Israel: Iran is like 'Nazi Germany'

[bemildred]

Sigh.

Israel's deputy prime minister has compared Iran to Nazi Germany, in response to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's criticism of the Jewish state at a United Nations conference.

Silvan Shalom's comments on Tuesday come after Ahmadinejad called Israel a "racist" state during a United Nations conference in Switzerland.

"What Iran is trying to do right now is not far away at all from what Hitler did to the Jewish people just 65 years ago," Shalom said at the site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi death camp, hours before a Holocaust memorial ceremony.

Iran "is trying to do everything they can in order to wipe Israel off the map and at the same time to undermine the moderate Arab Muslim regimes in the Middle East."

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2009/04/2009421101150492266.html

[bunnies]

1. Yep. Theyre exactly the same.

Except the whole war, death camps & mass killings part. :eyes:

[cali]

2. stupid just abounds. n/t

[Democracyinkind]

3. Oh.. I see.. In that case we gotta...

goddamit are they shameless!

I love the "wiping off the map" part. What a canard. Gotta love Rita Katz and her MEMRI bullshit.

[ProgressiveMuslim]

4. I thought Nazi comparisons were prohibited on this site.

Is that not the case?

[Donald Ian Rankin]

6. Most prohibitions don't apply to reported speech.

Otherwise, it would be very difficult to discuss anything - "Cheney said something today, but we're not allowed to say what it was because it was an opinion that would get him banned from DU if he posted it here"...

[ProgressiveMuslim]

8. I think it means exactly that.

I know that OPs that employ Nazi comparisons to Isarel are forbidden.

I certainly hope that standard is applied across the board.

[LeftishBrit]

11. I don't think it applies to news items

A report that said that a country's leader had compared Israel to the Nazis would, I think, be OK.

I don't think most people on the forum would read this report and say, "Oh yes, this proves that Iran is exactly like Nazi Germany". They would be more likely to say, "A RW politician from Israel is shooting his mouth off". Same as if it were an Iranian politician 'Godwinizing' about Israel.

[bemildred]

12. I have to agree with Mr Rankin.

What gets deleted generally is hate sites and egregious speech by posters. The first is so as not to advertise them, and the second to maintain a very modest level of civility. It is very much a subjective process, not "fair", yet better than no process.

My observation is that one can find hidden and overt Nazi comparisons here all the time. It is one of the things that most prompts me to ridicule. On the other hand since so much effort is put into ensuring that nobody forgets WWII and the Nazis and all that, it is some defense of people who fall into that trap that they may just be naively copying their so-called betters.

I for one would regret it if we were not able to read such people as Nuttyahoo, Lieberman, Ahmadinejad etc. in their own words. Today we have the spectacle of Mr Cheney publicly defending the use of torture, conducting a media onslaught to make it acceptable.

[ProgressiveMuslim]

14. You could post that speech here, and then there could discussion as to whether

Iran has indeed become like Nazi Germany. I'm sure there are some here who believe that to be true.

If a political figure said Israel has become like Nazi Germany, and that were reported here, discussion of whether that had any semblance of truth would never be allowed.

That's where I see a disparity.

Since no one has tried to defend Bibi's nonsense, it's a non-issue.

[bemildred]

16. I'm not disagreeing with you.

I rather agree, in the sense that I would allow things that they do not, forbid things that they allow. Every once in a while I get reminded about that difference. There are certainly things overlooked in the area of "incivility" and name-calling that I would take a dim view of. But then I never alert, and I largely think people categorize themselves if you let them talk freely. I'm definitely of the "let them talk" school, as long as it doesn't become a Denial of Service attack on everybody else.

I'm just pointing out that there are reasons for it. The site is not unbiased and does not claim to be. I've been here since 2002 and watched it evolve, and I like the fact that you can have a civil argument with people that you emphatically disagree with here. There have been disgruntled spin-off sites on both sides of the issue, but none of them allow the level of (sometimes anyway) coherent dispute with people you flatly disagree with that goes on here, and I suspect that that is why this site still gets more traffic.

So while I agree, I don't really see how to fix it. Certainly not in a way that you will get any consensus on. And I don't know of any place better if you want to be allowed to post and argue all sides of the issue.

So anyway ( Edit: ) I've learned to live with it the way it is ...

[ProgressiveMuslim]

18. I agree with you.

I think sometimes the rules stifle honest discussion.

[Bragi]

7. It's okay when Israeli pols are trying to stifle debate /nt

[cali]

9. then alert.

not that I think it will get you anywhere. This is a statement by a prominent politician. And not that I mean to speak for bemildred, but I highly doubt he posted this because he agrees in any shape or form with the sentiment.

We need to discuss what some of these idiots say. You seem to hunger after selective censorship. Puzzling.

[ProgressiveMuslim]

13. I only wish to see the standard applied uniformly. nt

[Howardx]

15. surely you know by now that wont happen here

palestinians dont have any donations they can threaten to withhold if they dont get their way.

[cali]

17. yes, yes. DU is in thrall to the Jewish lobby

do you have a clue as to how moronic you sound? No, of course you don't.

[peacetalksforall]

5. Who is thrying to wipe whom off the map? NO ONE's BOMBS ARE SMART.

Stupid peoole there. Stupid people here.

Israel is panting to wipe out nuclear sites in Iran.
Is Iran panting to wipe nuclear sites in Israel?
Or does Iran have to bomb Turkey or the U.S. to get at Israel's nuclear sites in return?

Stupid. Utterly stupid. Here and there.

Torture. Bombs. Imperialism. Theft of other peoples earth resources. How do all these sick people get in power? Because they create and build their own infrastructure to pretend like the people want it.

WE DON"T WANT IT. CAN YOU HEAR US, ISRAEL? CAN YOU HEAR US. IRAN? CAN YOU HEAR US. US-UK=ISRAEL - PENTAGON - RABBI REVEREND - CORPORATE - THINK TANK CONORTIUMN? SHUT UP!!!!! GET SMART, STOP THE STUPID.

[LeftishBrit]

10. I think Netanyahu has done the same.

The amount of 'Godwinizing' that goes on on all sides of this issue is amazing.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

19. Politicising the Holocaust is extremely regrettable.

Everyone has, quite rightly, condemned the attempts by Ahmadinejad to do that, but they tend to overlook Israel doing the same thing.

By using comparisons to Nazi Germany as a club against their enemies, Israeli politicians inevitably make the Holocaust a political subject. And that is an extremely unwise and regretable road to go down.