Learn about the history of the Palestinian struggle for freedom, equality and justice by exploring major events in the history of their oppression on this day of the year.
3 May
ISRAELI GENERAL COMPARES MODERN ISRAEL TO NAZI GERMANY
On this day in 2016, a top Israeli general said that he saw “revolting trends” in today’s Israel, which he compared to “Europe in the 1930s”. Maj Gen Yair Golan had compared Israel today with Nazi Germany following the release of a video of Sgt Elor Azaria’s unauthorised street execution of an injured and incapacitated Palestinian. Mass demonstrations praised Azaria’s actions and demanded he not be charged. The crowds chanted, “Death to Arabs!” The killer has since become wildly popular in Israel.
قارن جنرال اسرائيلي بين إسرائيل الحديثة وألمانيا النازية
3 مايو
في مثل هذا اليوم من عام 2016 ، قال جنرال إسرائيلي رفيع إنه رأى "اتجاهات متمردة" في إسرائيل اليوم ، والتي قارنها بـ "أوروبا في الثلاثينيات". كان الميجور جنرال يائير غولان قد قارن إسرائيل اليوم بألمانيا النازية بعد نشر مقطع فيديو يظهر فيه الرقيب إيلور عزاريا الذي قام بالقتل المتعمد لشاب فلسطيني مصاب وملقى في الشارع وعاجز عن الحركة . وأشادت مظاهرات حاشدة بأفعال عزاريا وطالبت بعدم توجيه تهم إليه. ورددت الحشود "الموت للعرب". منذ ذلك الحين ، أصبح القاتل يتمتع بشعبية كبيرة في إسرائيل.
The killer received a hero’s welcome from Jewish residents.
Elor Azaria was recently released from prison after only serving nine months of his 18-month sentence for manslaughter and spent the day in the city where the incident that sent him to prison took place. Dozens of teens sang “Hevron loves you!” when Azaria arrived in the city. Other supporters stopped to thank Azaria for his actions. The trip to Hebron was organized by the right-wing Otzma Yehudi group whose members include Baruch Marzel and Itamar Ben Gvir.
Ex-Prime Minister Ehud Barak says ex-general ‘told the truth’ when he likened Israel to pre-war Germany. Former PM steps into potential minefield by backing comments by member of his party Yair Golan comparing trends in Israeli society to conditions that gave rise to Nazism.
But he didn't have to go to Nazi Germany to find parallels with Israeli murderous racism.
Israel's murderous racism is nothing new, or unique
Hitler's American Model: the United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law
by James Q. Whitman, professor at Yale Law School“America in the early 20th century was the leading racist jurisdiction in the world. Nazi lawyers, as a result, were interested in, looked very closely at, [and] were ultimately influenced by American race law.”
A component of the Jim Crow era that Nazis did think they could translate into Germany were anti-miscegenation laws, which prohibited interracial marriages in 30 of 48 states.
America had, by a wide margin, the harshest law of this kind. In particular, some of the state laws threatened severe criminal punishment for interracial marriage. That was something radical Nazis were very eager to do in Germany as well.
4-minute video: Auschwitz survivor Hajo Meyer on Israel racism towards Palestinians and false anti-semitism