Warsaw Ghetto 1941, Gaza 2008
A short and succinct letter to the editor in today’s Sydney Morning Herald from Zaid Khan puts things into perspective:
Nearly 70 years ago, in a small eastern European city, an oppressed and occupied people were under siege, living under atrocious and brutal conditions, lacking food, medicine, electricity, water, and slowly being strangled in the hope they would just disappear.
Warsaw Ghetto 1941 – Gaza 2008. Israel, you are a disgrace.
Zaid Khan
What is to be done? Chances are that if you reading this, you already have a good grasp of what is happening. Also avail yourself to first hand accounts from residents in Gaza, such as Tabula Gaza, Raising Yousef–A Mother From Gaza and Dr Mona El Farra’s blog. Spread the word and discuss it with people who may not even know all this is happening or who may uncritically accept the Israeli neocon worldview propagated in some of the major media outlets. Israel is committing slow genocide and ethnic cleansing. A simple yet powerful letter like the one above can ricochet around the world.
Here are some other ways you can help:
Call for and participate in a boycott of Israel as many church and union groups have done. Talk to people you know about it and register it on the radar as an issue you care about with your local political representative. The smallest action can help in adding to diplomatic pressure and in raising awareness; make some noise in whatever media you can participate in: forums are often targeted by hasbara cyberhacks so weighing in and challenging their claims and the univocality of the Israeli narrative matters. Support Israeli-Palestinian peace groups such as Gush-Shalom and the Gaza Relief Convoy — put your money where your mouse is, with even just a few dollars. Display links from your blog. To paraphrase Ted Roosevelt, do whatever you can, with what you have, where you are. Everyone’s actions matter.
If you’re in one of the many participating cities around the world and you’d like to take the opportunity to become involved in the January 26 Day of Action by the International Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza, here are some details, with more available here:
LONDON
Demonstration and Candlelight Vigil: End the Siege on Gaza
Saturday, 26 January 2008, 16:00—18:00
Opposite 10 Downing Street, London (tube Westminster)
ROME AND OTHER MAJOR CITIES IN ITALY
CAPE TOWN
The Cape Town Anti-War Coalition will hold a protest at 10am in Adderley Street, Cape Town
USA – Anaheim, Washington DC, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Seattle (Jan 25-29)
Amazing similarities, aren’t they? Are Israelis so blind that they cannot see what they’re doing? No. They’re just arrogant. When one becomes arrogant, one is capable of shedding all values and mercy.
History repeats itself.
I wonder how Israelis plan to “celebrate” the so-called 60th “birthday” – a birth hemorrhaging with Palestinian blood, decorated with oppression and tyranny, home demolitions and continued land seizures and annexation. Then again, when did Israel ever care about the value of Palestinian human life?
Ben Gurion summed it best:
Kudos to you and your great blog.
ATW
I’m guessing the fact that the day before International Holocaust Remembrance Day was chosen for these demonstrations is no coincidence. Trying to make this to seem as a new genocide, the Gazan Holocaust, is pure populism.
I feel sorry for the people of Gaza. I think Israel has better, more humane ways to fight Hamas and Qassam rockets. However, in no way is Israel trying to kill innocent Palestinians and wipe out the Palestinian people. I don’t remember hearing about international aide organisations working in the Warsaw Ghetto; I don’t remember the Nazis allowing sick Jewish children to recieve medical treatment in Germany (there are quite a few Palestinians from Gaza in Israeli hospitals).
Those are just two points that show that the holocaust link is baseless. There are many others.
About the boycott: while you’re at it boycott China, Russia, Sudan, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria, Lybia and other human rights violators.
Emmanuel,
Nice of you to recognize the plight of Gazans.
But Israel is killing innocent Palestinians. All the Palestinian civilian deaths that are occurring at the ratio of 9 to 1 in some cases prove that. Check the numbers posted on my blog or better yet, visit If Americans Knew web site. The facts were collected by an American!
The road blocks, the blockades, the racist actions (according to Haaretz, if you care to explore) of the Israelis are in Parallel with the Nazi actions. The Israelis may not be “burning” Palestinians in gas chambers, but they sure are bombing them to smithereens!
Regardless, the link to holocaust is accurate. Only pro-Israelis will refuse to see the truth.
