During the Shoah, the Nazis maintained a ghetto called Theresienstadt. The camp was located in the fortress/garrison town of Terezin, which was built by Austrian Emperor Joseph II and named for his mother Maria Teresa. It was located near Prague in what is now the Czech Republic. The fortress had a very famous prisoner between 1914-1918 - Gavrilo Princip, whose assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo was the final trigger to the start of World War I.
The Gestapo took control of the fortress in June, 1940 and turned the Main Fortress into a ghetto (the smaller Fortress served as a prison). The ghetto was portrayed to the outside world as a model Jewish settlement, when in reality it was a concentration camp, as well as a transit camp for Jews en route to Auschwitz.
"Hitler, the world was to be told, had built a city for the Jews, to protect them from the vagaries and stresses of the war. A film was made to show this mythic, idyllic city to which his henchmen were taking the Jews from the Czech Lands and eight other countries. Notable musicians, writers, artists, and leaders were sent there for “safer” keeping than was to be afforded elsewhere in Hitler’s quest to stave off any uprisings or objections around the so-called civilized world. This ruse worked for a very long time, to the great detriment of the nearly two hundred thousand men, women and children who passed through its gates as a way station to the east and probable death."
So Terezin was set up to deceive the world into believing that the Nazi treatment of Jews was somehow humane.
"The Red Cross was allowed to visit Terezin once. The village of Terezin was spruced up for the occasion. Certain inmates were dressed up and told to stand at strategic places along the specially designated route through Terezin. Shop windows along that carefully guarded path were filled with goods for the day. One young mother remembers seeing the bakery window and shelves suddenly filled with baked goods the inmates had never seen during their time at Terezin. Even the candy shop window overflowed with bon bons creating a fantastic illusion she would never forget.
When the Red Cross representative appeared before this young mother, she remembers being asked how it was to live in Terezin during those days. Her reply implored the questioner to look around. Be sure and look around, as she herself rolled her own widely opened eyes around in an exaggerated manner. The Red Cross reported dryly that while war time conditions made all life difficult, life at Terezin was acceptable given all of the pressures. The Red Cross concluded that the Jews were being treated all right."
I hasten to point out that the one time the Red Cross was permitted to visit Terezin is one more time than it has been allowed to visit Gilad Shalit.
Let's turn to Gaza. Hamas has cynically allowed the vast part of Gaza to turn into a giant cesspool. This is deliberately done to deceive the world into thinking that Israel are somehow modern-day Nazis - a form of what is known as holocaust inversion.
But just as Terezin had a hidden side, so does Gaza. It has an upscale restaurant and hotel, its stores are full of sweets and treats, and it recently had an antique car show. Most recently, it opened a shopping mall.
But the same type of people who were utterly oblivious to the plight of the Jews during the Shoah eat up the the "bad side" of Gaza, wringing their hands in self-righteous indignation, organizing "freedom flotillas", and condemning Israel at every turn - all while completely ignoring the true nature of the Hamas regime - and completely ignoring any justice for Gilad Shalit.
Israel already supplies or permits enormous amounts of aid into Gaza despite the genocidal nature of the Hamas regime. Does anyone really believe that the situation in Gaza would not be 1,000% better if Hamas recognized Israel's right to exist and stopped its terrorist attacks against Israel (including, by the way, rocket attacks against the electrical plant in Ashkelon that supplies electricity to Gaza)?
Here are some links on both Terezin and Gaza - what do you think of my analysis?
4. Iran - always in the news:
- It’s a crime to be a woman in Iran - The Globe and Mail
- Iran's Sakineh Be Stoned Possibly Today: Despite Total Lack of Evidence :: Hudson New York
- Should Israel Bomb Iran?
