Comments on: The anti-Semitic slur http://antonyloewenstein.com/2007/02/15/the-anti-semitic-slur/ Thu, 24 May 2012 13:43:53 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: suze http://antonyloewenstein.com/2007/02/15/the-anti-semitic-slur/comment-page-1/#comment-78660 suze Thu, 15 Feb 2007 16:21:44 +0000 http://antonyloewenstein.com/blog/2007/02/15/the-anti-semitic-slur/#comment-78660 Thanks for the link- I'd caught the end of the Irris Mackler interview in the car. I think the blood and soil thing harks back to some very tricky history- it was as Rosenfeld said a Nazi phrase, but it was also used in a speech by Kurt Blumenfeld, leader of the Zionist federation of Germany which was negotiating with the Nazis. I think the interpretation of ZVfD actions at the time is that they were trying to harness antisemitism to help propel the quest for a jewish homeland. Riding the tiger so to speak which is always a dangerous exercise. (Is this what you were asking?) The strange thing about Rosenfeld's analogy is he says comparing Israel to Nazi Germany and South Africa is akin to wishing it's destruction when in fact both Germany and South Africa are quite extant and much the better for having their racist systems of government removed. That said I personally find comparisons to Nazi Germany in hideous taste. It is a deliberate insult to what I think should remain a powerful memory and I don't like either side of the debate weakening the memory of the holocaust. I think comparisons to South Africa are entirely in order. Thanks for the link- I'd caught the end of the Irris Mackler interview in the car. I think the blood and soil thing harks back to some very tricky history- it was as Rosenfeld said a Nazi phrase, but it was also used in a speech by Kurt Blumenfeld, leader of the Zionist federation of Germany which was negotiating with the Nazis. I think the interpretation of ZVfD actions at the time is that they were trying to harness antisemitism to help propel the quest for a jewish homeland. Riding the tiger so to speak which is always a dangerous exercise. (Is this what you were asking?)

The strange thing about Rosenfeld's analogy is he says comparing Israel to Nazi Germany and South Africa is akin to wishing it's destruction when in fact both Germany and South Africa are quite extant and much the better for having their racist systems of government removed. That said I personally find comparisons to Nazi Germany in hideous taste. It is a deliberate insult to what I think should remain a powerful memory and I don't like either side of the debate weakening the memory of the holocaust.
I think comparisons to South Africa are entirely in order.

]]> By: Waddy http://antonyloewenstein.com/2007/02/15/the-anti-semitic-slur/comment-page-1/#comment-78616 Waddy Thu, 15 Feb 2007 10:56:32 +0000 http://antonyloewenstein.com/blog/2007/02/15/the-anti-semitic-slur/#comment-78616 For Australian readers of this blog, ABC Radio National's Religion Report interviewed Rosenfeld yesterday (Feb 14). See: <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/rn/religionreport/stories/2007/1847226.htm#transcript" rel="nofollow">http://www.abc.net.au/rn/religionreport/stories/2...</a> Having already glanced at Rosenfeld's paper, I thought Crittenden could have done better by addressing his specific 'examples' rather than the more general questioning on Zionism's origins (can someone explain the little spat between Rosenfeld & Crittenden over 'blood and soil'?) Apparently a counter view to Rosenfeld in next weeks program. For Australian readers of this blog, ABC Radio National's Religion Report interviewed Rosenfeld yesterday (Feb 14). See:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/religionreport/stories/2…

Having already glanced at Rosenfeld's paper, I thought Crittenden could have done better by addressing his specific 'examples' rather than the more general questioning on Zionism's origins (can someone explain the little spat between Rosenfeld & Crittenden over 'blood and soil'?)

Apparently a counter view to Rosenfeld in next weeks program.

]]>