Despite The Zionists Best Efforts, Holocaust Education Has Backfired on
Them - Jewish Children Are Drawing the Lessons that Never Again Applies to
Everyone!
Tony Greenstein on Hidden Link between Zionism and Antisemitism - Palestine Chronicle Podcast
I
was invited by the Palestine Chronicle to
do a podcast on my book Zionism During
the Holocaust and to talk about the relationship between Zionism and
Anti-Semitism, both today and historically.
Zionism
in its origins was a reaction to anti-Semitism and in particular the 1881
pogroms in Odessa that occurred because of the assassination of Czar Alexander
II.
Echoes of the Holocaust - Holocaust Survivors
Speak of their Anguish at Israel's Nazi-like Genocide
Zionism
however was a reaction with a difference. Unlike most Jewish political currents
it ‘understood’ anti-Semitism as the understandable reaction of non-Jews to the
Jewish stranger in their midst. Zionism began with the belief that
anti-Semitism could not be fought as it was inherent in the non-Jew. This was summed
up by Leon Pinsker, the founder of the Lovers
of Zion group in 1882 that
‘Judeophobia
is then a mental disease, and as a mental disease it is hereditary, and having
been inherited for 2,000 years, it is incurable
Budapest Deak Square Sculpture to the memory of Pastor Sztehlo Gábor (1909-1974) of the Lutheran Church who saved around 2000 Jewish children and adults during the rule of the fascist Arrow Cross Party
Pinsker
was a doctor so he saw anti-Semitism as a phobia. If it was incurable why fight
it?At best you should need a
palliative. The Zionist solution to anti-Semitism was a state of their own. It
soon realised that the anti-Semites would be only too willing to help them. Their
best friends became the very anti-Semites who had been staging the pogroms.
Both
the Zionists and the anti-Semites agreed that Jews did not belong where they
lived and both agreed that Jews should emigrate and form their own state. As
the founder of Political Zionism Theodor Herzl noted
in his Diaries in 1895:
The
anti-Semites will be our most dependable friends, the anti-Semitic countries our
allies.
And
he was correct. There is no greater friend of Israel than Victor Orban, Hungary’s
Prime Minister. Orban described
the wartime ruler of Hungary, Admiral Horthy, as an ‘exceptional statesman’, despite having presided over the
deportation of nearly half a million Jews to Auschwitz.Orban waged an openly anti-Semitic election
campaign in 2017 using George Soros, the Jewish billionaire as his
scapegoat. Yet there is no European leader who is closer
to Netanyahu and more supportive of the genocide in Gaza than Orban.
Budapest Deak Square Sculpture to the memory of Pastor Sztehlo Gábor (1909-1974) of the Lutheran Church who saved around 2000 Jewish children and adults during the rule of the fascist Arrow Cross Party
Throughout
the two years of genocide the
most ardent supporters of Zionism and the genocide have been the
Islamaphobic right. People like Tommy Robinson and Geert Wilders. They may not
like Jews but they love Israel. Donald Trump personifies this with his talk
of American Jews not being loyal enough to Israel which is ‘their country’.
What
is interesting is what my interviewer, Robert Inlakesh, brought up, about the
dilemma expressed by Sarah Hurwitz, the former Obama speechwriter, member of
the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Council and dedicated Zionist
activist.
Former Obama speechwriter faces backlash for
pro-Israel comments | MEE Explains
Hurwitz’s
speech on November 16, 2025, at the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of
North America in Washington set off a firestorm
because she said out aloud what has been troubling Zionists privately, namely
the contrast between holocaust education that teaches that the extermination of
Europe’s Jews is wrong and the Holocaust in Gaza which Zionists believe is
right.
Of
course this wouldn’t be a problem if holocaust education was about how all
racism, ethnic cleansing and genocide is wrong. The problem is that Holocaust education
tries to combine two messages – exterminating people is bad but supporting Israel
is good.Except that Israel is also
exterminating Palestinians, hence the dilemma.
Israel
is seen as compensation for the holocaust. How to square this with the
holocaust in Gaza perpetrated by that very same state? This is the ‘problem’
that Hurwitz tackled, admitting that her hasbara attempts to bridge the gap are
making her seem ‘obscene’ to Jewish kids.
Budapest Deak Square Sculpture to the memory of Pastor Sztehlo Gábor (1909-1974) of the Lutheran Church who saved around 2000 Jewish children and adults during the rule of the fascist Arrow Cross Party
In
her short rant she accepted that coming to young people with her data, facts
and arguments when all they could see on their phones was carnage made her look
obscene. Her solution was to confiscate the phones of young people!
