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Table of contents
1. A World Without Jews................................................................................................................................... 1

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Document 1 of 1

A World Without Jews

Author: May, Clifford D
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Abstract: Hamas, I pointed out, receives funding and instruction from Iran's Islamist rulers, who have called
Israel "a black and dirty microbe," a "stinking corpse," a "dead rat" that must be "destroyed," "wiped out,"
"eliminated." [...] images have been rare in mainstream American media.
Links: Check for full text at GW
Full text: Headnote
The Nazi goal was a Europe without Jews. The militant Islamist goal is a Middle East without Jews. Is it really
so far-fetched to perceive similarities?
The Holocaust was not a childhood disease. Having experienced it gives the Jewish people no immunity. And it
requires extraordinary optimism to believe that the worst crimes against humanity are behind us, rather than still
to come.
Many people dismiss comparisons between Nazis and militant Islamists. The Nazi goal was a Europe without
Jews. The militant Islamist goal is a Middle East without Jews. Is it really so far-fetched to perceive similarities?
True, the Nazi project largely achieved its goals whereas the Islamist project looks forward to accomplishing its
mission over the decades ahead. But does that justify complacency?
I made this point recently to the commentator Pat Buchanan, generally viewed as no friend to Israel. I cited the
Hamas charter that calls for Israel to be "obliterated." Hamas, I pointed out, receives funding and instruction
from Iran's Islamist rulers, who have called Israel "a black and dirty microbe," a "stinking corpse," a "dead rat"
that must be "destroyed," "wiped out," "eliminated." Despite this, Buchanan replied that Hamas probably would
be satisfied if the "Jewish state" were replaced by a state with an alternative concept of national identity.
Even if you buy that - I do not - it is absurd to suppose that Jews would be able to remain in such a reconceptualized country. A largely ignored fact of recent history is that about a million Jews have been driven out
of almost all Arab and Muslim majority lands (e.g., Iraq, Egypt, Libya, Yemen; an oppressed and shrinking
remnant remains in Iran) where they had made their homes for centuries, in many cases since before the
advent of Islam. It has not mattered whether these Jews were Zionists, anti-Zionists or ambivalent about Israel.
They were Jews. That was enough.
It also seems unlikely that Israelis would be able to pack their bags and board planes bound for other places
where they'd be welcomed. An orderly exodus is not what groups such as Hamas have in mind. Hamas-owned
Al-Aqsa TV has promised: "We will wipe out the people of Zion and will not leave a single one of them." Hamas
spokesmen Sheikh Ahmad Bahr has pledged that not just Israel, but also America "will be annihilated" and
urged, "Kill them all, down to the very last one." Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has said because so
many Jews have gathered in Israel, "It will save us the trouble of going after them world-wide."
In global capitals, such genocidal threats stir little concern. "It is a mark of disgrace for humanity," Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently told the Knesset, "that several decades after the Holocaust the world's
response to the calls by Iran's leader to destroy the State of Israel is weak, there is no firm condemnation and
decisive measures."
To the contrary, anti-Semitism is resurgent. In Europe, the number of antiSemitic incidents in the first three
months of this year exceeded the total number for all of 2008, according to the European Jewish Congress.
Synagogues and Jewish cemeteries are being vandalized, Jews are being attacked and anti-Jewish rhetoric is
spreading and intensifying.

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Recently, Pat Oliphant, America's most widely syndicated political cartoonist, distributed a drawing showing
Israel as a monster preying on mothers and children whom he labeled "Gaza." His imagery would not have
been out of place on the pages of Der Strmer, the Nazi newspaper of the 1930s that editorialized in favor of
Europe's "liberation" from Jews through "expulsion or extermination." Until now, such images have been rare in
mainstream American media.
Wth this as backdrop, it should be clear that Iran's progress toward the acquisition of nuclear weapons creates
an urgent challenge. There are those who argue that deterrence - the prospect of what we used to call, during
the cold war, "mutually assured destruction" or MAD - could be sufficient to prevent Iran from deploying any
nuclear capability it acquires.
But the Soviets were atheists who had no hope for a reward in the afterlife. Islamists, by contrast, believe that
the doors of paradise open to those killed while pursuing jihad. Indeed, Bernard Lewis, the dean of Islamic
studies, has said that to someone with the religious views of Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, mutually assured
destruction is "not a deterrent; it's an inducement."
Even if Iran's mullahs decide not to initiate Armageddon, a nuclear-armed Iran could use its power to shield
Hamas, Hezbollah and other terrorist groups. A war of attrition could be waged against Israelis how many
generations will want to live with such a sword hanging above their heads?
For the moment, President Barack Obama is hoping that diplomatic engagement can cause Iran to change
course. If that approach proves fruidess, tougher sanctions particularly those aimed at Iran's vital and
vulnerable energy sector - would be a way to ratchet up the pressure peacefully. But if that route, too, leads to a
dead end, Israel's leaders may decide to use military force to prevent Iran's nuclear armament, as they did
against Saddam Hussein's Osiraq nuclear facility in 1981 and against Syria's nuclear facility (built with Iranian
assistance) more recendy.
"You don't want a messianic apocalyptic cult controlling atomic bombs," Netanyahu recently told The Atlantic.
"When the wide-eyed believer gets hold of the reins of power and the weapons of mass death, then the entire
world should start worrying, and that is what is happening in Iran."
Millions of words have been written about the Holocaust but its most fundamental lesson is simple: When
someone says he is going to kill you, take him seriously.
AuthorAffiliation
Clifford D. May, a former New York Times foreign correspondent, is president of the Foundation for Defense of
Democracies, a policy institute focusing on terrorism.
Subject: Holocaust;
Location: Israel
Ethnicity: Jewish
Publication title: Moment
Volume: 34
Issue: 3
Pages: 20
Number of pages: 1
Publication year: 2009
Publication date: May/Jun 2009
Year: 2009

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Section: OPINION
Publisher: Jewish Educational Ventures
Place of publication: Washington
Country of publication: United States
Publication subject: Jewish, Religions And Theology--Judaic, Literary And Political Reviews, Ethnic Interests
ISSN: 00990280
Source type: Magazines
Language of publication: English
Document type: Commentary
ProQuest document ID: 227956611
Document URL:
http://proxygw.wrlc.org/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/227956611?accountid=11243
Copyright: Copyright Jewish Educational Ventures May/Jun 2009
Last updated: 2010-06-10
Database: Ethnic NewsWatch

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