ATW
I support ATW’s statements. The Israeli government is preventing aid and some aid organisations from getting in. Sadly, I wish I could believe that the Israeli government is not trying to kill innocent Palestinians and wipe out the Palestinian people, because its current policies are having just that result.
While no analogy is exact in all or every detail, this is a striking parallel as described, and a sensitive one. It may strike a nerve with some.
Emmanuel, I did not even know about the close proximity of Holocaust Day, the day is in fact spearheaded by Israeli group Gush Shalom. I also support (and participate in) the boycotting of any company or country that engages in gross and systemic human rights violations. The Egyptian government warrants censure too for its role clamping down against Gazans at the crossing.
It is also heartening that a few Gazan babies are being treated in Israeli hospitals — this is the result of the actions of Israeli physicians of conscience, and not Israeli government policy.
NB. Some of the other reactions I’ve been getting are that the Polish Jews didn’t launch rockets, as if the whole parallel has to fit the analogy. The definition of analogy is similarity in some respects between things that are otherwise dissimilar. The objections also conveniently ignore the Israeli government policies of choking occupation and economic strangulation that these are a reaction against, they didn’t just happen in a vacuum. Polish Jews resisted, too. By the same token, Nazi Germany also didn’t occupy Polish land for over 40 years and thwart the Polish at every turn towards gaining independence.
Here’s an interesting quote:
About Gaza? No. That was David Ben-Gurion objecting to martial law in Mandate Palestine to try to reduce Zionist terrorist attacks.
@ attendingtheworld Are Israelis so blind that they cannot see what they’re doing? No. They’re just arrogant. When one becomes arrogant, one is capable of shedding all values and mercy.
Nope, they (Israel) aint blind and arrogant. This is ice cold calculation. It has nothing to do with Quassam rockets and mortar attacks. It is part of a long term strategy. If Israel really want to live in peace with the people of Palestine, they should have made peace a long long time ago….
Let’s not kid ourselves. This is Israel’s prototype for a “two state solution.” This is a template for the systematic harassment of Palestinians to encourage them to leave and not come back when they get so hungry they can’t lift a spoon. Then Israel can appropriate the land and the water and the natural gas free and clear without encumbrances or title searches.
It’s a pattern we’ve all seen too many times to believe that Israel has any other mode of being. It’s an infinite recursion. Israel and the U.S. hire their faction to serve as wardens against the elected representatives, who in turn outsource torture and assassination services to the Palestinians themselves so they become their own jailers.
The only way to resolve this is to drop the pretense that Israel can be a Jewish state and still claim to be a democracy. Tear down the wall and let everyone live where they want to live and vote for anyone they please. Those are the threshold requirements for a democracy everywhere in the world.
If Israel can’t meet the requirements to be a real democracy then it is a fascist dictatorship.
A more direct response to Emmanuel’s original post on the validity of comparisons in the form of another quote, this time by George Orwell (writing in 1945):
Sadly, like so much of Orwell’s writing, still very relevant.
Wonderful links to first hand accounts of what is going on.
ATW:
The road blocks, the blockades, the racist actions (according to Haaretz, if you care to explore) of the Israelis are in Parallel with the Nazi actions. The Israelis may not be “burning” Palestinians in gas chambers, but they sure are bombing them to smithereens!
While I do think that much of what Israel is doing, especially all the roadblocks in the West Bank are excessive, they are not parallel to what the Nazis did to the Jews. Israel is trying to fight terrorism against it, not trying to exterminate Palestinians. Actually, until last week there were a few weeks that Israel succeeded in killing militants without any civilian casualties.
This isn’t all happening in a vacuum, it’s part of a fight between the two sides. The reduction in fuel and electricity is meant to hurt the production and mobilization of rockets. I don’t think it is the right strategy, since there are probably more generators in Qassam factories than there are in hospitals and they can move them around with mules.
Regardless, the link to holocaust is accurate. Only pro-Israelis will refuse to see the truth.
I’m sure there are many anti-Israelis who do not agree with you.
Anne:
The Israeli government is preventing aid and some aid organisations from getting in.
Humanitarian aid and basic supplies are getting in. So is electricity, albeit in reduced wattage. Since yesterday, even fuel is going in.
While no analogy is exact in all or every detail, this is a striking parallel as described, and a sensitive one. It may strike a nerve with some.