This
is exemplified by the fact that not one Holocaust Remembrance institution has
condemned the Holocaust in Gaza. Indeed the Los Angeles Holocaust Museum
actually apologised
for suggesting that ‘Never Again’ applied to everyone, with the implication
that Palestinians might be included.
The
LA Holocaust Museum’s anodyne statement merely said “Never Again’ Can't Only Mean Never Again
For Jews.” This produced an avalanche of protest from racist Zionists
who believed that ‘Never Again’ only meant
Jews.
“We recently posted an item on social media that was
part of a pre-planned campaign intended to promote inclusivity and community
that was easily open to misinterpretation by some to be a political statement
reflecting the ongoing situation in the Middle East. That was not our intent,”
Hurwitz
achieved her moment of fame when she articulated
the problems that Zionists like herself face.How to portray Israelis in a good light when the lesson that most young
people draw from holocaust education is equating strong Nazis persecuting emaciated
Jews with strong Israelis persecuting skinny Palestinians.
The family of Stephen Kapos, a holocaust survivor active in Palestine Solidarity politics, as they entered the Columbus Street camp
Sarah
Hurwitz Explaining Why She Sounds Obscene
"So you
have TikTok just smashing our young
people's brains all day long with video of carnage in Gaza. And this is why so many of
us can't have a sane conversation with younger Jews because anything that we
try to say to them, they are hearing it through this wall of carnage. So I want
to give data and information and facts and arguments and they are just seeing
in their minds carnage and I sound obscene... Holocaust education is absolutely essential. But I think it may be confusing some of our
young people about antisemitism, because they learn about big, strong Nazis
hurting weak, emaciated Jews, and they think, 'Oh, antisemitism is like anti-black racism, right? Powerful white
people against powerless black people.' So when on TikTok, all day long, they
see powerful Israelis hurting weak, skinny Palestinians, it's not surprising
that they think, 'Oh, I know the lesson of the Holocaust is you fight Israel.
You fight the big, powerful people hurting the weak people."
The family of Stephen Kapos, a holocaust survivor active in Palestine Solidarity politics, as they entered the Columbus Street camp
My
book deals in some detail with the Zionist attitude to the holocaust. Zionism holds
that the holocaust is unique.Nothing
like it has ever happened before nor will it happen again. The Holocaust is sui generis.It cannot be compared. And if the holocaust is unique then one
cannot draw any lessons from it, certainly no anti-racist lessons.The only conclusion that one is permitted to
draw is the one conclusion that is demonstrably false, namely that Israel was
given to the Jews as compensation for 6 million dead.
The
Nazi holocaust only happened to one people, the Jews, in Zionist eyes. The Roma,
Russians, gays etc. suffered genocide maybe but certainly not holocaust. That
is reserved for the Jews. Holocaust education is therefore formulated with
those lessons in mind. Holocaust education is designed with the legitimation of
Israel in mind. Holocaust memorial institutions have this as their main goal.
Yad Vashem serves as the focus of this Holocaust State Worship.
The head of Yad Vashem, Israel's renowned Holocaust museum, rejects a letter from 50 Holocaust experts calling on him to condemn the rash of statements from senior Israeli figures calling for genocide in Gaza.
Yad Vashem, he says, is not interested in the universal lessons of…
In
the Gaza Holocaust Yad Vashem has refused
the entreaties of holocaust and genocide scholars to condemn the genocide in
Gaza. Yad Vashem itself is presided over by a fascist settler, Dani Dayan, who
Brazil refused
to accept as Ambassador because of his racism and right-wing views.
In April 1976 John Vorster, South Africa's PM,
Who was Interned as a Nazi Supporter, Visited Israel
Yad
Vashem has entertained a bevy of neo-Nazis and anti-Semites beginning with the visit
of Prime Minister of Apartheid South Africa, John Vorster in April 1976.
Vorster was interned during the war because of his Nazi sympathies. Other visitors
include Hungary’s far-right Prime Minister Orban, the Hitler loving Presidents
of the Philippines and Brazil, Rodrigo
Duterte and Jair
Bolsanaro and assorted far rightists.
Zionism
and Anti-Semitism go together like a hand and a glove. They make perfect
partners.
As
the example of Israel’s Relations with Argentina’s Neo-Nazi Junta, 1976-1983, proves,
Arms Sales and Military Alliances took Priority Over Saving Jews
My talk on Zionism During the neo-Nazi Argentinian Junta
The
mainstream Zionist narrative is that the Holocaustwas ‘an unshakable justification’ for
the establishment of a Jewish state.[1]
Yet as the case of Argentinaunder the military Junta proved, the only
guarantee against a revival of anti-Semitism is opposition to fascism and
racism. Zionismsimply reproduces European anti-Semitism as
anti-Palestinian racism.
