Holocaust Inversion

By MANFRED GERSTENFELD - The Wall Street Journal
January 28, 2008

Solemn ceremonies around Europe marked yesterday's Holocaust Memorial Day. But 63 years after the liberation of Auschwitz on Jan. 27, 1945, one of the most perfidious forms of contemporary anti-Semitism is Holocaust inversion -- the portrayal of Israelis and Jews as modern-day Nazis. The charge is that Israel supposedly behaves toward the Palestinians as Germany did to the Jews in World War II.

This distortion of history is particularly widespread in the Muslim world. But it is also gaining currency in the West, where it is no longer just the domain of the extreme Left. Last year, a German bishop visiting Israel compared Ramallah to the Warsaw Ghetto. Portuguese Nobel laureate for literature José Saramago in 2002 compared Ramallah even to Auschwitz.

Cartoons are a particularly popular medium to express such distortions. Portraying Jews as Nazis, Israeli prime ministers as Hitler and the Star of David as equal to the swastika is almost routine in the Arab world. This trend has also reached Europe, where during the anti-Iraq war protests, for instance, many demonstrators held placards depicting similar images. In the Netherlands you can now buy T-shirts and greeting cards showing Anne Frank wearing a kaffiyeh, the traditional Palestinian headdress, wrapped around her neck like a scarf. In other words, the Palestinians are the new Jews, which makes the Israelis the new Nazis.

Holocaust-inversion caricatures appear also occasionally in Western mainstream papers. In July 2006, the Norwegian daily Dagbladet carried a drawing showing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as SS Major Amon Göth, the commander of a Nazi death camp depicted in Steven Spielberg's "Schindler's List." A 2002 cartoon in the Greek daily Ethnos showed two Jewish soldiers dressed as Nazis, with Stars of David on their helmets, thrusting knives into Arabs. Its caption reads: "Do not feel guilty, my brother. We were not in Auschwitz and Dachau to suffer, but to learn."

Many Western Holocaust inverters may simply aim to bolster the Arab and Palestinian cause by demonizing Israel. The most extreme, though, aim at the destruction of Israel by first undermining its moral legitimacy. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki explained it at a December 2006 conference in Tehran of Holocaust deniers and minimizers: "If the official version of the Holocaust is thrown into doubt, then the identity and nature of Israel will be thrown into doubt."

Whatever the motives, Holocaust inversion has made major inroads in Europe. In a 2004 poll conducted by the University of Bielefeld, 51% of German respondents agreed with the statement that: "What the state of Israel does today to the Palestinians, is in principle not different from what the Nazis did in the Third Reich to the Jews."

Holocaust Memorial Day should not only be a day of commemoration. Its meaning is undone when at the same time new versions of the old anti-Semitic demonizations are gaining ground.

Mr. Gerstenfeld is chairman of the board of fellows of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

Soliciting Murder

As a matter of record - this is worth noting:

Protester guilty of soliciting murder By Jason Bennetto in the Independent: A meat inspector who described himself as a 'soldier of Allah' has been found guilty of encouraging murder during a protest in London against cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohamed.'

TO VIEW FULL ITEM CLICK HERE

MPACUK complaints about Cartoon

The following is the latest commentary from the Muslim Public Affairs Committee UK on the cartoon controversy. See here for the link.

Success: Mosque Leaders Demand EDM from MP
Source: MPACUK
Date: Thursday, 20 April 2006

At the height of the Muslim outrage over the Danish publication of the cartoons of the Prophet (p), Mosque leaders in Bolton requested the two local MPs Brian Iddon and David Crausby to attend a meeting at which the issue could be discussed. The outcome of this meeting was that the leaders demanded from Dr Brian Iddon that he should raise an EDM (Early Day Motion) in the house of Commons condemning the publication of the cartoons. Dr Iddon requested that the leaders draft the wording of the EDM, this was done promptly and sent to him.

Dr Iddon over the next couple of weeks avoided any contact with Muslim leaders and finally dropped off a letter full of excuses as to why he had not raised the EDM. In this letter he blamed the other Muslim MPs for not getting back to him even though it had been made clear to him that we were not asking Muslim MPs but were asking him as our MP to represent us. Frankly he wasn't going to do it and hoped he could talk his way out of it.

Since then the leaders have written back to Dr Iddon and told him in no uncertain terms that he has failed them; the one and only time he was requested to represent Muslims on the National and International stage on an issue that is very dear to them, he had let them down and they were now going to make it known to the other Mosques and the community what this MP of ours had failed to do.

A local peace activist, Salim of JUSTPEACE said "The mosque leaders were brilliant and it was a master stroke by them in requesting the EDM. In the past he may have got away with saying I spoke to Tony Blair and he knows how you feel, but an EDM was measureable and he showed his true colours in not tabling it. I couldn't praise this initiative by the Mosques highly enough. Raising an EDM shouldn't have been a big issue for our MP as over 450 in total were tabled last year alone on all sorts of issues far minor than this one and he himself has raised 17 in the last nine months alone. This MP has been held in high esteem by the community but he is no friend to Muslims. This MP:-
Voted to take us into the war with Afghanistan.
Did not vote against the war in Iraq and only abstained.
Voted for the terror laws which unfairly targets Muslims
Voted for the ID cards which will pose a big problem in the future for nikab/hijab wearing sisters when asked to show an ID card at the bank or in a store.
Claims to represent the Palestinians but uses this to impress the Muslims as he fails to do anything significant on this front either.

"For years this man has taken the community and their votes for granted and it comes as no surprise to me that he failed to do anything with regard to the issue of the cartoons which insulted Muhammad (p). We should not be voting in someone who comes smiling and friendly whilst stabbing the Muslim community in the back with his voting on policy and legislation. The Muslim community in Bolton should know of his treachery and those who previously voted for him will hopefully examine their consciences and reconsider for the future".

Drafted text for EDM sent to Brian Iddon

That this house condemn the publication of cartoons depicting defamatory caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad by the Danish Newspaper Jyllands-Posten as an inflammatory act inciting Islamophobia and causing deep offence to 1.3 Billion Muslims around the world. This action is not considered to be a responsible or rational use of 'freedom of speech' and has clearly overstepped the mark; other Media publications of the cartoons around Europe are also to be condemned, as a gesture made only to further antagonise the offended Muslims than to protect freedom of speech.
Calls on all right hon. members to also condemn attacks of a similar nature on any religion.