Germans identify, share common bond with Israel
In this article in the JeruzalemPost, results of a poll are published. Subject?
...more than 50 percent of Germans believe that Israel's present-day treatment of the Palestinians is similar to what the Nazis did to the Jews during World War II.You might for a second be inclined to forgive the present-day Germans. After all, it was their fathers and grandfathers - not the modern German - who were responsible for the greatest genocide in the history of mankind, as well as thirty million or so people killed besides.
But of course these Germans have hardly any less an excuse than their ancestors to hold an opinion like this. It's part of a natural tendency in Europe to blame the Jews for everything that's wrong in the world. Remember when a Europe-wide poll revealed that Israel was seen as the single greatest threat to world peace?
The survey also found that 68 percent of Germans believe that Israel is waging a "war of extermination" against the Palestinians, while some 32% disagreed with such a statement.The people who were interviewed were clearly lying, because if ANYONE knows what an actual extermination is and how to go about it, it's the Germans!
When a Yad Vashem official is confronted with these results, he naturally ends up concluding there was a "long-suppressed felling [sic] of anti-Semitism" and "the result of the release of pent-up feelings of guilt built up from the Holocaust".
I don't think there was ever much guilt. Or if there was, it's the kind you feel when you get caught and punished for stealing from the cookiejar, but you don't actually FEEL any remorse. You would do it again if you thought you could get away with it.
It really makes me wish the Americans had dropped the Bomb on Berlin, not Hiroshima.
posted by Unbelonger at Wednesday, December 08, 2004 - PermaLink
4 Comments:
Daniel, this doesn't really surprise me. The Krauts were simply more efficient than other Europeans when it came to murdering Jews. I think that Avner Shalev is wrong when he suggests that education is the way to fight this. The hatred of Jews is far too visceral. Education will only create a veneer, which will disolve once social pressure eases. In my opinion, there is no solution other than Israel's continued military superiority, thus ensuring that Jews at least have one (relatively) safe haven when the next attempt is made to destroy them.
I'm afraid you are right. One of the recurring themes of this blog is that Jews ought to get the hell out of Dodge - Europe I mean. They've never been welcome there, and anyway, they'll soon have to abide by sharia law if they stay.
These are the same Germans who would much rather scream about Dresden than think about Auschwitz
jeff at beautifulatrocities dot com
Dresden is a good point. Many people, even those belonging to former allied countries like the UK and Holland, are now making the case that Dresden was for all intents and purposes a war crime. Unnecessary, and based on vengeance alone.
Apart from being a very real industrial target, I say: So what?!
This comes down once again to barbarians appealing to laws and rules we set down for ourselves. We can decide to apply the rules to the barbarians as well (as we do in Iraq and Afghanistan), but it's a rational decision. I don't think the British were under any obligation to stay away from targets with a less than 100% military nature.
The Germans started it. Their atrocities were never topped by anyone during WW2.
The Japanese started it. Hiroshima was a legitimate target. The Americans can decide to explain their decision to drop the Bomb, but AFAIC, they're under no obligation to.
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