If we follow the logic of Zionism,
all victims of racism should flee their persecutors and set up their own
racially based states.[2]
If this were adopted universally then it would mean the triumph of racism. The
Zionist answer to racism is to replicate it not fight it.
It is one of the most powerful and enduring myths that Jews hold
onto that if times get bad and anti-Semitism raises its ugly head, Israel, as a
Jewish State, will provide them with a refuge. What happened in Argentina
proves that Israel will provide no refuge from fascism.
The Commemoration Plaque to the Jews Murdered in the Kielce Pogrom
It was understandable, in the wake of the Holocaust, when Jews
returning from the concentration camps to Poland were met with pogroms, at Kielce in Poland over 40
Jews died and a similar number injured, that the idea of a Jewish state proved attractive.
The Holocaust represented the defeat of the Left and Anti-fascism in Europe. The failure of the Communist Parties in Eastern Europe to confront anti-Semitism, in Poland and Czechoslovakia they actually stimulated it, led to Zionism being an attractive solution. However Zionism was yet one more false messiah.
Israel is a far-right settler state and it is natural that
it seeks allies amongst similar regimes. During the years of Apartheid in South
Africa it became the closest military partner of the Apartheid regime.
Prime Minister John Vorster had been interned for his openly
pro-Nazi sympathies during the war but that did not prevent the Israeli Labor government
of Yitzhak Rabin inviting him on a state
visit.Nor did it prevent the Holocaust
Propaganda Museum (Yad Vashem) inviting
him in as an honoured guest.
Israeli Prime Minister Rabin and future PM Menachem Begin greet the Apartheid Prime Minister & former Nazi John Vorster in 1976
Little more than 3 months ago I wrote an article
asking why Israel was supporting a law, proposed by the heirs to Hitler’s
allies, the Ustaše, which prevented Jews in Bosnia standing for election.
The answer is simple. Israel has no interest in combatting anti-Semitism
or defending the rights of Jews in the diaspora. Instead they redefine anti-Zionism
as anti-Semitism. Where there have been anti-Semitic attacks such as the murder
of four Jews in the Hypercacher Supermarket in Paris, the advice
of Israeli leaders was to leave and go to your ‘natural’ home in Israel.
Avi Gabby - Leader of the Israeli Labor Party's Advice to Victims of the Terror Bombing in Pittsburgh was to Emigrate to Israel and become racists like him
When 11 Jews were murdered at the Tree of Life synagogue in
Pittsburgh, Avi Gabbay, leader of the Israeli Labor Party told the survivors to
emigrate to Israel. The Jewish Forwardaccused
him of having a ‘tin ear’.
Zionism has never had an interest in
opposing anti-Semitism because without anti-Semitism there is no Zionism and no
‘Jewish’ State. AsTheodor Herzl, the
founder of Political Zionism observed in his Diary:
In Paris... I achieved a freer attitude towards anti-Semitism, which I
now began to understand historically and to pardon. Above all, I recognise the
The
Junta
In 1976 the Argentinian army staged a coup.Nothing unusual about that, especially in
Latin America. But this was a coup with a difference. It was
not merely a right-wing coup but a coup by officers imbued with an anti-Semitic hatred
who were convinced that a variation on the International Jewish Conspiracy, the
Andinia Plan, was
being waged against Argentina and they were its defenders. At the centre of this
plan were Marx, Freud and Einstein!
The far-right had a long history of infiltration and
involvement in the Argentinian military and in 1976 their time had come.
Immediately they came to power anyone on the left was arrested and tortured.
All told at least 30,000 Argentinians were murdered. It is estimated that up to
12.5% of their victims were Jewish despite Jews being less than 1% of the Argentinian
population.
An
articleJews targeted in Argentina's dirty war referred to a
196-page
report presented to the Spanish judge Baltazar Garzán in Madrid on the
sufferings of Argentina's more than 300,000 Jews during the dictatorship that
lasted from 1976 to 1983 also reveals that at least two international Jewish
organisations requested support from the governments of Brazil and the United
States in case an evacuation of Argentine Jews proved necessary.
"Jews
represented more than 12 per cent of the victims of the military regime while
constituting under 1 per cent of Argentina's population," said Juan Pablo Jaroslavsky of the Barcelona-based
Commission of Solidarity with Relatives of the Disappeared (Cosofam), which
presented the report this month.
