Alef List Posting Number 7- Tony Greenstein and the Zionism Equals Nazism Equation

Message to Alef List August 30, 2007
Tony Greenstein on the connection between Zionism and Nazism

Tony Greenstein states in post to this list (Thu Aug 30 01:04:17 IDT 2007) :"It's not me who makes the connection between Zionism and Nazism."

Source: http://list.haifa.ac.il/mailman/private/alef/2007-August/013199.html

The facts include –
1. In 1983 Lenni Brenner came to the UK on a speaking tour. Tony Greenstein helped to organize that tour. The tour poster directly equated the Star of David with the Swastika.

2. Tony Greenstein was closely associated with an organization entitled BAZO – (British Anti Zionist Organisation). BAZO produced leaflets using Nazi imagery in relation to its discussions of Zionism. For example – One leaflet entitled "Israeli Expansion" was subtitled "The Zionist Policy of 'Lebensraum' in Occupied Palestine; Views of Zionist Leaders."

3. In 1989-1990 Tony Greenstein was on the editorial collective of a magazine entitled RETURN and by December 1990 he was the named editor. If we look at for example issue 1 (March 1989) at a cartoon on Page 31 the cartoon had Palestinians dressed in stripy outfits (similar to what Jews were in the Holocaust) with a caption suggestion the Israeli soldiers in that cartoon were just like the Nazis.

4. The Editorial of Return issue 2 March 1990 which contained Tony Greenstein on the editorial collective stated:

"Middle East Report no 157 (March-April 1989) claims that comparisons of Israeli policy towards the Palestinians with that of Nazi Germany before 1938 towards the Jews are 'of dubious accuracy, even when they are made by Israeli Jews'. The contributors to this issue of RETURN Magazine disagree with this claim; many of them would argue that it is dangerously mistaken.

"In the articles in this issue, such a comparison frequently appears…. The reality of Israeli practice in the occupied territories… is in no way less brutal than the pogroms suffered by Jews in Tsarist Russia, or than the events of Kritallnacht…..

"Tony Greenstein considers true and false Holocaust analogies. He cites Israelis who fear the Nazification of Israeli society, and others who welcome it…..

"One comparison between Zionism and Nazism is the policy of 'transfer' of unwanted people."

5. Tony Greenstein himself wrote in RETURN issue 2 from March 1990 an article titled "Holocaust Anologies, Repaying the Mortgage" on pages 14-19 which seems to be devoted to Tony Greenstein trying to justify a Nazi Zionist comparison. Greenstein even discusses in that article "Judeo-Nazi views in the Halacha (oral law)" and wants to provide "final proof of how the Nazi analogy with repression in the West Bank is correct."

This vile article can be seen on line at

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/pdf/Holocaust%20Analogies%20--%20Repaying%20the%20Morgage.pdf

6. More recently Tony Greeenstein has said, "I deliberately described Israel's actions as a blitzkrieg. Those who use starvation, thirst and hunger as reprisals against civilians, who destroy water and electricity plants, are, in the words of the late Yehashayu Leibowitz, a distinguished religious philosopher and winner of the Israel Prize, Judaeo-Nazis." (Weekly Worker Letters July 20, 2006 available on line at http://www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/634/letters.htm )

7. In a post to this list on Fri Mar 16 20:13:44 IST 2007 Tony Greenstein stated "....Zionism shares many facets with Nazism" See: http://list.haifa.ac.il/mailman/private/alef/2007-March/010465.html (via subscription)

8. When making his statement that "It's not me who makes the connection between Zionism and Nazism," Tony Greenstein seems to have forgotten what he had written less than 26 hours earlier on Tue Aug 28 23:11:18 IDT 2007: "Israel is unique in basing its definition of the untermenschen on who is and who is not Jewish."

Source: http://list.haifa.ac.il/mailman/private/alef/2007-August/013184.html

The above include some examples of Tony Greenstein making a connection between Zionism and Nazism, no doubt there are plenty more. The truth is that Tony Greenstein has spent the best part of the last thirty years trying to make a connection that he denies he makes.

Mikey