Chris Arnot’s Gaza Concentration Camp Masterclass
IN “The stuff of nightmares” the Guardian’s Chris Arnot wonders:
“Can trips to Auschwitz help tackle racism and hate crime among troubled young people? Chris Arnot talks to three youths who have visited the former Nazi concentration camp.”
It’s an interesting notion, told in 1431 words – teenagers from Coventry journey to the lager and wonder.
They also went to Krakow, saw the old Jewish quarter and the ghetto where Schindler’s List was filmed.
A place to where Jews are returning.
So what do we make of the anti-Semitism, kids? Sykes is on the trip. He is a former BNP member and “freelance anti-racist worker”:
Meanwhile, in Bradford, Sykes is being called upon to teach lessons of history to Muslim youths in danger of being pushed into extremism by Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.
Did you see that? Did you make the link between Auschwitz and a war in the Gaza Strip between “unconventional” Hamas and Israel?
Because Israel is to blame for Islamofacism, or, the more apt term, Islam Supremacy? Arnott shows signs of having read this man’s work.
Idiots on both sides in the latest Arab-Isreali war. But is Israel “pushing” Muslims into extremism? Is that a rational view? What say the protocols? And when did Muslims become one big unified group, regardless of creed, country, politics and colour? Is unity to be found in finding a common enemy.
Or can it be that the Holocaust helps someone understand what shapes the Israeli mind?
And what of this queasy link between the Holocaust and Israel’s attitude to Gaza? Is it a contest for victimhood? The comparrison diminishes and trivialises what really happened then. Is it really genocide in Gaza? Does victimhood permit suicide bombers and – irony of ironies – calls for genocide against all Jews?
Everyone is supposed to have an opinion on Israel, and Anorak says this:
Let women have a go at running things; let the men have more sex; let the millions of Muslims and Jews who are not nutters be heard; satirise the Islam supremacists; expose and condemn the lunatics; be an individual.
And if any lazy hack wants an easy essay that will chime with all too many readers who need their prejudices refreshed, they can blame the Jews…
Image: Spot the difference – Jews and Muslims in Yemen
Posted: 21st, January 2009 | In: Reviews Comments (2) | TrackBack | Permalink