[…]
The definition of analogy is similarity in some respects between things that are otherwise dissimilar.
This is a case where the differences are much greater than the similarities. This reminds me of the joke about veterinarians and taxidermists doing the same thing – they both get you your dog back.
It is also heartening that a few Gazan babies are being treated in Israeli hospitals — this is the result of the actions of Israeli physicians of conscience, and not Israeli government policy.
The government could have barred them from coming in, even if doctors wanted to treat them. I must note, though, that I don’t think that Israel is letting enough Palestinians get treaments in Israeli hospitals.
Polish Jews resisted, too. By the same token, Nazi Germany also didn’t occupy Polish land for over 40 years and thwart the Polish at every turn towards gaining independence.
So now we’re even worse than Nazi Germany?!? There was no war between Germany and the Jews – they just killed them for being Jewish, for no other reason than racist hatred. There was no real conflict between the two. The Jewish resistence formed only after Jews were being systematically killed. Between Israel and the Palestinians there has been a real conflict over land for over 100 years, and Israel isn’t trying to kill them off.
Oldgamer:
If Israel really want to live in peace with the people of Palestine, they should have made peace a long long time ago….
This is overly simplistic. It isn’t that easy to make peace. Attempts have been made, and still are being made, to achieve peace. Both Israelis and Palestinians are to blame for the failure to reach an agreement.
Kilroy:
The only way to resolve this is to drop the pretense that Israel can be a Jewish state and still claim to be a democracy. Tear down the wall and let everyone live where they want to live and vote for anyone they please. Those are the threshold requirements for a democracy everywhere in the world.
You’re describing the one state solution which a vast majority of Israelis, including myself, vehemently oppose. There should be no discrimination between Jews and Arabs in Israel itself, but the solution for the Palestinians in the territories and elsewhere is their own state in Gaza and the West Bank. An “Isratine” would be a very unstable country with constant ethnic violence. Besides, saying Israel is fascist for refusing to become one country with the Palestinians is kind of like saying the USA is fascist for refusing to become one country with Mexico.
Just to clarify: I meant the Qassams can be moved around with mules, not the generators.
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how is sonic booming camps an anti-terror measure?
in relation to the orwell comment above…
“The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them. “
Thanks for the excellent relevant quotes and rejoinders.
Two commenters who were passed on from the moderation queue because they did not meet comment standards for the conduct of respectful disagreement, and raised the usual tired canards, will be briefly addressed here. The first canard, from ‘krik’ employs the “Israel withdrew from Gaza and look what happened” line. Israel’s withdrawal (of its residents from illegal settlements) in no way meant an end to Israel’s control — of Gaza’s airspace, movement in and out of the strip, supplies of food and aid, prevention of trade, and so on. The military preoccupation was in no way affected nor did it at all diminish. Moreover, the Gaza “disengagement” was openly announced as a West Bank expansion plan, designed to re-direct illegal settlers to West Bank settlements and thus entrench the theft and occupation of Palestinian land. As Chomsky, a former avowed zionist, describes here the Israeli rationale (also see Ilan Pappe):
A commenter named Jack charmingly compared Palestinians to alligators (while he was extremely disagreeable about the analogy with the Warsaw Ghetto here, of course):
Emmanuel, the very temporary easing of the months-long siege of Gaza was explicitly for one day only and only under sustained international pressure after dozens of deaths and hardship. As Haaretz today reports, it has also cancelled any other emergency fuel shipments:
You may care to present evidence to support this and other claims you make in your last comment, and pointing to links is fine. These can be inserted using html or inserted in long form and I will embed them for you.
My point wasn’t that Israel is doing the right thing in Gaza (it isn’t). However, Israel’s actions have a reasoning behind them – disrupting the production and transportation of Qassams – that may be wrong, but killing innocent people is not the objective.
The situation in Gaza is bad enough. Hugely exaggerating by using Holocaust terminology or calling me a nationalist for not accepting the comparison to genocide like Michael keeps doing only deflects from what’s going on. We’re not discussing solutions, we’re arguing over whether this is a Palestinian holocaust. Isn’t this just a waste of time for all of us?
