The Holocaust

A model for the oppression of Palestinians

Jan 03, 2024

Six million Jews were killed in The Holocaust. It was so horrific that the world vowed ‘Never Again’, yet when I look at the persecution Jews faced in Nazi Germany it is hard not to notice the similarities to the oppression that Palestinians face today. I make this comparison as a plea, stop this before it goes any further, we have seen how it ends.

The Holocaust

The holocaust did not begin in Auschwitz or any other extermination camps that the Nazis established. The first ‘building block’ was to use existing Anti-Semitism to formulate the idea that Jews (and Slavs) were Untermenshen (‘subhuman’) [1]. This enabled the Nazi policy of expansionism known as “Lebensraum” (German for ‘living space’), in which the Hitler saw the “superior Aryan Race’ seizing the land of Eastern Europe[1].

The Holocaust Encyclopedia further outlines the persecution faced by Jews in Nazi controlled territories.

In 1939 the ‘stopgap’ measures described above were seen as inadequate, in 1941 Germans began implementation of the ‘final solution’ in which they would kill any Jews they came across[3]. In 1942, deeming bullets too ‘inefficient’ Nazi officials planned and implemented extermination camps[3]. These camps would kill millions more, stopping only after Nazi defeat and the liberation of the camps by allied powers.

Do unto others, that which was done unto you?

There are too many direct parallels between Hitler’s treatment of Jews and Zionist’s treatment of Palestinians to ignore. It may seem far fetched but the rabbis of the Bnei David pre-military academy lay it out plainly[4].

- “Yes, we’re racists. We believe in racism… There are races in the world and peoples have genetic traits, and that requires us to try to help them,” he said. “The Jews are a more successful race.”-- Rabbi Eliezer Kashtiel

- “Let’s just start with whether Hitler was right or not,” he told students. “He was the most correct person there ever was, and was correct in every word he said… he was just on the wrong side.” -- Rabbi Giora Redler

This is not some backwater, this is the ‘flagship pre-military academy’ [5]. Adding to the absurdity of these statements, is that Israel, including defense minister Yoav Gallant and the Shin Bet send Israeli extremists here for further training! The ‘punishment’ for an extremist leading anti-Palestinian pogroms was to send him to the West Point of Israel[5].

The Nazis had Lebensraum and the Israelis have Zionism. A founding call of Israel was ‘A land without a people for a people without a land’. This very call shows the immediate dehumanization of Palestinians who lived in Palestine for thousands of years before the Zionist project started.

Call for a Ceasefire Now!

Legal Discrimination Against Palestinians

Jewish Nation State Law

States that “the right to exercise national self-determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish people.” It also made Hebrew the only official language, and asserted that “Jewish settlement – without specifying where – is a ‘national value’ and promises to encourage and advance settlement efforts”[6]. This bill was passed in 2018, then, people now leading the Israeli government like Bezalel Smotrich complained that is wasn’t ‘strong enough’.

Right to return

“Every Jew has the right to come to this country” , not ‘EVERY Jew’ though, not now. In 2016 head of Israel’s conversion Authority stated that applicants cannot be “foreign works, infiltrators, Palestinian or illegally in the country”[7]

Family reunification law

A law was reenacted in March of 2022 that stated a Palestinian with Israeli citizenship cannot extend their citizenship to their spouse[8]. So a Jew who has never left the United States, can fly to israel and become a citizen, then marry a non-Jew from the US and grant them citizenship, a Palestinian who has lived in Palestine-now-israel for generations is denied the same right.

Public Identification, Exclusion and humiliation

In the occupied West Bank, there are roads that Palestinians cannot travel on, there are streets that Palestinians cannot open businesses, there are check points breaking up towns. An extreme example, Israeli forces set up a checkpoint outside of a man’s home preventing him from leaving or entering without checking in[9]. They will even weld doors shut to keep Palestinians from using the road[10]. The Palestinian IDS and license plates are easily identifiable apart from the Israel-issued IDs and license plates[11] making enforcement of these humiliating rules possible.

Organized violence

Pogroms were a key driving force in the birth of Zionism. The violence and the fact that the state stood by and did nothing or even supported the violence added to the isolation of Jews in Europe. Now pogroms are a weapon of Zionists.

The February 2023 pogrom in Huwara was so bad that the Israeli commander actually called it a Pogrom [11]. “CNN found that, not only did the forces fail to stop the riots in Huwara, they did not protect residents as settlers set fire to Palestinian homes and businesses and blocked emergency services from responding. Instead, when residents threw rocks in reaction to the settlers’ aggression, Israeli forces fired at the Palestinians with tear gas and stun grenades, according to analysis of the footage and eyewitness accounts.” [12]. Unfortunately, the most unique aspect of the Huwara pogrom was the Israeli commanders comment. In the first half of 2023 the UN reported 591 ‘settler related incidents’ that caused casualties or property damage to Palestinians[13].

