First, I think that it is pretty normal for people in extremely treacherous situations to do whatever they need to do to survive. That is why torture is so frequently used during interrogations! I would appreciate a fuller definition of the concept "collaborators" as Shahak is using it, however. Maybe I am missing something.
Are you saying that the statements Shahak makes which are quoted on the Holocaust denial web page are taken out of context, or edited? They did not seem to be to me, and what I found somewhat offensive is what I perceived as him saying that because of his idiosyncratic experience as a child, he could therefore determine that the collaborators did more harm, or were more treacherous, than were Hitler and the Nazis. Logically, this cannot be true; if there were no repressive Nazi regime, collaboration with the enemy would have been unnecessary. There are no examples historically of which I am aware where a Jewish community simply imploded. Can you think of any? And yet, this is what Shahak seems to imply with his reasoning.
Here is an article from this Sunday's San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner newspaper about the experience of Jewish children who were sent away to Britain after Kristallnacht. The anecdotes mention Nazis, not collaborators, as the enemy:
sfgate.com
I also watched "60 Minutes" this weekend, which was about Volkswagen using Jewish slave labor during the war. As you probably know, today it was revealed that General Motors is being sued for the same reason. The film clips in the segment of emaciated, often dying Jews being discovered as the GI's came in at the end of the war were pretty gruesome. My own opinion is that there was much prejudice and negative sentiment towards the Jews in Europe and the United States, and that most people and governments pretty much appeased Hitler and looked the other way as long as they could because of this. We took almost no Jewish refugees, for example, and refused to take any Jewish children from the pre-war rescue attempts, either.
I do think Shahak should speak carefully and be aware that careless, historically inaccurate remarks are easily used out of context. I also sympathize with the Palestinians; I think that since the end of World War II, Zionists have mirrored the brutalities they were exposed to, and vented on the Palestinians. I think they have definitely lost the moral high ground! I think it is extremely unfair to categorize all of the Israeli military and government heroes as "freedom fighters" when they are all admitted terrorists, and yet castigate Arafat and the PLO for mounting a defense after several well-documented massacres of Palestinian villagers by Jewish soldiers at the beginning of the conflict. |
