Over at Reason, Michael C. Moynihan challenges Pat Buchanan’s latest revisionist argument: No WWII, No Holocaust.
There is much to disagree with in Pat Buchanan’s latest book Churchill, Hitler, and the Unnecessary War and his subsequent defense of its controversial premise. But there is one issue I must take issue with; a claim made in both the book and repeated in his latest syndicated column. According to Buchanan, had there been no American or English involvement in the Second World War, there would have been no Holocaust. This isn’t, in fact, an original line of argumentation—his is a thinly sourced, weakly reasoned, and extreme adaptation of the “functionalist” position. That is, unlike the “intentionalist” historians, who believe that Hitler always intended to wipeout European Jewry, the “functionalists” argue that while persecution of the Jews was integral to Nazi ideology, it was a function of the war that led to the large-scale, industrialized killing of Jews. (I spent my last two years of university looking at this debate, and ultimately writing my undergraduate thesis on Daniel Goldhagen’s embarrassingly reductionist book, Hitler’s Willing Executioners and came out the other side believing a mild version of the functionalist critique.)
The Israeli Consulate in New York recently released a video of 11-year-old American children reading a book written by Gilad Shalit – The Israeli solider held captive by Hamas in Gaza. The short story, composed by Shalit when he was 11, and entitled, “When the Shark and the Fish First Met”, tells a tale of a shark and fish who despite their parent’s instruction befriend one another. At the end of the story their friendship leads to peace between the two species.
The video shows an ethnically and racially diverse group of 5th graders reading the story bestrewed with uplifting illustrations while accompanied by melancholic music. According to David Saranga, Consul for Media and Public Affairs, one of the people who helped organize the Video project, the purpose of the video is to “raise awareness of this humanitarian issue in the United States and around the world. A multiethnic selection of students reading this story of peace and reconciliation sends a powerful message that cannot be ignored.”
My comments, published in France 24’s The Observers:
I find both the story and the video to be really interesting. The story conveys a type of innocence, optimism, imagination, sweetness, and child-like naiveté that is beautiful.
I think that naturally, given what happened to the author 8 years after writing this story, we all assume that Shalit/Israelis are represented in the story by the fish and the Palestinians by the shark. And yet, what is interesting is that if you would read this story to a group of Palestinian children, they would identify themselves with the fish and the Israelis with the shark. In a way, this is one of the main problems in the Arab-Israeli conflict, both people see themselves as helpless fish fighting against ruthless sharks.
I also found interesting that there is a religious messianic element to the tale – in the Jewish tradition it is said that when the messiah will arrive the world will be radically transformed to the degree that swords will be turned into ploughshares, and the wolves shall dwell with the lamb. In this story, instead of the wolf dwelling with the lamb, we have the shark playing with the fish.
Yet such utopianism is what makes this tale so very painful: Reading this story with grown-up eyes, we know that fish and shark will never be friends. At the end of the story with its happy ending, realism kicks in. We see a picture of Shalit with a caption that says: “Two Years have passed and Gilad Shalit is still held in captivity”. It seems that the shark, whom ever he may be, has in the end eaten the fish.
Finally, what I found peculiar and somewhat distasteful about the video is the fact that it is made for Americans. Why are the kids American and not Israelis and Palestinians? It seems to me that this is a video that should have Israeli and Palestinian kids in it. They should be the ones reading the story. They should be the ones watching this video. Why is this the business of the Israeli consulate in NY? Is the Shalit story really lacking in awareness?
It obvious that this has to do with image as with anything else. Israel is trying hard to win minds and heart of the American public. If they only put this type of creative energy into coexistence at home, maybe the shark will eventually play with the fish.
After he became a champion, an emotional Kevin Garnett said that all is possible. Well, how about solving the Arab-Israeli conflict? Here is my Jewcy article on the why Tzipi Livni and Kevin Garnett give me hope the Arab-ISraeli conflict can be solved:
Here is an excerpt:
The historian J. Rufus Fears noted that great leaders – from Pericles to Lincoln to Churchill – share four characteristics. They are anchored in principles, guided by a moral compass, posses a vision, and have the ability to build consensus to achieve their vision. These are the qualities that differentiate them as statesmen as opposed to mere politicians.
Unfortunately, the current leadership in Israel is the epitome of mere politicians. Prime-Minister Olmert, for example, is a drunken captain at the helm of a ship headed for an iceberg. An uninspiring power-hungry man mired in corruption and lacking vision, he is leading his country into disaster.
The truth is that people matter. For good or ill, individuals can change the course of history. Recently, the United States has seen what remarkable change the right person can achieve. A tall African-American man did what most thought impossible. No, I am not talking about Barack Obama, but Boston Celtics forward Kevin Garnett.
To read more, click here. As always, if the spirit moves you, please leave a comment at the end of the article.
“Jewcer Roi Ben-Yehuda wrote up his recent trip to Barcelona for Haaretz. If you want to see antisemitism done right — or if you want to restore your confidence in the importance of Zionism — go to Europe and then wait around a while:
If the presence of swastikas were not enough, Barcelona also has the dubious honor of being home to Europe’s most infamous neo-Nazi bookstore, brazenly titled “Europa Bookstore: Persecuted Books - The Truth Will Set You Free.”…
The books in the store were a literary mix covering revisionism, fascism, Israel-bashing, Hitler-praising, anti-immigration and homophobia. To this was added DVDs and CDs of Hitler’s “greatest hits.”
In my best Spanglish, I told a young woman who asked if I needed help that I would like to take some pictures and talk to her. She hesitated and then declined, but told me that I could “come back tomorrow and speak to the leader.”…
[A]s I walked around I had a “for the six million!” moment. One of those moments that lead Jews to do something about injustice. So I took out my camera and started taking pictures…
“Give me your camera,” she had raised her voice. “I want to see the pictures. I want to eliminate the pictures!”
“Leader”; “eliminate.” The great thing about European fascists and racists is that they traditionally haven’t put up much of a pretense of not being fascists and racists. Sadly, though, the new crop of the European far-right seems to be taking trans-Atlantic PR cues. Even the most deranged neo-Nazis on these shores feel compelled to wrap their hatred up in some public interest cause — like saving the wombs of white women from the Pornocaust. So it’s comforting, in its way, to learn that there’s a little corner of Catalonia where the good stuff, the real unadulterated neo-Nazism is served straight up, no chaser.”
I’ve loved Spain for decades, and Catalonia, especially. I first went there when Franco was still in power and the favored slogan on public buildings was “todo por la patria.” We came back many times, and the last time was for my son’s wedding. In the 45 years since our first visit, Barcelona had become one of the most happening cities in the world, maybe behind London and ahead of Tel Aviv, but way, way up there. Visually gorgeous, demographically mixed, temperamentally intense…And now, you could talk politics — if that is what you wanted to talk about- without casting your eye over your shoulder to see if you were being watched.
So an Ha’aretz article about a Nazi bookstore in Barcelona this morning surprised me. I suppose phenomena such as this are the wages of freedom.