Anyone who has heard about the Zionist Campaign for Soviet Jewry
in the 60s, 70s and 80s would be familiar with the massive publicity and the
appeals to peoples’ heart strings about how Russian Jews were being denied the ‘right’
to emigrate to Israel.Of course this ‘right’
did not entail the right to go where they wanted. The Zionists leaders campaigned
incessantly to persuade the United States to refuse them admission and for non-Zionist
welfare bodies like the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society and the Joint Distribution Committee not
to aid them if they didn’t want to become settlers in Israel. [See
Refugee Status for Soviet Jewish Immigrants to the United States, p.425]
Menachem Begin even made a special trip to the United States to lobby
Ronald Reagan to refuse entry to Soviet Jews. No effort was spared in the
Cold War Soviet Jewry Campaign. Allegations of ‘anti-Semitism’ were rife. Yet no
one alleged that Soviet Jews were being tortured to death or murdered, which
was the case in Argentina. Why then the Zionist silence when it came to Argentina?
Jacobo Timerman
Jacobo Timerman
The most famous victim of the Junta was Jacobo Timerman, the editor of
the liberal paper La Opinion. As his NYT obituary recounts:
Early on April 15, 1977, 20
armed men broke into Timerman's home… He was held in three clandestine houses
of confinement and two regular prisons for more than a year, during which he
was beaten, given electric shocks to his genitals, put in solitary confinement
under humiliating circumstances and interrogated endlessly.
It was
only Timerman's high-profile which elicited a diplomatic response from Israel. According to Raanan
Rein and Efraim Davidi,
"Israel's official
policy can be described as an effort to show the junta that it had committed a
serious error in arresting the journalist but to avoid rousing international
public opinion against the regime and, even more important, to avoid
attributing antisemitic proclivities to the leaders of the dictatorship."
The Israeli government secretly pressured Argentina to free Timerman, but
it did not make public demands as it did on behalf of Jews in the Soviet Union.[3]
When
Timerman asked Israel Gur Arieh, the Director-General
of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, why there was
a massive public campaign over Soviet Jewry whilst in the case of Argentinathere was no campaign, he answered:
Very simple: the Soviet Unionwas
in the enemy camp and Argentinawas
a strategic ally.
Timerman‘wondered if that was why Argentinacould torture prisoners because they were Jews’.
Yishayahu Anug, director-general
of Israel's Foreign Ministry, wrote:
"I would say not that
Timerman is crucial for us but rather that we are crucial for his release. It
is not an emotional issue but one of cool judgment. The formula consists in
creating the sense that his release is vital for Argentina's image and also for
Israel and the positive development of our relations with them." Rein
& Davidi, "Exile of the World" (2010), p. 12]
On at least one occasion the former Undersecretary of State
for Human Rights in the Jimmy Carter administration, Patricia Derian, discussed arms sales to
Argentinawith the Israeli government and received a
response that Israeldoes not discuss
issues of security and that arms sales fall into that camp... Deriantold them that the
weapons in question were used to kill Jewish prisoners. [4]
As
Ben Gurionhad laid down, when there is a choice between
the Jews and the Jewish State, the latter wins out.
Relations
between Israeland Argentinaflourished after the Juntatook power despite the Junta’s virulent
anti-Semitism.[5]
This was under both the Labor Alignmentand Likudgovernments of Yitzhak Rabinand Menachem Begin.
Argentinahad long been Israel’s
largest trading partner in Latin America. When in 1978 the US decided to restrict arms sales to the
Juntaon human rights grounds, Israel stepped into
the breach.One-third
of Israel's total arms sales of $1.2 billion in 1980 went to Argentina and El
Salvadoralone. By 1981, Argentina was buying 17% of
its arms from Israel.
The
perception was that ‘the Jewish state’s concern for the disappeared was
subordinated to political and commercial considerations.’[6]
Marcel Zoharof Yediot
Aharanot reported that Israel preferred friendship with Argentina over
saving Jews.[7]
Israel’s Silence Over the Persecution
of Argentinian Jewry – A Mirror Image of Zionist Behaviour During the Holocaust
Not content with refusing to campaign
against the Junta’s anti-Semitism, in March 1981 the American Jewish Committee sent
a delegation to General Viola,just before his inauguration as President, in
an effort to improve the Junta’s
reputation. Delegation members were impressed with his knowledge of Jewish
affairs. Eichmann too was reputed to have a good knowledge of Hebrew and
Yiddish.
