Saturday, January 07, 2017

Judenraten? Kapos? Why are people using this language in relation to Israel/Palestine?

Legal Insurrection caught a particular revolting comment by a pro-BDS speaker during the MLA debate:
I am sick to death of hearing the divisive politics of those members of my ethnic group who would use that against those of us who speak out in favor of human rights. We know what you’re doing. It’s the same thing that people like you did back in the days of the Judenraten in World War II, where you spoke up for yourselves against your fellows. It’s the same thing as those of you did who in the 1950s made apologies for the McCarthyists.
So this guy on the extreme left thinks that Jews who oppose BDS are like members of the Judenraten (Nazi-appointed Jewish councils in ghettos who had to collaborate with the Nazis, up to and including finding Jews to be sent off to the death camps), while some people on the right condemn Jews who are opposed to the settlements as "self-hating Jews" or "kapos."

Why are people resorting to this extreme comparison when discussing a situation which HAS NO LIKENESS to that of Jews faced with extermination by the Nazis?

For the pro-BDS people: However miserably Israel has treated the Palestinians, Israel has not put any Palestinians into death camps, nor is Israel committing genocide against Palestinians.

For right-wing Zionists: supporting the establishment of a Palestinian state to exist alongside Israel is not the same thing as supporting the genocide of the Jewish people! I have many friends in Israel and certainly don't want them to die.

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