanyahu is sending out a problematic message to young Israelis considering building their future in their country. Most Jews who were saved from the Holocaust left Europe before World War II and found a safe haven in America or Mandatory Palestine. Is Netanyahu suggesting that Israelis do the same - escape Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's threats by fleeing overseas?

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See the full article here: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1162669.html

[The independent Middle East News Service concentrates on providing alternative information chiefly from Israeli sources. It is sponsored by the Australian Jewish Democratic Society. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the AJDS. These are expressed in its own statements]

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