Don't mention the War! Re: [lbo-talk] Adam Hanieh, "Canadian Union Takes Important Step against Israeli Apartheid"

[nathaniel.thomas at utoronto.ca]

Another red herring is Angelus Novus' constant comparison of Sudeten Germans and
Silesians, among whom there were a large number of Nazis and Nazi supporters,
with Palestinians.  Beyond arguments on the nation-state and collective guilt
and whatever, this attempt to paint Palestinians as equivalent to Germans beyond
the Oder-Neisse who had welcomed German conquest of Poland and Czechoslovakia is
spurious, if not malicious.  I think you are essentially trying to equate the
Palestinian struggle for self-determination with Nazism, especially when you say
that neo-Nazi or far-right organizations in Germany are Germany's "own PLO".

Certainly, you can mention the Grand Mufti visiting Hitler and all of the Grand
Mufti's actions during WW2.  I will neither excuse nor defend his actions.  But
this is another red herring, ignoring the fact that quite a few prominent
pro-independence figures under British and French colonial domination (or
recently removed of it) were supportive or ambivalent about the Nazis, from
Ireland to India.  Others, I think, have pointed out this fallacy of
characterizing Muslims or Palestinians by focusing on the statements and actions
of one prominent man.

Antideutsch statements like, "Abolish all states, but abolish Israel last" are
fun to say, and the theoretical arguments you make can be debated, but stop
equating Palestinians with Germans.

Nathaniel