Iran is a theocracy that is ruled by fanatic mullahs. Iran is also a state that will soon have nuclear weapons. The fanatic mullahs who rule Iran believe that by creating a state of chaos – e.g., nuclear war and destruction – they will bring the messianic era, led by the Hidden Imam. That is why Ahmadenijad’s threat to wipe Israel off the map must be taken seriously: because the mullahs are not afraid of mutual assured destruction caused by nuclear war.

Israel is a secular state ruled by elected officials. No Israeli official has ever declared either the desire or the intention to wipe Gaza off the map.

The word “shoah” means “disaster” in Hebrew. Tim Butcher, the foreign correspondent who wrote the Daily Telegraph article to which Amira links in this post, was told by his translator that Matan Vilnai was not referring to THE Holocaust (with a capital “h”), and that he meant “disaster” rather than holocaust, but Tim and all the other foreign correspondents simply chose to ignore the facts and go with the attention-grabbing, mendacious headline. Matan Vilnai should have resigned for using outrageous language, but what Amira is doing is worse: she is perpetuating the lie with this unabashedly biased, agenda-driven post.

Furthermore, while the killings in Gaza were a huge tragedy that aroused a great deal of regret and controversy in Israel,they were not a genocide or a holocaust – with either a lower case “h” or an upper case “h.”

The men, women and children of Gaza were not marched out of their homes to an open field, forced at gun point to dig a huge open grave, then forced to strip naked, lined up at the edge of the open grave and then shot methodically with machine guns, so that their bodies fell on top of each other in the thousands.

The men, women and children of Gaza were not herded into camps surrounded by electrified barbed wire, stripped naked, shaved bald, dressed in striped prison clothes, housed in unheated barracks, fed 800 calories per day, forced to do hard physical labor 12 hours per day and then gassed when they were too exhausted to work any more.

The murdered Jews of Europe did not have elected representatives, militants armed by Iran, radio stations and television stations. They did not receive millions of dollars in foreign aid every year.

Anyone who compares the suffering of the Palestinians with Nazi Holocaust of 1939-1945 is either a liar or woefully ignorant of the facts. Either way, the fact that that comparison is highlighted on a Global Voices post is a disgrace to GV.

I call upon Global Voices to be an honest reporter of world affairs, and to stop posting links that are meant to further personal agendas. I shall save this comment separately, and send it to Reuters if it is not posted within 24 hours.

　イスラエルのビルナイ国防副大臣による「ショアー」発言については，以前Apeman氏の記事でBBCの“Israel warns of invasion of Gaza”を教えられて読み，大きな衝撃を受けたものでした。

Matan …