Ta-Nehisi Coates’s article confirmed that many Israelis knew from the start – as I’ve been saying only forever – that accepting Germany’s reparations was a great act of charity on the part of the Jews towards the Germans.
Coates describes the passionate opposition of Menachem Begin and his followers to accepting the reparations.
Paying the reparations is the only thing that stands between Germany and its horrible legacy.
That’s not entirely true. There are also laws banning the Nazi party and use of Nazi symbols in German society as well as memorials.
Conversely, if you look at “The Rape of Nanking,” there is in fact nothing separating Japan from that era, and some right wing Japanese who want to return to it.
Vic
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Since the post refers to Jews and antisemitism, will comment here with the latest news:
Three people were killed and another was seriously injured in a shooting Saturday at the Jewish Museum of Belgium in Brussels, Belgian officials said.
Israeli media reporting Tel Aviv couple in their 50’s among those killed; another fatality was a female volunteer at the museum.
http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-News/Israeli-couple-reportedly-among-Brussels-Jewish-museum-shooting-victims-353250
From another article:
A global survey released in May by the Anti-Defamation League reported on the levels of anti-Semitism found in 102 nations. Belgium received a 27% index score in the survey. The index score represents the percentage of adults in a country who answered “probably true” to a majority of the anti-Semitic stereotypes tested.
You talk about Germany only, but what about other countries?
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Seriously, clarissa was kind enough to create a new tab on this site for you to leave links to newsworthy articles. Can you do this there?
Or at least have the decency to read the article that Clarissa mentioned, maybe comment on it, and *then* unleash your spam on us.
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I have read the article, then the news story, got excited (for lack of a better word) about the murder of Israelis, wanted everybody to see the link and posted it here. Probably should have searched for the link post of this week.
I do think it’s connected somewhat since this post talks about Germany, Jews and the former’s supposed vaccination against antisemitism. I see antisemitism rising in Europe both from Left (support Muslims, see Israel as the only guilty party) and Right (hating both Muslims and Jews). The linked article is one of the results of the rise. Don’t think Germans on the street aren’t influenced by it.
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It’s ok, I have realized a long time ago that I will never be able to steer any discussion on the blog where I want it to go. I just need to relax, relinquish control, and let it go where it may.
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Tony Judt shows in his book that all of the countries who supported (or didn’t completely reject) Hitlerism used Germany as a convenient scape-goat after the war to evade taking responsibility.
Germany is more successful than any other European country at every level, by the way. I think the split helped. And the Nuremberg Trials were crucial, too.
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“..got excited (for lack of a better word)”
Yeah, that’s the problem right there.
“Probably should have searched for the link post of this week.”
Nope. It’s right there on the top of the page. The ‘Leave links’ tab next to the ‘Ask Clarissa’ tab. Knock yourself out.
“I do think it’s connected somewhat..”
Think of it like this: if a student turned in news articles about murders in Belgium when asked to respond to the Ta-Nehesi Coates article, they’d get a D-, possibly an F on their homework.
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And just who appointed you hall monitor?
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And who appointed you hall monitor to the hall monitor? Her spamming annoys me and I call her out on it. Feel free to express your annoyance at me.
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My own bad self, that’s who!
OT =/= spamming, especially in the modest amounts posted by el.
I prefer OT posts and possible thread drift to the alternatives.
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// Paying the reparations is the only thing that stands between Germany and its horrible legacy.
Read today:
A German political party that has been compared to the Nazis will enter the European Parliament for the first time, in an election marked by a surge in right-wing parties that are either sceptical or hostile to the EU.
The NPD has been campaigning on a platform of stopping immigration and been called racist and anti-semitic.
They have fought under the banner of slogans like “Money for granny instead of Sinti and Roma” and “the boat is full”, given interviews insisting Europe is “a continent of white people” and, as pictured below, have marched with banners proclaiming the Nazi ideology of “National Socialism”.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/05/25/germanys-npd-far-right-surge-european-elections_n_5390011.html
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German extreme-right party’s lead candidate expresses the sentiment:
“We want to make sure that even in 50 years’ time an Italian, a Frenchman, an Englishman, an Irishman and a German are still recognizable as European and cannot be mistaken for Ghanaians or Chinese.”
Several serious questions:
Clarissa, do you think we’re really moving to a global community, in which Europians will be mistaken for Ghanaians and vice versa? If yes, do you believe it doesn’t matter at all, as long as Europian culture survives (and it will anyway, imo)?
Must those people confront the fact that their fear of seeing everybody’s looks change in their countries (whether it’s true or not, they believe it, so it’s true for them) stems from bad / animal part of human nature, and force themselves (at least, outwardly) to be OK with that?
I also want to remind everybody that not only Europians are xenophobic. For instance:
But live in Japan for a bit more than a month and you will slowly be faced with the undercurrent of Japanese passive racism and xenophobia. As a Japanese/German, from birth I was marked as an outsider. Being fluent in Japanese doesn’t matter, as long as you don’t look Japanese.
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india-through-the-firang-lens/are-the-japanese-amazingly-polite-or-xenophobic/
People universally prefer those who look similar to them. Even sharing their culture 100% isn’t enough, as long as you look different, as Jews have seen during our history.
Unlike USA, Europe is composed of nation states. So, right wing members wonder “if we begin looking different, will we still be a nation? Who will we be?” I believe it’s not only a question of xenophobia, but also of both national and personal identity. Thinking about it, isn’t maintaining any national identity inherently xenophobic at its core?
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An interesting article from 2009 about feelings about Jews in Germany:
http://www.the-american-interest.com/articles/2009/11/01/the-view-from-israel/
For instance, Jewish representations in literature.
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A conservative literary critic and college professor
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