Israel Shahak, a noted Israeli human rights activist
and a holocaust survivor,wrote that
‘in the face of this
well-known anti-Semitism in Argentinathe State of Israel, the Jewish state, the defender
of the Jews, made not a single protest...’ [8]
A report presented to Spanish judge Baltazar Garzánrevealed that HIAS had secured a promise from Brazilto provide temporary asylum for 350,000
Argentine Jews and that Rabbi Alexander Schindlerof the Union of American Hebrew Congregationshad obtained a promise from US State Department officials in 1976 to provide 100,000 visas to Jewish refugees from
Argentina if necessary.[9]
The Knesset Refused
to Even Debate the Plight of Argentina’s Jews
Shulamit
Aloni, the founder of Ratz, Israel’s Civil Rights Party,
described how she tried to get the situation in Argentinadebated in the Knesset:
‘Not only did they shut me up, but the
late Knesset member Yigal Horowitzthreatened me
personally and ordered me not to open my mouth.’
She was
told that the subject could not be debated despite the fact that the parents of
children who had disappeared came asking members to raise their plight.[10] Prime
Minister Yitzhak Shamirmade sure that ‘in the name of security’
the issue was not aired in the Knesset.[11]
Menachem
Savidor, the Speaker, refused to allow a
debate until the parents appealed to the Supreme Court. Only in late June 1983 did the
Knessethold a debate. Six months later the Juntawas toppled.[12]
Savidoradmitted that he had prevented a Knesset
debate on the situation of Argentina's Jews at the Government's request in
order not to harm Israel's military links with Argentina.[13]
Members of the Knessetpresented eight urgent
motions regarding the issue between 1976 and 1981. None were approved for
debate. Years later the Knesset debated the issue and formally demanded
extradition of killers of Jews. It acted following reports that 40 former
officers of the military Juntawere arrested in
Argentinaon the orders of President Nestor Kirchner, who was prepared to extradite them to Spain. MK Yossi Sarid(Meretz) proposed the
move, saying that it was a
“hypocritical discussion since all the facts have long
been known and the government of Israelnever once lifted a finger and cooperated with
the Argentine murders because of their interest in arms deals.”[14]
Saridtold how ‘In Argentina,
Israelsold even the Jews for the price of its
immediate interests.’[15]In 1985, President Raul Alfonsincut off military contact with Israel entirely.
What Israel did in Argentina was no different from what the Zionist movement did
during the Holocaust.
While the Jewish factor has an effect on Israeli foreign policy, it is
not a decisive one nor the main one taken into account in the policy
calculations of the Israeli government. The heritage of David Ben-Guriondetermined that ‘in our relations (with
foreign countries) we should be guided by one criteria…and that is whether it
is good for the Jews.’[16]
The ‘Jewish factor’ refers to
actual living Jews whereas ‘the Jews’
means Israelas the collective Jew. Ben-Gurionbelieved that
‘the state constitutes the highest goal of Zionismand the Jewish people…whose mere
existence serves the needs of the Diaspora.’[17]
On
2 April 1982 the Falklands warbroke out between Britainand Argentina. Israelbecame Argentina’s major arms supplier.It supplied Argentina with emergency
replacement military equipment. After its defeat, Argentinaspent more than $1 billion on arms from
Israel.
Like a Victorian grave robber, Israelcalled for the murdered
Jews who were not wanted when they were alive to be brought to Israel for
burial. Israel’s last service for the Juntaoccurred in 2017. It
ignored an Interpol warrant and refused to extradite to Argentinaan Israeli citizen, Teodoro
Gauto, accused of war crimes. Gauto, a
non-Jew, came to Israel from Argentina with his Jewish wife.[18]
Jacobo
Timerman
The person who brought the Junta’s
anti-Semitic terror to the world’s attention was Jacobo Timerman,
a liberal Zionist and editor of La
Opinion. Arrested and
tortured from April 1977 onwards, Timermanwas released under house arrest a year later
and expelled to Israelin October 1979.
At
his ‘trial’ before a military tribunal, every session of Timerman’s
interrogation began with the question, ‘Are you a Jew?’ [19]
Whilst interrogating non-Jews was a job, interrogating Jews was a pleasure. A
political opponent could be turned, but a Jew remained a Jew forever.[20]
The Buenos AiresHerald told how Jews took it
for granted that if ‘they go to prison, they will be treated far more
harshly than Gentiles.’ [21]
Jewish prisoners were given ‘a double dose of torture and harassment’
which ‘was known to the Israeli embassy which maintained relations with
“moderates” within the military junta.’[22]
According to Timerman's
son, Héctor,
Israeli Ambassador Ram Nirgadvisited their house, after he had been
released and asked Timermanto sign a letter saying that he was
well-treated. Timermanrefused and said he'd rather remain in detention.[23]
Once in Israel,
Timermancame under attack. The Jewish Chronicle’s
correspondent in Argentina,
Jose Smilg,
an apologist for the Juntaand Argentine’s Jewish leadership, alleged
that it was Timerman’s
fight for human rights which was ‘inspiring
a rash of anti-Semitic articles in the Argentine press.’[24]He also alleged that La Opinionhad ‘supported the Left wing of the
Peronist Party’. It was a lie. Timerman’s real offence was that it had
protested against acts of anti-Semitism. The Jewish community organisations
stayed silent because, according to Nehemias Resnizky,
the former President of Daia,
Argentina’s Judenrat ‘that would create a confrontation with highly powerful
sectors of the army.’
