Israel’s Holocaust problem
I don’t usually like to post about Israeli internal affairs here unless they have an Arab angle, but two stories in the past few days drew my attention. One was that Israeli banks and Bank Leumi in particular are conspiring with the government not to return money that belongs to Holocaust survivors and their descendants. After the fuss made over the Nazi-era money in Swiss banks, this is absolutely incredible. It also raises the question of double standards when Israel uses the memory of the Holocaust to advance its own interests but then helps its own banks get away with the same type of craven mentality found at Swiss banks.
The other thing is that settlers against the Gaza pullout are now saying Sharon’s plan amounts to a new Holocaust. What the hell is wrong with these people?
I have only a basic understanding of the attitude of the founders of Israel and the Holocaust (largely through Tom Segev’s The Seventh Million, which I read a long time ago) but I wonder if the whole sekkes vs. sabras problem somehow lingers…
Categories: Israel/Palestine.
Keep in mind that the Holocaust has become a tactical nuclear weapon in Israeli political discourse, and that it’s invoked all the way across the political spectrum. The far left uses Holocaust imagery to protest the occupation; the far right uses it to protest the withdrawal; others use it to advocate positions on entirely domestic issues. (One of my beefs with Norman Finkelstein’s “Holocaust industry” theory is that he portrays the Holocaust narrative as something used in the service of Israeli policies, when in fact it is used in opposition at least as frequently.)
Given the dominance of the Holocaust narrative in recent Jewish history, I don’t find this very surprising. I’ve seen similar patterns among African-Americans who invoke the history of slavery and Palestinians who invoke the nakba. (For what it’s worth, though, the settlers’ latest display is provoking outrage among Israelis, especially Holocaust survivors. I think the settler movement is in the process of discrediting itself.)