In a July 6, 2006 article titled "From One Intifada to Another" in both the Arabic and English editions of the London Arabic-language daily Al-Hayat, columnist and former Al-Hayat editor Jihad Al-Khazen compares Israel to Nazi Germany and draws an analogy between the Palestinian terrorist attack on the Kerem Shalom crossing, in which IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit was taken hostage, and the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto uprising.
The following are excerpts from the article, which appears in the original English: [1]
"The Latest Israeli Offensive Reminds Me of What I Read About the Warsaw Ghetto"
"About six million Jews lost their lives in the Nazi Holocaust. [But while] the [number of] victims of the tit-for-tat killings between Israelis and Palestinians during the past decades may not reach the number of the victims of Auschwitz and Treblinka in a day, there are obvious similarities between what the Jews suffered under Nazism and what the descendants of the Holocaust victims are afflicting to the Palestinians.
"The latest Israeli offensive reminds me of what I read about the Warsaw Ghetto. This was a poor Jewish neighborhood in the Polish capital, which was targeted by the racist Nazis. After the German occupation of Poland in 1939, the Jews in the Ghetto suffered all forms of starvation, deportation and genocide. Some Jewish partisans revolted on April 19, 1943. They shot and threw grenades at German patrols. The Nazis responded by shelling houses block by block and rounding up or killing any Jew they could capture. Significant resistance ended on April 23, and the uprising ended on May 16.
"During the fighting, approximately 7000 Jewish partisans were killed, apart from 6000 others who were burned alive or gassed. Before these confrontations, the population of the Ghetto was estimated at about 380,000. By the end of the uprising, only 50,000 remained. They were sent to German death camps. Most of them went to Treblinka."
"The Whole Gaza Strip is a Nazi-Like Concentration Camp"
"This Jewish uprising was not much different than the Palestinian one. The Palestinian Resistance carried out a military operation against Israeli soldiers. A soldier is supposed to kill and be killed. The Israeli response was almost the same as the Nazis'. They attacked the whole Gaza Strip, striking bridges and a power plant. They destroyed the water supply as a means of collective punishment in the Nazi way. The whole Gaza Strip is a Nazi-like concentration camp, just as the Warsaw Ghetto was after the German occupation of Poland."
"The Government of Fuhrer Olmert Will Not Send the People of Gaza to Gas Camps Because Oil is Expensive"
"The numbers are different, but all the other details are similar. I think that the government of 'Führer' (leader) Olmert will not send the people of Gaza to gas camps because oil is expensive. Hitler was not worried about television, which now exposes the murders of Muhammad Al-Dura, Huda Ghalia, and the children and women of Gaza.
"I do not believe that the Israeli government will force the Palestinians to wear a badge to distinguish the Arabs or Muslims from the superior Jewish race. However, Olmert's government might decide to force the Palestinians to wear something like a yellow Star of David, with the word 'Jew' written in the middle. Hence, I suggest a crescent with a green background, and the word 'Arab' or 'Muslim' written in the middle. The Jews in Europe had to wear badges that distinguished them. Olmert's government might force the Palestinians to make their own badges. If so, Israel will hit two birds with one stone: achieve ethnic discrimination and find a solution for unemployment, the worst problem facing the Palestinians in the Strip.
"I know that the Jews reject any comparison between the Nazi Holocaust and any massacre or racial genocide, whether in Pol Pot's Cambodia, in Rwanda or any where else. I know that most of the Jews around the world have nothing to do with the practices of the Israeli army and settlers. Most of them are moderate liberals, but the similarities are undeniable."
"Are We Going to See the Day When Israeli War Criminals Stand in the Dock Like the Nazi Leaders at the Nurembeg Trials?"
"Are we going to see the day when Israeli war criminals stand in the dock, like the Nazi leaders at the Nuremberg trials? Before I answer the question, I would like to make a small digression into history.
"The U.S. Treasury Secretary at that time, Henry Morgenthau, proposed a plan to rid Germany of any Nazi-like manifestations (this is similar to what is happening in Iraq). The plan was named after Morgenthau, and it included deportation, forced labor, and economic sanctions. Both Churchill and Roosevelt approved the plan. They tried to put it into effect at the Second Quebec Conference in September 1944. But Stalin and U.S. public opinion opposed the plan. Eventually, President Truman, who succeeded Roosevelt in 1945, approved the plan of U.S. Secretary of War Henry Stimson. The Stimson plan became the basis for the trial of European war criminals.
"In Israel, the Minister of Finance, Abraham Hirchson, or the Minister of Interior, Roni Bar-On, or the Minister of Internal Security, Avi Dichter, may also come up with a plan similar to Morgenthau's. It would include deportation, forced labor and economic sanctions, especially since deportation and sanctions have already begun. What prevents the use of forced labor is the fear of the rise of terrorism.
"I do not believe that I will see a trial of Israeli war criminals like the Nuremberg trials. The victorious party is the one that decides who is a terrorist. Had Hitler won the war, all the leaders of the US, Britain, France and the USSR would have been prosecuted instead of the Germans, among whom were Martin Bormann, Hermann Göring, Alfred Jodl, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, and Joachim von Ribbentrop."
The Israelis' Crimes are Similar to the Nazis', No Matter How the Numbers May Differ
"As long as Israel has the final say and is backed by the U.S., the tail will continue to wag the dog. Ehud Olmert, Shaul Mofaz, and Dan Halutz will not be punished, as they deserve. Their crimes are similar to the Nazis', no matter how the numbers may differ.
"Is it reasonable that the descendents of the Holocaust victims, or its survivors, practice what their ancestors had suffered? There are psychological explanations for this that I do not claim to understand. So, I will not try to philosophize.
"I understand that my analogy will annoy many Jews. I will not deny that it is fully intended. Perhaps the criminals will regain their reason and realize what they are doing. What I have to say to the moderate Jewish majority that seeks peace, is that they need to impose their will in order not to be stained with the crimes of an extremist minority."