Ma’arivwithdrew from agreeing to publish Timerman’s
book Prisoner Without a Name, Cell
Without a Number because it was ‘not interesting’ and would not
sell. It became an international best seller.
The ‘Jewish’ state was more important to
the Zionist lobby in the US than Argentina’s Jews.
Timermanwas attacked by right-wing Zionists who
believed he ‘asked for what he got’.[25]
US neo-cons argued that the Juntaenjoyed good relations with Israel,
which was ‘an important supplier of arms
and military equipment to Argentina.’
This was cited as evidence that the Juntacould not be called anti-Semitic. Once again Zionism
and Israel was used to kosher anti-Semitism.
During a visit by former Israeli Deputy
Prime Minister Yigal Allon,
Timermantold him that he had not been humiliated by
the torture but by the ‘silent complicity of Jewish leaders.’
[26]
This was equally true of Israeli leaders. Israelnormally takes great pride when its citizens
are given international awards. Not so when Timermanreceived the Golden Pen of Freedom Award.
The venue was shifted from the Knessetto the Hebrew University.[27]
In
IsraelTimerman wrote The Longest War, criticising Israel’s invasion of Lebanon. He
became ‘almost persona non-grata’. Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister,
Yehuda Ben-Meir, described his
book as ‘a collection of calumnies and lies arising from his own
self-hatred.’[28]
When Timermandied, on 11 November 1999 he received glowing
obituaries internationally but Israeli papers ‘provided only terse reports
of his death.’ [29]
The Jewish Disappeared
In 1988 Dr Marcus Weinsteinset up the Asociación
de Familiares de Desaparecidos Judiosfor Jews who had disappeared.[30]
Marcus’s son Mauriciowas the only Israeli citizen to be murdered.
The
relatives of the Jewish Disappearedwrote that they were
‘deeply
disappointed by the fact that the Israeli state, the
international Jewish organisations and the Jewish leadership in Argentinaare taking no interest in this subject’.
Weinsteintold how ‘Israel's
indifference to the matter began back during the days of the dictatorship, and
has continued to this day.’ [31]
Marcel Zohar,
Yedioth Ahronothcorrespondent in Argentinabetween 1978 and 1982, described how Israel’s
government refrained from processing immigration applications from left-wing
Jews.[32]
The unwritten instruction was to refuse any help to Jews defined as ‘too
left-wing.’ [33]
And who did the defining? The Junta.
In 2002 the Israeli Governmentset up a committee to investigate the
disappearance of Jews but it took care not to offend the Argentinian Government.
Its interim report omitted Israel's
role during the dictatorship. It also rejected the demand to take legal action
against the officers who tortured and killed Jews. Weinsteinrecalled how:
We and other Jewish families knocked again and again on the door of the
embassy, and we were always sent away…. Was this a policy that was dictated
from Israel, was it a policy that was decided upon at
the embassy … I did not find even a single word about this in the report.[34]
The
anti-Semitism of the Juntaset it apart from other repressive regimes that
Israel co-operated with.[35]
The Israeli statehad a choice between selling military
equipment to the Juntaor waging a campaign against the torture and
murder of Argentina’s
Jews. It chose the former.
Mothers of the Disappeared
Daia and Amia – The Judenrat of Argentinian Jewry
Renee Sofia Epelbaum,[36]
mother of three desaparecidos and one of the leaders of the Mothers of the
Plaza de Mayo,
accused Daiaof silence and extreme caution towards cases
of arrests and disappearances of Jews.[37]
In sharp contrast, the paper Nueva
Presendaexpressed its support for the cause of the
Mothers and the Jewish desaparecidos. Daiaeven tried to improve the image of the Juntaabroad, ‘particularly in the USA’.
Shockingly ‘prominent sections of the Jewish community’ even pressurised
Israeli representatives ‘not to interfere in Argentina's
internal affairs’.[38]
The Mothers of the Disappeared at their regular spot in Buenos Aires
After
the fall of the Junta,
Amiaheld its 90th anniversary celebration:
A group of women whose children disappeared during the Argentine
military regimes crackdown on Left-wing opponents shouted ‘Nazi-Nazi’ at those
attending the Congress here of Amia…
The guest of honour was Mr Itzhak Navon, formerly President of Israel. The mothers
attempted to prevent his entrance to the Conference as well as that of the
Israeli Ambassador to Argentina. [39]
Zionismhad not changed since the Nazi era. Geoffrey Paul,
the then Editor of the Jewish Chronicle,described how a senior American diplomat
denounced to him ‘this spineless Jewish community...’ But it wasn’t the
community but its Zionist leadership that was spineless. What Argentinademonstrated was that an anti-Semitic regime
will be a creature of US imperialism. In other words, a regime with which
Israelis only too willing to do business with.
