Killing the sacred cow
Holocaust conference begins in Iran - Yahoo! News
You'd expect something like that to be stated at this Holocaust convention in Iran. And such a typical thing to come from the mouth of that radical nutjob calling himself Rabbi Ahron Cohen.
Wait, what?? A Rabbi said that?
Yep. And I think I can understand why.
Anyone with even the slightest grasp of mid 20th century history will recall that Hitler's Big Thing (tm) was to create a National Socialist empire ruled by the Aryan race. Essentially, a Nazi earth governed by blue-eyed, blond dudes...or, at least, people with that heritage (considering Hitler himself had brown hair, etc).
So...a nation based off of being Aryan. How much different, at the most basic level, is that from a nation based off of being Semitic--specifically Jewish?
But that's what Israel is. After World War II, the Powers That Be felt that these distinct people without a nation needed to have SOME place to call home. So they took a chunk of British Palestine and made it Israel in 1948. They didn't carve an arbitrary chunk of land out of somewhere for just anybody. This was for the Jews who had managed to survive the Holocaust.
Pay no attention to whether or not this was merited. The fact still remains the same. It is a nation established based off of racial identity. Most nations are like that by default...that is, it's hard to NOT be a (generally) Black nation if you're in Africa; just like it's hard to NOT be a (generally) White nation if you're in Scandinavia, or (generally) Oriental if you're in East Asia. It's all about the geography. The same could be said for Israel, EXCEPT that it was expressly MADE for the purpose of these nationless people, who were INVITED to come there from all over the world (especially Eurasia). It is a nation of immigrants...specifically of one race. They weren't (generally) already there...they were scattered across the globe.
This reasoning may be a large part of why the Arab populace in the region hate Israel and, by proxy, the United States so much. It does, at the most basic level, seem hypocritical.
Now, something else to consider about the founding of Israel is that a lot of nations at the time (1940s) didn't want the Jewish people in their country. A little known "fact" (note the quotes) says that Hitler initially just wanted to get the Jewish people OUT of Germany (good luck with that as you're gobbling up countries like a fat man at a KFC). Jews also suffered at the hand of people like Stalin, as well. So what do you do for a specific group of people who are persecuted throughout Europe?
Unlike the "Aryan" people, Jews WERE persecuted. "Aryan" people were not. There is that one fundamental difference between establishing an Aryan state and a Jewish state. IMHO, at the time it was the best solution to be made. It, unfortunately, displaced a lot of Palestinian Arabs; and the effect still lasts to this day.
People will argue that Jewish people are entitled to Israel because they are God's chosen people. I won't argue that. I'm pointing out how it would LOOK to an outside observer...and how it probably looks to the Palestinians and other Arabs in the area. The only way to resolve an argument--especially one that has lasted almost 60 years now--is to understand the other person's point of view, which is what I'm trying to do here.
But he added that Zionists have used the Holocaust to "give legitimacy to their illegitimate project," the creation of Israel.
You'd expect something like that to be stated at this Holocaust convention in Iran. And such a typical thing to come from the mouth of that radical nutjob calling himself Rabbi Ahron Cohen.
Wait, what?? A Rabbi said that?
Yep. And I think I can understand why.
Anyone with even the slightest grasp of mid 20th century history will recall that Hitler's Big Thing (tm) was to create a National Socialist empire ruled by the Aryan race. Essentially, a Nazi earth governed by blue-eyed, blond dudes...or, at least, people with that heritage (considering Hitler himself had brown hair, etc).
So...a nation based off of being Aryan. How much different, at the most basic level, is that from a nation based off of being Semitic--specifically Jewish?
But that's what Israel is. After World War II, the Powers That Be felt that these distinct people without a nation needed to have SOME place to call home. So they took a chunk of British Palestine and made it Israel in 1948. They didn't carve an arbitrary chunk of land out of somewhere for just anybody. This was for the Jews who had managed to survive the Holocaust.
Pay no attention to whether or not this was merited. The fact still remains the same. It is a nation established based off of racial identity. Most nations are like that by default...that is, it's hard to NOT be a (generally) Black nation if you're in Africa; just like it's hard to NOT be a (generally) White nation if you're in Scandinavia, or (generally) Oriental if you're in East Asia. It's all about the geography. The same could be said for Israel, EXCEPT that it was expressly MADE for the purpose of these nationless people, who were INVITED to come there from all over the world (especially Eurasia). It is a nation of immigrants...specifically of one race. They weren't (generally) already there...they were scattered across the globe.
This reasoning may be a large part of why the Arab populace in the region hate Israel and, by proxy, the United States so much. It does, at the most basic level, seem hypocritical.
Now, something else to consider about the founding of Israel is that a lot of nations at the time (1940s) didn't want the Jewish people in their country. A little known "fact" (note the quotes) says that Hitler initially just wanted to get the Jewish people OUT of Germany (good luck with that as you're gobbling up countries like a fat man at a KFC). Jews also suffered at the hand of people like Stalin, as well. So what do you do for a specific group of people who are persecuted throughout Europe?
Unlike the "Aryan" people, Jews WERE persecuted. "Aryan" people were not. There is that one fundamental difference between establishing an Aryan state and a Jewish state. IMHO, at the time it was the best solution to be made. It, unfortunately, displaced a lot of Palestinian Arabs; and the effect still lasts to this day.
People will argue that Jewish people are entitled to Israel because they are God's chosen people. I won't argue that. I'm pointing out how it would LOOK to an outside observer...and how it probably looks to the Palestinians and other Arabs in the area. The only way to resolve an argument--especially one that has lasted almost 60 years now--is to understand the other person's point of view, which is what I'm trying to do here.
posted by xanadian at 9:53 AM
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