Holocaust memory abuse – it goes from bad to worse

Holocaust memory abuse – it goes from bad to worse

by anneinpt

As commenter cba pointed out in my previous post on abuse of the memory of the Holocaust, the maligning of the Jews, at least in the UK, goes from bad to worse.

The once-respectable Sunday Times published today (Sunday) a cartoon that would have made Julius Streicher proud. He would have published it on the front page of Der Stuermer and Josef Goebels would have awarded the cartoonist, Gerald Scarfe, some kind of prize for excellence in antisemitism.

Honest Reporting has the story (and the cartoon if you have the stomach for it):

Antisemitic cartoon in the Sunday Times by Gerald Scarfe in “honour” of Holocaust Memorial Day

A hideous looking PM Benjamin Netanyahu caricature builds a wall cemented with blood, crushing Palestinians including women and children.

Israel’s security barrier (of which the vast majority is a fence and not a wall) is meant to protect Israeli civilians against Palestinian terrorism. In any case, the imagery of this cartoon amounts to a blood libel on a day when the millions of victims of the Holocaust are remembered.

In response, The Commentator’s Raheem Kassam states:

In conversation with a friend of mine recently, I was asked, “Do you think in 200 years time, people will have forgotten the Holocaust, or believe that it was a myth?” I naively responded, “No. I believe there are enough good people in the world to ensure that doesn’t happen.” At the time, I would never have thought the editors of the Sunday Times were in amongst those who would seek, in true Der Sturmer fashion, to use Holocaust Memorial Day to publish a blood libel, and knowingly undermine the memory of one of the worst genocides ever.

It is gratifying to note the huge backfire this has caused the Sunday Times.

Richard Millet suggests in  “Another two fingers go up to British Jews” that this cartoon incites to violence against Jews:

But for some reason The Sunday Times, of all papers, couldn’t hold off publishing Gerald Scarfe’s vile slur of a blood libel with its depiction of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a callous murderer of innocents, including Palestinian children.

[...]

But I am also grateful that although I deeply feel Jewish I, however, feel no religious obligation to dress as a more religious Jew and, therefore, exposing myself to the horrors of what the Sunday Times cartoon might compel a person with a violent bent towards Israel and/or Jewish people to carry out. Another Toulouse comes to mind.

The Algemeiner reports that the ADL has slammed the Sunday Times for this disgusting cartoon:

“The Sunday Times has clearly lost its moral bearings publishing a cartoon with a blatantly anti-Semitic theme and motif which is a modern day evocation of the ancient ‘blood libel’ charge leveled at Jews,” Michael A. Salberg, ADL International Affairs Director told The Algemeiner. “There is nothing subtle about the caricatured image of Prime Minister Netanyahu using Palestinians and their blood to build a wall to ‘protect’ Israelis,” he added.

Salberg called for an immediate response from The Sunday Times saying, “The Sunday Times should be ashamed and should immediately apologize for its gross insensitivity.”

The ADL also made reference to the history of such gross portrayals of Jews and their role in fanning the hatred that led to their slaughter. “This is the stuff which historically justified hatred of Jews and led to the wholesale slaughter of Jews,” he said.

Adam Levick at CiFWatch berated the Sunday Times for publishing the cartoon and had some interesting suggestions for those who would abuse the memory of the Holocaust:

In light of the Sunday Times’ decision to publish a cartoon on Holocaust Memorial Day depicting a blood-lusting Jewish leader, as well as recent comments by British MP David Ward suggesting that, on Holocaust Memorial Day, Jews should learn to stop “inflicting atrocities on Palestinians”, as well as other routine debasements of Holocaust memory, here’s a simple, if counter-intuitive request to those who believe that the Holocaust means anything at all:Spare us your Holocaust pieties, your monuments, your memorials, museums and days of remembrance, and consider that, instead of honoring Jews murdered over 65 years ago, you may want to begin, instead, to honor Jews who are still among us.

[...]

You can not undo the horrors inflicted upon six million souls, but you can live your life with a steely determination to never again allow lethal, racist narratives about living Jews to go unchallenged, and to assiduously fight efforts to reintroduce such toxic calumnies into the “respectable” public discourse.

The only question remaining now is: Will the Sunday Times listen? Will they remove the vile cartoon from its website? And will they apologize to the Jewish people?

I’m not holding my breath.

http://anneinpt.wordpress.com/2013/01/28/holocaust-memory-abuse-it-goes-from-bad-to-worse/