Zoharrecounted the struggle between Danny Rekanatiof the Jewish Agency,
who tried to help Jews escape and Israel’s ambassador, Ram Nirgadwho argued that people defined by the Juntaas subversive should not be rescued.[40]
Nirgad’s
successor, Dov Schmorak,
recalled how the Junta’s
interior minister, General Albano Harguindeguycongratulated him on how well he had done ‘not
to allow the main leaders of the Jewish community in Argentinato intervene on his [Timerman’s]
behalf.’ Israeli representatives had discouraged his
family from any public campaign on the grounds that this would hinder his
release. This later extended to blackmailing Timermannot to go ahead with a series of six articles
in Ma’arivdetailing his experiences.
Menachem Beginhad previously stated that ‘Israelhas to help every persecuted Jew…. They can
associate with Matzpenin Israel for all I care.’
Yet once in power, Beginreneged on this.[41]
Above all Israel avoided attributing anti-Semitic proclivities to the Junta’s
leaders.[42]
The New York Times has always been a propagandist for the US State Department - the 'defector' was bribed to confess
When Timerman’s son Hectorbecame Argentina’s Foreign Minister, Israelraised the 1994 bombing of the Amiacentre and the alleged connection with Iran. Timermantold Israel’s ambassador:
Israelhas
no right to ask for explanations. …Israel does not speak for the Jewish people…
Jews who live in Argentinaare
Argentinian citizens. The attack was against Argentina, and Israel’s desire to
be involved in the matter only gives ammunition to anti-Semites who accuse Jews
of dual loyalty. [43]
Bergoglio, the future Pope Francis enjoying a joke with President General Videla. He was reputed to be a strong supporter of the Junta
In
May 2013 Videladied in prison having been convicted of the
murder of 31 prisoners and the kidnapping of children:
‘To this day...
local Jewish leadersare embarrassed by the role played by Jewish
organizations or by their avoidance of action during the years of dictatorship.’
Daniel
Muchniktold Ha’aretzhow ‘Throughout this awful period of
oppression, most Jews... had a problem. This was the relations of Israelwith the dictatorship.’
The Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires‘kept a stance of non-intervention in
internal affairs’.[44]
The aftermath of the fascist bombing of the Jewish community centre that killed nearly 100 Jews. Israel preferred to exonerate the culprits and blame Iran/Hezbollah instead
The Bombing of Buenos Aires Jewish
Community Centre
In 1980 when bombs exploded in Argentine synagogues
and Jewish schools Israelsaid nothing but when a bomb exploded at the
AMIAJewish community centre in Buenos Aireson 18 July 1994, it lost no time in blaming
Iran and
Hezbollah. Evidence has since emerged thatpoints to a deliberate attempt by
the US and Israel to deflect attention away fromthereal culprits, Israel’s anti-Semitic
friends in the Argentinian state.
In an August 1994 cable to the State
Department, US Ambassador James Cheekboasted of a ‘steady campaign’ the
embassy had waged that ‘kept the Iranians in the dock where they belong.’
In 2007 Cheek admitted that ‘To my knowledge, there was never any real
evidence’ of Iranian involvement. Bill Brencick, chief of the political section in
the US embassy from 1994 to 1997, acknowledged in a 2007 interview that
suggestions of Iranian responsibility were based solely on a ‘wall of
assumptions’ and that there was ‘no hard evidence’.[45]
In 2014 a former police spy, Jose Alberto Perez, who had infiltrated
the Jewish community in Buenos Aireson behalf of Argentina’s Federal Police, revealed to two investigative
journalists, Miriam Lewinand Horacio
Lutzk, that he had been
ordered to turn over blueprints to the AMIAbuilding to his Federal Police case officer.
Perez
became consumed by guilt about having enabled the bombing. He had since married
a Jewish woman. Perezwas convinced that the building plans were
used by the real culprits behind the bombing. His revelations prompted a series
of articles in the Argentine press.
Perezalso
revealed that those who had employed him as a spy were motivated by the same
anti-Semitic beliefs that had led the military dictatorship to single out Jews
during the “dirty war”. His case officer, “Laura”, had ordered him to find out
as much he could from the Jewish community about the “Andinia Plan.”