- Bret Stephens: Why Hasn't Israel Bombed Iran (Yet)? - WSJ.com
- Pajamas Media » Will Israel Attack Iran? Don’t Hold Your Breath
- Commentary » Blog Archive » Leading Palestinian Activist: Iran Perpetuates Palestinian Suffering (I met Mr. Eid in Jerusalem in 2009 - he was, shall we say, an interesting man)
5. The Lockerbie Bomber - this worked out well, didn't it?
- Review & Outlook: BP, Lockerbie and Libya - WSJ.com
- Lockerbie Bomber's Lifespan Sparks Scandal - Politics & Gov't - Israel News - Israel National News
6. Mel, Mel, Mel - If memory serves, Australia was founded as a prison colony. Good place for Mel - somewhere deep in the Outback.....
- Commentary » Blog Archive » What Mel Gibson’s Anti-Semitism Should Have Told Us
- Mel Gibson's tirades are the distilled violence, cruelty, and bigotry of right-wing Catholic ideology. - By Christopher Hitchens - Slate Magazine
10. Depressing - Commentary » Blog Archive » Frank Luntz on Why American Jewish Students Won’t Defend Israel
11. Just A Nice Story - I guess that The Boss was not such a prick after all - Steinbrenner's final salute to an old friend - CNN.com
12. Seinfeld - if you are a regular visitor to this site, then you know that I am a Seinfeld aficionado. One of my favorite episodes was The Serenity Now (episode 3 of the 9th season). Here are some clips from the original episode, as well as a clever assembly of various Seinfeld scenes into an action-thriller movie trailer.
When you are saying is that there is a valid comparison between Theresiendstadt and Gaza, you are saying that both presentations are/were illusions: one of poverty in Gaza, and the other of peace and tranquility in Theresienstadt- the reality however is that both are/were contrived tools of propoganda useful for manipulating the public. A.S.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the manner in which I expressed my analysis could be more fine-tuned.
ReplyDeleteI think that we are trying to say the same thing in different ways.
I certainly do not view as valid any suggestion that Gaza is a throw-back to the concentration camps of the Shoah.
What I do think is valid is that there are certain comparisons that can be made between Gaza and Terezin, but certainly not in a way that the Israel haters and antisemites would approve of.
Regrettably dissenting Muslims like Khaled Abu Toameh are ignored by his own people and also by the leftist media because he is does not represent the mainstream palestinian. Worse yet he works for the Jerusalem Post so he is looked at as a "sellout", a traitor who has lost touch. The leftists rationalize that because he doesn't fit in with their theories about the Jewish warlords and occupiers, he must be wrong. He along with Ali Hirsi, Brigitte Gabriel, and others are shamefully delegitimized and minimzed. The sad truth is that Westerners do not want to be bothered because they would have to change the way they define Trudeau's vision of Multiculturalism. To them being critical of the Muslim way of life is akin to Obama's definition of western arrogance and interference not recognizing that Western complacency" is what the Islamists are counting on . Coming to a neighbourhood or UUMAH near you" --- "Sharia" A.S.
ReplyDeleteYou are saying that we are saying the same thing but then add that there are comparisons between Gaza and Terezin. This is where you lose me. Let us keep the Israel haters and the antisemites out of this discussion for the moment---and let us stick to what you say are the similarities. What, for brevity's sake, are these? Sorry, I don't see them. .A.S.
ReplyDeleteTerezin was a place used by the Nazis to create an illusion of "good"
ReplyDeleteGaza is a place used by Hamas to create an illusion of "bad"
To me, they are similar in the sense that they were each used (in different ways) by their creators for the ulterior motive of deceiving the world as to the true state of affairs.
The Zionist Imam has been around for a long time. He follows a branch of Islam that the majority of Muslims do not. Palazzi uses logic and reason but reason has nothing to do with the Ashdod branch of Islam. These teachings espouse that Allah controls all making no man in charge of his actions, therefore; a Muslim warrior who decapitates someone, does not kill, the person dies because Allah has willed it. Sheik Palazzi is therefore an interesting oddity but in fact he has very little influence on the majority. A.S.
ReplyDelete