Internment

Israel turned Gaza into an open air prison[14], in addition they blockaded Gaza to inflict extreme suffering on the population and further humiliate Palestinians living there[16a]. “Barring Palestinians in Gaza from moving freely within their homeland stunts lives and underscores the cruel reality of apartheid and persecution for millions of Palestinians.” – Omar Shakir HRW Israel & Palestine Director

It is not just Gazans that face internment, in the west bank, Movement and access are greatly restricted as mentioned above. Israel uses ‘administrative detention’ to hold thousands of Palestinians without charges[15] , those it does charge, even children, it forces through a military court, after torture and coercion the ‘court’ has a 99.74% success rate [16b].

Call for a Ceasefire Now!

Physical Displacement, Widespread Theft and plunder

The foundation of israel is theft and plunder. At the time of its founding, Zionists owned ~6% of the land that was Palestine[16c]. The UN resolution that ‘greenlit’ Israel awarded them 55% of the land[16d], this plan never was enacted, Zionists stole additional land capturing 78% of Palestine, despite having owned only 6%. Some 750,000 Palestinians were displaced during the Nakba [16e]. This was not enough for the Zionists. In 1967 they launched a pre-emptive strike and seized control of the rest of Palestine.

UN Proposition on division of Palestine vs Land ownership of Palestine

Palestine after Israel ethnically cleansed it during the Nakba(1948)

The theft and displacement continued. Now under the guise of ‘security’ and ‘settlements’. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu boasted about destroying the Oslo accords and detailed how he did it "Nobody said what defined military zones were. Defined military zones are security zones; as far as I'm concerned, the entire Jordan Valley is a defined military zone. Go argue."[17]. The methodology has been in practice for decades. Israel denies building permits for Palestinians, designates land vital to ‘military operations’ and then forces the Palestinians out and demolishes their homes and schools[18]. Palestinians now ‘control’ virtually nothing, they have limited “autonomy in the green areas but this amounts to little more than segregated ghettos.

Map of Zionist expansion & theft, “Judea” [19]

Theft is not limited to lands and homes. In recent raids Israeli forces stole millions for currency exchanges in the West Bank[19]. There is no recourse for the Palestinians. There is no justice for them. The governments power is solely there to be used against them.

Forced labor

The Apartheid system described above leaves little economic hope within the “Palestinian territory” as such workers are forced to seek employment with Israelis. Just the permit takes more than 30% of their wages. The workday was described by one worker as beginning “at 2 A.M. and ends when I get back home at 5 or 6 P.M”[20].

This exploitive system does not only target desperate adults, children too are working, often in agriculture in israeli settlements. HRW states they do so do to the “dire economic conditions… conditions for which Israel’s policies throughout the occupied West Bank including the Jordan Valley, which severely restrict Palestinians’ access to land, water, agricultural inputs like fertilizers, and their ability to transport goods, are largely responsible.”[21].

It should be noted that the very suffering, imprisonment and occupation of Palestine is a industry. The Israeli ~~defense~~ occupation industry exports hit a record $12.5 billion in 2022[22]. Israel may be the only nation with a ‘testing ground’ filled with humans to be blown apart by their ‘new technology’. Israel is able to ‘showcase’ their equipment with impunity against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza [23].

Final Solution

There are several organizations that have labeled Israel an Apartheid State[16f], I admittedly don’t know much history regarding Apartheid. In my search for comparison I came across a thesis paper that stated “ The fundamental differences between the Holocaust and apartheid became most apparent in their terminal stages. Whereas Nazism led to genocide, the leitmotif of apartheid was cheap labour, not planned extermination” [24]. I fear that with over 1% of Gaza’s population already dead and another 2% of the population injured we are on the brink of Zionist’s ‘final solution’ for Palestinians. Israeli leaders are openly calling for ethnic cleansing[25], they are openly calling for Genocide[16g]. The world must stand up and put an end to this before it gets even more out of hand. Individuals can contact their representatives [Ceasefiretoday] . Individuals & business leaders can divest from and boycott Israel. The steps that businesses took against Russia can be taken against Israel, the effect will be MUCH greater. Do not allow for the murder to be further industrialized. Do not let weaponized starvation[26] and disease do to Palestinians in Gaza what gas did to Jews in Nazi Germany.

Remember, Never Again.

Ceasefire Now

PCRF

Discussion about this post

Ready for more?