Another key factor was the role of the state
intelligence agency, SIDE, in influencing prosecutor, Judge Juan Galeano. Not only was a special unit within SIDEtasked with
overseeing Galeano’s investigation, another SIDEunit
operated directly inside his office.[46]
As Morenoand Terminereported in La Prensa
(28.11.94.) the SIDEunit
handling the AMIAinvestigation
was notorious for its hatred of Jews. The group consisted of veterans of the
dirty war known as the ’Cabildo’ group, inspired by the magazine of the same name.[47]
There
has been no resolution of this case because the Argentinian secret state still wields enormous power. Both
Israel and the US preferred to divert attention from the real culprits, who
were the same forces who had tortured and murdered Argentinian Jews
That
Israel, even after the collapse of the Junta with which it was such close
friends, could attempt to deflect blame away from Argentinian neo-Nazis onto
Iran and Hezbollah, demonstrates that the ‘Jewish’ State’s military and foreign
policy interests will always trump the needs of diaspora Jewish communities.
[1]Yechiam
Weitz, Jewish Refugees and Zionist Policy during the Holocaust, p. 351.
[3]Rein
& Davidi, "Exile of the World" (2010), pp. 9–11
[5]Raanan
Rein & Efraim Davidi, Exile of the World: Israeli Perceptions of Jacobo
Timerman, p. 6.
[6]Latin
American Weekly Report 17 February 1984, cited by Bishara Bahbah, ‘Israel's Military Relationship with
Ecuador and Argentina,’Journal of
Palestine Studies, Vol. 15:2, 1986: 94.
[7]Aharon
Kleiman, ‘A Double-Edged Sword’, p. 80. The Jerusalem Post, 27.1. 84.,
cited in Israeli Foreign Affairs, April 1985. Marcel Zohar, p. 31 .
[10]Rein & Davidi, Exile of the
World: Israeli Perceptions of Jacobo Timerman, pp. 6-7.
[11]Shamir was
Speaker of the Knesset from 1977-1980. ‘Israelis demand state open up past ties
to Argentine junta’, +972 Magazine, 22.3.16. https://tinyurl.com/w49zgtz
[12]Rein &Davidi, Exile of the World: Israeli Perceptions of Jacobo Timerman, p.
7.
[13]Marcel
Zohar, Let My People Go To Hell, cited in ‘Israel Denied Shelter To
Leftwing Argentine Jews During Junta Rule,’ Hadashot, 28.9.90. See
letter from Tony Greenstein, The Guardian
19.2.02, ‘Argentina - Proof that
Israel is no Refuge from Anti-Semitism,’29.11.09. https://tinyurl.com/br93g4t Tony Greenstein, ‘The Scandal of the Jewish
Disappeared,’ Tribune, 6.4.00.
[15]‘Yes, I Accuse,’Ha’aretz, 31 August
1989, [Hebrew] cited in Yitzhak Mualem, Between a Jewish and an Israeli Foreign Policy, fn. 39; MK Yair Tzaban in Divrei Ha-Knesset, 29.6.83., pp. 2810-12 [Hebrew].
[16]Mualem,
‘Between a Jewish and an Israeli
Foreign Policy,’Jewish Political Studies Review16:1-2 (Spring 2004), citing Kleiman, A Double-Edged Sword, p. 170.
[32]Marcel
Zohar, Let My People Go to Hell - Blue
and White Betrayal, p. 31 (Tel Aviv: Zitrin, 1990) [Hebrew].
[33]Mario
Sznajder and Luis Roniger, p. 363, fn. 35. Mayer and Graetz didn’t have
diplomatic immunity and endangered themselves and their families. When the
Junta stepped down, Mayer received the highest Argentine decoration, the Order
of General San Martin.
[38]Mario
Sznajder and Luis Roniger, p.
356, ‘From Argentina to Israel: Escape, Evacuation and Exile,’ Journal
of Latin American Studies, Vol. 37:2 (May, 2005), Cambridge University
Press.
[39]‘Bitter
Protest by Grieving Mothers’, The JC, 23 March 1984.
[41]Sznajder
and Roniger, p. 356, citing, Aryeh Dayan, 'Thanks to Menachem Begin,' Kol
Ha’ir, 9 Sept. 1987, p. 34 [In Hebrew].Matzpen was a small, socialist anti-Zionist group in Israel.
[42]Rein
& Davidi, “Exile of the World”
(2010), pp. 9–11.
[45]Gareth
Porter, ‘How a police spy’s stunning testimony threatens the official
US-Israeli AMIA bombing narrative,’ The Greyzone, 26.7.20,https://tinyurl.com/yckkaha3
.jpg)