As for the disengagement, here’s something we agree on. While most Israelis thought of Gaza as a first step towards leaving most of the territories, I certainly believe that was not Ariel Sharon’s intention. I think he wanted the Gaza pullout to be remembered as a national trauma so Israelis would be too afraid to withdraw from the West Bank. It should be noted, though, that most settlers were relocated to Israel proper and not the West Bank.
The solution has always been there: it was time it was enacted. An end to the military occupation of the OPT in the first instance, an end to new illegal settlements and a withdrawal from existing ones, cessation of attacks from both sides, mutual formal recognition.
The comparison was more explicitly to ghettoisation, but use of the term genocide and prelude to genocide has been used by a number of people, including international legal experts such as Richard Falk and Israeli historians such as Ilan Pappe, in addition to ourselves. You can make the case that it is not genocide, but clearly it is a matter of difference of opinion. Some of us can only conclude that the daily mass killing is intentional. There have been 810 Palestinians killed during the past two years alone. The ratio of deaths in the conflict is up from 1:4 during the intifada years to 1:9 as ATW noted. According to conservative figures by B’TSelem, between 2000 and 2006 Israeli forces killed almost four thousand Palestinians, half of them children, with more than twenty thousand wounded.
How does punishing, starving and depriving one and a half million people of basic human rights stop homemade rocket attacks by a few that will likely now only increase? As Commissioner General Karen Koning AbuZayd for UNRWA has rightly noted, “Hungry, unhealthy, angry communities do not make good partners for peace.” It is time Israel stopped destroying all its chances for peace. These Israelis had the right idea.
As I said myself, I don’t agree with most of the Israeli tactics. But still, there are enough food supplies in Gaza. They’re suffering, but not starving. This is just one of the reasons why this is not a genocide or even a stage before it, even if some extreme left-wing Israelis say otherwise(and no, genocide is not a matter of opinion – there are objective measures for genocide).
There are way too many civilian casualties. Israel has definitely used excessive force since 2000. But that isn’t the only reason for much more Palestinians being killed than Israelis. Israel has been very effective in stopping Palestinian attacks on its civilians.
The solution, creating a Palestinian state alongside Israel, is obvious to most people. It isn’t that simple to implement, though, because of the deep distrust both sides feel towards each other. As I’ve said a million times, the government needs to start proving it means business.
the government needs to start proving it means business.
Agreed: and the way it does this is by actually negotiating with its neighbours, starting with Hamas, rather than spurning each and every meaningful peace offer. How can the Israeli government prove it means business when it routinely uses the “but we don’t have a partner to negotiate with” excuse, and when it does deign to speak to quislings like Abbas, offers little? Hamas could equally use the excuse “but they want to destroy us”, yet have offered talks and ceasefires. Illegal settlements actually continued before, during and after Annapolis—so wither the genuine gestures extended to Abbas?
To be clearer, yes, most of us are aware that genocide has objective criteria such as the deliberate and systemic killing of civilians. What is less objective however is actually determining the ‘deliberate intent’ part.
Emmanuel: “Hugely exaggerating by using Holocaust terminology or calling me a nationalist for not accepting the comparison to genocide like Michael keeps doing only deflects from what’s going on.”
I’ve only just now checked back on this thread. It is regrettable that you have descended to outright misrepresentation. Zaid Khan and Ann (and George Orwell for that matter) are absolutely right. Ghetto=ghetto, get it? We do not have to wait for another Holocaust to justify criticizing something that is manifestly wrong and obscene.
Israel *is* starving Palestinians. The Gaza strip has been receiving less than half of the food it needs. Infants have been living on tea and bread. Children are clinically malnourished. You say you disagree with Israel’s tactics, that you wish they were more humane (a wonderful way of expressing that, “more humane”). Explain how preventing not only food, medical supplies, construction materials, but even paper for school books from entering the strip is a tactic. To stop the papier mache rockets, the paper airplanes carrying bombs?
The “reasoning” behind the “tactics” is not that presented for popular consumption. The reasoning of Ben-Gurion, as quoted above has far more to recommend it: if the objective is to reduce the Qassams, it is self-evidently counter productive. Rather, as has been described by Finkelstein, Gideon Levy, Chomsky and many others (to mention only clear-thinking Jews and Israelies) in historically similar instances, it is a response to the threat of peace from the side that still has more to gain from war and – to its way of thinking – everything to lose from any lifting of the fog of war. That even Bush has now voiced some criticism of settlements, which continue to be expanded, seems certainly a factor in the latest escalation.
