This notion of total extermination is important for yet another very precise and concrete reason: namely, Israel. The Shoah did not cause Israel to come into being. And we must do everything, truly everything, to break the insidious chain that, in linking the two, ends up imputing a providential cause to, and, whether we want it to or not, justifying the Shoah. All the same, there is another inanity heard all over, which consists of the following: "Yes, alright, it was a crime; yes, if absolutely necessary to admit, a singular crime; but as for the survivors of the tragedy, why weren't they moved to Germany? Why a national Jewish homeland in the Arab world--the only part of the world that did not take part in the crime?" And the answer remains that the world itself was a trap for Jews; there wasn't a single part of the world where the evil wind of this death didn't blow; and the Arab world did not recuse itself, any more than the rest of the world, from this plan of total extermination...
Today we have very detailed information on the matter. We have the memoirs of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem describing, relentlessly, during the entire duration of the war, his admiration for Hitler. We have the work of historians citing the existence of an Arab SS legion waiting, at the rear guard of Rommel's army, for the order to descend on the Yishuv in order to exterminate the 500,000 Jews who had already settled there. We know, in other words, that Nazism was a global ideology that manifested itself in national versions and, in particular, in an Arab version no less criminal than the European version. This changes nothing--quite the contrary--when it comes to the necessary fight for democracy in the Arab world and, in particular, in the Palestinian State to come. This is simply an argument for honesty, an argument to oppose relentlessly those who, sustained by an ignorance related to an absence of memory, try to delegitimize Israel--and who sometimes, unfortunately, succeed. Commemorating the Shoah is also a matter of honesty. It is also a fight against ignorance.
Bernard-Henri Lévy,
April 20, 2009, at Place des Nations in Geneva.
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12 comments:
Collectively helping Nazis kill Jews can result in collective punishment. It's like if you start in by trying to ethnically cleanse Jews from their homes, it can happen to you.
You are deluded. Get some help. really...
Peter, like many who repeat his argument, conclude that Arabs obviously covered the land from the time the Jews were expelled and therefore are the true and rightful owners of the land. Because others smarter than him have posited it, he boldly expounds its truth and through the "truth" of others (smarter than he)he, again, boldly propounds that his is the moral argument. He is too enamored with those (smarter than he) from whom he gets his information to even entertain the thought that they may be wrong and that it is he who is deluded.
Kae, don't waste your breath. You did not say absolutely anything, and I could replace "Peter" in your comment with "Kae" and it would sound the same: an empty collection of words. If you have something concrete to say, come back.
No, Peter. After your last two awesomely profound posts, I've determined that in a battle of wits, it would be beneath me to fight an unarmed man.
Good. Yisrael and I understand each other pretty well. If you are interested to add anything, you can do so.
I would also recommend not to make too many assumptions about people you do not know.
My, my, a "gunfight" at OK Corral and I'm still in the bar down the street.
Anyway, Peter, most of the Arabs in the Palestine mandate in 1947 were not indigenous to "Palestine". Many had moved from the Haraun to Haifa and north (including Az A-Din). TransJordanians moved from the east. Egyptians from the south. During the period of Muhammed Ali, North Africans felt at home, too.
Oh, and you'll recall: already by the 1870s, there were amjority of Jews in Jerusalem and the cities and their Jewish population began to take off. The village population mainly remained fairly static except for demographic increases due simply to better hygiene and medical services.
most of the Arabs in the Palestine mandate in 1947 were not indigenous to "Palestine"Wow, I did not realize you were willing to sacrifice your reputation to keep peddling a myth debunked since Mrs. Peters' book was exposed as a fraud. You want to be taken seriously?
During the period of Muhammed AliThat's from the first half of 19th century - by far more native to Palestine than you and I. Unless you mean that other Muhammad Ali :)
Oh, and you'll recall: already by the 1870s, there were amjority of Jews in Jerusalem and the cities and their Jewish population began to take off.That's true, but we weren't trying to establish a Jewish national homeland in Jerusalem and the cities (by which I suppose you mean only Safed and Tiberias, not Nablus, Hebron, Haifa, Jaffa...)
sorry, not a myth. this is a balanced approach:
No, still a myth.
"The major conclusion is "The nature of the data do not permit precise conclusions about the Arab population of Palestine in Ottoman and British times" Anyone who pretends otherwise is deliberately misleading you. We can reach some general conclusions - Palestine was not empty when Zionists started arriving, there was some Arab immigration as well etc. But we cannot give a precise number in any case, and even if we could, it would not constitute evidence to back any moral claims. "
Don't make conclusions, as they say their data is nowhere precise. So don't pretend it is...
It seems the more Palestinians Israel kills and gets away with, the more lies it spreads, the more confident the nationalists like Medad get and the more land Israel "deserves"...
I am sorry to say but i must agree with Finkelstein, Israel will suffer a defeat, that's the only way to bring Israel to its senses.
who gives a crap - what part of it they didnt buy, the Jews took it and its theirs by the right of conquest. Just like all the rest of the countries in the world today.
If you dont like it, eat lead/sh*t and die.
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