[lbo-talk] Israeli Übermenschen

[Bryan Atinsky]

In my understanding (or misunderstanding), the usage of terms like Nazi
and fascist when discussing present situations, is almost always lazy
and sloppy; an effort that would be better put critiquing the
specificities of a certain regime. More than really pointing to anything
other than superficial similarities, they merely act as shorthand for
our disgust for a particular leader or regime (If you only knew how
often Israeli politicians sling the Nazi slur at one another...).

Though there was a pre-state ideological connection between Revisionist
Zionism and Fascism, I think that there was less long-term influence on
present circumstances and Israel’s wider historical trajectory than is
sometimes argued in certain circles. If one were going to do comparative
analysis, time would be better put examining the residues of British
colonialism, the legacy of European colonialism in general, the inherent
contradictions of ‘liberal’ electoral democracies, differentialist
racism, perhaps Apartheid South Africa, etc.

An additional weakness of the Nazi and fascist labeling (imho), is that
they are historically and contextually loaded terms, which carry around
with them a whole bundled representational framework, which has a
tendency to allow, perhaps, for a (conscious or unconscious) assumption
of an analogous teleological arc. Instead of helping to get us closer to
a better understanding the nature of the beast, and a realistic spectrum
of likely future scenarios, this shorthand labeling can actually act to
obfuscate much and acts as a hindrance to clearer, more pointed analysis.

There is much to discuss, critique and damn, relating to the political
dynamics of Israeli society, human rights abuses, war crimes, racism,
etc., which can help us all to understand better what Israel is in its
specific context, without constant analogizing between Israel and
Nazi/Fascism (and I would say the same thing for the term Islamofascism).

Bill Bartlett wrote:
> At 10:12 AM -0700 1/9/06, Angelus Novus wrote:
> 
>>  > Why can a comparison to National Socialism not be
>>>  made?
>>
>> I am not saying it can't be made, just that there is
>> something unseemly about the regular comparison to
>> National Socialism whenever Israeli engages in
>> atrocities which are not uncommon for any armed state
>> engaged in war.
> 
> Yet again this correspondent attempts to defend the Israeli state by
> insisting that its war crimes are merely standard practice and that
> critics are therefor hypocrites. But while it is undeniable that Israel
> is not the first state in history to use such tactics against its
> enemies (Rome's destruction of Carthage is a contender for that honour)
> that doesn't make it standard practice.