In defending Israel’s “response” you are consuming prolefeed and following exactly the same fatal reasoning as those who are firing the rockets: “we must do *something*”.
Emmanuel: “An “Isratine” would be a very unstable country with constant ethnic violence.”
The problem of ethnic violence is with us now and it is a result of ethnic domination and subjugation. Continuing that inequality, shoring it up with Walls and sieges, merely makes it more comfortable for those in the dominant and (comparatively) safe position. *Ending it* requires an end to ethnic domination, including through Bantustans.
Emmanuel: “Besides, saying Israel is fascist for refusing to become one country with the Palestinians is kind of like saying the USA is fascist for refusing to become one country with Mexico.”
Remember the Refugees. Their internationally acknowledged legal right to return. That Israel, as currently constituted, depends on the continuing denial of that right. If a position depends on such a massive injustice, one must seriously begin to question the position. Whether or not you agree with the answer given by others (including not only high-profile public intellectuals but, in my experience, a Moroccan Jew who gave me a copy of the White Book a couple of months ago.)
Despite your exaggeration above, I believe you are sincere in your views, otherwise I would not bother to reply at all. Please understand that, for me (and I hope most people critical of Israel) the problem is not one of Israelis being worse than apartheid-era South Africans, let alone being comparable to Nazis. The problem is that, on average, you are like us, no better than other human beings. When people like Orwell write, they do so with an understanding of a psychology common to all humanity: you respond in exactly the same way as others to national mytho-histories and the possession of unassailable power combined with enormous fear of the Other. That does not mean you cannot overcome it or that, as an obviously intelligent individual, you do not have a moral responsibility to try, however painful. Ilan Pappe, Eitan Bronstein, Susan Nathan and many other truly admirable Israeli Jews have done so. I urge you in sincere goodwill to read them – or even visit and talk to them. Why not? The latter two are in Israel and I am quite confident both of them would be very happy to talk to you.
Ann: Except for the parts about talking to Hamas (a point I wrote about in my latest comment in the McCarthyism thread) and calling Abbas a quisling, I pretty much agree with you on the issue of the peace process. I’m not happy with the Israeli government. Lots of talking, no action.
Michael: There are certain tactics that I may not agree with but can see the rationale behind them, such as cutting fuel supplies. There are some tactics, such as shooting missiles at rocket launchers, that I totally support. There are other tactics, such as the paper ban you mentioned, that I can’t even explain or defend, since they don’t seem logical to me.
Ann and I had a very long discussion about the one-state solution and the right of return last year.
To the post itself, regarding the holocaust – There is a saying in emotional-health circles: “Hurt people hurt people.” It seems especially true, to me, on the macro level of war and genocide. So often, yesterday’s victims are today’s perpetrators.
How rare is peace bought by violence!
How very apt, Monte, thank you. That saying says it all, a great encapsulation. It takes great moral courage and fortitude to confront and overcome trauma both as individuals and for groups of people.
I am encouraged by the experience of South Africans in their reconciliation commissions and the American Amish example of forgiveness.
In the latter, I was very impressed with how much more culturally and emotionally more mature the Amish culture seems; they really do put into practise a key teaching of Christ — and Gandhi’s. The wonderful thing about redemption rather than revenge is that it releases both parties.
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How can you compare the Warsaw Ghetto with Gaza? That is so far fetched and also a lack of respect for the 6.000.000 Jews that have been killed by the Nazis. You cannot even compare nether the numbers not the humanitarian situation in the Ghettos and in Gaza. In Gaza nobody is starving to death and nobody is going to Gas chambers. You should all be ashamed!
Shimshon, I am truly sorry that you can not see what your country’s regime has perpetrated, the unspeakable horrors of israel starving and incinerating Gazan civilians. I could go on at length, but my whole blog testifies to israel’s crimes. I wish for you that you open your eyes and keep your humanity in tact. – Ann
hitler would be proud to have the isreali army as his ss.To say that gaza is not to compared to the warsaw ghetto is holocaust denial.Isreal asks the world to remember the holocaust every but they have learnt nothing themselves.The isrealis have become animals themselves just like their nazi perscuetors.