Making Peace with Holocaust Deniers

David Duke (Politico)

I think we have to come to terms with the neo Nazis. People like David Duke have a huge following. We need to make peace with them, despite their despicable behavior. No matter what kind of lies those antisemites spew about us. None of that should matter.  He says he wants to make peace (albeit on his terms) and we should do whatever it takes to make it happen.

The following is an illustration of how an antisemite thinks about the Holocaust, Jews, and Israel . From VIN: 

Jews caused the Holocaust with their “social behavior,” such as money lending. (He) indicated that Adolf Hitler facilitated the immigration of Jews to Israel. He claimed that the German leader cut a deal with the Anglo-Palestine Bank, known today as Israel’s Bank Leumi, allowing Jews who moved to the British Mandate of Palestine to transfer all their assets there through the bank.

(He) said, however, that most of Europe’s Jews thought their money was more important than their lives because they stayed put.

(He) has already faced accusations of Holocaust denial based on his 1982 doctoral dissertation titled “The Other Side: The Secret Relationship Between Nazism and Zionism.” The dissertation said the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust is a grossly inflated figure…

Jews do not have a historical connection to the land. “Israel is a colonial project that has nothing to do with the Jews,” 

One may ask, how can we make peace with Holocaust deniers like Duke?! Well... isn’t it true that ‘You make peace with your enemies. Not your friends’?  Besides, his people are unfairly targeted and suffer needlessly because of how our countrymen see them.

By now some of you might have guessed that I wasn’t really talking about David Duke. I was talking about the ‘moderate’ Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas. The above excerpts published at VIN were comments Abbas made in the the West Bank city of Ramalah  to the ‘Palestinian National Council which makes decisions on all Palestinian issues — in Israel, the West Bank and around the world.’ 

Mahmoud Abbas (Al Jazeera)

This is the man Israel want to hand over the West Bank to?  A man who clearly believes we don’t belong in any part of Israel? A man who says we brought the Holocaust upon ourselves?!

This makes about as much sense as making peace with David Duke. Or maybe even Hitler himself – if he were still alive and trying to eradicate us!

Abbas’s antisemitic attitude is not news.  It s an old story. He was - and still is a Holocaust denier no different than many other neo Nazis. Including David Duke.

What is new is that he had no problem saying it again in a public forum that had Jewish mainstream media attention. Which means that more people are seeing it now. In the past it was more or less written off as old news - irrelevant to the peace process and the 2 state solution to which Abbas was committed.

I am a firm believer in making peace with our enemies. Even at the hefty price of land concessions... and even giving up some parts of Jerusalem! For me, saving Jewish lives is more important than retaining any of the land captured during the 6 day war. That’s why I supported the Oslo peace accords.  And it is the same reason I firmly oppose any concessions now. It is all about saving Jewish lives in the way that works best.

I have always said it is because our ‘peace partner’ Mahmoud Abbas is not really in charge. The Jihadist Hamas is. And they will accept no compromise – insisting that they will not rest until they get all of Palestine back…  and get rid of the Zionists.  They have been trying to make good on that promise ever since they were founded. A lot of innocent Jewish blood (and even Muslim blood) has been spilled by them in that attempt.

But the truth is that even if Abbas were in charge, I wouldn’t do it. He is every bit the antisemite he always has been. There is little doubt in my mind that making peace with an antisemite is a bad idea. Because antisemites like Abbas cannot be trusted anymore than antisemites like David Duke can.

That said, I know that there are Palestinians – perhaps even most of them – that would be willing to make actual peace with Israel, despite their denial of our legitimate claims to the land. They might think we don’t belong there. But they are not the uncompromising ideologues that their leaders are. The problem is that they are not in charge. And the way things stand now, I doubt they ever will be.