Last week, James highlighted Daniel Finkelstein’s thoughtful, and thought-provoking, article on the Gazan conflict. Today, Danny follows it up with a blog post outlining some of the repsonses he’s received. I’d certainly recommend you read the whole thing, but this passage makes an especially crucial point for/about those who criticise Israel’s actions by bringing up the Holocaust:
“The comparison [between Israeli actions in Gaza and] the Holocaust has only ceased surprising me because it is now so common. It is, nevertheless, shameful.
The Nazis were attempting to exterminate all Jews. They established death camps to achieve their objectives, gassing men women and children simply to be rid of them. However strongly someone may dislike Israeli policy in Gaza, however cruel or unpleasant they may feel it is, the comparison with the Nazis is not a good one.
And if the critics wish to make the argument that Jews are oppressing others as they were once oppressed, they need not make reference to the Nazis. There are plenty of other examples of Jews being oppressed.
Why not call it a pogrom? Or argue that the Jews are behaving just like the Arabs behaved to them in the first half of the century. I would reject this comparison too, but I am intrigued that it is never used.
I conclude therefore, that my critics are not seraching for an appropriate analogy.
They were simply desirous of being monumentally offensive. They succeed only in being morally frivolous.”
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