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“The problem from hell.” – Samantha Powers’ characterization of genocide in the 20th century.
Israel-Nazi Comparison:
Robin Shepherd, in 2009, wrote:
“Attempts in Europe to portray Israel as the modern incarnation of Nazi Germany were once the preserve of the extremists. Islamists, fascists and communists — each acting for reasons of their own — have employed the technique to portray the Jewish state as the epitome of political evil with which no compromise can be made.”
The cartoon above, from Arab News (April 10, 2002), shows Ariel Sharon wielding a swastika-shaped axe to chop up Palestinian children. Arab News is a Saudi-based English language daily which is supposedly one of the Arab world’s more moderate papers.
“It is a sign of the times”however, that the Nazification of Israel as a technique of denigration has begun to invade the mainstream.”
In 2008, this cartoon appeared in the student newspaper of Emory University (near Atlanta) which directly compared the Nazi ghettos with the separation fence the Israelis have erected on the West Bank
The debate in Israel over European government grants to NGOs (in Israel and the Palestinian territories) who supposedly engage in “humanitarian” work often centers around the failure to adequately monitor such groups to see if they’re abiding by the terms of their funding agreements.
However, more than simply a question of accountability over the particulars of specific grants, often times such governments fund NGOs who are openly committed to aims that not only aren’t peaceful, but often promote outright demonization and openly question Israel’s very right to exist – goals with run counter to at least the stated aims of the European governments in questions, as well as the EU.
(Other bodies who fund such NGO’s are large and well-funded foundations, such as New Israel fund (NIF). Indeed, NIF has its own accountability issues – and still continues to fund NGOs who openly promote BDS, engage in delegitimization, and question Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state within any borders. Such problems have been thoroughly documented. See here and here.)
The BADIL Resource Center has been funded in part by the governments of Denmark, Switzerland, Holland, and Sweden – as well as Oxfam.
It’s stated aims are:
BADIL Center is an independent, community-based non-profit organization mandated to defend and promote the rights of Palestinian refugees and IDPs.Our vision, missions, programs and relationships are defined by our Palestinian identity and the principles of international law, in particular international human rights law. We seek to advance the individual and collective rights of the Palestinian people on this basis
However, more than merely “advancing the rights of Palestinians”, BADIL, according to research by NGO-Monitor:
- Referred to “Israel’s colonial apartheid regime,” “state-sponsored racism,” and “systematic ethnic cleansing.”
- Openly “supports the development of a popular refugee lobby for the “right of return.”
- Is involved in “lawfare” attempts to prosecute and sue Israeli military officials in international and European courts.
- Uses the language of demonization to advance the “right of return” claim that also seeks to end Israel’s status as a Jewish state.
Indeed, if there was any doubt that BADIL – who has consultative status at the United Nations – engages in extreme demonization (some of which clearly crosses the line into outright anti-Semitism), the group recently posted this cartoon on their website:
Something to consider the next time the Guardian, or an Israeli NGO, speaks of the “impediments to peace”.
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CiF contributor Ali Abunimah’s crusade against the existence of Israel (a love story)
October 26, 2010 in Uncategorized | Tags: Adam Shapiro, Ali Abunimah, Antisemitism, Carlos Latuff, Comment is Free, Electronic Intifada, European Union, Sara Roy | by Adam Levick | 20 comments
Banner quoting Abunimah at anti-Israel and 9/11 Truther rally in San Francisco in 2010
(Link to above photo)
Ali Abunimah’s hatred for Israel is legion. Abunimah is the co-founder of the anti-Israel propaganda site, Electronic Intifada (EI) – a site which doesn’t simply criticize Israel for its policies. Rather, it is a propaganda offensive aimed at portraying Israel as a monstrous state. Abunimah strongly supports the dissolution, and radical reconstitution, of Israel into the 51st majority Muslim state – a position, let’s remember, which squarely falls within the European Union working definition of ant-Semitism. He also has flirted with, and seemingly justified, comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany – also anti-Semitic within the EU definition.
Heres’s the text from the EU document:
“Examples of the ways in which antisemitism manifests itself with regard to the state of Israel taking into account the overall context could include”:
He’s also a contributor – along with Noam Chomsky, Philip Weiss, Glenn Greenwald, Sara Roy, Omar Barghouti, Kevin Ovenden, Ilan Pappé, Ken O’Keefe, and Adam Shapiro – to the pro-IHH book about the flotilla incident, called “Midnight on the Mavi Marmara”. An excerpt from the book, notes:
Here are some of Abunimah’s greatest hits:
Abunimah writing for Electronic Intifada
Israel-Nazi Comparison
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