Holocaust Remembrance Day -- April 11, 2010 <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/7_XS3Xra0Xs&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/7_XS3Xra0Xs&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object> Info: Reichsfuhrer SS Heinrich Himmler's (the 2nd most powerful man in Nazi Germany) speech to the SS officers responsible for carrying out the wholesale extermination of the European Jews. Delivered in Poznan, Poland on October 4, 1943.
The Life and Death of Heinrich Himmler <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/zwW9-trDMDk&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/zwW9-trDMDk&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object> Comment: Himmler shown in full bloom at the end after celebrating his life's accomplishments. (Video courtesy of my friend Nishima.) "He who does not punish evil commands it to be done." (Leonardo da Vinci)
"Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." George Santayana Now we have a President by the name of Hussein Barack Obama who is determined to be the American Neville Chamberlain of the 21st Century, and usher in WW III through his appeasement policies to Islamist dictatorships and tyrannies as did Neville Chamberlain to Nazi Germany which resulted in the outbreak of WW II, and its appalling suffering and loss of human life.
Jewish Extremism By Jimmy Bitton My wife, newborn daughter and I have had the unique occasion of participating in what has popularly become known by travel enthusiasts as a home exchange. As a result, we have been privileged to make the city of Haifa our temporary dwelling place for the duration of this summer. Haifa is celebrated by many as one of the few places in the region where one may find flourishing Arab-Jewish coexistence. As a Christian-Arab taxi driver put it to me on our way to the Wadi Nisnas neighborhood ("Riverbed of the Marten"), also home of the Arab Jewish Centre: "Haifa is the Alexandria of our time." It is here, from this vantage point, that I offer a commentary on the horrendous attack by a Jewish extremist against Arab-Israeli residents in the mixed Arab town of Shfaram, which has killed four people and wounded 12. In the immediate days following the attack, it was apparent from the standpoint of my wife and I that the attack had rekindled a discourse in the Israeli media about the dangers posed by Jewish extremism. Thankfully, aside from a few very minor incidents, it seemed as if Haifa was unscathed by the attack. Life went on and Jewish Arab interactions remained altogether peaceful. The city's social fabric came under assault, as did all of Israel, but proved to be resilient in the face of Jewish extremism as it did many times before when it was directly hit by Islamic extremists. This all begs the question: Who is a Jewish extremist? To begin with, all religious extremist ideologies are held by their devotees to be fundamentalist. This is to say that the religious extremist believes that he possesses an unadulterated, more accurate, and likewise âfundamentalistâ rendition of the holy texts. What differentiates a religious extremist from his coreligionists, who also affirm the same belief? This of course is a relative question. However, for most, an extremist is one who's viewpoint and deeds are situated on the outermost fringes of the mainstream. Qualifying who or what should be situated on the periphery depends, in large part, on the particular time and place in history where one finds him/herself. What may be considered extreme under modern social conditions may have been the accepted norm at some early point in time. Accordingly, most ideologies are transient and subject to the will of people. Although it may seem that those ideologies that are believed to be divinely inspired could not be subject to change, the reality is that in both Jewish and Muslim circles, the human component becomes the dominating force. The unparalleled number of attacks intended to kill Jews in Israel and this attack aimed at Arabs have one clear thing in common: they have been classified by people of good sense as terrorist attacks perpetrated by religious extremists. The ultimate goal of such terrorism is to safeguard their radical interpretations of their holy texts that have been somehow challenged by the national and/or religious activities of the other. And so the perceived challenge caused by Israeli-Arabs motivated Eden Natan Zada (also known as Eden Tzuberi) violence in the Shfaram. Eden, and other Jewish extremists, views all of Biblical Israel (I.e., âGreater Israelâ) as an eternal inheritance of the Jewish people and that all non-Jews should be banished. This view is extreme because it demonstrates a great departure from a Maimonidean teaching that permits monotheists, âSons of Noahâ to remain in the Land of Israel as âresident aliens." Certainly, the State of Israel and the majority of its Jewish citizens make no such distinctions in their relations with Israeli-Arabs. However, those of religious conviction that do depart from this principle have ultimately deviated from a classical Jewish posture that has existed as a dominant position since Maimonidesâ epic work, the Mishneh Torah. It should be noted that it is this same brand of Jewish extremism that incited Baruch Goldstein to enter a mosque on Purim in 1994, and machine gun to death dozens of Moslem worshippers. It is also the same movement that declared that anyone who surrenders parts of Israel must be labeled a traitor and dealt with accordingly. As such, this is the same ideology that produced Yitzchak Rabin's assassin, Yigal Amir. From the standpoint of the extremists, they do not exploit religion, as many have charged, rather, they offer a proper treatment of fundamental Jewish principles, a restoration of a lost ideal. For extremists on both sides of the conflict, any compromise to these uncompromising ideals would signify a capitulation and a failure to uphold what they believe to be divine legislation. Instead of bringing in an era of peace, such extremism only agitates, expands, and puts off any resolution for future generations. With the model of Haifa in mind, let us hope that in the face of future terror, level headed thinking will overcome. Jimmy Bitton is a teacher of Jewish history in Toronto and a graduate student at York University.
Yes, it was a terrible thing., but please! GET OVER IT! Terrible things have happened through out history to people of ALL religions. But it wasnt just the jews that suffered. Blacks, Gypsies and other minorities did too. You don't hear the voices of the other oppressed as much do you? And before all the zionists come down on me, please remember: - Jews invented the idea of the concentration camp - the Gualgs and the Jewish NKVD - Israel is behaving in the same NATURE towards the Palestinians. How can they expect world sympathy when they invented the principals, and still practise them today? It's funny how on minute the pro-zionists on this board are bigging them selves up with how macho they think they are, laughing as Mosad kills, or the Israelis kill another bunch of Palestinian women and children, yet expect the world to cry for them over the holocaust as if they are the down trodden weak folk of the world. Its not a consistent position is it? Sorry, dont have time for them. (and thats not being anti-semetic, its just being logical and compassionate)
Yes, Mossad killing a terrorist who planned and executed the murder of innocent women and children (because they're Jewish) is the same as the Nazis hanging children (because they're Jewish) or freezing Jewish twin 12 year old children to death to see if one lives longer than the other. Yep, seems about the same to me.
Well it's exactly this 'tit-for-tat' mentality that is the problem here. It's childish and is getting the world nowhere. If Israelis really think they are the better people, then it's about time they demonstrated this to the world and stopped the killing and land stealing. Actions speak louder than words. 'They killed my wife, so I'm going to kill their kids' And to put your OPINION into its proper perspective, the Palestinians are not killing jews because 'they're jews', but because these Israeli jews are taking their land, taking their houses, stoping water supplies, building ghettos,..... In other words, Palestinians are acting in SELF DEFENCE! Stop being the VICTIM. Outside USA, No one feels sorry for Israelis. No one.
Blowing up women and children in malls and pizza parlors is your idea of self-defense? Lobbing thousands of rockets into Israeli towns AFTER Israel completely withdrew from Gaza is your idea of self-defense? Starting several wars with the explicit goal of wiping Israel off the map is your idea of self-defense? Electing Hamas whose charter calls for extermination of all jews is your idea of self-defense? Rejecting every peace proposal since 1948 and till today, refusing to even restart the peace process (which is what is happening now) is your idea of self-defense? Actually they have indeed stopped being the VICTIM. Israel is an economic and military superpower and after 2000 years of persecutions, pogroms and holocausts no one is able to victimize the jews any more... which drives Israel's enemies and anti-semites of all stripes (like you) completely nuts.